I'm...Just...Not...Sure...
Written: Aug 29 '02 (Updated Aug 29 '02)
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Pros: Slim, Eye Catching, Progressive Scan, MP3, VCD, Sound Quality, Lots of picture tweaks, Silver
Cons: Remote, ?Bad Progressive Scan?,
The Bottom Line: Don't know if I'd buy it again, but, I've been happy with it.
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| jnoschese's Full Review: Pioneer DV-444 DVD Player |
I've had a Pioneer laserdisc player when AC-3 had just came out, and went the AC-3 route. since my stereo didn't have "the new" digital coax to receieve Dolby Digital, I didn't want to start upgrading my system. Well, that stereo went into stereo heaven and got myself a replacement, the Pioneer VSX-47tx. Knowing next to nothing about DVD except that they had "menus" and I knew Progressive Scan was "a good thing" I asked my family to get me this DVD player for Christmas..
Looking at this player, I have no more room in my cabinet to house another electrical component. I liked the flashy silver look. It makes it look "bad dude" when your buddies are staring at your rack..stereo rack..
I was amazed with DVD in general. Picture quality was excellent with S-Video, like my laserdiscs. Now, let me just say that even though Laserdiscs are 50x the size of a DVD, their high point is that everything on the discs are UNCOMPRESSED, unlike DVD. DVD has some real cool features though...like anamorphic!
the electronics heaven called for a tv in my bedroom, making me buy a new 42" screen to utilize the progressive scan in the living room and moving my living room tv into the bedroom.
I hooked up the progessive scan to my Toshiba beast to low and behold progressive scan. Did a notice a difference with progressive scan and s-video? I'm not really sure. Lets try running S-Video into the new tv now, too and swap back and forth. Did I notice a huge difference? Um..sometimes..and most of the times its just contrast differences and small little details that were missed with s-video.
I keep hearing all over the place that this player is no good that the progressive scan is horrible. Is it true? I'm not sure, I don't have anything to compare to, but I really want to find out bad. And thats probably why I have to rate this DVD player as no good.
There are plenty of settings you can change, like in a TV set, contrast, tint, etc., but thats a little much for me. I'm not good at judging what colors are suppose to be what.
Sound Quality-- wow. Its damn good. I do have to say though, Laserdisc's in AC-3 sound much much better than DVD's in Dolby Digital or DTS. the DVD's seem to be missing something. Almost "too crisp." I think that this is just DVD's in general, and nothing to do with the player, cause trust me, it sounds AWESOME. It has coaxial and digital outputs so you can hook it up to a digital decoder featuring either inputs. Of course you have your analog outputs.
As far as other jacks, you have your progressive scan and s-video, and I think even a video jack if needed, but don't quote me on that.
on the front, slim, silver case, they have a dimmer button. Back in the days of laserdisc, they had a "faceplate off" button which turned off the screen unless fast forwarding came on. When I originally spoke a Pioneer Elite dealer like 10 years ago, he mentioned I should use that because it can improve sound quality as well, so, sure enough I use it on this player, too.
When the display is on, the numbers are nice and clear. some of the other symbols listed on the display, such as "progressive scan, dts, dolby digital" when those signals are noticed by the player, are rather hard to see. I just see orange boxes from my couch.
the remote. I'm not pleased with it. I'm used to my stereo Elite remote, so I just programmed that. the DVD remote seems to be a little cheesy. the buttons are in "ok spots" but, when its dark I can't find ANYTHING on it. I ususally wind up hitting stop or some other button.
One cool thing is, if you hit stop, it remembers where you left off, even when you turn off the player, and come back the next day to watch it. Not bad...
The player loads up discs and goes through menus pretty quick compared to some other DVD players my friends have..
..I almost forgot. This player plays MP3 CDs. Another big plus in my book. It plays them well, too. Sound Quality is great on MP3s in this thing. However, even though they show you the folders on the disc, they are limited to 8 chars, so it looks all Windows '95 like liketh~1. Not too big a deal...and no ID3 tags.
VCD's are pretty cool. Although I'm not sure if its the player, or Nero (my burning software) that has a little trouble with them at times. Seems like menu controls don't work like they should, but no big deal..
all in all, its a good player. Seems to be more expensive than most, but, I really like it, until I've read all the bum reviews on it, which really makes me want to get another one just to see "if I'm missing something." For now, I'll just have to deal...plus, keep my components "Pioneer" makes remote friendlyness much easier.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
jnoschese
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Location: Long Beach, NY
Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
Insane New Yorker with a knack for electronics
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