Built in DTS and Dolby Digital Decorder. Multi jog remote control. Virtual Dolby Digital(TruSurround).

The loading tray is a little bit noisy.

Nice DVD player and good quality picture. But quite expensive....

Similar Products Used:

None

Good picture. Lots of video tweaks. Good sound quality. Plays 'problem' discs with no bother. Inbuilt DD and DTS.

Terrible remote control (UK). A bit plastic looking. Only one Scart output (UK model). Tray a bit noisy.

I'm not an expert on DVD and can't offer many comparisons but I purchased a 626 after favourable reviews. I wanted something which had inbuilt DD and DTS as well as something which could be used as a CD transport feeding an external DAC for music. The Pioneer fitted the bill. I would have preffered a Sony 7700 which would have been better as a transport, but it did not have DD decoder nor did it output the 96/24 CD signal which my DAC can take. The Pioneer is great for films - I've heard so much about problem DVDs such as The Matrix - and the inability of other players to track these correctly. The Pioneer has had no problems with anything I've seen so far. The picture quality is excellent in RGB mode and has plenty of adjustments and memory facilities - but I tend not to use these after inital setup. The internal DD decoder is as good as any I've heard (although comparisons have been difficult since I've not had other players in my house - only in demo rooms etc...). It would have been nic to have better management of sound facilities (as in the picture tweaks) such as adjustments for bass management etc... but you can't hav everything. The unit looks a bit plasticky and not as 'nice' as other ones (particularly the Sony mentioned above). There seems to be some nice from the loading tray when accessing menus - high pitch low level squeals - which is off-putting. Even in CD listening operation on quiet music, I can hear the transport whining away (quietly). I have to say that the remote supplied in the UK is truly awful - lots of small buttons with tiny labelling which you can't read in the dark and there's no easy way of hitting the commonly used buttons like 'stop' and 'start' and 'pause'. The scan button is stupid - you have to press and hold this to scan forward, but after about 4 or 5 seconds, even releasing this does not stop the scanning - it just continues. So in summary - performance for DVDs (films and DTS discs) the Pioneer's the business and I have no complaints. Ergonomically, it's a bit of a pain to use, especially the remote. For music (CDs) as a tranport only feeding a DAC it's pretty good (sound quality-wise) but a bit noisy.

I really like the sound quality and picture quality.

The unit does not feel like it is assembled well. It feels
tinny.I am having a problem with the component video out.

I purchased the unit in May and was very pleased right out of the box. I was used to the DVPS3000 which has much better assembly quality, but does not have DTS out or component video out.

Right away I noticed much more detail in the picture over the Sony. But I also noticed jagged lines on anamorphic discs that I never noticed before on the Sony. This is a difference in philosophy between the two companies with their down conversion to a 4:3 television.

I purchased the unit because of the ability to tweak the video on the player itself, the DTS output and the component video out. In regards to the latter, the unit is not outputting as much white or the luminance is muted. The unit is in for service due to the fact that Pioneer no longer makes this product and the place I purchased it from does not have any new ones in stock.

I am disappointed in the fact that I can't watch any movies on the Pioneer while it's in for service. Also, I never had a single problem on the Sony so I was hopeing that the Pioneer would be just as reliable while getting better pereformance.

In closing, I hope that in the future, Pioneer works on their build quality. I would not mind spending more money on a product if it would not break after three months of use. I have owned Pioneer products in the past with no problems what so ever so I am hopeing that this will be the last thing to go wrong. I really do like the performance and would highly recomend the DV626, although you might want to consider getting that extended warranty.

Similar Products Used:

SONY DVPS3000

Built in Dolby Digital and DTS Decoders, every possible connector to connect to a Receiver and TV. plays CDR and CDR/W !!!

No Headphone socket, poor rear stand..

Purchased this DVD player after studying almost every model in the market and this was the best deal with tonnes of feature at this price. Pionner can improve the design a bit.
This was the only model which could playback all those CDR and CDRW. i'am not aware of any player from sony or panasonic which do this!! overall tremendous value for every cent!!

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Panasonic 330

image quality, remote control, search and memory modes, output jacks

none so far

It's good to have a device that plays virtualy all kinds of discs. It has many outputs, composite, s-video, etc. Outputs jacks are gold plated. Jog/shuttle remote makes easy to pinpoint that specific scene on the movies. I also like the diferent search modes (chapter, title, time). Acess to setup fast and easy.You can adjust many things, including gamma and chroma, a professiona feature for a consmer dv player. Memory mode makes a delight remember your favorite scenes on dvd's (up to 25 discs) A real good device for dvd's. Can't go wrong with this equipment

Similar Products Used:

none

Audio/Video quality, reads everything, remote

None so far

I was about to get Sony DVP-S745D, but sales guy explained me that Sony gets 'picky' about what it'll read. I tried Pioneer 525 - worked like charm. Went for 626 since 525 was 'cheap' (dumb reason, but I prefer to pay bit more for things that I want to last bit longer ;).

Reads *everything* (except a 'Matrix' which was actually brought from Asia - it simply hangs on some scenes). Mine is 'zone free' model, and really works like charm. Quality of the picture is very good, and it's not even connected to S-Video yet (the TV doesn't have it - gotta get new one :).

Plays audio CDs *very* nicely too.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV-525K, Sony DVP-S745D