brilliant all round player/ has brilliant connections/ sound/picture and as pioneers mid range flagship model it is well worth the price (which by the way is substantially cheaper than some more expensive players which do the same thing!)so by this now you won't regret it!

none really, except that if you do not have surround sound(you are crazy!!!) and you have the volume low the players disc drive can be heard bot is not really a problem if you are watching a film at higher than the sound of a whisper!

brillint all round player for all those concerned with good all round connections and functionality with a massive array of functions and tools,the player has absolutly no lip sync problems and the multireigion capabilities are astounding! so don't delay buy this player now!! sell your grandmother for because you WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!

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pioneer 525

Dolby Digital/DTS built-in decoder
Good video quality, both S-video and normal video
Sufficient feature, 2 S-video, component, etc...
Good remote, if only all the buttons can be lit-up, wow!

Average audio quality, especially on 2 channel CD, blah
5.1 audio out is OK only

Built quality, feels like cheap plastic, hang on, it is cheap plastic!

Production quality control is a question mark. The first machine delivered only had audio working, but video was not. Second machine was OK..

The tray feels very rough. Wonder how long will it survive?

Video output : 4.5
Audio out, 5.1 : 3.5
Audio out, 2 : 2.0

Features : 5.0
Build Quality : 3.0

Total : 18.0
Average : 3.6

Value : 4.0

Somehow, audio part does not feel involving. For 5.1, tried using built-in decoder and digital out to external decoder. But still, it lacks in transparency and dynamics. Details are OK. Problem could be that the audio may be too neutral. Break it down to high, mid and bass, high is not too bright. The mid is quite sweet, and bass is fine if you have the sub (tried on Ronin, Heat etc). Combine all three though, music is not convicing enough.

For 2 channel, just stick to CD-only player. Haven't tried to use digital out to DA-converter. Wonder how it will sound like? Player is probably better suited for clasical.

Video is good. Black is black, not just quite black, wonder how far it is from the Tosh 9000 or Sony 7700 (no longer sold here, new model coming out?). Also, contrast and details are good. On a good DVD disc, can even see pimple contour on actress face for close-ups (Pioneer test disc used here).

Overall though, the machine is quite OK as long as it is not used for audio-CD. Actual rating will be 3.6, but rounded up, it gets 4.

System
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DVD player - Pioneer 626D
CD - Audiolab
Amp - Yamaha, Audiolab
Speakers - Sonus Faber, Castle, REL
Cables - Audioquest, Kimber, etc

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Never got a chance to use Sony 725, wasn't sold in this region, poor Sony marketing.

Plays anything (scratched DVD's, CDR's, etc), built-in DD and dts decoders, wealth of outputs, no lip sync issues, reliablility, reasonable cost.

Search is jumpy, but that' may be the medium, Component Video/Composite-SVideo output selector switch!

I searched for a long time before I popped for this unit. I have a Carver HTR-885.1 DD-ready receiver, so I needed a unit with a built-in decoder, and while I almost went for the cheaper 3-disc 302, I'm glad I didn't. The 626 has video noise filtering that the 302 doesn't and is sure to be more reliable than a carousel.

I have to say one thing right off. This unit has played everything I've thrown at it without a glitch, and that includes many NetFlix rental DVD's--they show up in all levels of scratchosity. Most are much more scratched than any CD's I own. I have to wonder what people are doing out there with their DVD's, unless it's occurring in the mail.

The decoder outputs interface perfectly with the THX-spec 25-pin D-type 5.1 input connector on the 885.1 through a cable Carver's contracted service center still sells out in Snohomish, WA. The only wierdness I noticed while running the Avia A/V setup DVD to set up the speaker levels was that I had to turn off the subwoofer output in the 626 for the low end of the rear channels to be routed to the subwoofer! Go figure. It has more to do with the Carver than with the Pioneer--I got a schematic with the service manual and it's wired differently than it's described.

I'm space-challenged, so I use three NHT SuperZeroes across the front, two NHT HDP-1's in the back, and an NHT small sub --the first small one, whatever its model number is--and while not impressive in size, the system is arguably very adequate. I like it a lot. The TV is a 32" Sony WEGA FV15.

I use component outputs through a set of (yikes) Monster cables, which is how I got turned onto NetFlix--they stuck a coupon in there with the cables and I bit. Hey, they've got nearly every Woo-Ping, Jet-Li, and Bruce Lee flick available at some time or other and I haven't seen them down at Hollywood Video at any time, ever.

Besides, I decided to grab a SIMA CCPro as I hate to rent a rare movie without saving a sample for personal reference, and while VHS copies of DVD's are kind of laughable, some movies are just keepers, and the SIMA makes it happen. The only bite is the Pioneer's rear-panel video output selector switch--nice location for a tail signal but not for a switch this important. Good thing my stand doesn't have side panels.

It's hard to find something else about this unit to complain about--the remote weighs about a half-ounce and the wobbly little joystick is a little annoying, but that's it. The best price I found was $359 at Supreme Video.

From what I've heard, you can do a lot worse than the Pioneer DV-D626D. The Matrix, Fifth Element, Contact, Das Boot, Fist of Legend, and Wing Chun are just riveting.

Five stars for no headaches.

Be a tissue and organ donor and support Presumed Consent in the USA.

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No DVD players. Many CD players.

A/V quality, features, sharpness of picture

Looks ugly

I just had to add a comment since I'm really tired of idiots that get defective unit (and keep talking about problems with dealer/distributor) - and yet *RATE* the perfectly good player with 1 star. Please, if you have hardware problem, complain to the vendor/distributor - don't rate the product (since you obviously couldn't test it).

This player is really neat, and also reads everything I've placed in it (DVD, CD-R, CD-RW). Not noisy.

Also very good for listening Audio CDs, but if you really want something 'special' - go and get a CD player, not a DVD player :)

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Sony DVP-S745D

Excellent picture quality, sounds great. Great feature is the gamma correction and the compatibility and connectivity issues are all user friendly.

woluld like to have a jog dial on the remote

This player was probably one of my best buys and I am very careful with what I say. For all those of you out there who go and spend money to buy a product from sources which are not 100% reliable, then it becomes your problem and not a problem of the company that builds these machines.

Anyway, this DVD to my amaze played everything CD, CD/R, CD/RW, DD,DTS,MPEG-2. It has excellent built in features for sound processing and Virtual Surround (True Surround).
Has got also the memory feature with which you can save your favorite shots and of course gamma correction, sharpness, delay. Supports DNR and has 96khz/24bit digital out.
If you can find the same features on a cheaper item go out and buy it, hopefully it will play with the same quality after a year or so...

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Sony DVP-S2725

Unknown

Poor Build or Packaging quality

Well, I finally decided to upgrade my Panasonic A100 DVD player that I bought over 3 years ago. I read some reviews on this site and finally decided on the 626D.

I then went online to look for the best price from a reliable retailer. I picked buy.com.

Three days later, the player arrived. I quickly disconnected my Panasonic and installed the Pioneer. I turned my system on and got ready to plunk in a DVD and that is when I started to worry. None of the buttons worked (including eject). Ok, I didn't get upset, I checked and re-checked my cables, still nothing. I got my Panasonic out of the box, pluged it back in and it worked with the same cables.

So what does every technical-minded person do just before they give up, give the player a firm wack and just like magic everything started working. Well, reluctantly I sat down and watch a movie (the quality was excellent by the way). So I then shut the player off and the next day, the same thing, nothing worked until it wacked the top of the box.

So, I had no choice but to sent it back and get a replacement.

2 weeks later, after about 2 hours on the phone with buy.com, I recieved player number two. I carefully unwrap it, plug it in and turn it on. Yes!the buttons work!

Plunked in a movie and go to sit down but wait - no video.

OK - I did not panic, check the connections, try component out, super video and the standard video out. I play with the switch on the back (that changes between component and super), gave the player a wack - to no avail.

So now I am trying to get my $$ back from buy.com which should waist another few hours of my time.

What have I learned from this:
- I will not purchase any more electronics from buy.com (it might not be their fault they may just have a bad batch from Pioneer) but it took too long for a product return.
- For electronics I think I will have to go back to (I can't believe I have to say it) but, buying from the greasy salesperson at a local retail outlet (I have never had a problem with retail except for the lack on inventory and the people who work there)
- I will not purchase another 626d again. The packaging is a joke, it seems more for the player not to get scratched than any other reason.

Disapointed and unimpressed. And now I have to research another DVD player...

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Panasonic DVD player

The lights on the front came on and it played audio.

No video - defective unit.

I really needed a second DVD player and after much searching I settled on this Pioneer unit. But like so many other Pioneer DV-626D players, this one also failed to display any video. And returning it to buydig.com was a nightmare in its own. Finally had to cancel the credit card charges and buydig sent a UPS truck around to pick it up - at their expense. I eventually went with the Toshiba SD-2200 for $207 on mercata.com and have had zero problems to date. I gave up a few features from the Pioneer, gained a few others on the Toshiba, and saved $112 to boot. It's doubtful Pioneer equipment will ever make it beyond my front door again.

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Toshiba SD2109

Pricing, picture & sound quality, jog remote, DD/DTS decoder built-in, plays CD-R/CD-RW/VCD, gold RCA jacks, dual S-VHS output.

Lack of zoom feature, switch for changing between component and S-VHS video mode

For the price one pays for this unit, its the best buy thats currently available in the market.

With features such as Dolby digital/DTS decoder built in, CD-R/CD-RW/VCD compatible, Jog remote(buttons are abit on the small side, but still quite useable), very nice picture & sound quality, combined with the best pricing for a unit in this class at about $380us retail.

I've played over 30 different movies, including Matrix, and have not yet experienced any lip sync problems nor lag (if any, it was not too noticeable) in layer changes.

On the negative side, the unit lacks a zoom feature for those movies that are in the tiny widescreen format makes viewing movies on smaller TV's a pain in the you know what.
I'd wish that all movies would come in a standard(full screen) format as most consumers don't have, or cannot afford to buy a wide screen/HDTV display.
Also, whoever that decided to put a switch for the video output (component and S-VHS) should be fired. Its not necessary and is a pain if one had dual monitor outputs with each type of video components.

I highly recommend this player for those looking at buying a DVD player at this price range. Its not a perfect DVD player, but its the best one you will find in its class. Pioneer is, after all, the "pioneers" of the DVD technology. Their home theatre receiver units, however, are nothing to write home about.

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Panasonic dvk320, Sony 550, RCA RC5223

Does everything I wanted, manual & auto switching, macrovision off, CDR...etc etc

Button for illumination on remote is badly placed, noisy
tray mechanism, sticky tray and too square for the design.

After months of researching, finally bought the 626. It is a
region 3 version, gold in colour. Everything is as good as I
tested compared to others in the current market. But the one I bought and owned was a lemon. The tray seems to catch on to something when one tries to eject it. 5 days later..it wouldn't spit out the tray until I had to switch off the unit completely, switch it back on and push the eject button again to make it spit out the tray. My friend who bought the same model a month earlier had a similiar problem. We both got it exchanged and now the 'new' ones are working fine. No 'catching' noises now and tray travelling noise is a bit quieter too. I think it is just a 'bad' batch thing.
I am totally satisfied and therefore recommend it.....if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be 'Refined'.

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None, but did my research very thoroughly....

Remote usage and features, Output quality

Disc tray mechanism

I thought of this as an interim solution to DVD/CD while waiting for rewriteable DVD, which is one reason for purchasing the DV626 when a built-in decoder was not necessary. But I had faith in the sound quality that I could pass the unit along within the family when I was ready to upgrade, where use of the decoder would be required. I purchased through SupremeVideo, and thought the $380 tag was just fine for those needs.

I have had no trouble with voice-sync or tray noise-level during playback, but the tray mechanism is sometimes rough and louder than normal, as others have reported. Overall, I like the remote functionality and ease of setup, and video output has been perfect, which will always be a reflection of the unit itself and the components it connects with. My audio experience has been perfect as well, but it is hard to estimate how much is due to the player when the components are of high quality.

My setup is:
B&W Nautilus 805's/HTM2/DS6
Lexicon DC1 pre-pro
Rotel RB985mkII AMP
BetterCables premium s-video and digital coax audio