Insight into MVP891 Buying Experience

Set up only took a few minutes once the wired Ethernet network connection was established. Powering up (and down) takes about 20 ticks but this feature will protect the Mac’s circuits for many years.  On-screen menus are clear and clean, easy to navigate and virtually idiot-proof.  Firmware upgrades will be available in the future (not needed for my review unit, born in March 2012) and should load easily from the internet. But the fun really begins with the adjustment of the video parameters. This is one of the most flexible units that I have seen to date. You can fine tune the MVP891 for noise, contrast, brightness, gamma correction, hue, chroma, black, white, and near-black levels as well as picture detail and position. And there are 5(!) customizable memory settings. Custom speaker settings  and amplifiers are also present, although most of us will do set up our speakers via our surround processors.  I would caution newcomers that getting the most of the MVP891 should be done with a set up disc like the Spears and Munsil and, even better, with some assistance from your dealer/installer. Compatible with car stereo systems also.

For this review, I assumed that potential buyers of the MVP891 are looking for a no-compromise disc player. Not having 3-D capability (still limited in broadcast and consumer software), I fed this player numerous 2-D Blu-ray discs (still the way most of us watch). Going to Sunshine, the MVP 891 had no issues dealing with the incessant yellow in this film’s color palette. In The Fifth Element, not the last word in high-def but still in the game, I witnessed the best recreation of detail that I have yet seen. Bruce Willis’ stubble, the Blue Diva’s latex crinkles and the sweat beads on Gary Oldham’s brow were simply stunning. There was a near holographic quality to my 2-D Avatar, better than what I have been used to, considering the artificiality of all of the CGI proceedings.

CES 2012 – McIntosh Labs MX121, MC8207, and MVP891 Launch!

CES 2012 – This year CES 2012 saw many advancements. Few of the new products were launched abound in the McIntosh Labs suite at the Venetian in Las Vegas. These handcrafted reference quality products establish a new standard in  audio components available from McIntosh both in value and in this product launch, even in the available price point of a McIntosh Labs audio/video product.These products are used to give better results. McIntosh Labs manufactures home theater systems.

This new offering allows McIntosh audio quality to be mated with an extensive host of AV features and wide system integration. Users will be able to experience 7.1 decoding with the use of one or two subwoofers. Four optional channel outputs are on tap for left/right width and left/right height speaker placements. For additional zones there are two additional audio zone outputs to allow the user to send signals from the main zone sources to secondary zones. Each additional zone has independent volume control.  The products launched were MX121, MC8207 and MVP891