T+A DVD 1210R
DVD Player

Class Act

T+A DVD 1210R
ALL DVD PLAYERS ARE THE SAME, THESE DAYS, AREN'T THEY? WELL, NOT QUITE, SAYS ALVIN GOLD, AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE HIGH-END T+A 1210R

It's a DVD player, squire, but not as we know it. And this is no reference to the stunning machined aluminium casing, which leaves everything else on the sane side of £2,000 looking a bit, well, down-at-heel. In fact there are surprises at every turn, but let's cut to the chase.

The DVD1210R will do things that you just won't find elsewhere. For example, one of its digital outputs will deliver a digital datastream with the subcodes stripped out. Those missing subcodes enable SCMS (Serial Copy Management System), which allows discs to be copied digitally, but prevents further copies being made. This means that the 1210R can be used to create disc copies, which can then be used to produce more copies in the digital domain - not a practice we can endorse. T+A, of course, warns in the instructions against recording from this output.

The appeal of the DVD1201R extends much further though, notably because it is region-free . But this is not another Far Eastern multiregion player with indifferent video performance, naff sound and no future. T+A is a prominent German manufacturer with a strong presence in the hi-fi market. What's more, the company's blend of lifestyle aesthetics and sophisticated technology looks likely to become much more widely known in the UK following a recent change in UK distribution.

This player definitely looks the part, and its build quality is exemplary - from the all-aluminium casing to the extensive demarcation and internal screening of the circuit, e.g. the fully screened audio section. The player is built around a standard Philips ASD 1 mechanism transport, while digital chippery includes an ST Omega T5005 MPEG video decoder and 10-bit/27MHz video DAC with discrete video amps and separate composite, S-video and RGB processing chains. The audio section includes twin Analog Devices AD1853 24/192 DACs per channel and a Motorola DSP5632 that performs upsampling and other DSP prior to D/A conversion. Other relevant components include an Analog Devices AD823 for I-V conversion, and the Burr-Brown OPA627 buffer. Unusually, the power supply is based on separate conventional transformers for the analogue and digital circuits rather than the cheaper, single switch mode type.

Control Freak

The DVD1210R has no onboard surround sound decoder. Audio is available in analogue stereo or digitally for external processing. The player is not directly remote controllable, which must make it unique in the annals of DVD players, but it comes with an external IR receiver on a long extension wire, and a well designed handset. Well designed - but inconsistent with the front panel controls. Overall, the control system is not this player's greatest asset.

If the control system is not all it might be, it works well enough, and in certain areas unusually so. As T+A is first and foremost an audio company, and given the use of upsampling and a choice of audio digital filters, you will not be surprised that its real strengths lie in audio processing. The digital filters have a subtle, but crucial effect on music, as illustrated by their effect on factors like preringing. This is the generation of artefacts just before the musical signal. Reducing or eliminating preringing through the use of so-called time-domain filters (in this case a Bezier filter, available in two variants) has a very small effect on upper treble performance linearity. Where the standard filters give the T+A a bold, almost clipped and very precisely articulated sound, the Bezier IIR filter delivers a more natural sound, less CD-like, but more fluid and natural. All this, while still retaining the player's characteristically strong dynamics and solid bass.

With video, the T+A is marginally less impressive. It falls a little short of the current state of the art, with slightly smudgy colours in poorly lit areas, though picture definition is crisp enough and stability is everything expected of a good DVD player. Surprisingly, this hugely expensive player lacks the video niceties you might expect: there's no component outputs and no progressive scan. The best best images are only available from the S-video and RGB outputs, while the composite output stood up better than usual. Overall this is an enjoyable player to watch, even if it lacks the ultimate on screen vibrancy and purity, especially in large uniform areas where video noise tends to be more obvious.

If you want multiregion playback, or to copy CDs without SCMS, the T+A 1210R has few rivals. It's also proof that a DVD player can be a CD player. And we can't overlook the build quality.