Factory-Reconditioned Yamaha DVD-S550 DVD Player

Comment: Ever since I discovered this player in the summer of 2005, I have been highly impressed with how much it met both my normal and oddball demands. As a student of Musical Theatre, Opera, Classical vocal and choral literature, and Jazz and Classical piano, 192 KHZ, 24-bit digital-to-analog conversion is of great importance to me. One thing that sets this player apart from the other manufacturers' players is Yamaha's CD UpSampling feature. For those titles which are currently only available on CD and possibly will never be released on DVD-AUDIO and/or SACD, this option converts standard CDs to the quality of DVD-AUDIO. On the Musical Theatre, Opera, and choral side of things, this player is capable of playing both NTSC (North American) and PAL (European) DVDs on corresponding as well as opposite TVs. For certain titles in these genres, the North American editions are either four percent slower in tempo and picture movement and flatter in pitch than the European editions due to the method of PAL-to-NTSC conversion used by the distributors of such DVDs, or do not include as many bonus features as their original European counterparts. Sometimes, it can be the other way around, except the European editions might be four percent faster and sharper and have less bonus material than their original North American counterparts. On both ends of the spectrum, if the audio pitch is corrected without changing the audio speed to keep the picture and sound in synch, a subaudible breaking-up effect may be noticed as the result of slight artifacts from slightly bending or stretching the pitch in the conversion process. However, because of this player's bicompatibility with both color systems, I have the freedom to choose and purchase whatever editions are the best. Although it is not in the manual, this player can be made multi-region compatible including RCE DVDs. Turn on the DVD player. Make sure there are no discs loaded. With the tray open, using its supplied remote control, slowly press 99990. Wait for the 'Region 0' message to disappear. Close the tray. In conclusion, if you are looking for a DVD player with wide video compatibility, you have come to the right place!

Comment: I bought this on a closeout table at a local dealer after sending back a superbly disappointing Toshiba player. This unit matches my Yamaha HTR-5840 receiver in appearance, and (small consolation prize) the receiver's remote operates this player 100%. Play is good, 480p image is fine via component output to my 31" 16:9 HDTV, though you will want to set it up with a S-video cable, as the component output blinked annoyingly until I could put it in progressive mode.

A surprise dividend to this player is a setup setting for the digital audio output (in my case, via the TOSlink fibre optic cable). Digital out can be set for PCM-only for a non-decoder receiver, and "All" for receivers with decoders (like mine, and probably yours, too). In "All," my receiver identifies and presents discrete 5.1 channels! IOW, Dolby Digital 2.0 is shown as 2-channel input. Dolby Digital 5.1 is shown as 5 channels plus the LFE channel. DTS 96/24 is shown as 5.1 channels in the higher bitrate. Further, this DVD player has a "LPCM" mode which sends 96kHz signals unaltered, or converts to 48kHz. Regardless of how it's done, my receiver plays 5 channels in "straight" mode, which it can't do with other DVD players like the late, great Toshiba player and my PlayStation2 (both using optical digital out). Does it sound good? No, it sounds EXCELLENT. Consider a feature like this if you're shpping around. Happy hunting.... ;)