Let me first say that I would be ready to kill if I had any of the aforementioned problems with my Pioneer. After returning FIVE Sherwood Newcastle R-945's, I know how maddening it can be to pay good money for a unit that craps out.That said, I have been nothing but pleased with my unit. Sound, picture, ergonomics, and styling are all excellent. I can't comment on build quality. I think many people here are confusing software bugs with build quality. Yes, the weight of the machine is not substantial, but I could give a shit how much it weighs if the unit is performing. I think the biggest complement you can give this player is you'd have to spend probably three to four times more cash to get an appreciable improvement in quality.
On a side note, I just purchased a Pioneer Elite VSX-027tx and have been beyond thrilled. I just plugged in my DVD player, and my reciever remote automatically worked flawlessly. No programming. No pulling hair out trying to decipher Japanspeak. Halelujiah! I will say this. The build quality on the Elite reciever is outstanding. All parts are first rate. I've also bought a Pioneer DVD for my girlfriend. After a year, we've had no problems.

It's unfortunate to hear from people who are having problems with this unit. I've had mine for several months now and have not had a problem with any of my discs(now at 137). I originally bought it for the bedroom, but it quickly replaced my SD-3006 and the 2109 I had auditioned. For $299, complete with coaxial and optical outputs, DTS and a "true" 24/96 digital output, you can't beat it. Most highend players don't even output a 24/96 digital signal. I guess if I had a problem with lip-syncs, I would be upset too. But I wouldn't discount the entire line. It has one of the best pictures available at any price

simply the best DVD player you can get for less than $299....period!!!!

Lip-Sync Problem All the WAY! have yamaha dsp a1, b&w nautilus 805 and htm2 center, boston pro rears. the picture looks great, remote is unfriendly, and hangs up while refocusing laser. Lip Sync is worst on:

austin powers
swingers

I called pioneer and 2nd person i spoke to said, "its tolerable" go figure.

I purchased this player from Crutchfield Online in Sept 1998. Thefirst 2 months were fine until all hell broke loose. The player
refused to play CD's after that point.The Cd's would spin, the motor
would make a grinding noise and the power would go off. Two service
centers later...I was notified by the service center: NEW LASER
NEEDED. Well I just got it back and it's fine but I really didn't
miss it much!!The picture is ok...The sound well ok!.The remote
absolutely sucks!!!!!!!!

What do you think about filing a class action law suit against Pioneer for selling so many defective units?
Max

I also purchased the units and hadd the following problems:1) Player freezup (especially on dual layered discs
2) Audio dropuot when listening to CD's
3) Front panel lights turn off and remain off during operation regardless of setting on the dimmer control button
4) Serious Lip Sync problems on many dvd's

Pioneer has lousy customer service and I will never buy another product from them again.

Sorry to heat that some of you have had problems with your units. Mine has performed flawlessly for about two months now. I've put through about thirty discs with nary a glitch. I did have a disc freeze up a couple of times but upon closer examination the offending disc was heavily scratched. I find the picture and audio to be excellent for an entry level machine. All I can suggest to somebody who is balking at buying this machine because of the above mentioned problems is to buy from a reputable authorized dealer who will stand behind the products they sell.

I bought my 414 three months ago and have had very few problems. A couple minor lip sync incidents. I did have problems with lock ups on a couple DVD's, but they went away after I cleaned the disk. Even a few finger prints could cause lockups on one disk (Austin Powers). Favorite DVD on this player so far:Dark City. I'm very happy with this machine.

My unit stopped working after a couple months of light usage. Pioneer requested that I ship the unit to a repair shop. The repair shop said that they would return the unit in 3 days. That was more than 5 weeks ago. The unit has since been shipped to another repair center for additional repair and shipping deadlines come and gone. Management promissed to ship a new unit, but appears to have used that tactic to buy time. Calling customer service takes up to half an hour for each call. I have spent more than 4 hours on the phone with customer service and the repair shops. Pioneer will never again sell me a product.
I was told by one repair shop that an IC chip on the DVD-414 was defective. Even replacing that didn't enable the unit to play.

Recommendation: This product has know defects, Pioneer's repair service is much too slow, and customer support is inadequate.