Does everything I would expect from a DVD player

None for the price

I have had no problems with this player. I watch rentals and new DVDs, and the player has never frozen or skipped. Picture quality looks very good to me (although I don't really have any fair point of comparison). Picture is sharp and clear, and colors are well balanced. Occasionally movement will take on something of a "digitized" look. This may be a limitation of the format as much as a problem with this particular model of player. In any case, the problem is only occassional, and not very pronounced.

Sound from CDs seems good. I still use my NAD C320 CD player, but I suspect that for most people this unit could serve as a great all around digital A/V source.

Similar Products Used:

None

Low price, paid $300 CDN w/taxes
Easy to use player

Remote control is terrible
Basic DVD Player

Generally, I would say this is a solid no-frills basic workhorse of a DVD player that can tackle DVD's CD's CD-R's CD-RW's. It's a good player at a low price. The picture is good, the audio is great, but you're not going to find all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a more expensive unit. So if you're looking for more at a good price, buy the Panasonic RV31. It's costs about $50 more but it let's you play MP3's too and has a jog-dial too!

The remote is absolutely terrible, it feels cheap too, then what do you get when you get it for a bargain price. I would get a Pioneer reciever with a universal remote and throw this one away!

I also noticed that it will skip once in a while... probably once per movie. It's quite unnoticable if you're not paying close attention. I suspect that's normal for most players because of the multi-layered DVD's.

Finally, the tray is extremely noise during loading. I've seen a friend's Sony player and it's absolutely solid but this player feels cheap.

So if you want a player to play your DVD's, VideoCD's and you really don't care about anything else it's the one for you otherwise you should look at some other brands.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV434
Toshiba SD 1600
Panasonic RV31

Great entry level player,super video reproduction and sound Quick load times and equally quick read times,Plain simplistic looks,reminds me of NAD equipment,Price (can be had for less than $200.00 nowadays) and best of all wife and kids can operate w/o a problem.

Lightweight build quality, built like one of those Balsawood rubberband-powered airplanes of yesteryear,hah! hah! You babyboomers know what I'm talking about. But,c'mon is it really a weakness if a product does what it's suppose too and I must admit it does it exceptionally well.

First experience into the digital realm occured about a year ago with the intial purchase of the Panasonic due to all the good reviews here. To my surprise, after it's arrival and hook-up to my HT system ,the unit was at best working intermintentlly. Load a DVD and it would work for a few minutes then just stop,would FF a bit,again it would stop. After several attempts figured that maybe I got a faulty unit or maybe was dropped during shipping. Called Crutchfield up and requested the Pioneer,again on the recommendations from this site. Crutchfield had the Pioneer to me in about 5 days.
Let me tell you,after I had the unit in place and wired I threw in ERASER,sat back and anticipated to be THRILLED. I wasn't just thrilled I was totally BLOWN AWAY. My eyes and ears were immersed in DIGITAL HEAVEN. The picture was incredible and the sound was impressive. Watched movies all day and night long that day.
In the year that I've had the Pioneer, I've thrown alot of the heavyweight movies like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN-GLADIATOR-THE ROCK-PATRIOT-T2-PERFECT STORM and the DVD KILLER-THE MATRIX,it has passed with flying colors.
Now to address some reviewer complaints:
1) Noisy tray: yes it makes a little noise that's really noticeable if maybe your attending a piano recital. But really at any movie level volume,this should not be audible.
2) Layer changes: These are so slight and subtle and occur in less than a second. C'mon what do you expect for a budget player
3) Remote: not ergonomically designed but how many really are? Like they say if not satisfied get a quality universal.
I can personally highly recommend this as an entry-level player for those on a shoestring budget.

Associated Equipment

7 yr old JVC 27"
Yamaha HTR-5250 Receiver
Pioneer DV-333 Player
JVC HR-S3500 S-VHS HI-FI VCR
Yamaha CDC-775 CD Changer
Paradigm Titans-front
Paradigm Atoms-rear
Paradigm CC-170-center
Velodyne CT-100-sub
AR PRO Interconnects

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Panasonic DVD-RV30

price, media/format support

construction, unit noise level

Wow! The performance is excelent. The picture looks superb, the MPEG decoding is beyond what I expected from this unit. Blacks are well defined and clean.

One thing that blew me away was it's support for all sorts of media, including CD-R, and CD-RW, and all the formats it supports including CD, VCD, DVD, and the unadvertised SVCD.

I specifically bought this for it's support of SVCD since I've put most of my videos on SVCD (interlaced/progressive 480x480 MPEG-2 video disc).

The unit is a bit light, I've actually bumped and moved the player when I've turned it on, or ejected the disc. There's also no timeout if the tray is left open, one day I left it open until I got back from work.

The OSD is pretty sad, and the remote... well... is cheap... but it works well.

Also having the option of MPEG audio out is nice as well!

If you don't want to buy this DVD player because of the remote or pathetic OSD, then you're a fool! Buy this player now!

ease of setup, picture, dd/dts, optical output, price

feels kind of flimsy

i purchased the pioneer 333 about a month ago.. i had to return the first one because it would suddenly lose video, but the audio would remain during movies.. and the picture had a black fluttering effect... this all started after i used it for about a week.
i haven't had any problems with the second unit.
i think i just got a defective one, which can happen from time to time, so i don't think it reflects on the overall performance of the 333 line.
for the money it has everything i need. and it's easy to use.

Plays DVDs and CDs and CDRs, full complement of audio and video outputs

very cheesy construction, loud pops when Dolby Digital is first sent to receiver or audio mode switches, weak remote function

This Japanese-made unit is quite disappointing on the whole. I bought it on the basis of the largely "+" reviews in this site. It does literally "play everything you throw at it", but that is no longer a novelty. It also causes "popping" noises, when audio modes are switched, to be heard on my speakers. Further, the remote is very finicky. You have to point it right at the deck to get some functions to work. It is inferior to the Fisher S-2000 I bought at Sears for $145, but had to return because it would not work with my universal remote -- and the Chinese-made Fisher had superior construction quality, a vastly superior remote, and played "difficult" DVDs flawlessly as well. It does work better (no digitization problems) than the Hitachi (Samsung) 305U I had, but that unit also had a better remote. The best part of the Pioneer purchase was that I got it from Amazon who had an excellent price and are a superb on-line dealer.

Similar Products Used:

Fisher S-2000, Hitachi-305U, Toshiba SD-2109

DD, DTS, Price

remote, scan is not that smooth.

Nice entry-level unit with both DD and DTS. Plays CD-R, but I am not sure about CD-RW. Scan is jerky, and remote is not as nice as I hoped. But this may be an indication of things to come with the Prontos becoming more commonplace. I do not have the loud disk or tray noise as been reported elsewhere…

Overall, a good unit for not a lot of money…

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First DVD player.

See my review further down on this page...

Hi!
I just feel that i want to comment on Scott Holder's review:

It's unfortunate that you received a player with an obvious defect. Still, I think it is a bit strange that you find the time and interest to review and GRADE/RATE a player that you never were able to test thoroughly. None of the reviewer's have had problems with the optical out, which should suggest that it is a somewhat unique problem that you have.

Personally, I had a problem with the Pioneer VSX-808RDS receiver; it had "dropouts" in the DTS-signal. . In my case, I restricted my negative comments on that matter to message boards, where I could learn that this wasn't a GENERAL problem. In this way, I avoided giving the otherwise great receiver a lousy rating in my "Audioreview"...

In my opinion, the DV-333 really IS a great player, and deserves its high grades, considering the "quality vs. price"-level... If someone disagrees, please point out construction weaknesses that are general for ALL players of this model.

Kindest regards,
Magnus Persson, Halmstad, Sweden

Excellent DVD player for the price. Plays lots of formats. Great audio and video. All the necessary hookups. Never skips. Fast load times.

Rather big. A back-lit remote would be nice. FF and Rewind is choppy.

I'm writing as a result of the previous review mentioning a popping ("thump-snap") noise when switching audio formats. I encountered this same problem a few days ago when I finally bought a DTS capable receiver and hooked up the DVD player through the optical connection. I thought it was the receiver so I called their customer service. They told me to check the connection. So, I did. I completely unplugged the optical cable and reconnected it. No more popping! Apparently, it was just the sensitivity of the optical connection. Quite a relief. I really like this DVD player and didn't want to return it. That said, make sure you check your connections before you return any electronic equipment. As simple as it sounds, it is easy to overlook.

Exceptional sound quality. Outstanding digital picture. Easy to connect and use. Good audio and video settings. Remote is practical.

None.

The Pioneer DV-333 is one outstanding unit that holds up against many higher end DVD players. The DV-333 is the third player I have purchased. I recently purchased an APEX DVD changer that malfunctioned after only three months. After my ordeal with APEX, I decided to purchase the DV-333 The DV-333 blends very well with my Pioneer DTSDolby Digital receiver. I truly believe that Pioneer is still one of the leading "pioneers" in audio and now video.

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Philips DVD Player