It's reported that DVD is set to replace VHS over the next three years. Almost 47 million European  households will have a machine by 2003. This is amazing, particularly when you consider that only a small number of these machines will be able to record like VHS that they supposedly replace. Still, there's no stopping the DVD revolution, fuelled by plummeting hardware prices.

Hitachi's brand new DVP-505E DVD player is a prime example of this price erosion, because just one year ago a player of this capability would have cost almost twice its £300 asking price. It's typical of the latest generation DVD players in the sense that comprehensive features and decent sound quality are now common. 

The DVP-505E uses Hitachi's own DVD drive and will play DVD/ VCD/ CD/CD-R and CD-RW discs, making compatibility excellent. A zoom feature lets you switch between two and four times magnification and there are on-screen sliders to adjust the selected zoom area, to focus in on those all-important details!

As far as built-in decoding is concerned, the 505E will only decode Dolby Digital 5.1 on-board, not DTS. There's a Dolby Digital output as well as digital outputs for MPEG multi-channel and DTS. Other outputs include analogue video out, Video S out, Scart out and  '5.1 channel' analogue audio outputs. The remote control supplied is one of the easier to use types, although bereft of the handy jog wheel found on Sony's models.

DVD technology currently allows players from non-specialists like Hitachi to sound as impressive as models from Sony or Denon, and this was the case with the DVP-505E. With red book CD, the 505E delivered a full-on, forward sound from Supergrass's latest album that was both exciting and musical in equal measure. Vocals were clean and detailed, and bass firm and deep, if a little coloured. This is a long way from the 'treble roll-off' smoothness found in the first DVD players. Although there isn't quite as much detail present as you'd get from similarly priced CD players like Rotel's RCD-951, there's plenty of excitement.

The Classic label's 24/96 recording of Rachmaninov's Symphonic dances was next in the tray and the detail absent from conventional 16/44.1 CD was made up for in abundance. Lots of high frequency information from percussion such as triangles was played with sparkling presence. Strings were a tad dry sounding and violins a little harsh, but the double basses powered their way through the piece like a hot knife through butter, showing the Hitachi has no lack of bottom end grunt.

Programming myself into 'popcorn munching, couch potato' mode I slipped a copy of The Bone Collector into the disc drawer, and settled down for an evening of entertainment courtesy of Angelina Jolie and a serial killer. Picture and soundtrack quality was very good, pauses did exactly that and the dynamics of the shock-a-minute soundtrack made sure I didn't doze off. 

My personal dilemma with DVD players comes in the form of confusing on-screen graphics and commands. With a little help from the manual, the DVP-505E managed to prompt me through playing back and programming a pre-arranged sequence okay, so it duly gets my thumbs up for user-friendliness!

For its £300 street price the Hitachi DVP-505E offers fine value for money. It plays music to a very good standard, although it can often get a little too excited by certain recordings. This, however, makes it ideal for film soundtracks. If you favour an up-front sound with bags of sonic thrills coupled with the ability to play movies you could do a lot worse than demo this player from Hitachi.

WORLD VERDICT
Fine value DVD player with good, if rather forward, CD replay.