outstanding video quality

mediocre sound quality

I bought this unit online at a great price. I already owned the Sony DVP9000ES dvd player which I love a lot, but it doesn't offer DVD-Audio or multichannel DVD (I'm more audiophile than videophile). Despite having read some negative reviews in regards to the Pioneer's sound quality, I threw caution to the wind... mainly because I find most audio reviewers' claims about sound quality highly dubious at best. Anyway, when I hooked up the player, the first thing I played was a DVD (The Fifth Element Superbit ED.) The video quality on this player is absolutely superb! It easily bested my Sony which itself is visibly superior to any other dvd player I've owned. Detail, depth of image, color accuracy... all are fantastic through the Pioneer! (Incidentally I've read one review on this site which bashed the Pioneer for its video quality... all I can say is that guy either got a defective unit or he was comparing it to one of those $5000+ jobs...) So far so good. The next thing I played was a Rolling Stones SACD from The London Years compilation set. I couldn't believe my ears. The sound was bad...well maybe "bad" is too strong a word, but it definitely did not sound as good as my Sony playing the same cd. "Oh," I thought, "the Sony must be louder (higher output). Afterall the ear always prefers the slightly louder version of the same musical passage." So I cranked up the volume. "Better," I thought. Then I switched back to the Sony... no comparison, the Sony was still clearly superior: more open, more focused, more natural sounding,etc. This verdict remained no matter what SACD I played (I own over a dozen titles), and held true for regular cd's as well. I will say that the Pioneer did much better with simple acoustic material than with music where several instruments are playing at once... in these instances, the Pioneer sounded nearly, but still not quite as good as the Sony. In conclusion, the Pioneer player does an outstanding job playing dvds. In my book, this alone justifies its price... especially now that it's being heavily discounted. As for its sound quality, you can definitely do better... although without a point of comparison, even that will satisfy the vast majority of listeners.

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Sony DVP9000ES dvd player

Audio options, fast loading, SACD,DVDA,CD,DVD what more can you ask for.

DVDA no ability to select DTS track (not that it matters). Seems a little flimsey construction wise, no video byppass mode.

This is a great product all around. SACD and DVDA have rejunivinated my listening experience. The OSD is very functional on the audio side, including speaker distances, sizes, bass managment, and a variety of sampling options including high-bit and layer selection. Legato modes are nice for music as well as movies and the video quality is superb. Net net Pioneer did a fantastic job with this player and the price is reasonable

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this is my first SACD/DVDA player

WHEN IT WORKS...good features for price.

Build quality and CUSTOMER SERVICE. Pioneer doesn't even understand the concept of customer service.

WHEN IT WORKS, the unit has excellent video performance and very good high-res performance for both DVD-A and SACD. I had a problem with my unit after 9 months. It stopped playing the high res formats...video, DD and DTS all worked fine, it just wouldn't play a single DVD-A or SACD. Took it to the local "authorized repair center". They went back and forth with the totally inept Pioneer support personnel for a month. My constant nagging over the holidays finally forced a new unit to be shipped. I had the absolute belief that Pioneer could not have cared less that an owner of one of their "Elite" products was out of commission. I actually had a customer service person pick a fight with me over the phone (despite the fact that all of his information proved incorrect). When I first called Customer Service I spent 5 minutes explaining to them what DVD-A and SACD were...amazing. Buy the Denon or the Marantz!

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SONY ES

movie play back,SACD,DVD-A,price to get your feet wet in hi-res play back.

I'm not sure if it's this unit or the Multi-channel play back mode but the surround play back of DVD-A,SACD

This is the second review from me on this product. I have no idea why my first one is gone but I feel I should give another after using it with more DVD-a,and sacd's, and movie's. The movie play back seems very good. A hardly noticeble layer change. DD,and DTS play back on movies and music seems very good. I wasn't sure about multi-channel play back with the DVD-audio,SACD section, as I only had 2 DVD-A. Play back in multi-channel mode seems to use up power and drops volume. But after playing the reissue's of the Rolling Stones sacd of beggars banquet,let it bleed,and through the past darkly, these are stereo sacd's. It sounded much better. Even DVD-a sounded better but not as good as sacd. I don't know why the drop off in volume for MC, but after hearing stereo sacd, and dvd-a I think I made a good buy.

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Kenwood,Sony

Looks good, well built, sturdy.

Sound quality is poor and muted The picture is grainy.

I just turned in my Denon DVD-900 and brought the 47A home. At the store the picture looked really good, a little better than the Denon DVD-3800, and the sound was just as good, but once in my system things changed. I have a Pioneer Elite THW receiver (which is warm by nature) along with a Parasound A23 amp powering my fronts (Energy C-9's). I watched a couple of movies and was somewhat disappointed playing DVD's. Both Tomb Raider, and Gladiator didn't look as good as the old Denon DVD-900, it looked a little grainy. I messed around with some of the video settings, but not to much improvement. But what really disapointed me was the audio. Playing the Elite 47A is like having a blanket on my speakers. The C-9's sounded really good with the Denon, but with the Elite, muted and to warm. Maybe it's the combination of Elite amp and DVD that causes such warmth that it overwhelms the music. In fact, I was listening to Phil Keagy 's Beyond Nature, an acoustic guitar CD, and I had to turn it off. 25% of what I know to be on the CD is now gone. The tuner sounds better. In Gladiator, the openning scene with the horses moving across the screen, the sharp highs that were present with the Denon have disappeared. The whole auditory experience I was looking for sounds better in a 300 DVD player than this. The player is being packed up tonight for a return trip to Magnolia, I'll try my luch with either the Denon DVD-2800, or Toshiba SD-5700. Good luck. Presently I'm having to rethink my ideas about Audiophile vs Non Audiophile DVD players. Maybe a decent Toshiba SD-5700 for playing movies (the 5700 goes for about $400) and a dedicated CD player, say like the Musical Fidelity A3CD might be a better avenue to get the sound I'm after with CD's.

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Denon DVD-900, DVD-2800.

DVD-Audio & SACD Picture Loading times Remote Price Solid build

CD replay a bit bright Remore could have more back-lighting

(Note: This review is for the Pioneer DV-S733A, Pacific version) Can you get a better DVD-Video player? The picture is so film like that I have no need to go to the cinema anymore. Has more picture settings than my TV, so finding the best set up for your system is easy (and hard). Depth of picture is outstanding, with vibrant colours that leap out and show so much detail. I'm watching every DVD is my collection twice as much as before just to find new details I never noticed. Sound is great too, with the built-in Dolby Digital and DTS decoders doing a better job than my old Sony DAV-S300 system. CD replay is a little bright, but this can be countered with a good speaker and amp setup. Why get involved in the format wars, when you can play both DVD-Audio and SACD. Both sound great on this machine. Layer change delay is smallish, and loading is very quick. Remote is brilliant with heaps of control, but not enough is back-lit.

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Sony DAV-S300 Teac DV-2150 Apple iMac

Great picture

Mediocre sound

I bought this player expecting great picture and only so so sound. What I got was great picture and only so so sound. I was not disappointed but ended up selling and upgrading to the Marantz DV8300 which does have better enough sound to justify the price difference. Both machines have superior video but CDs & concert DVDs simply sound more clear and dynamic through the Marantz and have a much better developed soundstage, at least on my Classe/Thiel system. And, on CD & SACD was much closer to the quality level I'm accustomed to from by Marantz SA14. That said, the Pioneer is most definitely a better piece of video than audio gear. I'd keep it if I was still using a midpriced receiver.

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Marantz, Rotel, Arcam

Number one qualification. A TERRIFIC PICTURE.Value and multiple CD formats a bonus. Heaviest stock power cord I have ever seen.

Somewhat Elite "lite" styling.

I am actually writing about the Pioneer Elite 47ai DVD player. I have to say that this was an easy choice. I had auditoned a Sony "Best Buy Special" for $200.00 and the Pioneer Elite 45. I can say without a doubt that the picture quality alone in worth the price of admission. Without getting all videophilish, the picture was simply outstanding. I ran the usual suspects through the 47ai(Shrek, Toy Story, Fifth Element and also many DVD's that were not reference) and I felt they all displayed beautifully. I am playing the 47ai through a Pioneer Elite 710 directly via component connections (and yes good cables do make a difference, trust me on this one). The blacks were blacks and there is almost no discernable color bleeding. Basically the picture is free from the traditional distracting artifacts. The versatility of being able to play almost any CD format is a plus. The sound from SACD and DVD music is a whole other realm. I have enjoyed exploring this new format, but I have not auditioned other SACD and DVD audio players.I do appreciate the apparent expanded soundstage and there is a sonic improvement over the traditional Redbook CDs. If you buy one component to improve your current AV setup this is it!!!!

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Sony progressive DVD player Pioneer Elite 45.

Stunning picture, useful features

It would be nice for almost $500 to weigh at least 7 pounds.

This review is for the 45A, I know how sensitive some of you are so I hope that this doesn't get anyone too worked up. Anyway, I think that most people read these reviews to make a buying decision on a product and I'm sure that someone out there who is looking at the 47AI probably must be wondering if there is an appreciable difference between the 45 and the 47. My story is that I have recently upgraded all of my AV components and wanted to do the best that I could do DVD wise under $1000. I bought the Denon 900 thinking that with 12 bit/54mhz, burr brown, faruodja, etc. it had to have a high end picture. I found the picture on the Denon to be "soft" and not particularly exciting. I was consistently reading positive opinions about pioneer, especially in the British HIFI magazines. However, I was begining to think that the differences in DVD video quality may be so small that there might not be a noticable difference among reasonable quality players. I have tried lower level Sony's, Panasonc, Marantz-and although they all were decent, I kept wondering what you get on the next level. The Denon just wasn't any better than any of those and before I lost total faith, I bought the 45A. Well, there are differences, I was wrong. The 45A (on progressive mode viewed on a Panasonic Tau 36" HDTV monitor) made me realize for the first time what I was missing and added validity in my mind to all of the efforts from reviewers on this site. The colors are vivid, the picture is filmlike, it is really amazing! I am completely satisfied and although the 47AI may have better specifications, I would be hard pressed to think to a non-videophile, that for the most part, you may find any differences to be negligable. For a person who can't see and doesn't look for minute artifcats and a chroma bug, and really just wants a vivid, vibrant, 3D filmlike picture, the 45A does the job. Sure it doesn't way 10+ pounds and it doesn't make coffee, but my advice to a potential buyer looking for a sharp picture, this is a great choice. The audio capabilities are basically on par with the 47AI, and from what I have read, the 12 bit/108 mhz DAC does not necessarily provide an improved picture, it has more to do with the noise filter (which the 45A has). Again, I have not tried the 47AI and figure that if you feel that a heavier player with more internal shielding will provide a significantly be

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Denon DV900, Marantz DV4200, Sony 300 something, Sony 700 something, Panasonic RV31.

Outstanding solid, vibrant,super-sharp and film-like picture. A lot of usefull video parameters to tweak with. Really good and dynamic sound. 3 years full warranty ( Canadian model )

Like nearly others reviewers said: Build quality compared to previous other Elite players ( DV-09, DV-37 ).

I got this player since three weeks now. It replaced a well loved Pioneer Elite DV-09 that I owned for more than 3 years. Probably one if not the best interlaced player ever made. The build quality of both players can't be compared. It's like a horse and a pony. The DV-09 is build like a thank and weight around 35 pounds. The DV-47a looks and weight like every others mid players on the market. In term of pure video performance the DV-47a is without any doubt clearly superior to the DV-09 ( who was really good ) via is component progressive output on my digital set the Toshiba 57HX81.That was expected considering the 4 years technology difference between the two Elite players. I had the chance to compare the Toshiba SD-4700 ( also progressive ) to the DV-47a in my home set-up. Both players throw a really solid and flickers free picture. But the color and crispness are better on the Pioneer IMO. But don't discard the Toshiba player because in is price range it certainly blow away most of others players on video performance. I was really pleased with is video performance. But I have to give the edge to the Elite player.Don't forget that it's cost nearly 4 times the price of the SD-4700 also. The biggest difference between the two players is the sound. Both 5.1 and stereo via the coaxial digital output to my Acurus Act3 ( don't have analog bypass ). The sound, especially in two-channels listening is really too metallic and edgy for my taste with the Toshiba. Much more open and smooth with the Pioneer. That was the deciding point for my purchase. I never had the chance yet to test the DVD-Audio or SACD performance of the player but the fact is that I have to admit that I never listened to any high-resolution multi-channel discs to date. So the odds that I will be pleased with the 47a when the formats become to be more popular are really good. Anyway I bought this player primarly for his outstanding video performance and good digital transport. All other future benefits will be considered as a pleasant bonus. I really highly recommended this player to everyone. Especially the video-picky-freaks.

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Pioneer Elite DV-09, Toshiba SD-4700