quality of picture, audio outputs

weak remote

Love this player. It was my first, the audio into a sony str-de635 is fantastic!

Great price, lots of features, great looking blue ilumination

None so far

The unit is great. A lot of people complains about lip synch problems, but I haven't notice problems at all. If you can find one, go for it!

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic 120, JVC 501BK

picture quality, design, features

poor remote

This was my first DVD player and it has seen relatively light duty. I bought a Pioneer because of the good luck I had with their other products. This player has been disapointing. I had a movie just last night that would not even load. I took the movie into the den and played it on my Fisher budget player and had no problems with the movie. On other occasions I have watched a dvd almost to the end only to have the player lock up. I probably would have been better off buying a $99 Apex at Walmart. Needless to say I now must go out and buy a new DVD player probably a Panasonic RV31U or a Sony NS300 both sale for less than $200 at the local BJ's or Costco's. If you own this machine and haven't had any problems consider yourself lucky. My opinion of Pioneer is not what it used to be. For budget priced equipment I think Sony and Kenwood do a better job. Obviously there is a lot of great stuff out there if you have the funds. Finding good equipment on a budget is the tricky part.

sharp picture, vivid colors, choice of coax or optical out, dependable, and the awesome blue light!

sometimes the picture is too sharp.

my first dvd player. i lucked out with this model. no major problems in 2 years of use. no lip-synching problems as many have reported here. video quality is excellent, however sometimes the picture is too sharp and digital artifacts will be noticeable. this machine walks a fine line, at times the picture could be softer. the panasonic i have in the bedroom has a softer picture, but the overall presentation is not as vibrant as the pioneer's. i guess just a matter of preference. i like the pioneer better. there are some slight layer change pauses when it advances to another chapter. i guess this is apparent on a lot of dvd players. what's up with that? fix the problem gang! audio quality is just average. it sounds a little edgy in the treble when playing cd's. dolby digital and dts sound on dvd's is excellent. this not a great performer, but at the price i paid ,$325 in jan. 1999, this player has proven to be a super value.

Similar Products Used:

panasonic dvd-r30.

Great slim look, outstanding picture and sound quality, adjustable black level

none

This is the best DVD player on the market. Unless you want to go out and spend $1,000 on the Pioneer Elite DV-05. I was real close to doing that until I read the specs on the two. Comparing them side by side, they are identical, only difference is the signal output is higher on the DV-05 and it is THX Ultra certified. I have a Pioneer Elite VSX27-TX and during the 10 day in home audtion with the DV-05 it ruled over the Yamaha DVD1000 in all aspects. Then on day 8 I saw the DV-414 on clearence for $169.00! It didn't have a remote and owners manual. I bought right then and there and once I hooked it up I honestly could not tell the difference in sound/picture quality between the two.
System Content:
Pioneer Elite VSX27-TX receiver
Pioneer DV-414
Pioneer Elite CD player
JVC S-VHS VCr
Cerwin Vega E715 (main)
Cerwin Vega E315 (surround)
Cerwin Vega LS6c (center)
Cerwin Vega ht12 (200w powered sub)

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha DVD1000

I've owned the 414 for about a month and a half so far and have no real complaints with the unit. After shopping around for afew weeks, I decided that nothing else in the under $500 dollar range could beat it. I chose the unit based on its performance at this
price. The sound and picture are as good as I can hope for considering my sub-par "Home Theater". This unit is really only a
temporary piece for my theater system until i get out of college and can step up to a higher quality component. I'm only giving this
player a rating of three because we all know that it can't hang with the higher end players. I would; however, recommend this DVD
player to anybody looking to get into digital video with an entry level system.

Ok guys, I know that all DVD-414 users are going to get mad, but so am I so here goes. The Pioneer 414 I purchased on 1/16/99 has lipsynch problems. It was noticeable on "Blade" and on my daughters' "Spice Girls" dvds. I took it to the local repair shop and they noticed it as well. The repair shop told me to call Pioneer. I did and Pioneer said they can replace an IC chip in the unit to decrease, but not eliminate the lipsynch problem. Pioneer then proceeded to tell me that if wanted a guarantee of perfect lipsynch to get a different model, which seems to infer that all DVD-414 models must have this problem.
I don't understand why Pioneer continues to sell this unit. Toshiba had the guts to discontinue the 2108 with the audio dropout problem, I think it's time for Pioneer to do the same. I liked this unit quite a bit for its audio and video capabilities, but they couldn't seem to get the two working together.

One good thing I get out of it, my dealer is offering me a Sony 7700 at a $200 discount, so I think I'll get that one instead.

If anyone else has been having this problem please send me e-mail, you may end up having to take it back, because it sounds like there is no guaranteed fix.

frank robison

I've had this unit for about a month now. I have had no lip sync problems. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but so far so good. I really think it's one of the best deals on the market today. For my $340 I got a very good DVD player with all the bells and whistles of the big buck units. The video is excellent and the remote works great (not fancy but has good controls and range) But the real reason I bought this unit was for it's 24/96Khz digital output. Now when I put on a Chesky DVD I get true 24/96 sound. For the first time my Sony TA-E9000ES display shows 96Khz!!!!!! YAH BABY...... And that sound is special!!!!!!!!!!!! For the price....For the features......For the 24/96....

This player is great for the money. You can find it for as little as 299. There is no other player that coomes close for the money. This way if something changes over the next 1-3years you wont feel bad about putting this in a second room and upgrading. Besides the picture and sound are great. The only negative is the remote which has no backlight. I have it hooked to a Sherwood Newcastle R945 MkII with paradigm speakers all around. The picture and sound are great 5 speakers. Also check out the review in this months SGHT.

Knowing that the Pioneer DVD players go through Toshiba's Q&A Department, and seeing as that the piece was a modest $300, I just HAD to check it out. I must say, for the miniscule pricetag, this machine is well worth it. When hooked up through the RGB video outs, the picture is outstanding. With DTS technology built in, it adds an extra bonus.If you're looking to get a nice DVD player and you don't want to spend an arm and a leg, pick this up. You'll be glad you did. And if you're not, well then, bring it back and give someone else the chance to buy it. :o)