Picture Quality, Sound, Ease of set-up

Remote

I really like this player because of its ease of use, and basically the bang for the buck factor. I have to disagree with the previous listing about the drive motor. I have not experienced any noise whatsoever. As a matter of fact, it's virtually SILENT! I highly recommend this player to anyone. As far as the remote goes, get a universal remote to take the original's place. DUH! Definitely a 5 star player.

Excellent picture quality, build, connections

Audio lacks dynamics.

Of the all the DVD players I compared, the Onkyo and Toshiba provided best picture quality -- detailed and natural colours. Audiowise I was not overly impressed. Onkyo's high freq response seemed somewhat restrained compared to the Pioneer 525.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 1200, Grundig 110, Pioneer 525

None as far as I am concerned - who really cares about an ugly remote!

Performs much better than previously owned Sony which had noticeable pauses between frames. I would have purchased at store price had I known the quality, fortunately the person I purchased from required a player that would read burned disks - Apparently many people are concerned about using burned cd's/dvd's whereas I am not - this DVD player is a great buy!

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVD

Aesthetically appealing.
Display to side of tray.
Disks load quickly (especially CD's).
SCART with RGB output.
Setup simple.
Silent transport and smooth stable disk tray (unusual at this price).

Dimmer short of two levels (very dim and off).
Blue distracting light by tray.
No handset region hack.

My old DV-S501 developed a problem recently with regional coding and as a result bombed out. It’s one of those things you have to live with when you buy early into a new technology. I took the player back to the shop I bought it from and they gave me a good deal on an upgrade to the DV-S535. I basically had no option because the old DV-S501 was useless to the point that I could not even sell it privately as it would develop problems with DVD’s. I am not disappointed though. The only real problem I’ve encountered is a bit of digital noise on the video with certain DVD’s. The manual says I must reduce my sharpness setting on the TV (LG 72cm TV). This did not seem to eliminate this glitch. The player makes up for this small incompatibility though in other ways. One day I will upgrade my TV anyway. You know what it’s like in the hi-fi hobby business. There's always something better out there.
One of the best features that attracted me to the player is the fact that because it’s a European model, it has a SCART output that supports RGB. My TV has a SCART input that supports RGB (I don’t have an S-video input). Therefore the two get on very well with each other. By selecting the TV input for RGB, the ‘dot crawl effect’ associated with composite video is totally eliminated and therefore a better picture from the DV-S535………hooray !
I find the build and presentation of the player very aesthetically appealing; contrary to other people’s opinions on this site. As for the remote, who the hell cares !!! I think manufacturers of such good quality front ends such as the DV-S535 assume that most buyers are hi-fi enthusiasts with a decent learning remote. I think people are making much ado about nothing when it comes to the small remote control. Besides, the DV-S535 has the setup and menu buttons on its front panel anyway. My advice is to learn the codes into a good learning remote and pack the supplied remote safely away for the person who may buy your DVD player oneday when it is obsolete (hmmm…….about 2 years max).
This is the first player that I’ve seen where the zoom feature is actually NOT a GIMMICK !
It works great if you want to blow up 2.35:1 aspect ratios to a pseudo pan and scan equivalent (zoom 2) for visitors who hate widescreen. I found that my 2.35:1 DVD’s give excellent results on zoom 1 with very little picture degradation.
The manual says that you cannot play recordable CD’s. That’s not entirely true by the way. I played a Verbatim CD-RW, 4 speed with music that I copied from MP3’s on the web which was converted to CDDA. The sound was surprisingly great as well. The player also loads very quickly compared to my previous player; especially on CD’s. Another useful feature I found is that during CD play, if you press stop and then play again, the CD is not reset. The song plays from where you left off. I don’t even know of any CD players or other DVD players that do this.
The main distraction on the player is the annoying blue light to inform me that there is a disk in the player (duh !...that’s why you put an LED display on the front panel,Onkyo). In low light levels the blue light glares at you like a football stadium spotlight. This can be annoying but I can live with it. Onkyo could also have thrown in two more settings for the dimmer button such as ‘very dim’ and ‘off’. What were they thinking ? I don’t know why so many people were complaining about transport noise. Mine is as quiet as a mouse on DVD and CD. Even the tray open/close is very smooth and firm.
The CD audio playback quality is pretty good as well to warrant not owning a separate dedicated CD player. This is a great player and can be placed in the category of an audiophile grade piece of equipment at an affordable price.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DV-S501

Excellent picture and sound, great for playing music c.d.'s

Doesn't play some CDR's (see below), I haven't had a real chance to get into the remote yet.

It seems that pretty most reviewers would agree that the picture and sound on this machine are above par for the price category it belongs to. I'll have to go along with that too, but I have yet to experience the noisy transport and layer transfer problems that some are refering to. I do however have one wish, and that is that there was more control over the compression feature, not just having it on or off. I owned a KLH that you could adjust in 1/8th increments from full compression to no compression. I would also like to address the CDR question for a moment. I have burned cdr's on my HP pc from mp3's off napster after they were converted to .wav format and haven't had a problem playing them yet, and they sound great! The cdr's were memorex gold 650 MB. I have also tried to play some cdr's that were made at a recording studio with a McIntosh on Apogee cdr's and they would not play. Maybe after some trial and error I can figure out if its the cdr's (brand) or the method used to burn them that makes the difference if they play or not (if someone already knows the answer to this please feel free to e-mail me the answer). I did quite a bit of research before purchasing this unit, with side by side comparisons of sony, pioneer, and toshiba and I am more than happy with my decision. All in all I would say that if I had digital or hdtv I would probably bought a progressive scan unit, but for the gear that I'm using the Onkyo can't be beat.

Similar Products Used:

KLH, Oritron, RCA

Build, audio quality, digital outs, component video

Transport is noisier than most

This DVD Player is the best. To date I have had no problems with layer changes, no problem reading scratched up rental discs, and the transport doesn't bother me because I like my movies LOUD. All in all, this is a sturdy unit whith sharp video, some cool features, and excellent audio. In my humble opinion, the sharp Onkyo picture is preferable to the soft Sony 360 picture. The remote is horrible, but that is why learning remotes were invented. It is OK with audio CDs (not CDRs though). However, I believe that my CD player which is a separate system from my home theater set up will alwayd be superior to my hometheater gear.

All in all, a great entry level player that will probably last a couple of years.

Picture quality, sound, looks.

Remote is not too well laid out but performance more than makes up for it.

I bought this DVD player to replace my Panasonic mentioned above. I thought I would notice a little difference but I didn't think it would put the Panasonic to shame. I was blown away with the quality especially at the price I got it for($109 refurbished). The colors are deeper and richer than my Panasonic and it also has a clearer picture. I also did sound quality comparison with this unit and my Yamaha CDC-505 cd player and this thing sounded much smoother and warmer, with more low end. You won't find a better DVD player around it's normal price range or even double it's normal price. My only problem with the unit is that it doesn't play my burned CD's but I still give it 5 stars for it's expemplary performance.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD110, Toshiba SD1600&SD1700, crappy KLH DVD221

Almost everything the budget player should have

Compatibility to CD-R, CD-RW and DVD regions

I have a week trial for this player. I love zoom feature, good stereo sound and picture. But sadly I have to turn it back because it can not read most of my CD-R, CD-RW and some RCE DVDs.
I live on region 3 dvd zone, but most of my dvds collection are from region 1. With Pioneer, I found no trouble in 'eating' any kind of disc.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV S737

Fantastic audio, razor sharp picture, looks great, very high quality build, useful zoom function.

None so far. Remote could be improved, but with the Onkyo 777 receiver's universal remote it doesn't matter.

Purchased this unit after a lengthy decision making process. Almost went for the previous model Onkyo, but grabbed this one as soon as it was released. It certainly paid off, as the unit is beyond my expectations.

I use the optical digital out for audio, and the sound in DVD movies as well as audio & video CD's is incredible. As an exercise, we played Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on a Sony CD player and then on the Onkyo 535. The clarity of the Onkyo's output is noticeably better. Tied with the 777 receiver - wow!

Picture quality is razor sharp using the component output. I haven't used a digital video device previously, so I can't really offer any comparisons except to say you'll never look at cable TV the same way again! The enhanced black feature is effective on some titles also, removing any hint of grey backgrounds. My television is a Panasonic Tau 79cm 100Hz.

The zoom function was a pleasant surprise for me. I had more or less discounted it as a gimmick, but as some of the other reviewers mentioned, it is actually incredibly useful if you don't like widescreen. Picture quality degradation is minimal.

It seems that DVD manufacturers have a bit of trouble designing adequate remotes. Onkyo is no exception - the remote has extremely small buttons and is not well laid out, but if you are using a universal remote (such as the Onkyo 777 receiver's) the DVD remote becomes obsolete anyway. It's a very minor issue.

The on-screen displays are very easy to navigate and are well thought out. They aren't obtrusive, they just get the point across. Initial setup can be completed in under a minute.

For its price, the Onkyo DV-S535 is unbeatable. You're getting audiophile grade equipment for a very reasonable price. (particularly in the USA - Australian prices tend to be higher)

Feel free to contact me if you're considering buying this unit and would like some more info.

Picture, Sound, Outputs

Remote

Although I was generally pleased with the Pioneer unit, I considered the Onkyo for my audio CD's (my DVD is being used in my home theater system for both HT and Audio).

1) The unit is well-built, and has a more solid feel than the Pioneer.

2) There are a few additional connections offered by the Onkyo -- since I don't and will not use them, I can't remember what they are, but they may be of some benefit to others.

3) The picture is slightly better than the Pioneer (sharper, better colors), and the enhanced black feature is very helpful and noticeable on my Sony 32" TV, which is not the best in blackness (Toshiba, Panasonic, Proscan are blacker, but I found that their colors are not as realistic as the Sony, hence my choice in the Sony).

Not quite sure of the usefullness of the Zoom function. The picture quality deteriorates signficantly, so the benefit is not all that great. I would not insist on Zoom capabilities on any future units now that I have seen it in action (the Pioneer did not have Zoom capabilities).

4) The remote is an absolute disaster. The Pioneer has a much better remote, and some even complained about the Pioneer's remote. Well, try the Onkyo, and you will have a new definition of a bad remote. Small buttons, not well laid-out, no backlighting (which could have solved most of the problems, small buttons and all).

5) The sound quality is better than the Pioneer. A little warmer, and more bass extension. This is through analogue outputs since digital outputs will simply force the receiver to convert the digital info to analogue, and both units will probably sound the same.

6) It is a sharp looking unit, much better than the Pioneer, as well as other units.

7) I have NOT checked CD-R playback capabilities (I will tonight), and have not confirmed VCD Playback (which is critical for me since they are a dime a dozen in Hong Kong, and the picture quality is quite good).

All in all, an excellent unit for the price, and easily worth the extra $50 over other entry level players ($250 for the Pioneer, Toshiba, Panasonic units, vs. $300 or less for the Onkyo).

I purchased my unit through Liquidprice.com for $275 delivered (I received the 535 i/o the Onkyo 525, which I requested, and was not notified of the change until the unit showed up, but am still very happy).

System:
Denon AVR-3300
KEF Q-15 Front
KEF Q-95 Center
Radio Shack Minimus-7 Surrounds
Sony S-42 32" TV

Happy viewing (and listening)!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV-525