How to determine the player’s (DV-414) Firmware version:
1 Turn on TV and DV-414 with no disc in it
2 Press MENU on DV-414 remote
3 Select INITIAL and press ENTER
4 Make sure OSD is highlighted and press DISPLAY

Here's what it says for my DV-414 manufactured October 1998:

OSD SET.
Region: 1
Ver:1.184/4 (You better hope yours doesn’t match this)
AV1:3.32'C'


I bought a DV-414 manufacture code of december 1998 with firmware of

OSD SET.
Region: 1
Ver:1.184/4
AV1:3.32'C'

I also saw the very noticeable Lip synch problems ON A FEW movies
others had noted as well. I did my reasearch, called Pionneer informed
them of the issue, ETC., ETC., They gave me no solution. Well this
weekend I rented "Urban Legand" and the Lip Synch reared it's upgly
head again. It was really noticeable at the begining of the movie.
Well I was fed up with it. So, I went to my local Best Buy store, and
bought a unit with the latest manufacture code I could find. When I
checked the new unit, it said
OSD SET.
Region: 1
Ver:2.274/4
AV1:3.32'C'
I had not seen this firmware mentioned anywhere, so it's probably the
latest or close to it. I opened up both machines, and swapped the main
logic board. It was easy, just remove a few cover screws, then remove
the logic board by removing another few screws and some cables attached
to it. I then swapped logic boards with my new and old machine. My
old machine now read Ver:2.74/4 firmware. I put the EXACT same DVD in
my old machine with the new logic board, and whola, I would say about
90% of the lip synch probolem was GONE by swapping the logic board
ONLY. I had someone else look as well and they agreed. I think this
put's it to a rest that the newer firmware helps to cure the problem.

After reading all of the wildly differing reviews on the PioneerDVD-414, I thought I'd add mine. I've had this player for about
4 months now, and I use the audio digital out feed to my Musical
Fidelity X-24K 96khz processor. My main interest is quality
audio, but I also of course enjoy high quality movies with
theater like sound. To sum it up, this player has performed
perfectly. I have never seen the lip synch problem on over
20 movies, and the CD audio sound is the best I've ever heard.
The movies have all played flawlessly with excellent color, clarity,
and sound.

The rest of my audio chain is comprised of B&W 801 III speakers,
an Aragon 4004 II amp and Meridian 514 preamp.

Like others, I am completely baffled by the very negative
reviews. Maybe there is a quality control problem with their
production and there are differences among the units? Maybe
I got a good one?

Also, someone posted that they determined what their firmware
was via the DVD-414. Does anyone know how to do this?
I'm curious.


Clearly for $350, this player deserves 5 stars in my experience.

Crappy player... Cheesy construction: its componets are cheap and inexpensive.
Lousy video reproduction: colors are flat and pictures have no definition. B
Below average sound: subwoofers didn´t sound as explosive as my old Toshiba or new Nakmaichi DVD 10 A
And, above all, a lipsynch problem!
Hey, Pioneer should discontinue this model a give customers their full refund.

I bought a DV-414 manufacture code of december 1998 with firmware of
OSD SET.
Region: 1
Ver:1.184/4
AV1:3.32'C'

I also saw the very noticeable Lip synch problems ON A FEW movies others had noted as well. I did my reasearch, called Pionneer informed them of the issue, ETC., ETC., They gave me no solution. Well this weekend I rented "Urban Legand" and the Lip Synch reared it's upgly head again. It was really noticeable at the begining of the movie. Well I was fed up with it. So, I went to my local Best Buy store, and bought a unit with the latest manufacture code I could find. When I checked the new unit, it said
OSD SET.
Region: 1
Ver:2.274/4
AV1:3.32'C'
I had not seen this firmware mentioned anywhere, so it's probably the latest or close to it. I opened up both machines, and swapped the main logic board. It was easy, just remove a few cover screws, then remove the logic board by removing another few screws and some cables attached to it. I then swapped logic boards with my new and old machine. My old machine now read Ver:2.74/4 firmware. I put the EXACT same DVD in my old machine with the new logic board, and whola, I would say about 90% of the lip synch probolem was GONE by swapping the logic board ONLY. I had someone else look as well and they agreed. I think this put's it to a rest that the newer firmware helps to cure the problem.

I Purchase The Pioneer DV-414 About A Month Ago And At First I Found It Was Great Going From An RCA VCR And No Digital. But I Am Starting To Get Irratated With This Unit, First I Had Some Bad Glich When You Try To Play "Antz" It Would Start Go To Start Then Just Stop? Sometimes It Does It And Sometimes It Doesn't? Then It Gets These Monitary Pause In Some Movie, I Guess This is What Everone Refer To As Lip-sync Problem. But My Biggest Problem Is That The Damn Thing Has A Problem With Some Dolby Digital Movies, Such As "Very Bad Things" And "Gods And Monsters"(Bad Movie), Anyways It Displays That The DVD Is Dolby Digital On The Display But My Reciever, Yahama RX-V795, Can't Decode It Has Anyone Had This Problem, I Believe It The Player And Not The Reciever Because I've Seen The Those Movie With A Yahama Amp Anf A Different Player And They Seem To Work Fine, Vision Says It's My Amp, They Don't Sell Yahama! Any Insight To This Would Much Appriciated. Maybe A 2 1/2.

Bought this dirt cheap, $165.00 at BJ's Wholesale Club, it was the display model, fingerprints here and there, never been used though, and it came with remote and all, after wiping it off a little, it was brand new, not a scratch. I now use it at college in my dorm room. I already have a DVD player at home, Toshiba 2109. I noticed no picture difference between the two. A great DVD player

The lip-synch problem is a firmware problem and Pioneer admits this is the case.
Not all 414's will have the problem. If it doesn't then it's a nice entry-level player. I had one with the obvious synch problem.

There essentially is a chip inside all players that synchronizes the audio to the video encoded on all discs. The video is a variable bit rate and the audio not as variable as I understand it. Therefore the firmware must synchronize the two upon playback.

The picture is very clear and high resolution - somewhere between 500 and 525 lines. But IMHO compared to the Elite DV-05 it has a picture that is less contrasty with not enough good color saturation ie. a bit washed out especially using S-Video which separates the color signal from the luminance.

The remote is awful - too many small buttons the same size and evenly spaced. Very difficult to operate in a darkened room. The worst case is the enter button being the exact same size and shape as the arrow keys around it. aS I recall the stop button is the same size and next to the play button.

I've been told you can order the DV-05 remote as a 'replacement part' direct over the phone from Pioneer for around $50-70 shipped - still a good bargain for an entry-level player.

I now own the Pioneer Elite DV-05 and it is worth the extra money if you're more than a casual viewer of films. It also sounds a lot better aas a music CD player than any entry-level player can.

But if your budget is around $300, I'd recommend the Pioneer 414 - taking a chance on the lip-synch problem.

My brother purchased the DV414 prior to having a DD/DTS receiver; he used an Am-FI DPL unit. Its audio was good on that unit with satellite/sub. He know uses it on a Yam.2095. We both thought the picture quality, color correction and the lifelike image of the picture was better on this machine than the Tos.2109 and the Mag.815. We have scene none of the lip synching problems that I read on other reports in the tech. symposium of audioreview. We found it is better to go with the toslink over the coax on this unit. More ambiance was reproduced and better sound imaging took place. The vampyre coax wire as good as it is could not give the same results audiowise. The remote and the players menu could be easier to handle but not the end of the world kind of thing. It plays DTS DVD audio discs very well. Five stars for pict; 4 l/2 stars for audio hook-up mentioned above.

I bought the DV-414 player about 2 months ago and still am glad I did due to the fact I didnt pay a lot and is a great player for its value. The audio/video is awesome on my Sony Trinitron 32" TV. I have watched 7 different DVD's on this player and only on Austin Powers I noticed a audio problem in only certain scenes. I have watched this movie with I believe 3 other people and they didnt notice it while watching. Im not sure if the more expensive players can guarantee this doesnt happen on there players when you watch this movie but if they can that is a bonus. I am only 20 yrs old and wanted a player for a price I could afford that was of good quality and I think I got it with this player. I plan to keep this player till they make players that can record unless something unforeseen happens. Overall, if your just getting into DVD I recommend this player but if your a DVD buff or have money to spend I think the top notch players would be more appropriate.

I purchased this DVD player from Circuit City for $299, and hooked it up to my Sony DE835 DTS reciever and proceeded to watch Rush Hour and immediately I started seeing "lip sync" problems, especially on passages with long speeches. This is a Horrible DVD player. You would think that by now, companies could make DVD players correctly, especially if you are paying $299 for one. Pioneer just released the DV 525 which is supposed to replace this model. Hopefully it wont have the "lip-sync" problems which this one does. Another thing. This machine does play CDRs; however they Sound HORRIBLE on it. The high notes come out really sharp and harsh and very unplesent sounding. If you are looking to buy a DVD player, DONT PLAN ON PURCHASING THIS ONE.