Great unit for the dollar

Progressive isn't as sharp as others. They cost more also.

Good unit. Very happy with what I spent for the picture quality. Could use a 3:2 pulldown mode. Overall a good unit for the cost.

Great Picture Quality, Great Sound, Great Value

Poorly Designed Pioneer Remote.

The build quality is great! I got this open box at future shop and it has probably been poked by hundreds of people and all the front panel buttons and the remote still work great! It reads video cd's and audio cd's without trouble even Video cd's and audio cd's made on my computer. I have yet to try Cd-Rw's or DVD audio titles on it yet. I hate the Pioneer Remote Control. It works great when connected to my pioneer reciever with the control cable. I have never had a problem with this unit.

Reviever: Pioneer VSX-D209
TV: 1984 Model Sony Trinitron Compent Tv connected with standard(composite) video inputs.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic Dvd, Kenwood Dvd,

price, good performance at price point

psychological distress some feel knowing that a writer doesn't like it.

Okay, okay we all get it- it's not the greatest player of all time, but for the price what do you expect? I have had it for almost a year and never had a problem with it. The picture and sound quality is good (not great...but not crappy either) and it's never skipped on a DVD.
For all the "audiophiles" out there- what are you doing buying components from Costco anyway?

Similar Products Used:

sony , playstation2

Ease of use, decent picture, excellent sound

Remote buttons are too small, and impossible to see in dark room.

Well, for 174 delivered, I was thrilled to get this machine. I needed something because my CD player died, and I thougtht this would be a good opportunity to enter the DVD market. My television only is a 36 inch Sanyo, and only accepts S-VHS, so I felt for my needs that I did not require high definition/progressive scan options, that I am not even sure this set could take advantage of. At this point, a player that has a decent picture and good audio spects for music are what I was after, and this seemed like a good choice.

After 2 months, I can't say I am disappointed. It plays all CDR discs I have put into it, which is great since some of them did not work on the CD player that died. It plays all DVDs flawlessly to this point, but does seem to pause in the middle of the movie as it appears that there is a "switch over" or something where data is read from a separate layer on the disk (am I right on this?...It has happened on several movies thusfar). For me, I consider this player to be a tweener. Perhaps when I get my first high definition set, I will go for one with better spects, but I am very happy with the picture I get on my TV. I am especially happy with the sound I get on CDs. Good player, great price.

Smoothe, natural looking video (in progressive mode), straight-forward menu, resume function, soft (rather than sharp) image.

Noticible chroma delay on some video based material, video menus tend to flicker.

I bought this player as a replacement for the Panasonic A100 in December, 2000 to compliment my SONY 61HS10. Before this the A100 was hooked up to an RCA 27" TV so I could see a huge difference in picture quality right away. The quality is quite good unless you are really picky which most people are not. I suppose that the fact that I'm viewing a 61" TV from 16' away makes a difference. On a smaller TV the flicker and jagged edges might be more noticible, but I wouldn't know.

I will not comment on the audio quality since my receiver only samples at 48Khz.

I do have one copmplaint, however. There is a chroma delay on some video based (shot with a video camera rather than film) material. This appears as a thin green line along the right edge of people and objects. I bought a set of Monster 2 component video cables and this helped tremendously but it is still noticible on the really bad videos. I suppose a more expensive cable might help further but I'm not willing to take the risk.

Recently I read reviews on this site and others that really knocked this player. Until then I had not noticed the flicker and jagged edges. Because of this, I decided to buy the Panasonic RP56 but I was in for a shock.

The picture on the Panasonic was very similar to the Pioneer, but I preferred the Pioneer because human flesh and fabrics looked much more natural. The only noticable difference was in sharpness, the Panasonic is a bit sharper. This extra sharpness, however, only manifested itself on lower quality video based material. While the Pioneer was smoothe and clean, the Panasonic was pixelated and grainy. The jagged lines and chroma delay were also still visible, although to a lesser degree. I saw no difference in film based material. I returned the Panasonic after only a week.

I mentioned the softer image of the Pioneer as a weakness and a strength. For me it's a strength but it could be a weakness depending on the TV and your personal taste.

I still want to replace the Pioneer, but with a better unit than the RP65. I'm considering the Phillips DVD-Q50 or the Dennon 2800. If you have tried either of these on an HS10, please email me your opinion.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic RP56, DVD-A100

Decent video

Poor build quality. Unit locks up frequently. Selecting DTS out causes unit to play in slow motion.

Over the course of 25+ years I have purchased Pioneer mid to high end products 3 times. The first was in 1976 when I bought a pair of floor standing speakers for $350. Within 3 days I had to replace 2 tweeters and a mid range driver that quit working. After a week of frustration I returned them to the store.

My next experience with Pioneer products was 1983 when I purchased a high end component system for my car. $450 for the tuner $250 for a 125 watt amp. The cassette player quit working after just 2 weeks. The tape head was replaced 3 times in 6 months and then the PCB that drives the head was replaced. After just 13 months the amp quit.

In February of 2001 I fell for Pioneer's marketing B.S. once again and bought a DVD-434. Today, less than a year later, it's in the repair shop. The trouble began the first time I tried to play a DTS encoded DVD. Everytime I select DTS out from the audio menu the player starts playing in slow motion. Both audio and video. Given my prior experience with Pioneer service, I decided that it would be easier to live with the limitation of no DTS than to go through the headache of trying to get service. Eventually, however, I was forced to send the unit out for repair. The unit has been in the shop for 3 weeks now because every DVD I put in it plays back in slow motion.
I feel like a complete fool for allowing these guys to fleece me again!

Take my advice, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM PIONEER EVER! Pioneer is not interested in producing fine products. They are interested in building cheap, consumer grade crap and marketing it as top-of the-line equipment.

Similar Products Used:

None (my first DVD player)

exelent balance of price and quality

awful remote, strange progressive scan behaviour

I have DV-434 and Samsung HDTV monitor TV. Recently I had a chance to compare a picture quality on my player with Panasonic RV31 and RP56 (my friends bought them). I connected all with component cable and used Jurassic Park III for testing.
1) 434 and 56 players have small flickers in Progressive mode. I believe it shouldnt be this way?!
Anyway I couldnt find any difference in a picture quality, looking at the screen from 0.5m
2) there were no flickers at all in Progressive off mode!!! I dont understand this, but looks like TV did it itself.
3) almost all movie menus shaked on Pioneer in Progressive mode.
4) in Progressive scan off mode there were no visible differences between players also.

We did not test audio quality, but i have no complains on Pioneer (with Pioneer HTP-3000).

Similar Products Used:

compared with Panasonic PV31 and RP56

Everything

a**hole nobody internet reviewers at www.hometheaterhifi.com

Here is one that comes to mind:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/printarchives.cgi?69

It's a comparison between the 434 and the AX10. The 434 got a 92 in performance and the AX10 a 97.

I have a few others printed off. The Perfect Vision was another. I'll try to find the link again. Sound & Vision also reviewed it as well compared to a Toshiba, Samsung and I forget the other one.

The people at www.hometheaterhifi.com are ridiculous. The differences between having 3:2 pulldown and not are so miniscule that it's not even noticeable.

And again, The Pioneer Elite DV-C36 and Pioneer DV-444 both do NOT have the 3:2 pulldown as well. So if you feel that not having 3:2 is so bad that you must give the player 1 star go ahead but do a post for both of the above players as well because they lack it as well.

Let's face it. All that you guys have to pick on is that it's missing the 3:2 pulldown. The player is the exact same as the 333 and 343 models minus the progressive scan output and universal remote. Read the reviews for both of them.

Hope this clarifies some issues. If not... whatever.

Similar Products Used:

Elite DV-C36
DV-343/333

None

Too numerous to mention

I do not know what 'glowing reports' Matt is talking about. In a head-to-head test with other progressive scan DVD players, the Pioneer DV-434 came out dead last. Here are some of the verbatim comments from that head-to-head test:

"This is a terrible, terrible progressive player (in our opinion). It's a perfect example of a product designed by marketing, trying to snag people who've heard that progressive players are better. In this case, that turns out to be untrue. It has no film mode at all, and it doesn't even have motion adaptive deinterlacing. An interlaced player would be a significant improvement over the DV-434 on almost any TV. Avoid this player!"

You can read this head-to-head test at:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_3/dvd-benchmark-progressive-shootout-2-8-2001.html

I agree with Aramita that every comprimise that could be made, has been made on this piece of junk. Yes it has a low price but in terms of value, it is not even worth half its recommended retail price.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD-RP56

Tracking ability, features such as optical digital and component video output, price, sound and picture quality.

Haven't encountered any.

I settled on the Pioneer unit after my original Philips unit wouldn't track Disney's "The Kid" DVD. At first I thought it was the disc, but replacements of the DVD yielded the same results. I tried another model of Philips and then an AIWA (I really liked the build quality of the AIWA), but both failed. I then tried Costco again, which just stocked this player. It has tracked everything. I'm very satisfied with it's performance. I recommend it for those seeking a low to moderate priced unit.

Similar Products Used:

2 Philips models and an Aiwa.