I've had mine for a month now and I've seen no problems so far. I've played over 25 DVD's already and no lip synch problems either. Reads any CDRs without problems at all (some brands won't). Audio quality is good and would compete with any entry level CD player. I chose this over the DV-515 as I only trust brands which are truly Japan made, and also because of the black color.
Good value for the price. Remote could use some bigger buttons though.

I bought this unit last weekend to start my home theater system. Highly recomended by Audio Advisor and my loca dealer.
Got the unit home, and it did'nt work out the box. Got another demo unit from the dealer at the low low price. It worked and I thought that I was done until I read this review. I've never seen so many reviews for one product, and I'm becoming incresingly suspisious of this unit.

Decision... I'm taking it back and getting the 525.

This is my second review of the Pioneer DV-414. I think I'm entitled since I recently purchased a second one. The first I purchased was just about a year ago. I did a tremendous amount of research, window shopping and comparing before I decided on the 414. At the time, I considered it a tremendous value for the dollar. Once integrated into my Home Theater system I was nothing less than completely satisfied. I thought it to be an exceptional piece of equipment. It featured more offerings than anything else on the market, sometimes at half the cost, or less. Then, one night, while watching "Lost in Space", I noticed something that didn't seem quite right. At the time, I didn't even know what I was seeing. I saw the 'Lip Sync' problem a time or two on other movies, too. It wasn't until I started reading the reveiws here that I began to understand what was going on. Anyway, I lost my complete Home Theater system in divorce and henceforth had the opportunity to do it all over again. Provided with the chance to correct my earlier mistakes, I was able to put together an even more awesome Home Theater system. I replaced my Elite 07TX with the better 27TX Ultra THX receiver and my Infinity speakers with DefTechs all the way around. With this equipment that blows away what I had previously, what do you suppose the DVD player is that I bought to match this uncompromising quality that I now have? You guessed it - another Pioneer DV-414! That's right people, even after owning a 414 that had the Lip Sync problem, I went out and bought another one. Considering the features, the styling, the quality, the price, and most of all, the picture and sound, there was only one choice to be made. Yes, I bought another one. This was with the understanding, mind you, that from reading every reveiw to date that was here on the 414 that I had a good chance of ending up with a newer one with the firmware update. But I didn't know that for sure. The box stated it had a manufacturing date of Feb99 and I understood that to be good enough. One reveiwer, much later, led me to discover the firmware code was indeed the newer update. That was back in March or so of this year. At that point, I still hadn't aquired all the remaining pieces for my new Home Theater so all I could do was watch and listen in Dolby Pro-Logic Surround. Then, once I had completed the aquisition of all the other pieces and was able to go back to Dolby Digital, I put the Receiver and the DVD through their paces (approx. 50 DVD's - both DD & DTS). All have performed flawlessly. The DV-414, in the six weeks that I've been testing, watching, testing some more, watching some more, has been absolutley 100% perfect. Not a trace of Lip Sync, no freeze-ups, no skips, jumps or what-have-you! It's been absolutely outstanding, which is kind of what I expected when I bought it. Honestly, when I went into Best Buy to purchase a machine, I had JVC, Sony and Toshiba in the back of my head as a possibility. But, as I said, I walked out with the Pioneer DV-414. For the price, performance and overall quality I know I couldn't have made a better decision. I STILL recommend this machine over any other... just for the shear VALUE! It's sad that others have not had as good as luck in their purchases of this particular player - I wish I had an answer for them. I can only speak for myself when I say this is finest DVD player, for the money, that can be purchased today. Period.

Good video quality and functionality

Remote control unit - should have light

What can i say, this unit is definitely one of the best I have seen for the price. Never had the lip synch problem some people talked about. I'm sure that most this idiots who gave this model bad reviews are wanna be's who have no idea of proper connections or system setups.
Pioneer's DV-414 gives movie-lovers more DVD performance and features for less money! Its high-resolution 10-bit video D/A converter gives DVDs a more film-like look. With its new, higher-resolution digital audio circuitry, sound is superb for Dolby Digital, DTS, or Pro Logic home
theater, and for music CDs. In fact, even if you don't have a surround sound setup yet, the DV-414 can provide a taste of wraparound 3-D
ambience using only your two front speakers -- Virtual Dolby Surround uses SRS signal processing to make some of the directional sounds
seem to come from a source behind you!

So there !

Video and Digital Audio Quality

Remote and occasional lip-synch problem

Second review after six months and viewing about 30 more disks. Still think it is great for the price. Noticed the lip-sync problem on about 1 out of 10 disks, usually at only one or 2 spots on the disk. Last several seconds, then its gone. Sometimes never reappears on the same disk. Not a major problem, as I learn other makes and models have had similar complaints.
I will wait until the 'next technology' then replace it.

For the price, excellent performance

Lip-sync (see other review for more details) and problem with layer changes on a (very) few discs.

This (and its replacement 525) is a great first player, however it does have a few annoyances. The picture quality is good and the sound is usually good, but ocassionaly the processor can't keep up with the data stream from the disc, causing skipping and lip sync issues.

Video performance, price

Reliability

I was very happy with my DV-414 until last night. I haven't experienced any lip sync problems, and only had one disc that wouldn't play (Enemy of the State - a second disc of the same movie was fine). The unit even plays CD-R's and CD-RW's. But suddenly last night the player quit playing conventional CD's. Between 1 and 2 minutes into any track, one of three things happens: 1) play suddenly stops, 2) play suddenly stops and the disc drawer opens (crashing obnoxiously into the closed glass door on my equip rack), or 3) it begins randomly skipping about the disc, playing 1/2 second snippets from anywhere, then stops.

DVD playback still works fine, so all is not lost. But this unit is under 2 years old, and has never been moved since installed in a dust free, closed cabinet with surge suppression on the power supply. I've purchased Pioneer equipment exclusively for 10+ years, but I may rethink that stance when shopping for my next purchase. I expect more than a 2 year lifespan, even on a budget piece. Caveat emptor!

Similar Products Used:

None

Excellent picture, and wide variety of connections available, ease of use.

none, I've found yet

I purchased this player new locally and have used it for about 8 months. It has played every dvd I have tried in it, plus some VCD's. Great picture quality, and I find the remote easy to use. Great player for the price.

Excellent value. Great performance. Loaded with all the important features. Plays all kinds of CD based mediums.

Slower track/search access. Somewhat noisy on startup. Scanning not very smooth.

Have had the 414 for about 11 months now and am EXTREMELY satisfied. Anamorphic downconversion excellent. Very filmlike presentation. Have had no major lip sync issues (using a Technics 500 DD/DTS decoder) except for Lost in Space (common on other players also lipsync in film master.) Was the best value when I purchased it and still think the new model 525 is one of the best values on the market. I do feel though for users with lip sync issues Pioneer should be accomodating them better.

GREAT Picture, especially through the component outputs!

Loading time is a little slow

I love this DVD player. I got it for $299 at Best Buy... and never regretted it. The picture quality is phenomenal on my Toshiba 50" Projection TV... and the Dolby Digital sound is amazing.

Highly recommended!

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Toshiba 2109