Yamaha DV-C6480 Progressive-Scan 5-Disc DVD Player

Product Review

When your audio is just as important as your video, you'll want the DV-C6480 five-disc changer, offering everything from premium progressive-scan processing to ultra-refined DVD-Audio playback for multichannel music magic. The player's impressive list of compatible disc formats includes CD-R, CD-RW, MP3-CD, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW.

Video features
Topping the DV-C6480's abilities is progressive-scan playback, in which the unit scans one complete frame at a time (instead of rendering alternating sets of odd and even lines), giving you pristine, flicker-free images on a high-definition or HD-ready television.

Standard component-video, S-video, and composite-video outputs are also included for full compatibility with all current televisions.

A function called 3:2 pulldown restores 24-frame-per-second accuracy to applicable motion-picture video sources (from DVD's native 30 fps). In the DV-C6480 this is handled by Faroudja's DCDi processing (Directional Correlational Deinterlacing), which works pixel by pixel, not merely frame by frame, ensuring smooth, clean pictures free of jagged edges.

The player uses a 10-bit, 54 MHz video digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and Yamaha's Cinema Image technology improves picture quality with movie sources by softening the brightness, upgrading the contrast in dark scenes, and reducing video noise.

Audio features
The main attraction in the audio realm is surely the DV-C6480's ability to deliver full-blown DVD-Audio sound. This format gives you up to six channels of discrete, full-frequency sound at greater-than-CD resolution (24 bits, 96 kHz sampling rate versus 16 bits, 44.1 kHz for CD), and some discs even exploit the chance to offer an ultra-high-resolution, stereo-only program at 192 kHz sampling rate. In stereo or surround, the sound from DVD-Audio is packed with detail, yet smoother and sweeter than the sound from even the best standard CD players. (See our full selection of DVD-Audio discs.)

In contrast to DVD-Video surround formats like Dolby Digital and DTS (which typically travel digitally to your surround receiver), full appreciation of DVD-Audio requires that you route analog-audio interconnects between the DV-C6480 and a surround receiver with six-channel analog-audio inputs.

"If DVD-Audio is so high-tech," you might be wondering, "why do I need analog outputs to appreciate it?" The answer is, for reasons of data density, DVD-Audio players perform their own digital-to-analog conversion, passing high-resolution analog signals on to your amplifier. (And analog, after all, is what your amp feeds your speakers.) The setup may be a little more complex, but the quality of the resulting sound rewards the extra effort.

If you're going in for DVD-Audio, you'll only need analog connections to your receiver since, conveniently, the player also decodes Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround sound. This means you won't need a separate digital-audio interconnect to enjoy your movies, though coaxial and optical digital-audio connections exist should you want to use them. (Some AV receivers offer digital inputs but no multichannel analog inputs, and if yours is like this, you will need a digital-audio connection to enjoy surround mixes.)

Cinema Dialogue enhances the sound from the center channel, so voices can be heard with utmost clarity.

Other features
Yamaha's patented five-disc PlayXchange technology lets you change four discs while a fifth is playing. An advanced onscreen menu simplifies setup and operation. Other features include shockproof memory, a large disc stabilizer, and a remote control.

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