Picture quality, very good quality audio

busy remote, small buttons

I've only had this unit a few days, and I hope to follow up after I've lived with it a while. FYI, this is my first dvd player, so my inexperience should be considered a part of this evaluation. I'm not new to high-end audio, so that filtered into my assessment.

The video quality is extraordinary. Even on my 8-year-old Hitachi 27" TV, images seem 3D and film-like. What the reviews (SGHT) say really is true. Short of HDTV-dvd, it's tough to imagine how a player could do better than this. I give video quality 5-stars.

The audio is good, but definitely not in the same league as a dedicated CD playback system. If Stereophile ranked it, my guess is that it'd be a class C CD player -- nothing to sneeze at, but don't expect this to be as good as Meridian or CAL separates (for example). I give audio quality 3.5 stars, though it may be appropriate to amend that number after the player breaks in a bit more.

This dvd player was purchased b-stock -- a refurbished dvd player from a local A/V dealer -- well below the best price I could find on the net for new players (best new price: $729 @ Uncle's Stereo). In fact, this is actually the second DV-05 in my home. The first b-stock unit had some of the video problems described in other reviews here. Replacing the DV-05 with another b-stock DV-05 fixed all of those problems, but it makes me wonder if there are some quality control problems in manufacture of this dvd player. I can say it was a heck of a lot easier to swap units at the local bricks-n-mortar than it would be at a virtual store. (Your mileage may vary, etc.)

Bottom line: So far, I like it. A LOT !!!

Similar Products Used:

Sony 7700, Toshiba 9000

Great picture, decent audio sound, easy to use, great remote

none yet

I purchased the DV05 about 3 weeks ago, and am very happy with it. I agree with all of the positive, as well as, negative comments, made by Bill H 5/8/2000 below. I had the good luck to purchase a Pioneer PD65 CD player about a year ago, so i am using this for audio playback. I also considered the DV09 because of the reviews re: audio playback, and the fact that it felt like a more substantial unit, AND the wood sides, just like on my PD65. Pioneer could easily fix this "cheap perception" problem by adding a copper base, and/or wood side panels. The unit weighs just a little over 6lbs...with these simple additions you would get a nicer looking, and more substantial feeling unit. I DO love the look of the blue light when the unit is on.

Incredible video quality, outstanding analog audio.

Unergonomic remote. Scanning.

Just purchased this unit from Laserland, a dealer in the San Jose, CA area. I discussed the DV-05 and the Sony DVP-S7700 with the salesperson and eventually decided on the Pioneer due to superior video quality.

I've used the new unit for a week now and am still blown away. Video quality is amazing. Picture is sharp, colors are true!

Audio CDs (via the analog outs) sound great on this machine, too.

The remote is really non-intuitive - even clumsy, but this isn't an issue for me as I use the Marantz RC-2000 MkII.

I tried the low end DV-414, Toshiba 2019 and the SD-9000. I liked the DV-05 the best. Picture is clear, colors are saturated, sound is great. Music CD's sound better on this unit than the others if that is a concern.
Remote is great. Features are great. Used Video Essentials with S-Video to a Trinitron to properly calibrate the TV and that makes a difference as well.

The dealer I bought this from had one hooked-up to a Plasma TV and it looked good. That's a decent benchmark - if it looks good on the advanced Plasma TV, it'll do the job.

Unless you want to spend $2,200 on a DV-09 this is one great player for the price.

To answer one question, yes it plays VCDs. RE: CD-R's, I haven't checked that yet. I bought mine on May 14, got it home and set up, started playing with it, and the remote stopped working. I turned the unit off and left for a few hours. When I came back I picked up the remote, hit power, and everything worked perfectly. I watched 'A Bug's Life' for a while (about 10 minutes), then went to hit pause, and the remote didn't work anymore! This continued over the weekend, with new batteries, different player locations, etc. On Monday I went back and got a new DV-05 (J&R Music World in NYC, $599), and now everything works fine. I got a dud. But now that it works, I've been very pleased with the player. For that price, you just can't go wrong!

I do not own the 05 but is interested in buying it. Can anyone who has one tell me if it will play VCD and CD-R/RW disks? Thanks.

awesome picture

none

I got this unit for my bedroom system, only because the price was so great.I didnt expect it to perform this well.
I think it rivals my sony unit.
If you have a non-progressive tv and looking for the most bang for the buck, You cant miss.

PS I got it for 299.00 at world-exchange.com

Similar Products Used:

sony dvds-7700

Picture, Picture, Picture, and CDR compatibility

Tray noise (depends on DVD from dead quiet to annoinglu noisy)and relatively cheap feel (mainly because of light weight)

I have ongoing love-hate relationship with this player. It all started when I pick one up at the local AV shop as an open box item. I coudn't resist the temptation because the price was $400. The moment I hooked it up with SONY 32XBR100 (which was THE best direct view TV before SONY Wega came along), I was in shock. I always thought the difference in performance between entry level DVD player and high end DVD player would be not that much. After all they are all one and zeores and they are using pretty much same chip to decode those one and zeroes. Boy, I was wrong.

Even 16:9 to 4:3 downconversion was pretty darn good. I used to have Toshiba 2109 and although picture was pretty sharp and you will be bothered by the downconversion artifact. I also had a chance to check entry level SONY (360) and I just coudn't stand their soft look. Sony would be fine if I hadn't seen picture of Toshiba, but once I noticed the differene the SOFT picture bother me too much. They were almost look like VHS (or slihgtly better than VHS but not so than LD).

So I was totally in love with the picture from Elite DV-05. Then it happened. I started to notice the tray noise. It is not loud for every single disc. Like I posted above it gets loud on several DVD, and once you notice that noise that is prety much everything that you hear from that moment on.

Make long story short, i have to return that unit because of tray noise. And I ended up buying another on ebay. This time I'm going to stuck it inside the cabinet with glass door. I tried to get by with SONY dvp360, but my eyes are already spoiled and I have to get THAT DARN GOOD Pioneer Elite dv-05. As far as picture quality, you won't find better one even from much expensive one.

So if you can get by with that tray noise, go out and get one.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite dv-09, Sony DVP-7700

THX ultra certification. CD-R and CD-RW capability. Picture and Sound.

layer change delay

I decided to purchase a home DVD unit since I was using a computer to watch movies (gets tiresome to move the ol' box)and I could only decode in Dolby Digital. I thought I would get the Elite for the name and THX certification. I'm glad I did as I was about to purchase the Panasonic DVR-80.
It has a beautiful picture and fantastic sound. It makes my mp3's to wav's on CD sound like they weren't compressed in the first place.
My only reservation though, I was spoiled with the pc DVD as it had no layer change delay at all (you couldn't even find where it had changed). Now from time to time I now notice it, but I'm starting to get used to it. Small sacrifice but you would think into the 4th generation, they would eliminate this simple problem (make the drive spin 2x speed with at least 8Megs of ram for buffer). Just my 2 cents.

Similar Products Used:

Creative DVD Encore DxR2

THX Ultra Certification

Poor build quality,frequent breakdowns,noisy operation

if i wasn't so rushed to buy a dvd player,i would not have bought this player. after just over a year of use,the player refuses to play music cds! everytime a cd is inserted it makes a stupid whirring noise (trying to determine the source) and either continues to whir or it will spit the disc back out altogether.

the picture is nothing spectacular. the tray is ultra noisy...not to mention the build of the machine,cheap cheap cheap.

for around $800 canadian dollars,you're better off getting a better brand at the "higher end" lines.

my 2cents

Similar Products Used:

Sony 7000 series