$98 Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-Ray Player (4) – Usage Impression Follow Up

When I first got the Magnavox NB530MGX I was using an older Pioneer receiver that lack of HDMI connection which means I was not able to decode the HD audio formats. I was using the coaxial digital output of the NB530 to the receiver. The result of course is as good or as bad as regular DD or DTS.

By coincident, right after I got the NB530, I stumbled upon a great deal on Yamaha RX-V665 receiver. As a receiver, the Yamaha RX-V665 has a rather mediocre power supply and even worse power amp section but if use as a pre-amp and processor, it is quite decent. Anyway, connecting the NB530MGX to the RX-V665 is straight forward; all is required is the HDMI cable.

The NB530MGX does not have HD audio decoder but it can pass the HD audio bitstream when HDMI HD audio output is selected. The Yamaha RX-V665 detects and decodes DTS HD Master or DD TrueHD or for that matter, PCM without any problem.

Speaking of decoding HD audio, many more expensive Blu-Ray players besides adding what I view as less than useless BD live function, they also added HD audio decoding. On the other hand, most if not all the sub $300 players even most of the sub $400 players do not have multi channel analog outputs. If a player does not have multi channel analog output then what is the use to decode the HD audio inside the player? The need to have the player to do in player decoding is for those older receiver is not capable to decode the HD audio, most of which does not even have HDMI input. Without analog output, the decoded HD audio bitstream is of no use for those older receiver, as those greedy studios would not allow HD audio stream be sent over the coaxial or optical digital I/O. While it is true there are some early HDMI days receiver has the HDMI input for PCM stream but does not have ability to decode HD audio, their number are far fewer than receivers either do not have the HDMI connections or the newer ones like the Yamha RX-V665 that is capable to decoding. The question then is why pay for something most people don’t need? Even for someone like me who did not own a HDMI HD audio capable receiver when I got the Blu-Ray player, I would not want to pay the extra to have built-in decoder. I would rather save the money to get a receiver that does. It does not have sense when you have more than one HD audio capable devices each has its own decoder when all is required is one set in the receiver.

I only have a small issue with the remote in the sense I think the FF/RR and chapter skip keys can be better arranged and somewhat bigger. As for the NB530MGX itself, I am quite happy about it. True, it is profile 1.1 and does not have Ethernet connection and that’s fine as I consider the BD Live even the Java stuff is more harm than good as they are the causes of most of the incompatibilities among Blu-Ray world. As mentioned, the unit does not decode HD audio, which is good as I don’t want to pay for something I don’t want or need. As long as it can send raw HD audio bitstream to the receiver, I am happy. The player is also a very good upscaler for regular DVD. In fact, some of the good DVD looks far better than those poorly made BD!

By looking inside the player, I would say there is more room to cut cost and yet made the player even more reliable and possible performed better. I would not be surprised to see the next generation of this player lower the price by another $10 or even $20. But if you don’t want to wait, $98 is a good deal.

$98 Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-Ray Player (3) – Inside the Cover

Out of curiosity, I opened up the Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-Ray Player. I was surprised for a low end unit; there are more screws than a Yamaha RX-V665 receiver that need to be unscrewed to open the unit. They probably can cut 1/3 of the screws without affecting performance or rigidity of the casing.

Once open up, I am more surprised to find how the unit is assembled. As shown on the pictures, the unit has two large circuit boards, the green one below the Blu-Ray drive should be the digital control board and the brown one has the power supply and analog output connectors. Behind the front panel is the display control board. What is surprising is normally a low end or even not so low end player has the disc drive on one side and the control boards next to it, instead of two large control boards with one beneath the disc drive. By so doing not only add to the cost but may also lower the reliability as now they need more connectors. The only logical reason I can think of doing this way is the disc drive and the control board below it are actually a set that is made by someone else or shared with other models. Regardless, it does not appear to be the most efficient way to mass produce a unit low cost or otherwise.

Because the way the disc drive and the control board seems intertwined, I did not want to take the risk to break anything, I was not able to see most of the components on the board that is covered by the drive. What is visible is a Panasonic chip which I am again surprised to find someone tried both physically scratch out and using a maker to cover the marking of the Panasonic part. Those people at Funai or whoever made this board for them must be the paranoid type!

Well, while I wasn’t able to see what the major components are, it is nonetheless “educational” to see how a supposedly low cost unit by a large high volume DVD player maker was made.

$98 Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-Ray Player (2) – Setup and Use

Setup for a basic player like the NB530MGX is simple and straight forward enough one probably does not even need to look at the manual.

In my setup, for video, I connected the HDMI port to a powered HDMI switch, which in terms connected to a gizmo called HDFury that convert HDMI to component video and it is connected to an old Mitsubishi VS-60111 using RGB input. Since the Magnavox has component video output and my old TV and receiver both has component video input, why do I want to go through the trouble to use HDMI switch and converter? The answer again is due to the evil empire of the studios and their HDCP DRM scheme. If the content of a DVD disc is “protected”, which probably include over 99% of the DVD sold in US, the player cannot upscale it through component video. 480P is the max. resolution allowed. This means if you only have an old HDTV that was manufactured before this evil HDCP day; you would not get the full function of this player that you have already paid for. If you think this is bad, the same evil empire is working even to eliminate 1080i component video output even for Blu-Ray playback.

Since my old receiver does not have HDMI connection, I have to use the digital output from the player to the receiver. Again, this means I will not be able to enjoy the full function of even the basic player because the player will downgrade the sound track before it sends to the digital output.

After everything is connected, power the player and the TV screen is….jumping and fuzzy lines. Have no fear. This is only due to the HDFury is telling the player it can do 1080P while as the TV can only do 1080i. No big deal. Just use the “HDMI” button on the remote with the display on the front panel of the player to cycle through and resolution selections and the player is ready to play.

From standby to eject the tray is surprisingly fast. It only took 15sec from the time I hit the eject bottom on the remote till the player wake up and eject the tray. This is much faster than the Toshiba A3 HD DVD player and on par with many low cost DVD players. It is certainly not the snail pace of even high end early Blu-Ray players.

Video quality for Blu-Ray is probably as good as can be expected from an old RPTV. What is surprising is the upscaling quality of the regular DVD. We have three players has upscale capabilities, a Oppo DV-980H DVD player, Toshiba A3 HD DVD player and this Magnavox NB530. Both the Oppo and Toshiba have good reputation on their upscaling. In my setup, I think the Magnavox is just as good as the Toshiba and better than the Oppo. But here is the problem of HDCP again. If you do not have HDMI, you will lose this great upscale capability of the player even you already paid for it. The image quality of a carefully mastered recent DVD upscaled to 1080i is very good. Depends on your TV and viewing distance, one may be hard pressed to see the difference between regular DVD and Blu-Ray. Can I see the difference? Yes, I can. Would I pay more for Blu-Ray movie? Well, if it is $1 or $2 yes. But I certainly will not pay 50% more let alone 2X or even 3X more for Blu-Ray movies.

This player does have an annoyances issue on playing old 4:3 “full screen” DVD and that include those fake none anamorphic “widescreen” DVDs. The player will not automatically adjust the aspect ratio and the video image is stretched. You have the manually goes into the setup menu to change the aspect ratio.

Audio wise, since I don’t have HDMI capable receiver and the player does not have multi channel analog output, I would not be able to test out the lossless sound tack on some of the Blu-Ray disc. As far as regular DVD quality level playback, it is about the same as most average DVD player out there.

This is a Blu-Ray profile 1.1 player which means it does not have network connection for BD Live. Personally after reading all the horror stories on the web about the stupid BD Live, I think I will miss that junk function.

Overall, I would think at $98 is a worth well purchase and I am happy about it. In fact, I feel pretty good I passed Fry’s $199 one day special for the Sony S360 and waited for this one instead.

p.s If you need HDMI cable, don't wast money on those retail stores want to sale one to you for $49 or worst. Good quality cable does not mean you have pay high cost. I use one from monoprice.com and only paid $4.74 plus shipping for a good 10ft HDMI cable. You can choose diffent cable color that make cable management easier.

$98 Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-Ray Player (1) - The Packaging

When Walmart dropped the price for the Magnavox Blu-Ray player to $98, I broke down and brought one. But is it any good?

Make no mistake this is a basic entrant level Blu-Ray player. The packaging is also very basic but I suppose is adequate. The flip of the box has a diagram for the back panel connectors is a good design, at least better than nothing. Inside the box are the following,

• The player
• Remote
• Battery for the remote
• Analog composite video RCA cable
• Two channel analog audio RCA cable
• Manual

The back of the player has the following connectors

• HDMI for video and audio
• Component video
• Composite video
• Analog stereo audio
• Digital optical audio
• Digital coaxial audio

The power cord is the none removable type.

That’s it. But then for $98 what do you expect? If you need a component video cable, you probably can use the included analog audio and composite as component video cable. While it may not look very elegant, it gets the job done.

Please note, my local Walmart place this play and the older NB500MG9 on the same stack for the same price. You want to be sure you get the right one. As newer unit, once would assume it has improved electronic. At very min. the new model has both optical and coaxial audio output while the older model only has coaxial output.