In the early summer of 2003 I had the pleasure of being among the first to highlight the qualities of a new Philips multi-standard player, the DVD 963SA. Supported by large threads of discussion in our Forum, the Dutch player became a pillar for many quality, cost/benefit oriented Audiovideo systems.

No surprise therefore that its heir has interestingly been awaited for, so that it’s with real interest that I light a spot on this DVP9000S. A few genealogy lines: this machine takes the place of the DVD 963SA while the DVD 900SA, announced earlier this year, hasn’t ever hit the market having been just an early factory code for the forthcoming DVP9000S — in fact, some 9000S still bear a "900SA" writing on their motherboards. Please also notice that older 960 player has nothing to do with these.

The question is obviously whether Philips has done any steps ahead with respect to the 963, an issue far from being granted — we’ve seen so many sons underperform their illustrious parents in this business so far.

A DVP9000S can be currently bought in Europe over the Internet for about Euro 350 shipping included, with Philips official international warranty.

Well, the first observation that strikingly comes out of my jotting is that this is not a "963SA MkII" but a brand new machine. Let’s see why.

The 9000S looks very nice and original, definitely better than in the pictures you find in the catalogue. it resembles something between a Mac (the computer) and the machines you can see in the movie "The legend of the extraordinary men"; installing the display aside the transport has allowed a thinner chassis than in the 963.

Lights and shadows on ergonomics: the beautiful, round display on the left side is an LCD one with pale grey digits on light blue background, so that it’s impossible to make out its indications from your sofa.

A jog control lights in the same colour on the opposite side, and the combination of the two might bring too much light into your personal cinema if placed directly below a TV set (CRT, plasma, LCD), so it would be better to dim them to the lowest of the three, RC-selectable levels. But they’re so beautiful to me that I preferred to keep them at the top light level (my players sit far enough from the display)!

Front panel controls are something you’d better forget about since their are so small one could use them for sight-testing. Two classy neon-blue LEDs light when the Video circuit cut-off ("Audio direct") is selected to keep your Audio stream as pure as possible and according to current upsampling. The transport loader edge palely lights up when playing back SACDs, a touch of finesse.

After the above remarks I had some worries about the comfort in the daily running of the player, but I have been fully reassured by the remote control that is really a piece one doesn’t easily come across even in much more expensive machines.

Beautiful, as heavy as a good remote should always be, it’s perfectly balanced when held in hand and straight stable when left on the table (you can operate it with no need to grab it). It is fitted with easily reachable, properly hard-to-press buttons. It can control other Philips devices such as a TV set (useful to me since I’ve got a Philips CRT TV), a Receiver, a DVD+RW. Being Philips RC codes rather common, I discovered it also handles some other-branded TV sets in my house. A light blinks when sending signal or selecting the device. A useful hint: though an "Open/Close" button is not present, the disc tray will open/close pressing the "Stop" button for about four seconds.

This player only gets mildly warm when on duty (the 963 gets much warmer). Top cover shows a heathsink that helps cooling the switching power circuit, by the way this is on the other side it used to be on the 963 and bears no earth connector. The thinner design allows an equally thinner, therefore more resistant, rear panel so that connectors feel "tougher" than in the 963. All RCA-sized connections (Video Component, S/PDIF, Audio) are gold-plated, good quality pieces bearing good insulation. The Progressive mode selector switch is placed here. Your front speakers (or stereo if you call them this way) are to be connected to the "Main" (Front) of the multi-channel output and not to the "Audio" jacks to take advantage of the best D/A chipset. This already happened with the 963. The HDMI slot is placed in the top left corner of the panel, where it’s little protected from shocks and pull outs: the standard for these connectors in my opinion is not as secure as their duty would require (and this is something Philips can’t help) therefore a central placement would have made me feel more comfortable.

Needless to say, Optical and S/PDIF digital audio outputs are also present along with a good SCART connection socket and YES, the 9000S does come out in RGB through it with no need to set anything in the OSD.

This though RGB output seems not to be present here according to the manual that does not mention this standard (but RGB is indicated in the tech specs sheet in the last page and its lack would be almost incredible…).

The player makes no noticeable noise when working; transport tray gets open and closed with the reassuring, straight movement of a good piece though TOC reading and track selection are really slow.

The young Philips device shows no tips or edges, heathsink grid slots are rather thin and the power cord socket shows a good grip, so the 9000S is a safe machine to keep at home even if you have got babies or pets.

It’s a fine work, better than the already fair DVD 963SA. It show a good assembly level with main section on different boards. A metal board strengthens the transport probably damping its vibrations, and some metal panels strengthen the structure and help cutting magnetic fields, for instance shielding the signal boards from mains power circuits.

Very good layout with little cables left, good quality in the surface-mounted components as well.

The Video board sports the Genesis (Faroudja) FLI 2310 de-interlacer chipset placed close to the Component / HDMI connectors that are both under its control. This chip features video upscaling to 720p and 1080i in HDMI.

Most of DVD management (M-PEG 2, DTS, Dolby Digital and Video DAC) is the task of a ZiVA-5 by LSI Logic.

Digital Crystal Clear functions are also available with the Faroudja DCDi package, along with Smart Picture and (an improved) True Life.

Audio chipsets include an excellent Cirrus CS4398 that runs a DSD processor but could also work with DVD-A, the Audio-DVDs (see below). This chip serves the Main (FL + FR or Stereo) jacks like it happened - with different chips - in the 963SA, and this explains the audio connections scheme suggested above. This chip bears an oversampled, multi-bit Delta-Sigma modulator (24bit/192KHz). A 6-channel Crystal CS4362 closes the parade. The 9000S can also rely on an Adi8066 ultra-high speed, 160 MHz OpAmp and on extra-low jitter crystals.

A thicker (2x1,5 or 2x2,5 mmq / AWG15 or 13), shielded power cord with a good, large plug (Schuko in continental Europe) is definitely advisable, but you don’t need to spend a fortune on that. Good cables are worth for Component connections, a bit less important with this player for the less sensitive RGB, do some tests with the HDMI (as I was saying, the connectors standard itself is a limit for high quality cables and perhaps this standard requires less expensive cables to work properly).

The DVP9000S is happy to discharge its vibrations to earth, so I got slightly better movies and music with three spikes under it and a marble tablet atop (mind the heathsink). Performances improve using mains filters, that allow the machine to close in to even higher class competitors than with normal supply. Most of my tests have been nevertheless run without filters , for these are not widespread devices yet.

I tried the new Philips with most of decoding and disc standards indicated in its tech specs sheet that you can find at Philips website or included in the manual, and it worked OK.

I include hereunder a list taken from Philips, but in case uncommon formats were really important to you my suggestion is to check that single machine in the shop before buying it.

According to what I experienced, DVD+R or DVD-R seem to make no difference and I haven’t had problems with copy-protected CDs, either. Some image .JPG discs needed a very long time to be loaded. The 9000S does NOT read DVD-A (I mean the high-resolution audio-only standard, not Video DVD soundtracks of course) despite what someone could understand from the manual. Philips is part of the SACD panel and that is their elective high resolution format (but this machine could have been set to be a universal audio player with little effort; by the way, it shares some hardware with other players in the market that read both SACD and DVD-Audio standards).

I connected the player in RGB to my Philips 32PW6826 32", 16:9 flat screen CRT TV set (SCART connector by G&BL). With RGB signal, the 9000S showed a good performance - better than the 963 that was just an average, decent player in RGB. The strongpoint of the machine here seemed to be the ability to cope even with the pushiest custom settings without losing the overall natural look of the images; movements were really fluid for an interlaced standard (e.g., fight scenes in "The Gladiator". I’ll be listing just some samples of the large stock of Video and Audio software I used). Image depth and ability to manage different light conditions without losing details is noticeable (for instance, ships interiors in the scene of the attack in "Pearl Harbor" or Colosseum dungeons and arena in "The Gladiator").

Then I tested the Philips with a NEC XM3 plasma TV set, taking full advantage of the Component Progressive Scan output and checking the HDMI port (G&BL connectors for digital, G&BL + others for Component). I understand that the upscaling in the latter can bring performance to heaven, but frankly much still depends on the display and the Component Progressive came out to be somehow more natural with that plasma TV set. I guess this does not apply to all displays, for instance most projectors take great advantage of the upscaled signal from the HDMI port.

The Component Progressive performance was really surprising, even better than the already very good 963SA’s one. Movement was completely seamless, fluid, and image depth was something one could find only in almost-top budget machines: see, for instance, the long dinner table at the beginning of "My best friend’s wedding". In the same movie, the "Ferrania 60s film" pastel colour of the header scene is perfectly reproduced without being too unnatural or… too natural (!). Really outstanding ability to reproduce colour shades even when very close to each other, with no noticeable smearing.

Even after having watched movies for a long time, I didn’t felt tired out.

This Philips took fair advantage of a mains filter (Black Noise by Systems and Magic) in terms of image fluidity especially in RGB, though the electricity mains line serving my Audiovideo setup is a dedicated, already optimised one.

To cut a long story short, the Video section is a step beyond the 963SA and I guess that a display that really likes HDMI (upscaled) signal could lead it to heavens. In this field the 9000S easily compares to gear that cost some multiples of its price.

My multichannel speakers set consists of a pair of Klipschorn as FL + FR plus Klipsch center speaker and AR IV RedBox as surrounds (DIY power cables). JBL subwoofer (DIY semi-balanced cable). The ZiVA-5 does an honest work, better than the old 963SA, but in my opinion this player will often have to deal with receivers that sport better conversion chipsets than it does. My old, beloved Marantz 7000 still performed better therefore I went for a digital S/PDIF connection (Cambridge Audio cable) and let the old boy do the job. The 9000S came out to be a good audio transport unit for my soundtracks (e.g. "Buena Vista Social Club", "Moulin Rouge"), but should you use it as an audio converter too (DTS, Dolby) you won’t regret too much even if this is not its killer application.

The DVD 963SA has left a footprint in players standard, fearlessly facing and often defeating much more expensive machines. The project team leader at Philips, Mr. Victor Tan, had warned me that the new device would go even further. And it did.

I went through long stereo listening sessions with my Klipschorn and ARIV RedBox, using tube amps like the PrimaLuna Prologue Two AB and my solid state set: Galactron preamp + two ClassA, 50W-each monoblock power amps (van den Hul and Galactron XLR connection cables; several DIY power cables; Systems and Magic BlackWire and DIY power cords). Live-end dead-end listening room, room acoustics tuned with DaaD (TT-like devices).

I also had the occasion to deploy a Micromega SACD/CD/Audio DVD as well, that had already been used in a comparison test with the 963SA.

The DVP 9000S makes it pointless buying a 1.5k Euro machine and choosing a 2.5k one (a Marantz SA17-S1!) a difficult decision; to find something definitely better you have to rocket to that Micromega SACD Reference (4.5k Euro), or to an Accuphase, or to other pieces of the same breed.

The sound of this player is by all means that of a high class device: first of all it shows a large, deep and tall soundstage and this is usually the performance that mid-class players get short-breathed with.

All instruments and voices bear their correct timbre and position in the space, and one can feel a lot of empty space among them even with symphonic music (e.g. "Scheherazade", Telarc CD). Mid and high frequencies are definitely correct and music shows a deep richness of harmonics and instrument details without becoming an x-ray picture. Great male and female voices (e.g. Freddy Cole, "Rio de Janeiro Blue", Telarc Jazz DSD CD and Rebecca Pidgeon, "Retrospective", Chesky SACD). Excellent rhythm and dynamics with drums and percussion (Takeshi Inomata, "Ex Spiral", New Sonic Dimension XRCD).

The DVP9000S also deserves an "A" ranking in overall music timbre (Arthur Rubinstein, "Chopin 19 Nocturnes", RCA Red Seal CD) and feels at home even with rock music (e.g. Pink Floyd, DSOTM, EMI SACD). The bass range has a character of its own: it’s deep (Framba, "Musica romantica per organo / Organ romantic music", SicutSol CD), it’s correct, but it is also somewhat "light" compared to other (top!) players. Even if this bass range reproduction is correct, this character that seems to be a kind of Cirrus chips family mark could need some careful matching if your Audio setup has little frequency depth.

It was not a problem with my Klipschorn and will not be with other large speakers or, on the contrary, with small bookshelves that don’t plunge that deep. As it had happened in Video, I experienced a further step beyond using a mains filter though it was not huge and the same result is not granted with any filter or in any setup.

As I mentioned in the openings, Video circuits can be switched off ("Audio direct") for the purest audio signal, and — more interesting — the player can perform two levels of upsampling from the 44.1KHz standard: 88.2 kHz and DSD. I’ve never been an enthusiast of these algorithms — I keep usampling switched off on my 963SA — and didn't like this 88.2 very much, either. .

But the DSD upsampling (that won’t turn you CDs in SACDs but, so to say, will "approach" that resolution level) is something worth a thorough consideration: music comes out smoother and somehow richer though the added information does not sound like an artefact; the whole result is really interesting, even if I didn’t keep it on it with all my CDs.

When it comes to SACDs, the player takes full advantage of the richer format and with properly mastered hybrid discs the 9000S playing the SACD layer definitely closes in to top CD-only players.

Though I’m not a SACD multichannel fan, I ran some tests and got a sound performance with this configuration too, though speakers levels setup takes a bit more than usual because rear channel level controls seem to be working in a not perfectly linear way.

A notice: as I was saying, the 9000S plays better than the 963SA but, being its sound also slightly different and not infinitely superior, if you want to switch from the old machine to the new for Audio only and your setup is not so sensitive, you’d better run some tests before (even though such a tiny budget makes changing harmless).

This player is a beautiful and well manufactured machine that can rely on one of the biggest names in the industry, and on an already large Internet knowledge base.

Had it been a Video DVD-only player it would have been a bargain anyway for its performances, since it plays movies in Component like a multiple-cost DVD player and sports an HDMI interface that could make you happy; and now performs very well in plain RGB too.

Had it been a CD-only player, it would have outperformed any 1.5k Euro gear, and seriously challenged many others.

Had it been a SACD player, it would have done this at a level that is very high even for that standard.

The fact is that the DVP 9000S Cineos carries out these duties all in once for the money that most of us spend for an interconnect cable. And, if cleverly wired up and tuned, perhaps with a mains filter, it further improves.

To go for another machine you must be contemporarily: a) strictly concentrated on only one of the above tasks, giving up the others; and b) relying on a very large budget (you lucky).

And you must be also sure that, for instance, buying a 3k Euro machine will bring better results than buying this Philips plus — say - a better display in exchange for your old one.

Otherwise, I warmly suggest you this multi-standard player that is capable of perfectly fulfilling the needs of most setups (and maybe of driving many to their limits).

Under this point of view, since it only misses DVD-A that is currently a minor standard, I am even more convinced that this machine is, like I said in the opening, a true "Universal Soldier".

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About Euro 350 over European websites, with Philips official international warranty. Shipping within Europe included.

Display 4:3, 16:9 Digital Zoom.

Audio: Crosstalk (1 kHz) : 108 dB. A/D converter: 192 kHz/24-bit/ hybrid DSD. S/N ratio: 115 dB

Virtual Surround 3D, night mode, DSD upsampling. Decoding: Dolby Digital AC-3, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Prologic, Dolby Prologic II, Dolby Prologic Surround Sound, Dolby Surround, DTS.

Video: MPEG1, MPEG2. Discs: CD-R, CD-RW, CD-R/CD-RW, DVD, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW (Video mode), DVD-R, DVD-Video, CD-MP3, Image CD, SVCD, Video CD, Video CD/SVCD.

DVD: NTSC, PAL, 720p and 1080i upscale, Digital Crystal Clear, DCDI Faroudja, upscaling video.

Audio standards: Dolby Digital, DTS, MP3, MPEG2 multicanale, PCM. Discs: CD-R, CD-RW, CD-MP3, CD, DVD-MP3, multi-channel SACD, Stereo SACD. MP3 : 8, 11.025, 16, 22.050, 32, 44.1, 48 kHz

Dimensions: 315 mm x 79 mm x 435 mm, approx. weight 5,3 Kg