DVD upconversion I’ve seen in any disc player at any price. The
751BD also had Marvell Qdeo video processing, but the implementa-
tion in the 752BD seems to be optimized better than the processing
from the 751BD. The difference isn’t large, but it was detectable in mid-
dle-of-the-road DVD transfers and on the HQV Benchmark DVD.
HDMI is really the only video output option for the 752BD due to
industry copyright violation concerns. Analog video outputs have been
eliminated except for a hobbled version of composite video that can
be used as a diagnostic option if it isn’t possible to get an image via
the HDMI connection.
Network video and cable/satellite video are the worst-quality video
sources we are likely to view on a home theatre system today, as far as
HD video sources go. Standard Def cable or satellite video is probably
the worst single source, other than really bad low-res online videos.
The 752BD uses the Marvell Qdeo processing for everything, whether
from a disc, network, or as an input connected to one of the HDMI
inputs. That means you can run the output of your cable or satellite box
into the 752BD and that video input will be processed by the Marvell
Qdeo processor and output via the 752BD’s HDMI connection. This, in
effect, turns the 752BD into something of an outboard video processor
for your lower-quality sources. The 752BD is capable of cleaning up
bad video, especially if you use some of the custom settings available
via the 752BD’s setup menu. Those settings won’t be needed for Blu-
ray Disc so you need to be aware of settings you use for lower-quality
sources and remove them for high-quality sources like Blu-ray Disc.
Between the input selection option you have on the 752BD and the
optional variable volume control, you could use the 752BD to directly
drive a multi-channel amplifier without a surround processor. This
option hasn’t been available from previous-generation Blu-ray Disc
players, but the current generation OPPO machines and the 752BD
support this new disc-player-as-control-center capability we haven’t
had in the past.
Network Media Support
The 752BD supports what is becoming standard for Blu-ray Disc
players these days… network support for images, video, and music as
well as direct-connection Internet applications. Some Blu-ray Disc
players may support up to eight or more Internet streaming services for
images, videos, music, and “Internet radio.” The 752BD supports only
YouTube and Picasa as of mid-February 2013. It is apparently possible
to add services via firmware updates, but Cambridge has not indicat-
ed whether they will expand offerings in the future or not. Frankly,
media support in Blu-ray Disc players can be superfluous if you have a
TV with Internet app support, so for many owners the short list of
Internet apps is meaningless.
I found the 752BD’s network playback of images, music, and video
was quite functional and useful. Previous generations of disc players
with network functionality tended to be clunky, slow, frustrating, and
prone to crashing while using network functionality. The 752BD very
obviously responds and navigates more quickly and did not crash for
me while I used Internet or network applications. These improvements
make using the network features considerably more pleasurable. As
was my experience with the OPPO disc players, playing music via
USB or Ethernet sounded better than playing a physical CD in the disc
transport. It wasn’t a large difference, but it was more obvious than the
difference in the three digital filters discussed elsewhere.
3D Performance
Not much to report here. If a disc player is an accurate 2D machine,
it will be an accurate 3D machine. The 752BD is just as impressive
when delivering 3D from Blu-ray 3D Discs as it is when delivering 2D.
For the first time, a Cambridge Blu-ray Disc player has the option to
convert 2D movies from discs or from any of the HDMI or USB inputs
to 3D. People seem to think this will be a wonderful thing, but the reali-
ty is that it’s really difficult to do worthwhile 3D conversion on the fly.
When a movie studio shoots a feature and converts it to 3D in post-
production, or when a previously released 2D movie is revisited and
converted to 3D, it takes the company (or companies) doing the con-
version a
long
time using powerful computers to render convincing 3D
from the 2D source. Operators also intervene to insure the selected
perspective is appropriate and correct.
Clash Of The Titans
has
become the poster child for bad 2D-to-3D conversions. People gener-
ally have quite a dislike for the 3D appearance of
Clash Of The Titans
.
But compared to the 2D-to-3D conversion capabilities of various TVs,
projectors, and disc players,
Clash Of The Titans
is a masterpiece of
3D conversion. The 752BD does have a 2D-to-3D conversion option,
but it’s really nothing but a novelty. I’ve never been entertained for any
length of time with the 2D-to-3D conversion available in video displays
or disc players, and the 752BD is no exception. If your expectations
are low, you won’t be disappointed.
This isn’t a knock on Cambridge or the 752BD. It’s simply a fact of
life. There’s a perceived need to have this feature in late-model video
displays and disc players, but none of them do it well enough to make
it entertaining for more than five minutes every six months. Customers
seem to want it. Marketing departments seem to think it’s necessary to
have. But nobody really benefits from it being there because today’s
ability to synthesize 3D from 2D on the fly in a disc player or video dis-
play just isn’t very impressive.
Digital Sound Quality
I tried to find obvious sonic differences between the HDMI and
coax outputs of the 752BD and other disc players, but there just wasn’t
anything identifiable. With AudioControl’s Maestro M3 doing the digital
decoding work, every disc player I had here sounded so similar via
HDMI or coax that there’s really no reason to spend a lot of money on a
Blu-ray Disc player if you’ll only use HDMI and/or coax for sound.
I will say that if you are listening to music, HDMI doesn’t sound as
good as coax or well-decoded analog. This isn’t Cambridge-specific,
this is the same for every manufacturer. Maybe someday that will get
worked out, but for right now, when I want to get the best-sounding
music playback from any disc player, the way to achieve that is to use
a USB or network input. For music playback, I got the best results with
the coax output or with the analog outputs. For movie sound, HDMI
was the equal of any other output option. Use of the multi-channel analog
outputs for movies had no obvious benefits unless the surround processor
lacked HDMI inputs. But, the multi-channel analog outputs were clearly
the best-sounding option for 5.1 DVD-Audio discs or SA-CDs.
Analog Sound Quality
This is one of the primary reasons high-end Blu-ray Disc players
like Cambridges’s Azur 752BD exist. If higher-end players didn’t offer
something above and beyond, what’s the point of stretching the budg-
et from a $200 or $500 disc player to a disc player selling for more
than $1,000? The analog sound from the multi-channel and stereo out-
puts is identical in every way I could identify. Not surprising, consider-
ing the same high-quality stereo DACs are used for both.
The 752BD has the best analog sound quality I’ve heard from a
Blu-ray Disc player so far… there, I said it. The high-end Blu-ray Disc
player getting the most attention these days is OPPO’s recently intro-
duced BDP-105. But the 752BD sounds better. The main difference is
that the BDP-105’s sound is more forward and has less depth. The
BDP-105’s stereo sound appears to emanate from a plane slightly for-
ward of the loudspeakers. The 752BD places the main plane of the
sound just behind the loudspeakers, and there’s a greater sense of
depth going back behind the loudspeakers and more sense of width to
the sides. The other difference I heard was that the 752BD’s sound
Cambridge Azur752BD Blu-ray Disc Player
Widescreen Review • Issue 175 • March 2013
3
3/4
