Thanks to Chad Boughton for the above pictures.

Thanks to Hartmut Hackl for the pictures.

Yamaha UK is going to introduce its CDV-1700 Combi in the UK. Beyond a multi-voltage power supply to accommodate the local 240 volt mains the player will be unmod­ified from its NTSC configuration and will therefore not play locally made PAL laserdiscs. Neither will the output from NTSC laserdiscs be transcoded in any manner (either into 525-line PAL or RGB), so only those with a multi-standard TV will be able to properly exploit its potential. A precedent does exist for such a move - Pioneer has for several years made many of its NTSC-only laserdisc players avail­able to special order in the UK - so Yamaha's CDV-1700 will count as a further choice in this area of the market. Yamaha is not proposing to make a big song and dance about the introduction of the CDV-1700 in its regular promotional literature but the machine will be receiving the full technical backup. The new player will be of particular appeal to owners of predominantly a Yamaha A/V equipment set-up who will no longer have to 'spoil' the set by going to another manufacturer for the combi. 

The CDV-1700 is a basic specification machine though slightly more upmarket than the NTSC equivalent of this year's Pioneer CLD-1700/1750. However, the price Yamaha is talking of - £699-95 - does seem a little on the high side given that for a similar amount one could buy a Pioneer NTSC combi here like the CLD­3390. For this you would get double-side play and digital video memory, two features that are not offered on the Yamaha machine. 

Video specs are a horizontal resolu­tion figure of 440 lines with a signal-­to-noise figure of 48dB. The player offers both composite video output and Y/C

(S-video). On the audio front the player utilises Yamaha’s Hi-bit technology with an 18-bit 8x over sampling digital filter and twin 18-bit digital analogue converters. The result is a 110db signal-to-noise ratio and a dynamic range of 95dB. To retain the purity of this signal as far as possible the player has an optical digital output. Dimensions are 435 x 135 x 414mm (w x h x d) and the weight 9.3kg.

While the CDV-1700 is one of Yamaha’s Titanium range, the machine offered in the UK will only he offered in black.

Thanks to Michael K Pollock for details for the CDV-1700.

The archive site has a copy of the Operation Manual for the CDV-1700. If you would like a copy please send an email requesting the manual for this player.