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General Features: - Home DVD player - Progressive scan capable - Single-disc design -
Plays
DVD-Video, Video CD, and - Region 1
Video Features: -
27MHz/10-bit video D/A converter - Forward/reverse slow motion effects -
Forward/reverse frame-by-frame - 3-magnification level zoom feature -
Component video output (for - Enhanced black level - Bit rate display
Audio Features: - 96kHz/24-bit audio D/A converter - Built-in Dolby Digital decoder - DTS digital out -
Dynamic range control - CD attenuation
Convenience Features: - Program and random play modes - Repeat play mode - A-B repeat play mode - On-screen menu (black/white) - Parental lock feature - Resume play -
Playback from desired chapter, -
Florescent display dimmer - Remote confirmation with beeps
Front-Panel Control: - Power - Open/close -
Play, stop, pause/step, skip/search
Remote Control: - Model #DD-5000/6000 - Power button - Open/close tray button - Display, setup buttons -
Play, stop, pause/step, skip/search -
Numeric buttons for random access -
Direct access to subtitle, audio track, - Repeat, repeat A-B buttons - Disc menu, player menu buttons - Cursor control, enter buttons - Clear and return buttons - Zoom button - Florescent display dimmer button - 3-D noise reduction button
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Gold-plated output jacks -
Component video, - S-video (1) - Composite video (1) - Stereo analog outputs (1) -
5.1-channel audio output (1 set) - Coaxial digital output (1)
Specifications: - Audio S/N (CD): 112 dB - Dynamic range: CD audio: 106 dB - THD (CD): 0.001%
Power Requirements: - 120V A/C, 60 Hz - Power consumption: 23 Watts - Screen-saver feature
Weights and Dimensions: - Weight/mass: 3.0 kg -
Dimensions:
Included "Accessories": -
Remote control, supplied with - A/C power supply cord -
composite video and stereo audio - S-video cable
Warrantee: - Parts: one year - Labor: 6 months
Dates: Introduction to Market: Dec 1999 Review date: Oct. 16, 2000 Last updated: Oct. 23, 2000
Other: Country of manufacture: Japan
List price: $ 775.00 Avg retail price: $ 750.00 Best
prices:
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| Mitsubishi
DD-6000 Progressive Scan DVD/Video CD/CD Player HDCD® compatibility |
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Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Model:
DD-6000 Progressive Scan
Market Introduction: December 1999
MSRP: $775.00 Avg. Retail Price: $750.00 Best Prices: $749.00 at Amazon.com
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Performance: B+ Video: A- Audio: A Features: A- Ease of Use: A- Remote: C+ Build Quality: B Value: B
Summary:
The DD-6000 is Mitsubishi's first progressive scan
and HDCD
capable
High
Points: + Good picture quality in either progressive (480p) or interlaced (480i) scanning + Good picture quality during scan search, slow-motion and frame-by-frame + Effective video zoom feature with three levels of magnification and panning
capability + Bit-rate meter
+ Gold-plated output jacks for better quality connections Low
Points: - No reverse slow motion and frame-by-frame advance
- Disc transport mechanism is somewhat noisy during menu
navigation
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The DD-6000, retailing for approximately $750, is Mitsubishi's flagship DVD player. As a mid-level model, it features progressive scan component video output for a noticeably better picture when connected to a progressive scan capable display, a three-magnification level video zoom feature, enhanced black level, a video noise reduction filter, a built-in Dolby Digital decoder, HDCD playback compatibility, audio dynamic range control, Karaoke vocal, CD attenuation, and a bit-rate meter.
Sporting a style that is contemporary, the DD-6000's charcoal gray chassis is handsome and elegant. The front-panel buttons are well organized and are located on the right side of the player. The various logos for Dolby Digital, DTS, audio CD, and HDCD are tastefully lined up just below the properly placed power button on the left side of the player. Its appearance is simply elegant and aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
In addition to playing back DVD-Video, Video CD, and audio CDs, this player can playback HDCD enhanced CDs. Unfortunately, the owner's guide says that this unit is not capable of playing back CD-Rs or CD-RWs.
The picture quality from the DD-6000 is very good. It is detailed and sharp. The colors are accurate and saturated, while shadow details are excellent. On our 27-inch TV, the picture is fantastic. On our 61-inch rear projection TV, the picture remains good, but we did notice some slight motion artifacts when an object moves across the screen. A good example of what we're talking about is in "Men In Black" Chapter 8 (at about 29:20), when Agents Jay and Kay walk down the hall, and the white circular light fixtures on the ceiling moves down the screen behind them as they walk forward. Watch for the "staircase" jagged edge effect around the outline of the light fixtures. That's called motion artifact.
The DD-6000 is the first Mitsubishi DVD player to offer progressive scan output. Progressive scanning is the ability to render images in one pass, usually at a rate of 60 times per second. This is exactly the same technology as used in many of today's "non-interlaced" computer monitors. The result is an image with notably less flicker and fewer motion artifacts. The conventional, interlaced scanning renders images in two passes, one for the odd-numbered scan lines, another for the even numbered scan lines. The entire interlaced picture is refreshed at a lower rate of 30 times per second.
To test the progressive scan capability, we connected the progressive component video output to the Panasonic 34-inch direct-view digital TV, model CT-34WX50, which is capable of accepting the 480p (480 horizontal lines of resolution in progressive scan format) component video signal. The picture was noticeably better in terms of flicker, though reduction of various motion artifacts requires more careful viewing and scrutiny to notice the difference.
Editor's Note: Digital TV manufacturers have recently began to roll-out sets that can accept progressive scan signals (usually 480p). Mitsubishi (known as the "Big Screen Digital TV" company) has just rolled out its new model year 2001 rear projection digital TVs which include component video inputs that supports progressive scanning. The point we're trying to make is that progressive scan input capable TVs are still relatively new. But as digital TV catches on, and progressive scan component video inputs are made available, the popularity of progressive scan DVD players will proportionately increase.
The picture remains clear and steady during fast scan and slow motion. Fast scan has three speeds in either direction (2x, 8x, and 30x). Slow motion (1/2x, 1/4x, and 1/8x) and frame-by-frame advance can only be performed in the forward direction. The lack of reverse slow motion and frame-by-frame effects are relatively minor.
The DD-6000 sports an effective three-magnification level video zoom feature that works very well. You can change the magnification level at any time, and can pan the picture up and down as well as side-to-side. Even in its highest magnification setting, the picture doesn't seem pixelated--it just looks slightly soft. This is one of the better zoom features we have yet seen.
One of the many nice video qualities of the DD-6000 is its video black level expansion feature that passes the "blacker than black" bar in the PLUGE video test pattern. What this means to the everyday consumer is that shadow detail is exceptional, as it renders subtle shades of gray going to complete black.
The DD-6000 features a "3D-DNR Picture Enhancement" video noise reduction filter with two levels (normal and expanded) for use on poorly mastered DVDs that have video noise. Normally, with many of today's well-mastered noise-free DVD titles, you would simply set this feature to "off" and forget about it. There's a handy bit-rate meter that displays the instantaneous data transfer rate from the DVD.
Using the bonus features in the "Men In Black" Collector's Edition DVD, we were able to verify that the DVD angle change feature performs smoothly with a delay time of about two seconds before actually changing to the desired angle. We have seen other DVD players that are capable of switching angles within one second.
The DD-6000 includes a built-in decoder for Dolby Digital, with full 5.1-channel adjustments for speaker type (large/small), loudness, and delay time. If you have a Dolby Digital ready receiver (also known as 5.1-channel ready receiver), you would use the DD-6000's built-in Dolby Digital decoder to set up your surround sound environment parameters. However, if you have a digital receiver capable of Dolby Digital and/or DTS, then you would simply use one of the digital outputs (e.g., Toslink or coaxial) and allow the digital receiver to decode the multi-channel surround sound signals.
Since this model plays audio CDs, we gave a selected set of CDs a listen and were very pleased with the CD playback quality. The sound has good tonal qualities and is well-balanced with deep bass extension. Another big plus on the audio side is that the DD-6000 can play HDCD enhanced audio CDs. Other features include Karaoke vocal, dynamic range control for playback of Dolby Digital program content at lower volume levels, and CD attenuation in case the HDCD sound output level is too high for other audio components.
Complementing its full array of audio features is a complete set of audio outputs (see sidebar at left for the complete list). Unfortunately, as we've said previously, CD-Rs or CD-RWs cannot be played back in this model, according to the owner's manual.
This player offers a whole host of the most wanted and practical features. In addition to the video and audio features already mentioned, the DD-6000 includes:
The remote control is medium in size and has logical button groupings. The remote's frequently-used disc transport buttons (e.g., play, stop, pause) and menu navigation buttons (e.g., arrow and enter buttons) are located on the lower half of the remote. The buttons, however, are marked with only one color--white. Competitive models' remote controls use color-coded buttons to enhance readability and ease-of-use. Furthermore, we find that most of the buttons are rather small and as a result this remote control is slightly harder to operate than most.
Unfortunately, the remote control can't control other audio or video components (such as a receiver or TV, Mitsubishi or otherwise), and it doesn't have glow-in-the-dark buttons for ease of use in a dark room. Since we prefer and frequently watch movies in a dark room, we cannot emphasize enough how useful the glow-in-the-dark feature is. Usually with mid-level models, you can expect these levels of refinement. A nice touch is the remote control confirmation feature that makes an audible "beep" when a remote control button is pressed. Fortunately, this feature can be disabled, since the "beeps" can get annoying.
Overall, the DD-6000 is pretty easy to use. The operating instructions are well-written with clear and helpful diagrams. Most common settings have reasonable default factory values, making the set-up process as quick and simple as possible for most consumers.
To configure the DVD player's settings, press the "Setup" button on the remote control and the graphical, colorful, icon-based menu helps guide you through the myriad of settings. The menu is organized as follows: language settings (on-screen language, disc menu language, audio language, and subtitle language), picture settings (TV aspect ratio, black level, progressive 4:3 output), audio settings (audio out select, dynamic range control, Karaoke vocal, extended audio features, CD attenuation), display settings (on-screen displays, on-screen display background color, extended subtitle features, screen saver), and operation settings (pause/still picture resolution, parental lock, remote confirmation beep, title stop). If you're using this DVD player's built-in Dolby Digital decoder, the audio settings allow you to configure the speaker size (small/large), enable/disable the center, surround, or subwoofer speakers, and adjust the delay time for each speaker.
As noted in the Video and Audio sections above, the A/V performance of the DD-6000 is very good. The disc navigation delays (that is, the time from when a button is first pushed until the action is completed) are slightly on the slow side as you press "skip chapter" or navigate the various DVD menus. We also noticed that during DVD menu navigation, when the optical drive system has to skip between tracks, titles, and chapters, it creates an unusual amount of background noise that at times can be annoying and distracting. In our layer switch tests, this model exhibits fair performance. Most layer switches are quite noticeable. The picture is momentarily paused for about a full second as the laser re-focuses on the second layer.
The DD-6000 comes with a complete set of outputs--one set of component video output for progressive scan, another component video set for interlaced scan, S-video output, composite video output, optical digital audio output (Toslink), coaxial digital audio output, stereo analog output, and 5.1-channel analog output for 5.1-channel (Dolby Digital) ready receivers. It has all of the different kinds of connections you could possibly want. And, all of the output jacks are gold-plated for better connectivity and performance.
The build quality appears to be slightly above average. The video and audio processing circuitry perform very well. All of the output jacks are gold-plated for better quality connections.
The mid-level DVD player market is very competitive, while the progressive scan DVD player market is becoming increasingly competitive. Mitsubishi should hold its own rather well due to the solid overall performance of the DD-6000 model.
Toshiba, Pioneer, Panasonic, and Sony also make progressive scan DVD players. Toshiba offers the SD-5109 dual-tray progressive scan DVD player (approximately $700 retail, $500 on-line) and the SD-9100 DVD player (approximately $1,500 retail). Pioneer introduced the budget-friendly DV-434 progressive scan DVD player (approximately $350 retail). Panasonic offers its DVD-A7 progressive scan DVD player (approximately $800 retail). Finally, Sony recently introduced its new DVP-S9000ES "reference" quality DVD player (approximately $1,500) which features progressive scan output.
In the area of video and audio performance, some other models include slow motion and frame-by-frame in reverse and virtual surround sound feature. Finally, in the area of remote control features, some other models include buttons for controlling your TV and/or receiver (i.e., universal remote). We mention this so that you would be aware of other features that may interest you, or realize that the DD-6000 has all the features that you need.
The
Mitsubishi DD-6000 is a solid performing progressive scan DVD player offering
very good picture quality with good scan search, slow motion,
frame-by-frame advance, three-magnification level video zoom capability,
enhanced black level, a video noise reduction filter, a built-in Dolby
Digital decoder, HDCD compatibility, Karaoke vocal, and a bit-rate
meter. As an all-around solid performer, we recommend this model
for consideration by readers who are shopping for a progressive scan DVD
player. Support
this site: buy through our links. |
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$749.00
at |
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Contact Information: Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc., 9351 Jeronimo Road, Irvine, CA 92618-1904
Visit the Mitsubishi DVD web site. View their specification sheet for their line of DVD players, the product drawing and dimensions sheet for the DD-6000 DVD player.
Did you find this product review helpful? Let us know your thoughts, send an e-mail to us at Feedback@TimeForDVD.com
Used In Testing: The following DVDs were used in testing this DVD player: A Bug's Life, Tarzan, Meet Joe Black, Pleasantville, Tomorrow Never Dies, and Fleetwood Mac: The Dance. The following audio CDs were used: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Titanic: Music from the Motion Picture, The Best of Fourplay, and Celine Dion's The Colour of My Love.
Calibration: Our home theater equipment was calibrated with the Video Essentials DVD.
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