Line Doubler Progressive Scan

Line Doubler Progressive Scan, Cheap, Quality Control Problems

Being in the market for a Progressive Scan player after buying the Toshiba SD-1600, I tried the Pioneer after reading the reviews here. Nothing to lose, since Best Buy has a great return policy. With the first unit, the picture wasn't any different than the SD-1600 since my Toshiba 43HX70 HD Projection TV does it's own line doubling and produces an incredible picture from interlaced to begin with. Also, the Pioneer would cut out the audio for about a second every 5 minutes - very irritating. I use a Monster Digital COAX cable that worked flawlessly with the SD-1600, so it was the Pioneer's signal that was flakey. I returned the unit and exchanged it for another. The second unit took the first disc, made a loud grinding noise, a loud pop, then no recognition of any disc after that. I do not recommend this unit at all. Get a Toshiba SD-1600 or SD-2150 for about the same price.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD-1600

Fantastic Picture Quality.
Resume Feature a bonus.
Plays _anything_ I've put in it, even DVDs that others reject.

_Terrible_ remote control

Id like to address a few of the reader complaints:
1. It's not progressive? Yes it most absolutely is. Read the PerfectVision review of the product. They've run all the tests. It's progressive. Forget about 3:2 pulldowns. The picture quality isn't as perfect as _some_ of the players costing five times more, but it's still unbelievable. I have it hooked up to my Electrohome 4100 CRT front projection system on a 90" screen and it really is near-theatre quality.
2. Flimsy, low weight?
Who cares! Once it's out of the box and on your stand it stays there. The only thing you don't want it to do is move when you press "eject". It doesn't.
3. Aesthetics?
Ever hear of NAD? Those are some ugly units. I spend my hour and a half watching the screen, not the unit (which is plain, not ugly).
4. Audio problems?
None. Remarkable sound, no pops and hisses. Sounds better than my NAD cd player (IMHO) on audio CDs. I also have a Pioneer audio decoder.

One has to acknowledge the unbelievable value that this player represents (for now, and even though it's dropped again since buying it). I, and other readers have had some amazing experiences with this unit. I've been watching two movies a week for the last ten months with NO problems with any DVDs. none. zip. nada. It even played "Art of War", known for its problems. My buddies come over to watch their VCDs 'cause it won't play on theirs. CDRs no problem.

I'm probably cursing myself by saying this, but this is one hell of a buy.

Very deep blacks, ability to output 96khz audio.

Does not work with Technics receivers.

This is a great entry-level DVD player.

One problem: It has an incompatbility with Technics receivers (mine in particular is the SA-DA8N, a DVD-Audio AV receiver) when hooked up via the digital optical output (Toslink).

When it switches modes from Surround/Pro-Logic to Dolby Digital (or dts), it causes Technics receivers to have a fit. The resultant garbage is played out your speakers as a thump, click, and very sharp pop -- loud enough to damage your speakers.

I confirmed this with Technics tech support. They said that the bitstream from the Pioneer was "too short" for the Technics and that it was "gated too quickly". Whatever that means...

I replaced the 434 (sadly) with a Sony DVD player and it seems to be fine.

Keywords:
Problem, incompatibility, incompatible, crackle, pop, snap, audio, speaker, switch, change, modes, Dolby Digital, dts, Pro-Logic, Surround, Technics, Pioneer, error, digital, optical, Toslink

light, sound quality, picture quality, plays vcd, cd-r, cd-rw, price

remote control

I just recently bought this player a few months ago, and boy am i surprised how amazing the picture quality is. The image is sharp, the colors are perfect! It looks too good to be true for a dvd player at this price? Compared to my other dvd players, the image is a lot nicer... another thing i must admire is the sound quality on this machine. It's superb. Listening to CD's on here sounds so crisps and crystal clear with good tight bass and nice articulate mids. Way better than any of the other dvd players that I've own... for this price i am really proud of what it offers, the image quality is beautiful, even more beautiful than the cinema... for you who want a nice dvd player with beautiful picture quality and very good sound quality get this one, you can't go wrong... I have no problems with this player, it plays everything i've put into it...

Similar Products Used:

toshiba, sony, denon...

Plays VCDs, any DVDs (so far), musical CD-Rs, inexpensive

No zoom function, cannot play VCD movies copied onto CD-R disc

I recently bought this from Costco because of the $20 discount. I own a Philips DVD860 which has karaoke feature but will not play many VCDs, and DVDs. Buying the Pioneer DV434 seemed a nice choice because of the playability features that it has over the Philips. I tried the VCDs and DVDs (Mission Impossible 2, Patriot) that used to not work on the Philips, and no problem so far.

The negative things that I have found so far is that DV434 cannot play VCDs that are copied onto CD-Rs. The Pioneer thinks it is a musical CD and will not play it as video. The other negative is the no "zoom" function. We currently own a 27" 4:3 Sony Trinitron and when watching Widescreen DVDs, the zoom function helps.

Overall, because of the price and playability, I think DV434 is an good deal. I'd like to see how it looks on a progressive widescreen TV.

truly a great picture on my 91 toshiba 27".
'

remote

i found the picture outstanding. i've had it for 1 month so far no problems. so it was a return then sold to this dicount place. it works great. hey for $88 not a bad deal or picture.

Similar Products Used:

none 1st dvd player

Supurb picture and sound, progressive scan, plays Cd-r's, nice remote, quiet, sleek.

None as of yet, but havent had the chance to try the progessive scan.

Purchased this unit from Best Buy for 270.00 plus tax. I owned a Panasonic before this and that gave me troubles, I had extreme picture jitter and pixelation. This unit played all my dvd's flawless and I notice sound is a little more detailed than the panasonic. I love the fact that it can play cd-r's, again unlike the panasonic. All in all a great unit thus far!

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic

Price, Picture, Sound

Single disc

Awesome picture on HDTV on progressive scan mode...and what a price! I play it on my Toshiba 50" and it looks perfect, couldn't imagine a better picture.

Similar Products Used:

Apex 703

None Whatsoever!!!!!!!!!

Easily, the most shoddy consumer electronics product I have every owned

Bought it brand new in a factory sealed box, used it for just a little while and it just stopped working completely right on Christmas Day. Had to borrow a friends CD player to provide music for my Christmas party. Uses cheap plastic materials. The lightweight construction is fragile which shows in the weight of the unit. Pioneer is misleading us by calling this a Progressive Scan player when it contains just a line doubler. Does not offer 3:2 pulldown like a genuine progressive scan player. Pioneer have compromised everything they could in terms of quality of materials, design, workmanship and circuitry to hit this price point. I have never come across a component before, where so many compromises have been made. Pioneer should stop making shoddy products like this. It will change their consumer perception from a middle-of-the-road brand, to a cheapo brand for people who cannot afford anything better. I will not touch another Pioneer product even with a barge pole. Many DV-434 owners are so disappointed they are offering their DV-434 players on eBay at a fraction of the new price. There are some auctions for this model where the highest offer made is less than $50 for a fairly new unit.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD-RP56

Price

Noisy motor, can't have component video out and composite video out simultaneously

For this price, both sound and video qualities are very nice.

Very noisy motor when disc is playing.

It's inconvenient that component video out and composite video can't be used at the same time. It's have to be selected.