Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 Universal DVD/SACD Player Review

Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 Technology Overview

We are at a bit of a crossroads in technology right now as some of the digital rights management rules change and digital transmission of DVD-Audio and SACD finally become a reality. As of right now (but not for long), the choices remain to go analogue or utilize a proprietary digital format for audio. Digital video output specifications are also in a state of flux as DVI and HDMI are being discussed (and possibly both utilized) as standards. Since many people are still in possession of analogue displays (CRT direct view or rear projection) this is not a limiting factor at all. In fact, it's the newer technologies that have yet to prove themselves and deal with issues and difficulties long ago solved by their analogue counterparts (resolution conversion and enhancement, for example.)

Which brings us to Yamaha. The company who produced some of the finest value projection systems on the market is now the company releasing its next-generation high-end universal DVD/SACD player. Let's discuss some of the more apparent features:

• Faroudja DCDi 480p (progressive) Output
  DCDi is a specific digital technology Faroudja introduced a several years ago in their broadcast up-converter. DCDi is a digital video mode algorithm that stands for D irectional C orrelation D e i nterlacing.
• MP3 Multi-Session Support
  The DVD-S2300 MK2 supports playback of MP3 files written to disc in a hierarchical format, with entire albums (chapters) stored in folders (titles). Playback of MP3s is possible within the bitrate range of 32kbps - 320kbps at either 44.1kHz or 48kHz sampling frequencies. Random Play and Program Play will not function with MP3 discs.
• Completely Independent SACD and DVD Circuits
  This is one of the nicest features of the unit. It is often mistakenly thought that a universal player lacks the dedicated features to excel at both SACD and DVD-A, however with truly dedicated processing circuitry you are getting (quite literally) two players in one.

Yamaha's DVD-S2300 MK2 differs from the original DVD-S2300 by:

• Adding an RS-232C port with extended IR command/control capability for use with a touch panel system.
• Producing a reported improvement in the trackability of hybrid discs.

What really stands out in this abbreviated feature set is the inclusion of the FLI2200. The single-chip FLI2200 was introduced as a mass-production item in August of 2001 and retains the same deinterlacing and post processing advantages of its predecessor. The FLI2200 uses motion-adaptive deinterlacing that selects optimal filtering on a pixel-by-pixel basis to produce the best resolution without introducing motion artifacts. Possibly the best use of this technology is with film mode, which enables proper handling of 3:2 and 2:2 pulldown as well as bad edit detection/correction (the mismatching of incorrect fields, creating a comb error).

Faroudja's proprietary DCDi technology identifies edges at any angle in moving images and interpolates along the edge to produce smooth, natural images without the staircasing or jagged edges produced by other deinterlacing technologies. The FLI2200 also incorporates motion-adaptive cross-color suppression that removes coloration artifacts produced by commonly used video decoders. On-chip 10-bit DACs are also present, allowing high-resolution analogue output.

We'll go into more of these in detail, but it's not a bad start for the DVD-S23000 MK2 to supply a high-quality Faroudja engine, support most mainstream Audio and Video formats, and have complete separation of its DVD-Audio and SACD circuitry - all for under $1000. We've seen far less in more expensively priced units and were enticed by the thought that Yamaha may have provided a true high-end universal transport for a value price.

Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 Setting Up the Player

Setting up the Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 was a breeze. Yamaha must have taken a look at their finished product in this player and thought "Hey, we should make our flagship Z9 receiver this easy to use!" The graphical user interface of the DVD-S2300 MK2 was absolutely straightforward and unobtrusive. Across the top, via tabbed folder-like sections, you have access to Audio, Disc, Video, Display and "Others" Settings. Each section is fairly intuitively populated, with the exception of "Display" which really had to do only with the DVD player's On-Screen Display.

The Audio Menu allows you to set Speaker Settings (multi-channel or 2-channel), PCM Down Conversion (down converting high sampling frequency audio signals from non copyright-protected discs), Dolby Digital and DTS Bitstream or PCM output for equipped decoders/processors/receivers, Dynamic Range Compression (for reducing the dynamic range when watching Dolby Digital movies - generally a late-night feature), and Audio During Search. Enabling Audio During Search is something I always appreciate, especially coming from a time where I had to search through stacks of DVDs to find content for various music videos for Planet Hollywood. When looking for a particular phrase or section of a movie that you're not familiar with, this feature has saved me countless hours. Yamaha's implementation of this feature, however, sounds a bit like a woodpecker on a record player (lots of skips and jumps with little if any intelligible dialogue). Sony had an implementation of audio during search that involved playing 2-seconds or so of audio, then skipping ahead 4 seconds and repeating. This way, audio was intelligible, but also kept up with the movie. Most people probably don't use this feature, but a better implementation in the future might result in more people who do.

When setting up the speakers for analogue multi-channel output (for digitally-outputted signals your receiver will control all speaker configuration settings) realize that the icons control whether the speakers are large or small and can be altered by using the up and down arrows on the remote control. You will want to set these first and then utilize the built-in test tone to set the levels for the center, sub and surround. My configuration had the mains set to large and all other speakers set to small. Since I could set the subwoofer level in the DVD player in DVD-A/V mode, this compensated for the lack of independent subwoofer level trims in the Integra DTC-9.4's multi-channel input. One thing I would like to see in the future, however, is the ability to set separate subwoofer levels for SACD and DVD-A/V playback.

Navigating to the Video Menu will expose you to options for TV Aspect Ratio (16:9, 4:3 pan and scan or 4:3 letterbox), Still Mode (if still frames jitter try "Field" or "Frame"), and Black Level Control. The manual gives instructions for component vs. composite/s-video black level settings, but with even a somewhat calibrated monitor, we recommend always setting this to "Darker". The exception would be if you have done your best to calibrate your television and you are still unable to make out shadow detail in darker areas of films. Just about any recent or recently transferred horror or suspense film should allow you to test out your black level performance.

Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 Setup SACD, Video Tests

Setting up the player for SACD is easy and involves using the instruction manual and the front panel display to set your speaker configuration and bass mangement settings. There is no on-screen display or GUI for any of the SACD settings, again a function of having completely discreet circuitry for those functions. As SACD has no video functions, there is no reason to introduce video circuitry into that part of the system. I believe this was an excellent call on the part of Yamaha. When configuring the system, you may ghost a center channel and elect to not utilize a subwoofer, but you must have rear (surround) speakers to enjoy multichannel SACD - there is no provision for combining the rear channel information into the front channels. Your receiver's analogue inputs may, however, be able to handle this function in DSP, but this would incur additional A/D/A conversion. Obviously, 2-channel SACD content will not have these requirements.

Video Resolution and Noise Comparison

I wanted to see how well the Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 handled high resolution video. As I ran through some of the AVIA set up tests, I was pleased to see that the Yamaha (as well as my old Sony player) could handle high resolution images up to the maximum resolution of 540 lines (theoretical limit for DVD's native format). During this test, I was somewhat surprised to notice a huge difference in the performance of the Yamaha vs. my old Sony DVP-S550D player in terms of video degradation. This showed up clearly in the AVIA 100 TVL and 200 TVL wedge resolution test patterns as noise in the lower right hand corner. Take a look at these images:

Because of the excellent performance of the Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2, and tests we have performed on several television sets, we recommend utilizing the Faroudja de-interlacing circuitry in lieu of the technology which may be present in your television. This will result in a cleaner picture and better video performance.

Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 Viewing Evaluation

Measurements and test patterns are fine, but we enjoy good old-fashioned viewing tests to really see how a player performs. My favorite method of doing this is through a series of movies I am very familiar with, allowing observation of elements and subtle details of film scenes that can visually distinguish the excellent players from the mediocre.

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo was the perfect opportunity to see the way the Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 handled motion with its progressive scan output. As with all digitally animated films, there is a large amount of motion blur utilized for fast moving scenes, so edge combing will not be as apparent, but the vibrant colors and stark contrasts of this film, not to mention notorious embedded sub frame pixelation) serve to make other nuances viewable that would otherwise go unnoticed. For example, one of my favorite tricks is to see how clearly defined the MPEG-2 compression is when Marlin or Nemo is shown against the blue background of the ocean. While this is one of the drawbacks of a high-resolution system (try spotting this with a 32" CRT and a mediocre DVD player) it is a great way to illustrate a DVD player's resolution. Below is an enhanced photo of some MPEG-2 artifacts which, unfortunately, appear all over the Nemo movie. While Pixar is excellent at story writing and animation, their digital DVD transfers leave a lot to be desired!

Sub-Frame Pixelation
Notice the square MPEG-2 compression visible around Marlin (circled for easier spotting). It is quite apparent during full motion viewing - a little harder to point out in a still capture - but you should be able to see the hard edges enough to observe the sub-frame pixelation.

The Yamaha reveals these types of errors more so than other progressive players which may soften the picture due to inexpensive video decoding engines. This is simply the price of admission into the world of HDTV and high-end players. Hopefully, as high definition formats evolve and emerge, these problems will disappear as larger amounts of data, and higher resolution images can be stored to optical disc for artifact-free playback. For now, I'll continue to use this phenomenon to measure the clarity of video decoding engines.

DVD: The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers

Some of the most beautiful scenery is located in this film during the time spent in Rohan and also within Fangorn Forest . Within each of these scenes lie details that many inexpensive DVD players will miss. The Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 does an excellent job of picking up the cloud detail over the mountain range at the Rohan capital of Edoras. Also in these scenes, the detail of the thatched rooftops is something that simply will not be clearly visible (with detail) on players not capable of reproducing at least 6.75 MHz of video bandwidth.

This is by far my favorite DVD of the year and I am always amazed at how much attention to background elements the set designers gave during the creation of the film. There are countless opportunities to test the limits of your video reproduction system, from costume details (check out the detailed armor of King Theoden), to etched stone staircases (Edoras), to digitally-enhanced background elements (Rohan and the journey to Helm's Deep), to meticulously prepared hair and makeup elements (there are more than enough close-ups of Aragorn and Frodo.)

DVD: Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl

This movie is an excellent test of your system's black levels, but for our purposes it also served as an excellent gauge of the Yamaha's color reproduction and detail. In watching the live action sword fights (Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom) we could notice no comb errors or motion artifacts due to inaccurate 3:2 pulldown or poor error correction from the video decoding engine. In fact, the smooth motion of the scenes, excellent color reproduction, and fantastic clarity made this movie worth watching completely through. Having calibrated the system prior to these viewing tests, I noted that the Yamaha DVD-S2300 MK2 did a superb job of rendering black levels, even in the darkest scenes. I flipped the DVD player's video black level control to "lighter" as a test and noticed a fairly significant gain, presumably from 0 IRE to approximately 7.5 IRE - not something you would want unless your display device absolutely cannot reproduce blacks (a front projection system with low lumens, contrast ratio combined with a neutral or low gain screen, perhaps.)

DVD-S2300 MK2 Listening Tests and Conclusions

Conclusion

The DVD-S2300 MK2 is an excellent performer for all formats tested. Its ability to provide clean, accurate analogue audio output was bested only by its quality rendering of high resolution progressive scan video output. I noticed no flaws in the design, save more detailed bass management crossover options, digital delay compensation for SACD, and IEEE1394 digital output. The remote control was adequately ergonomic but will probably be unused at this price point as any competent receiver or processor will provide something that can either incorporate or learn its functions. The attractiveness of the Yamaha is enhanced by its very competitive price point. Obtaining a player of this caliber with a Faroudja display engine at an MSRP of $999 puts the DVD-S2300 MK2 in a very competitive place. It would sit nicely in any high-end home theater system and in my opinion is formidable its price class.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Standard Definition Video Performance
High Definition Audio Performance
Analogue Audio Performance
Bass Management
Build Quality
Ergonomics & Usability
Ease of Setup
Features
Remote Control
Performance
Value