Great Picture, Remarkable sound, Easy to use, Inexpensive

Some noise during operation

After considering much more expensive machines (Sony DVP-S7000 & DVP-S7700, & Pioneer Elite line), I came to the conclusion that a much less expensive machine may have similar attributes. I visited the Audioadvisor.com. These people have a good rep. and sell some high end but relatively inexpensive equipment. So, I saw this unit being offered for $250.00. Not bad! I read a good many reviews and decided to go for it. By the way, Audio Advisor offers a 30day money back guarantee. How can you go wrong!
Got the machine and have played approx. 4 films on my 31" Panasonic super flat screen set. Wow! this machine is not only good but great for the few dollars it cost. Both picture resolution/color and sound are excellent. Need I say more. Anyway, hope to complete my home theater setup soon with a good receiver and speakers. Oh, as for the operational noise, its a minor quibble. No problem here.

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none (Have demo'd Denon, Sony, Panasonic)

Good price. Good picture and sound quality

Bit noisy when it is playing disk

This is my first DVD player. I was thinking of waiting for the Panasonic A7 DVD Universal player but giving up because I am not sure how much longer I have to wait.

I bought this player this morning and had played some DVD, CD and VCDs since. All works find and I was very satisfying with the sound and picture quality. However, the noise that came out from the player while it was playing was kind of annoying to me even I am not a picky person. Since this is my first player, I do not know if this kind of noise is common to all brands or just unique to Pioneer. I am thinking of return this back but not sure what player I should buy after. From this Audioreview.com site, look like every player has some kind of weakness.

Excellent GUI menu, great remote, easy use of almost all functions, sounds great even on Pro-logic systems

No 5.1 output, not as many outputs, noisy tray, weak pallete display and design (no dimmer), LCD screen display not the best either

This was a gift given to me for Christmas and was no doubt the best one I've ever received. A lil' difficult to figure out at first, but when messed with enough it becomes easier every time. Easy setup, and easy controls, but jus' a bit too easy to where I think I jus' bought an Apex or Sanyo. It looks a bit cheap, and has poor design, but it's what you get in the end that counts. Many modes and menus for configuration, which can be a menace at first but a luxury later when understood. My only problem is that I never recalled the manual saying anything about being able to change the the screen presentation. It was always stuck on Widescreen and I was never able to figure out how to change it. That was a year ago. Pioneer has never really been the greatest at manuals though. After getting A Sony player, jus' yesterday I found out that the Pioneer had all the features they jus' had to be sought after when not playing a movie. I lost out on $$. Good product.

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Toshiba (don't remember model), Sony DVP-S560D (still in use)

Cheap price, all the necessary gadgets for a "normal" user. Who needs em zooms etc??

Noisy disctray, too small a remote without lights, almost impossible to use it in the dark.

I was in the market for an affordable player capable of DTS, found the 525 and like this 1 very muchos. Cant blame it on anything really except the small remote, no thought put into it at all, shame on ya Pioneer designers. Great sound & pic, no lipsync or any other problems noticed, go get it, great value for your money.
The prices here in Europe, Scandinavia are a bit higher than u American guyz are used to, i had to pay 599.63$ for mine (regionfree), and that was the cheapest I could find except the net :( Any info on shops that are willing to ship hardware to Europe (with VISA & cheaply) would be highly appreciated..?

Regards: Raitsa
www.sathack.com

Don't know-- see below.

Bought two, and neither worked

I read the reviews here and elsewhere, and went out and bought one for Christmas (for the family, of course). Opened it and hooked it up (to a Pioneer Elite 21) Christmas morning. Worked okay for one disk, though we noticed that there was a clicking noise when the disk spun up. Put in a second disk (Pink Floyd's The Wall), tried switching on subtitles, and the picture froze. Put in another disk (Pokemon movie that came with it) and it froze after a couple of frames. Same with several other disks we had. Brought it back to CC and got a replacement. Brought it home, hooked it up, put in a disk, and it started making a horrible grinding noise when it spun up. No picture at all. Okay, tried two, neither worked. I don't know if they fell over in the warehouse, or if Pioneer just couldn't ramp up enough for Christmas, but in either case, I wouldn't trust them. Got CC to give me $20 off of the Panasonic A120 for my trouble, and went home happy.

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Panasonic A120

Solid performer,audio out classes models that cost twice as much,very affordable.

None

Pioneer 525 is no doubt that best bang for the buck,the lemon that some reviewers got is a bit distrubing but when it does work it will exceed your expections.I use to own the Sony 7000 but sold it because it could not play cd-r and foreign cd's.The Sony cost three times as much but the Pioneer held its own and some .There are better DVD players out there but for the price you're paying for the Pioneer this is a winner.

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Sony 7000

Inexpensive. Plays CD-Rs, CD-RWs. Has both digital coax and optical output. Has Component Video output

Feels very cheap because of its weight and extensive use of plastic. Exterior design and LED display looks dated. No frills design (some could consider this a strength)

I really can't comment on image quality and audio output as it relates to other DVD players since I haven't done any side by side comparisons. I judge the image and sound to be both excellent. I bought this player because of it's CD-R and CD-RW playback capability. I can burn home videos to the VideoCD format on a CD-R and watch it with no problems. The ability to stop and resume where you left off is great as well. The remote isn't as bad as people say, the buttons are just a little small and tightly spaced. The tray mechanism does sound clunky but not bothersome. However, the much talked about spinning disc noise IS AN ISSUE! It is noticeable during very quiet passages especially at the beginning of the DVD. It tends to get quieter towards the middle and end. To be fair, it seems to be disc dependent and some discs are louder than others. This is a great inexpensive DVD player with features not found on players costing hundreds more. Overall, I give it thumbs up. Pickup mine up for $394 Cdn.

Great Picture
Quality Sound Reproduction
Looks great from the front

Extremely light
Remote is awful

I have been very pleased with this unit so far. I have only had one problem while playing Usual Suspects witht he volume dropping out, but this has occured only once and I have not been able to reproduce the problem. This is a great choice for DVD if you want to enjoy quality video and sound now and want to wait for new technology down the road before sinking a lot more into a player

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Panasonic A120

An incredible value for a player that has CD-R and CD-RW capability.

Tray was a little noisy and slow on load.

This forum pretty much determined my decision to buy the Pioneer DV525. I was going to get a Hitachi 250U since it had CD-R and CD-RW capability as well as having a DD decoder built-in. But after reading reviews of how it had problems playing certain movies like the Matrix (pretty much the impetus for me getting a DVD player in the first place) I decided to look at other players.

My experience with Pioneer products in the past have not been great but after reading the reviews of the player on this forum and finding that most people only have minor complaints about it, I gave decided to buy it.

I got it from Crutchfield for USD299 - 50 rebate. Two days after I ordered the price had dropped to 249 so now I got the thing for 249 - 50 rebate! I don't think I could have found another brand name DVD player for this price anywhere and that's why this one is so great. It has a purty picture and played the Matrix just fine as well as two VCDs I have (one on Maxell CD-R and the other on Pacific Digital CD-RW). Sure the remote is kind of cheap and the menus don't dazzle but getting a DVD player for this price that doesn't miss a heartbeat on the Matrix (a tough DVD from what I have heard) and plays other media formats is incredible.

I am using the S-Video output (no Component-in on my 32" TV) and audio is through my TV speakers. My next purchase is a surround system. :)

I can't compare picture quality with other DVD players but I was dazzled nevertheless. This player is by far the best bang for the buck and I'm glad I didn't get the Hitachi.

Thanks for the info ppl!

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None - my first DVD Player

Flexibility of media supported and of outputs

Lack of coax out

I have none of the complaints that appear elsewhere. So far I'm using exclusively for playing DVDs, and I only notice the spinning sound when the TV isn't making any noise. If anything, it should be more noticeable since I'm watching in my bedroom from about four feet away using only the television speakers, but I hear nothing during playback. I've had no trouble with "The Matrix" except for a half-second pause between scenes 21 and 22, and no trouble at all with the other 8 or 9 titles I've played so far. The scan buttons only have to be held down for a few seconds before scanning becomes automatic; I'd think the people complaining about the remote would appreciate the fact that you don't have to find the Play button to end a quick scan.

Surely there are those who will wonder why I want to play DVD on such a lackluster setup: well, picture and audio quality are neat, but mostly I'm more interested in the bonus material. A VCR and a Playstation share the coax input on my TV, but since there's no such output on the DV-525, I have to switch from coax to RCA to watch DVD and back to play video games. Yeah, I know: "poor baby." The right solution must be clear to the audiophiles: I shall have to purchase a receiver and begin putting together a respectable system. Probably something that'll support the optical outs. So that's my only complaint: it is definitely a great value for the money, but if the rest of your setup is as affordable, you may find yourself compelled to start spending more on other components.

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none