August 2001 Reviewed by Doug Blackburn	Kenwood DV-4070 DVD Player

Description Price: $1000 USD Dimensions: 17.25"W x 5"H x 16.125"D Weight: 14 pounds Warranty: One year parts and labor Features Five-disc carousel Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 decoding 24/96 DACs and 24/96 digital output 10-bit video DAC Digital outputs: one coaxial and one TosLink optical

Features (continued) Analog outputs: one six-channel set and one stereo set (gold plated) Video outputs: two composite, two S-video, one component (gold plated) Pure Audio Mode (disables all circuitry except audio processing) Virtual Surround (surround effect from stereo loudspeakers) Picture Mode Control Headphone jack with level control and Virtual Headphone Mode Play Exchange Precision Digital Timing Repeat Play, Random Play, Programmable Play 20-key remote with joystick

My recent Kenwood VR-4090 receiver review delved into Kenwood’s background, especially their publicly stated goal of delivering better sound and equal or better features than similarly priced products from other manufacturers. This time out let’s jump immediately into the DV-4070 multidisc DVD player.

Your first question is, undoubtedly, "What is a multidisc DVD player?" It is simply Kenwood’s terminology for their DVD-A players, which handle multiple 120mm optical disc formats: You can play CDs, DVD movies (DVD-V), DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and a host of less well-known disc formats on the five-disc carousel DV-4070. You can load the player with five of the same type of disc or mix the formats.

Overview

The DV-4070's appearance is a step above that of budget DVD players, but the unit’s not quite the "looker" the VR-4090 receiver is. The DV-4070 has plenty of plastic parts, but they never get in the way of the sophisticated array of features -- nor do they intrude on the video and audio performance. The simple front panel contains a large 15-character blue-dot fluorescent display, a power switch, five disc-selection buttons, the usual "play" controls, and a skip button to rotate stored discs into view for changing. Disc titles scroll across the display upon insertion if the disc includes that data.

The rear panel has what you expect for any DVD player that has internal surround-sound decoders and DVD-A, namely six-channel analog outputs. As with all current DVD-Audio players, the digital outputs are inoperable when you play DVD-A discs -- the music industry’s first generation of DVD-A copy protection.

The supplied dedicated remote control is both amazing and annoying. It works great, feels great in your hand, is nice and compact, and the most often used buttons are easy to find. On the other hand, it is not back-lit, so finding less frequently used controls is a real problem in all but brightly lit rooms. With only 20 buttons, the three-position slider on the side is needed to select alternate sets of commands for most of the buttons. These are color coded in green, orange and purple and are impossible to distinguish in dim lighting, let alone in the dark. Having as many as three separate functions for some of the buttons is asking a lot of the user.

Video performance

The DV-4070 produces DVD images that are sharper than those of most other players. However, the slightly less sharp images produced by some other DVD players are, in fact, more film-like. The Pioneer DV-525 I use is such a player and is very cinematic-looking with few distracting NTSC artifacts. I actually preferred the image quality of the Pioneer player to the as-delivered DV-4070, since the DV-4070's extra sharpness made edges a bit too sharp -- they actually shimmered against smooth backgrounds. This made special effects stick out like a sore thumb. Venetian-blind flicker (horizontal lines that appear and disappear, one of the NTSC artifacts) was very pronounced on vertical pans. Color, contrast, and shadow detail on the Kenwood were quite good, but the balance was slightly cooler than I prefer.

But wait!

With some DVD players, you can’t adjust the image. The image you see is what you get. The DV-4070 has a way out if the as-delivered image quality doesn’t suit your taste. This adjustability is one of its main selling points. If you select the "on screen" button on the remote control while a movie is playing, you gain access to a menu of video adjustments that are more comprehensive than the adjustments on many video-display devices. Take sharpness for instance: The DV-4070 permits you to set Picture Mode to "normal" (default), "fine," "soft," or "cinema" -- all of which adjust the relative sharpness level. But there are even more adjustments that will give you just the image you want, namely: color, tint, brightness, contrast, gamma (the shape of the contrast curve), DNR (dynamic noise reduction), sharpness and a few others. I found the "cinema" Picture Mode setting unusable because it raised the black level so high that blacks became featureless gray. However, I found the "soft" setting excellent for image quality once I moved the gamma to "plus two" and the DNR to "two." Venetian-blind flicker during vertical pans was reduced to the point where it was just slightly more noticeable than with the Pioneer DV-525, but the DV-4070’s images were still slightly sharper than those of the Pioneer player -- a fair-enough trade-off. The gamma adjustment put some snap into the image without losing any shadow or highlight detail. The DNR adjustment smoothed the rough edges and grain enough to re-integrate special effects into the film seamlessly. A small tweak to the tint control and the color balance moved from very slightly cool to the more neutral presentation I preferred. The contrast control needed a downward adjustment to match the white levels of the Pioneer DV-525 and Panasonic DVD-A310.

After the adjustments, images were neutral through the shadows, midtones and highlights. Color reproduction seemed to be at the limits of my video-display device rather than being altered by the DVD player itself. I was not that enthusiastic about the "stock" DV-4070 image quality, but after the adjustments, the DV-4070 was very enjoyable on both movies and concert discs.

The most difficult job a DVD player has is converting anamorphic DVDs to letterboxed images for 4:3 displays. This mode often separates less sophisticated DVD players from the better designs. The Kenwood DV-4070 did an excellent job in this mode, very close indeed to the Panasonic players, which seem to have a slight advantage in this mode over most other DVD players. The Pioneer can’t quite match either one, though it’s not far behind. When the anamorphic-to-letterbox 4:3 mode is not done well, the image can be slightly soft, a bit less dimensional, and may have visible pixel noise in smooth areas or flesh tones. Anamorphic DVDs will usually say something like "enhanced for widescreen displays" while non-anamorphic discs will not.

Movie surround sound

The DV-4070, paired with Kenwood’s VR-4090 receiver, produced some of the most dynamic and exciting movie sound I’ve ever experienced from a receiver-based home-theater system. I used the 4070's digital coaxial connection with both the VR-4090 and the Onkyo TX-DS777 receivers. In both cases, the DV-4070 produced very dynamic sound with deep, powerful bass, though the top three or four octaves were a bit dry-sounding.

To get an idea of how the DV-4070's internal Dolby Digital and DTS processors sounded, I ran its 5.1 analog outputs to the Kenwood VR-4070 and Onkyo TX-DS777. I was surprised to find myself having a difficult time finding any faults with the DV-4070’s internal decoders. In fact, there were times I thought the DV-4070’s internal decoding sounded a little better than the decoding in the Kenwood or Onkyo receivers. This is excellent news for someone who may have an older Pro Logic receiver. As long as it has 5.1 inputs, you can instantly upgrade to 5.1 digital sound (and DVD-A) by using the internal processors -- and know that you are getting excellent sound.

The DV-4070 played Lost In Space with a detailed and spacious sonic presentation that accurately placed effects in every channel. Listening was what you might call "user-driven." I could forget the technical aspects of the movie quite easily and just sit and enjoy. But when I found myself in analytical mode, I could easily pick out subtle details inserted to make the story seem real. The surround environment was transparent, large and convincing. The DV-4070 was, thankfully, not overly bright-sounding like some DVD players I’ve experienced.

The spacious soundtrack of Gladiator was dramatically reproduced. Here the dynamics of the DV-4070 made battles particularly vivid. Metal swords and other metallic weapons would ring and zing clearly over the other sounds of mayhem, even when the other sounds were far louder. Certain other details cut though complex and loud mixes as well, which made listening to some soundtracks a new experience, almost as if the mix were slightly different. The unusual Gladiator musical score was grand, spacious and lush. At times, the music enveloped the room in atmosphere, which you would want and expect from a premium-priced DVD player. Gladiator's impressive bottom end was more controlled and detailed than I’ve heard from any other DVD player to date. The DV-4070 really shines on reproduction of the bottom three octaves. It has the power, control and impact that make movies even more interesting and exciting to hear.

DVD-Audio

When you play DVD-A discs, all the internal processing is bypassed. Completely unmanipulated analog audio is sent to the six analog outputs. There is no bass management or choice of active channels when playing DVD-A discs. To enjoy DVD-A, you’ll need either a receiver or a processor with six analog inputs or a purpose-designed device like the R.E. Designs SCPA 1 six-channel preamplifier. For someone who wants the best in 5.1 music, a high-quality six-channel preamp like the SCPA 1 produces sound that is considerably better than that possible though a receiver or surround processor.

Nevertheless, DVD-A over the VR-4070 stunned me in spite of my not having an SCPA 1 on hand for this review. I’ve heard several DVD-A demos, but none of them ever sounded remotely close to what I heard from my system using the VR-4070. I had a limited selection of DVD-A discs: Aaron Neville’s Devotion, Venice Underground’s self-titled disc, Big Phat Band's Swingin’ For The Fences, Toy Matinee’s self-titled offering, and Kenwood’s DVD-A Sampler. Venice Underground was completely opaque and not particularly high fidelity, a production "style" that has been in fashion far too long and is overdue for permanent retirement. The other recordings were all exciting and involving to an extent I wasn’t prepared for.

Comparing DVD-Audio to the DTS 5.1 version on the same discs was revelatory through the Kenwood VR-4070. I used to think DTS 5.1 discs were, at the very least, good-sounding, and at their best, great listening experiences. Ha! DVD-Audio just blows away DTS 5.1 sound! There is literally nothing about DVD-Audio that isn’t better than any of the DTS 5.1 versions I had on hand for comparison -- at least when listening over the VR-4070.

Take the Toy Matinee disc, for example. I own two copies of the CD -- and the DTS 5.1 version as well. So I’m quite familiar with the stereo and DTS 5.1 versions. The new DVD-Audio disc contains DTS 5.1 and two-channel Dolby Digital, too. Switching from DVD-Audio to DTS 5.1 was a very large sonic step backwards. The DTS 5.1 sound was flat, not particularly transparent, seemed to be missing a lot of detail, and was generally kind of gray-sounding in comparison. DVD-Audio through the Kenwood player sounded surprisingly transparent and was much more dynamic. Instruments seemed to be portrayed with greater resolution and their positions were better delineated, making it sound literally as though "somebody turned on the lights." The entire room seemed far more open, with much more audible detail in every channel. Phantom images were much more stable and easy to detect with DVD-A. It was quite a contrast. My experience with the other discs was similar. The Dolby Digital stereo tracks, in comparison, were decidedly low fidelity in every way.

Final thoughts

The Kenwood DV-4070 is a premium-priced DVD player with premium features. It walks a careful line by avoiding images that are too sharp and sound that is too bright. The adjustable video should allow most users to dial in images that are significantly better than those possible from DVD players that lack these adjustments. There aren’t too many surprises, but the combination of assets, including the five-disc capability and DVD-Audio, make this a definite step-up DVD player -- or multidisc player, as Kenwood would have it.

Other DVD players are available at this price point with similar features, but without DVD-Audio capability. That alone makes the DV-4070 a high-value component. If you’re the adventurous type looking for a high-value player to explore DVD-Audio and you require that the player also serve tried-and-true formats well (the 24/96 digital output for CD playback makes the DV-4070 a good-sounding CD transport also), the DV-4070 is strong candidate for your consideration.

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