Easy setup, superfast loading & resume and excellent picture.

None Yet

This is my first progressive scan DVD player, and from the titles that I have tried so far, this was an excellent purchase. Out of the box, the player was lighter than my Toshiba 2109, but gave me all of the features I was looking for. It has all of the inputs that I needed, gives my 96/24 audio processing and was a steal at $189. I would highly recommend this player to anyone looking to get a progressive scan DVD player. The setup was quick and easy, the resume and memory features are great and the speed of operation blows away the Toshiba.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 2109

For those of you bad-mouthing this player as a non-progressive player:

"What does "true" progressive mean?

Just about every DVD player manufacturer claims, in one way or another, that their player is the only “true” progressive player on the market, and claims that other solutions use some kind of primitive line-doubler. This is, not to put too fine a point on it, absurd."... "all progressive players are capable of outputting the entire film frame, without compromise. They are all “true” progressive players. Whether the player reads the progressive frame directly off the disc, or recreates it with a de-interlacer in the digital domain, the end result is the same. What varies between the players is their video performance, and the ability to handle material that wasn’t encoded the “standard” way. "
-DVD Benchmarks

Picture is great in progressive scan.

On screen menu is not very good. Remote is terrible.

I have a Samsung PCJ534RF and the picture in progressive mode is great. The problem is that to set it up, I had to connect the player up in interlaced mode using the standard video inputs just to get to the onscreen menu. Once I was able to get to the onscreen menu and choose progressive mode, I was then able to plug into the digital input on the tv so that it would play in progressive scan mode. Not what I would call easy setup, but once it was setup, the picture was great. I think if this unit had a display for the menu directly on the unit itself, it would be much better. Also, the remote is a tremendous piece of junk and impossible to use in a dark room.

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none

Great picture in progressive mode,cheap

Cheap construction.

Just got the unit today along with Panasonic 56" wxf95. The picture in proggressive scan is quite awesome. The best I have ever seen in fact. I agree with an earlier review about the picture comparison with the Toshiba 5109, the Pioneer's picture is just as good. So far I have to say this is one hellava DVD player for the price. It remains to be seen if it will hold up after heavy/steady use. I have been running it 4 hours straight and it hasn't broke a sweat yet. So far so good. I can't reccomend it after 4 hrs. use, but I am impressed.

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First progressive scan dvd player.

Great player - for the price

NOT true progressive

My $.02 - I bought the 434 to go with my new 65857 Mitsubishi (65-inch) since I wanted a progressive scan DVD player. I was pretty happy with it, but was confused as to why the progressive picture seemed pretty similar to the interlaced picture. The progressive picture was slightly smoother, but the interlaced picture was clearer with more visible detail. I certainly didn't see the vast improvement that I'd heard about with progressive scan.

Once I started reading that it wasn't a true progressive scan player, I realized that the line-doubler in my set was doing at least as good a job as the DVD player - that's why the interlaced was comparable to the progressive (I think).

To figure it out once and for all, I went and got a Toshiba 5109 to do a comparison. Not top-end, but a true progressive scan player. Results: on a good new 65-inch, using good component cables, there is definitely a picture difference. The true progressive picture is sharper and with stronger, vivid colors. Minor improvement, but definitely noticeable. I can understand why some people would say they can't tell the difference, but on a large set, the differences are magnified.

The 434 is a great set - for the price. But don't expect to get an $800 set for $300. In this case, you do get what you pay for.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 5109

Progressive scan at an affordable price. Picture is crystal clear, near cinema quality.

Manual is too long, but that is minor.

I have read so many reviews about this DVD both pro and con. The picture is clear as crystal and near cinema quality. Forget about the orange digital readout. You won't notice it, you eyes with be focused on the breathtaking picture. As for the clamour about the remote, very, very minor indeed.

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None

Plays every VCD no problem.. My friend has a Sony DVD player and it doesnt play all VCD's but they have all worked fine in this one I got.

Looks cheaply made...

.

Similar Products Used:

Sony.. (The silver one)

Its cheap

Its cheap. Its line doubler is laughable not even performing 3/2 pulldown on film sources.

Hmm, I don't know what the previous reviewers have been smoking or whether or not they even own progressive capable TV sets. We just got these units into the store and I hooked one up to one of our Toshiba TW56X81 units. I guess the unit automatically senses when the disc is anamorphic before engaging into progressive mode which is a problem with sets with adjustable aspect ratios like the Toshiba units.

I popped in The Mummy on DVD to check out the new unit. Anyways, after looking at the picture for a couple of minutes, I noticed that the picture had some aliasing and jaggies. I then proceeded to hook up the set using Svideo output. I was shocked to see the same jaggies and aliasing in the Svideo picture. Hmm, I switched back and forth and noticed the same picture defects between both sets of inputs.

How can this be when one output is plain Svideo and the other is supposedly true progressive? Simple, the Pioneer unit does not perform 3/2 pulldown on film sources! How can Pioneer call this unit progressive without such a basic feature is completely beyond me. Basically, the 434's progressive output is no better than the mediocre line doubler built into most HD ready sets so you are better off getting either a DVDO unit or sticking with the Toshiba 5109/6200 or the $3000 Panasonic unit. To call the Pioneer 434 true progressive capable is laughable. The unit is a nice budget player but true enthusiasts will have to ante up a bit more cash.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 5109/6200

I own Pioneer Elite and it completely gives me pristine pictures every time.

Too bad Pete you don't own a Pioneer TV that's probably why you experience the Jaggies, Sorry Bud

I agree with Larry and I did read that some TV's may not work properly, you should call a certified Pioneer dealer and find out if their is a fix. Too bad you have those jaggies, if you get it fixed you will be surprised how much better it performs for the price.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba and Panasonic

Some additional information on my earlier review:

1. I have the DV-434 hooked up to my Pioneer SD-582HD via the component input to take advantage of the progressive scan capabilities of the player. The player setting (there are three--interlaced, progressive and auto progressive) is set to auto progressive so that it switches between interlaced and progressive depending on whether the disc is anamorphic. There is a difference in quality between the two. On interlaced there are jagglies along straight lines; on progressive there are not. I used "Fifth Element," one of my favorite test discs, to verify this. In the opening scene when the boy rides past the tent there are jagglies along the top of the tent on interlaced; no jagglies on progressive. Another scene is when the priest turns around and the design on his belt buckle is displayed. No jagglies on progressive; jagglies on interlaced. The hookup is identical to the one used for my Toshiba 5109, including using the exact same cables.

2. On reading the manual (yes, I know enough about what I'm doing not to have to read the manual before setup), under the section on progressive scan there is a rather large box saying this player may not be compatible with all progressive scan tvs. It has a list of TV's it is compatible with, but all are Pioneers (including my set), so I'm not sure if it is compatible with all TV's. The "Sound and Vision" review also mentioned that it might not be compatible with all models. If you have a TV that is not a Pioneer, you might want to buy it someplace with a return policy, or check with Pioneer tech support to see if it is compatible with your brand.

3. I haven't been smoking anything. I am a real person with real home theater equipment, which includes a Denon 3300 receiver, a Mitsubishi S-VHS vcr, two satellite receivers (Dishplayer and Dish 6000 HDTV) and a Tivo hard-disc recorder, in addition to the Pioneer SD-582HD and Pioneer DV-434. I have no ax to grind. Just trying to post an honest review that will be helpful to other people considering a purchase of this model.