Denon DVD-2500TBCI Blu-ray Player Reviewed

Published On: February 9, 2009
Last Updated on: October 31, 2020
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Denon DVD-2500TBCI Blu-ray Player Reviewed

This new Denon Blu-ray player is a digital transport, which means that it has no analog outputs in the audio or video realm. The DVD-2500TBCI ($899) does have high-resolution audio decoding, but it's a Profile 1.1 player with no network connectivity or BD-Live support.

Denon DVD-2500TBCI Blu-ray Player Reviewed

By Author: Dr. Ken Taraszka

Ken Taraszka M.D. is an anesthesiologist by trade based in Tampa Bay, Florida. Ken is also a professional audiophile and home theater writer specializing in AV preamps and all facets of the audiophile market. In the past, Ken has been a staff writer and editor at AVRev.com. He has also at times been a frequent contributor at AudiophileReview.com.

Denon_2500_Blu-ray.gifIn case you haven't heard, there is a new king of home video, and it's Blu-ray. Once you see a Blu-ray disc, the picture quality is so much better than that of a standard-definition DVD that it is nearly impossible to go back to the old SD format. Blu-ray doesn't stop there, though. The increased storage space allows for markedly better audio tracks, including Dolby Digital Plus, and even the holy grail of audio, completely uncompressed 7.1 soundtracks from both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. While Blu-ray had a rough start and even got some scars in the format war with the now-defunct HD DVD, more and more titles and players are sold each day, and the quality and usability of players improves almost as rapidly. The initial Blu-ray players were finicky at best and often lacked the features needed to utilize the audio codecs, but as time has gone by, players have added functionality and usability.

Additional Resources
• Read more Blu-ray player reviews by HomeTheaterReview.com's staff.
• Find an LED HDTV or plasma HDTV to get the most out of the DVD-2500TBCI.

Denon, a world leader in consumer electronics, has recently released three high-end Blu-ray players. The DVD-2500BTCI is the middle model in that line. The Denon DVD-2500BTCI is a Blu-ray transport, so it outputs only digital signals over HDMI and you need to have a receiver or AV preamp that can accept bitstream or LPCM to use it. Priced at $899, the DVD-2500BTCI is designed to be the premier silver disc spinner in a modern high-end home theater.

The DVD-2500 BTCI offers 10-bit video processing for scaling of standard DVDs up to 1080p and will output both bitstream and LPCM for all the new audio codecs, as well as all the legacy ones like Dolby Digital and DTS. It will play CDs, Kodak picture and Fuji Color CDs, WMA and MP3 CDs, DVDs and, of course, Blu-rays. The player is large at just over 17 inches wide, five-and-a-half inches tall and almost 15-and-a-half inches deep, weighing 20 pounds.

Denon put a lot of work into multiple sections of the unit to keep interference down and maximize performance, thus adding to the weight. The front of the unit has the new smooth Denon look, which I have grown to like much more than the etched lines of their prior gear. The smooth arcing of the face from top to bottom is graceful. The front of the player is pretty simple. A power button is on the lower left, with the display and disc tray centrally located, and the transport keys and resolution setting to the right. The rear is even simpler. Being a transport, the only output is a single HDMI 1.3a connector in the top middle, with a two-prong IEC power adaptor on the right. For control, IR controllers are offered as well as an RS 232 port are under the power plug.

The Hookup
Connecting the Denon DVD-2500BTCI to my system couldn't have been easier, thanks entirely to HDMI. I knew this player was on its way, so I had already prepared rack space for it. When it arrived, I simply unboxed it and slid it into the rack. I connected the HDMI output to the Krell Evolution 707 AV preamp, plugged it in and I was up and running in minutes. Straight out of the box, the Denon DVD-2500BTCI recognized the Krell Evolution 707 as taking LPCM and it passed all audio that way. When I swapped it into my bedroom with the Marantz SR8002 receiver, it immediately recognized it as taking bitstream and delivered that to the receiver. I was really happy to see this, as early adopters of Blu-ray have been fighting to make things work, while the Denon simply did it.

The set-up menu is pretty straightforward. I set my TV's resolution and how I wanted the audio to be output. You can also select parental safeguards, auto power off, screen saver options and, of course, control slide shows, among other features. I set the resolution to 1080p/60 Hz and the HDMI output to normal and was off and running. I was ready to watch some Blu-rays with totally uncompressed audio in my reference rig in less than ten minutes.

Performance
I watched the new Batman film The Dark Knight (Warner Home Video) first. Historically, I find the Batman series to be tough to reproduce. They are filmed in dark and often gloomy areas, and while this film is clearly brighter than the prior ones, there are plenty of dark scenes and the Denon did a great job of reproducing the subtle differences in black levels while also handling the high contrasts of other scenes. The uncompressed Dolby TrueHD soundtrack was amazing. The soundstage was huge and taller than I remember hearing with other films. Tiny details were ever apparent, whereas with Dolby Digital or DTS, they could be lost. The bass of explosions was unbelievable. Once you hear these new codecs, even on a simple receiver-based system, you will be awed, but to have them on my reference rig made them seem legendary. Every detail, from the drop of a foot to the explosion of the hospital, was more detailed and distinct than I have ever heard on Dolby Digital or DTS.

Read more about the performance of the DVD-2500TBCI Blu-ray player on Page 2.
Denon_2500_Blu-ray.gif

I kept to the action genre with Hancock (Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment) and, again, Dolby TrueHD blew me away. The sound was
incredibly open and dynamic, with great depth of bass on the many
scenes of damage that occured in the start of the film, while the
voices stayed clear. The video was incredible, handling the fast motion
perfectly, while the colors stayed rich and vibrant, even in
high-contrast scenes. Flesh tones were accurate and edge detail was
some of the best I have seen, even from Blu-ray.

My wife and stepdaughter brought home the DVD version of The House
Bunny (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), so I decided to see how the
Denon scaled standard-definition DVDs. While the image was not as good
as the Blu-rays I watched, it was scaled exceptionally well, even
slightly exceeding Denon's 5910CI, which I often use for watching DVDs.
The film is full of bright colors and sharp contrasts that the Denon
DVD-2500BTCI handled with ease. Skin tones were true and grasses
perfectly green. While the soundtrack was only Dolby Digital, it was
well done, albeit a bit of a letdown after listening to uncompressed
audio. However, this is no fault of the player, but rather the fault of
the format. Had they had the Blu-ray disc of this film, I suspect I
would have been saying something different here.

I cued up John Lee Hooker's Shake Holler & Run (Delta) to see
how the Denon did as a compact disc transport. This isn't the
best-recorded album by any means, but the music is legendary for the
genre and for John Lee Hooker fans. From the opening track of "Baby,
You Ain't No Good" to the more upbeat "Jump Me (One More Time)," the
rawness of the guitar was true to life and Hooker's voice was
excellent. I've had the pleasure of seeing and even drinking with John
Lee Hooker and this transport and album brought me back to those days
of yore when I was younger and wilder. Isn't that what music is all
about?

I had to torture-test this transport, as it wasn't the fastest
Blu-ray player I have, so I decided to see how quickly it could cue up
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Buena Vista Home
Entertainment), which is a notoriously slow-loading disc for Blu-ray
players. After powering on, the player took 30 seconds to open the disc
tray and another minute to load and start the disc. This isn't the best
out there, but I could live with it. I would like it to be faster, and
hopefully Denon will implement firmware updates that do this, but for
now, it is far superior to some of the first-generation players'
30-minutes-plus load times of this disc. Once the disc was loaded, it
played flawlessly and had some of the best contrast I have ever seen on
Blu-ray.

I had to test the DTS HD master audio track of one of my reference
Blu-rays, X-Men: The Last Stand (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
and I was very happy with what I saw and heard. The detail and colors
were spot-on, while the uncompressed audio was far superior to the
standard DTS I had previously used from this disc, offering a wider
soundstage with improved detail, both from very dynamic scenes and
quieter ones.

I rent many discs from Netflix. Unfortunately, others don't take as
good as care of them as they should. I had two rented discs cause me
problems on the Denon. Both The X-Files: I Want to Believe (20th
Century Fox Home Entertainment) on Blu-ray and The Kite Runner
(DreamWorks Home Entertainment) on SD DVD locked up. I was able to get
back to the main menu on the SD DVD, but on the Blu-ray, I had to
manually eject the disc and start over. I could not see any major
damage on the SD disc, but the Blu-ray of X-Files had a large divot in
it.

Low Points
The Denon DVD 2500BTCI is larger than most Blu-ray players, so it will
take up a bit more space. This is only a transport, which audio purists
like me are fond of, but if you need more than an HDMI 1.3a digital
output, this is definitely not the player for you. Load times are not
the fastest on the DVD-2500BTCI, but aren't intolerably long as in
early-generation players, hopefully firmware updates can improve this.

The Denon DVD-2500BTCI is not a profile 2.0 player. It lacks
internal and mountable memory or an Ethernet port, so if you must have
the downloadable add-ons for your entertainment, look elsewhere. In my
time with the Denon, I had some rental discs lock up the player,
especially Blu-rays with damage. This isn't so much a fault of the
player as the disc, but I have to mention it.

Conclusion
The Denon DVD2500BTCI Blu-ray transport is a solidly-built Blu-ray
transport that offers topnotch audio and video performance. It lacks
profile 2.0 status and has relatively slow load times. In this day and
age, after all this time, I would like them to be faster. I for one
would rarely, if ever, use the Profile 2.0 features of Blu-ray players,
but if you are the type of person who will, this transport won't do it
for you.

What this transport does offer is incredible audio and video
reproduction and the ability to automatically recognize whatever
digital input your receiver or AV preamp needs and deliver the audio
with great detail and finesse. If you are the type looking for the best
performance and have the necessary associated equipment to use a
Blu-ray transport, this is one of the best out there. It will reward
your patience for the less than stellar load times with incredible
performance at a price that won't kill you. 

Additional Resources
• Read more Blu-ray player reviews by HomeTheaterReview.com's staff.
• Find an LED HDTV or plasma HDTV to get the most out of the DVD-2500TBCI.

  • greg
    2009-02-14 02:51:43

    <p>Definitely if your looking for a transport, this seems to be the ticket. I agree with the 2.0 profile thing, at this price it should have it, its just right now the companies don`t seem like its that important to them.</p>

  • Ken Taraszka, MD
    2009-02-14 01:48:56

    <p>I have been bashed by many people on forums for saying the PS3 is not a good Blu-ray player. I did the test A-B ing it to several early generation players and even they beat it with color saturation, edge detail and noise, but many still think the PS3 is the tops!</p> <p>The Denon is clearly heads and shoulders above the PS3 as a player, hell for that matter, EVERY stand alone player I have tested it against is better!</p>

  • Jerry Del Colliano
    2009-02-13 23:54:57

    <p>I also have a PS3 and there is a lot to love about the PS3 but c'mon - this Denon is heads and shoulders above the PS3 and for the price it should be....</p> <p><br /> </p>

  • Doc Greene SR
    2009-02-13 09:14:25

    <p>I have been watching one of these for a couple of months and I love it. I had the PS3 before and this is better. It looks great on regular DVD's and on BluRay it is stellar. </p>

  • Ken Taraszka, MD
    2009-02-11 05:22:07

    <p>Moose,</p> <p>I would have bought this player had Denon offered it to me for $450!!!! It is really good, and no doubt one, if not the, best Blu-ray player I have had (yes, I have had seven others to date!) </p> <p>Is it better than the PS3? YES!!! Both on audio and video. </p> <p>Yes, it isn't Profile 2.0, and you are right, we have yet to see what that will mean, but if I saw this unit for $450, I would have snatched it up!!! I truly prefer the interface to be wireless like the Sony BDP-S350/550 or the PS3, it makes sense, we all have wireless networks in our homes, so why not be able to set our players to be able to seek and download (and install) firmware updates when they occur, rather than us finding out the problem when we go to playt certain discs??</p> <p>I guess we are still fighting the infantile problems of a new format. Fortunately things are WAY better than they were even a year ago, and will only continue to improve. I remember the days of MAJOR incompatibility problems with HDMI and Blu-ray, these issues are totally gone now, and soon will all the other ones we early adopters gripe over.</p> <p>Ken Taraszka, MD</p>

  • TheMoose
    2009-02-11 04:48:51

    <p>I'm very disapointed that Denon is still not releasing profile 2.0 players!!<br /> While I agree there is not much reason for Profile 2.0 right now who knows what will be accessible at a later date with 2.0. <br /> I am not spending almost $1000 (with tax) for anything but a 2.0 player.</p> <p>I want a standalone to take over the Blu-Ray playing duties from my PS3 but I want it as future proof as my PS3 is!<br /> That means profile 2.0 & the ability to get firmware upgrades from an ethernet connection!</p> <p>How does the audio & video of the Denon compair to the PS3?<br /> Is there a noticeable difference?<br /> I almost picked up one of these as an open box at Bestbuy for $450 but I just couldn't get past it not being 2.0 or having an ethernet connection for firmware upgrades.</p>

  • greg
    2009-02-10 06:28:46

    <p>I have to say this seems to be a lock. As I mentioned earlier in another comment, 2.0 profile is important to those that need it now. Otherwise, this player performs excellently. And at $899. this is not a break your bank purchase. </p> <p>Loooks solid to me.</p>

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