Slow loading times.

I've only begun to explore my new AIWA DV370, so I'll reserve a total detailed review for when I've played more on it.

Like many, I made sample VCD's and MP3 discs on CD-R and CD-RW before I purchased and tried them out at the store. I use Nero to burn and have found no incompatibilities like some of the Adaptec folks are experiencing.

The main reason for my post is the belief that AIWA has truly discontinued this model, and so you better rush out there if you want this one. In fact, here in Phoenix, at a Circuit City that a week ago had 10 units, they were all out. They did a city-wide check and showed no units at other Circuit City's, and it could not be ordered. I checked online, and the unit can no longer be direct ordered and showed out of stock. However, I went to a second Circuit City near my home, and they had one unit left that hadn't shown on the system. Maybe I was lucky ?

I would like to confirm two things that the salesman told me, so please, drop me a note a my e-mail address joniboniaz@yahoo.com if you know the answer. One, he said that it was discontinued at Circuit City and they were awaiting a newer model (wonder if a newer model would play SVCD's ?). And secondly, he said that Sony actually manufactures the unit for AIWA. Any truth to that ?

More soon --- stay tuned !

Brad

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None

As some have said, the power button on the remote is in an exceedingly goofy spot. Aside from that, I have zero complaints.

I used this forum to help guide my decision in my first purchase of a DVD player, so I thought it might help out others if I contributed my two cents on this fine piece of hardware. What can I say? The Aiwa 370 is a well put together, efficient and absolutely reliable DVD player that, for the price, is impossible to beat in terms of value and features. I've played dozens of DVDs, rentals and my own newly purchased disks, and I have yet to experience a single skip. Simply astonishing. I've heard horror stories from friends and others posters on this forum with DVD players who have complained about skipping and shoddy play (I have three friends who each purchased the el cheapo Apex player...it's a piece of utter crap. Avoid at all costs) and in buying a player, the one thing I was most concerned about was getting a player that did it's primary job without fail...that is, play DVDs well and without any problem whatsoever and the Aiwa has delivered, big time. It doesn't have the built-in Dolby Digital decoder, but that's still a pricey fringe feature so I can't really complain about that. I haven't played any other format on it, like mp3 or any of the other CD formats besides regular compact disks, which do just fine, so I can't speak to that point. However, if you're a big movie fan looking for a very solid and reliable middle of the road player (with some features of the higher end models) for one heck of a price, you *cannot* do any better than this player.

BTW, I understand this model can be tough to find in areas. I ended up finding mine at a relatively out of the way Circuit City and I think looking in CC outlets (does any other major electronics outlet in the US even carry this machine?) in rural rather than more metropolitan areas might be the ticket. Word of mouth isn't quite as big a deal then. Do take the time to seek this thing out though. It's well worth the effort.

Load Times are a little long. Manual leaves a little to be desired.

This is my first DVD player and it is great. It has the entire range of outputs (component, s-video, optical, coaxial). I have had only one DVD skip, which was a rental. On inspecting the disc it was scratched bad enough for BlockBuster to probably have to toss it. I have yet to notice a layer change.

One of the selling points for me was the MP3 capability. I love to place a CD-R mix into the player and relax, read, clean etc. I have had it yet to reject a collection. Even one made as an MP3 back up (using direct CD) played the first session. It has 14 character recognition not 8. Make sure you are using ISO Long Format (different locations depending on program). I made a collection specifically for the AIWA with formatted titles so I can recognize the songs using the 14 character capabilities. There are few mp3 playback options (repeat, play list) but it is a DVD player.

Overall if you want the ability to play mp3s in a great DVD player, this is a great choice.

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None

Great Picture/Sound Quality, resiliance to damaged discs (rentals), lots of connectors, MP3 playback

Loud tray, slow loading, could only get silver model in South Africa

Great player at a great price. This is a solid performer, with the nice MP3 playback feature. Got the dezone hack applied, no problems. Reliable playback of DVD, MP3 cd (still can't figure out how to burn cd to get more than 8.3 file names!!!), VCD, CD-R and CD-RW.

I would recommend this player for anybody wanting to start with a HT setup on a tight budget, and also for somebody on a bigger budget wanting a reliable, high quality player.

I used it on a Kenwood mini stereo until I got a HT amp, and even that had good sound.

I tried some of the classical 'troublesome' DVD, such as Matrix, and had no pause on layer changing, even on rewinding a number of time and going at it again.

Go out and get it, it's really worth every cent....

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Compared in store with pioneer 525, samsung (cant remember which)

Price, Features, Readable Media, Quality.

Reading Time, Title Screen, MP3 Menu

I love all the types of media this player can read. DVD, VCD, CDR, & MP3. I'm not sure about CD-RW... Since I watch VCDs for the most part, this is a very nice system because I can watch cdr copies of VCDs. That was the biggest selling point for me on this particular model. It was between this and the APEX, which most of you know suck and should be avoided at all costs. There are features on this player that are normally found on higher end players, like composite out, digital audio out, two pairs of A/V audio out. This is my first player and I'm very impressed with the picture and sound quality for the price I paid. The drive itself is really quiet which is nice so you can watch movies at low volumes so you don't have to drown out the sound of the player. Other nice features are zoom, and I heard that this player can be hacked to play DVD's from other regions. This would have been a nice thing to have when the Asia release of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came out. My only reserve about this machine is the time it takes for it to figure out what type of media you've inserted, or maybe I'm just being impatient. Although this machine is capable of playing mp3s, when the list of songs comes up, you only see the first 8 characters of the actual file name. This isn't a big deal for me because I don't play mp3s on my player. My TV is actually my computer monitor so I listen to MP3s on my computer. I've had no problems with this player yet although it is an AIWA, which to my knowledge doesn't really have much of a nitch in this field of electronics. I highly recommend this thing, you get a lot of bang for your buck.

mp3 playback

component video output is tuyida (fails)

almost ok
except component video
:(

Optical out, MP3 program capability, great picture

slow loading

I almost took back the unit, reason was whenever I tried to play back my ripped cds, the sound quality was so poor and it would skip the first 5 to 10 seconds of the tune, read in this section that somebody was having the same problem, what I recently found out was the real cause of the crappy sound was the software I was using which was the basic Adaptec Create CD that came with my drive, if you look at the package of the newer version which is the Platinum version 5.0, the basic version will let you rip a cd to mp3 file but the file size small compared to a downloaded mp3 file, I still have to get the newer version to prove this though. All in all this is a great unit.

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Toshiba SD2200

MP3 CDR-W and CD-R playback

SSSSLLLOOOWWW loading I almost took it back to the store, till i read the reviews here

its not bad for the price. I am replacing my JVC XV 511 because of the lack of the Strengths mentioned above.

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Apex (their products should not even be categorized in the DVD section We have two of these machines a work and thy are both worthless paper weights with electrical cords

quiet. flexible output config. plays mp3s... kinda. CDR/CDRW compatible.

MP3 playback is totally unacceptable. seems to have problems finding the start of tracks on standard pressed audio CDs, especially track 1. numerous noticeable audio pops on DVDs. mediocre MP3 decode quality. cheap feel and build.

admittedly, i'm not a big home theater buff. i mainly bought this to supplant my 14-year-old (!) CD player and in the hopes of being able to play my MP3 album collection without installing a computer in the living room. the aiwa was a big letdown in both regards.

MP3 playback is really shoddy. i don't know what decoding algorithm they're using, but it does NOT sound good. even more problematic: the thing often tends to skip the beginnings of MP3s-- as much as 30 seconds' worth in my brief tests (which were cut short by incredible annoyance at hearing my favorite artists butchered to death). between-track gaps are also unacceptable if you have a lot of ripped albums... it's really annoying to hear it chop off the last few seconds of a track, pause for a second, then start playing the next track 20 seconds in.

i was also very nonplussed with the CD audio playback, particularly in terms of track access. i could NEVER get it to start playback right at the beginning of a CD-- mysterious indeed, since there's that red book spec thing including 2 seconds of silence prior to track 1. usually i could get the opening moments of the track back on the *second* try by pressing track-back, but why should i have to WORK to hear a CD as it was intended?

DVD playback was respectable, and the drive was certainly responsive and quiet. i suspect one could probably do better in terms of picture quality. i noticed problems in the audio tracks as well on the few DVD releases i popped in (Monty Python episodes, a couple of clean releases borrowed from the local public library, This Is Spinal Tap). these problems manifested themselves as consistent but very sporadic popping-- i don't think the releases are to blame here.

i know that the Aiwa name is not exactly associated with serious audio gear, but somehow i expected that a company parented by Sony and with a long heritage in consumer audio could at least make a DVD player with decent CD-audio facilities. the MP3 function, surely the selling point for many folks, is at best an afterthought tacked on by Aiwa marketing-- even the $90 Target Memorex MP3-CDR portable does a far better job, both sonically and tracking-wise, than this thing. back it goes...

maybe i got a lemon, but the cheap overall feel of the thing doesn't lead me to believe so. i'm gonna wait for the 2nd-gen MP3CDR players and in the meantime, i'm picking up a Pioneer DV333.

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n/a

Plays everything, VSS, optical and coaxial outputs, zoom.

Takes awhile to load disks. No still search.

Originally bought the Apex 500A(WORTHLESS GARBAGE) and exchanged it for the Awia xd-dv370 after much research. Found that the Awia had all the features and flexibility that the Apex "has" that I wanted and most of all it WORKS! Plays everything I toss in it no problem. Only thing is the disks take awhile to load, other than that VERY happy with performance. DO NOT BUY APEX!!! Waste of time and money.

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Apex 500A