twin lasers - plays CDR's, 3 disc changer, easy set up

doen't have zoom, but I figured I wouldn't use it that much anyway

I have no problem with this player; after getting a Toshiba which didn't work, I went to Best Buy and got this one plus a warranty for $60 or so that will let me bring it in if it doesn't work and get another one (after 4 trades, they give you credit toward a different player) anytime during the four year period.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 3109 which was dead on arrival

Reads CD-R, CD-RW, internal decoder, multi-disc player

Not enough control over the internal decoder

Where to start. I’ve only had the 302 for a short while but I have been absolutely amazed at the whole DVD experience. I guess I should begin at what determined the purchase of the 302. My requirements for a DVD player were that it had to be able to play CD-R and CD-RW discs. It also had to have a built-in decoder, as I have a Yamaha E-492 Processor (Dolby Digital Ready). Originally I had looked at a Panasonic 320 as I have a GAOO TV and a Panasonic VCR, but it didn’t play CD-R at all. I also was tempted with Toshiba’s twin tray model and the Yamaha 795, but again, neither played CD-R’s. I then started to look at the Pioneer DV-626. When the supreme being (that’s the wife to those who aren’t married) finally gave me permission to buy, I soon found out that the 626 was discontinued and that the 302 had taken its place. At first it seemed that 8 months of research had gone to waste. I started to look closely at some of the other reviews on the 302, as well as look at a compatible Toshiba (upcoming 3209).

I ended up going to the local audio store just to check one out. I brought a CD-R with a bunch of music, test tones, an MP3 file and some 5.1 surround music which I processed using Soft Encode software. One file had the .AC3 file extension, and two others were recorded as wave files that were Dolby Digitally encoded and converted to CDA. Well for those who have a burner will all understand that it took the MP3 and the .AC3 file and combined it to one data file on the disc (that ended up being track 1) which did not work. The 302 played the rest of the CD-R effortlessly. Even when it came to the two tracks that were Dolby Digital encoded, it played through all six channels. Just to let you know that the setup was using an optical link to a Dolby Digital processor/receiver. I took a chance and it worked. I sat back and tried everything out, watched parts of The Haunting (audio never went out while I was there might I add). The picture was remarkable and clear, even on a cheap Samsung 50” (no offence to all you Samsung lovers). I was so much impressed that I ended up walking out with one.

I hooked it all up at home; my wife and I sat that night to watch the Matrix. The picture was stunning (Carrie-Anne Moss’s rear looked even more stunning than on VHS), and the audio absolutely blew me away. The roof top scene where Reeves faces the agent is so impressive when heard through Digital Surround. The only problem was when they were off to see the Oracle, the phone is ringing, Fishburne picks it up and says, “We’re here”, just after that I noticed a pause…just as the scene is changing. Has anyone else noticed it? It could have been the DVD disc as it was rented (fingerprints and all). Or is that the layer change problem people have been talking about (I’ve read that the Matrix problem occurs long before that scene).

Since then I have watched Star Trek: Insurrection and The 13th Warrior. Though not as intense with the sound like the Matrix, again the picture was excellent in both movies, and I didn’t notice any video flaws.

I then rented Armageddon and that’s where the “fun” began. I noticed another pause at the end of Chapter 13. Never hearing of a problem with Armageddon I assumed that it was the individual DVD. I re-rented from another vendor and again, in the same spot, that dreaded pause. Very much like the one on the Matrix. I took the DVD and the player back to the store, and tried the DVD out on their demo C302…same thing. I tried in also on a Yamaha 795, and a brand new Panasonic multi-player. They both showed that same pause. I did some research and found out that the original Armageddon LD and DVD were either placed on two discs or on a double-sided disc. When they came out with multi-layer DVD’s, the movie was all combined together on one side. This pause is indeed a bad layer change…or in the movie industry, a horrible edit. I feel that this is the case as well with the Matrix. Conclusion, it is not the players fault.

A friend let me borrow a CD-RW with The Beach on it just to make sure that the 302 was capable of playing that type of media as well. It played it flawlessly, though I won’t comment on the quality of the movie (first time ever watching a bootleg).

The only drawback is that when trying it out in the store, as mentioned, they had the 302 optically linked to the receiver, where as I’m using the internal decoder. 5.1 audio from a CD played at the store, but when I tried it at home, it didn’t work (digital noise is very irritating). I think it is because the receiver cannot tell if the signal on the optical line is from a DVD or CD, it just takes the information, depending on the data-stream and outputs what it sees. The internal decoder of the 302 will be automatically bypassed depending on the media sitting in the tray. It is a small drawback as I had my hopes high, but it was not one of the driving reasons to purchase a DVD in the first place. It would have just been an added bonus.

Now to quickly rebuttal against some of the so-called “weaknesses”. The remote is actually pretty well laid out. I have already been able to pick up on what button to push without looking at it, even in the dark. The tray, sure it might be noisy, but when watching a movie, who is concerned about the tray noise anyway. As for the build quality, let’s face it, truly there really isn’t that much in these units anyways. Most likely the thing that weighs the most is the laser drive unit.

I am very happy about the choice I have made, and to all those who are planning on purchasing in the near future…take your time and really research what you want. I did, and has it ever paid off, BIG TIME.

P.S. If you are interested in processing your own 5.1 audio, please email me, and I’ll help you out as much as I can, as I’m still learning how to do it myself, but I know how to do simple processing. I was very surprised when it did work. After encoding it at home, I played the CD with my CD player and all that was heard was digital noise. But the receiver when hooked up digitally to the DVD player is capable of processing the data. The software used is Sonic Foundry’s Soft Encode 5.1.

Have fun.

Similar Products Used:

Tested: Yamaha, Panasonic, Toshiba

CD-R, 3 disc carousel

Very, very small buttons on remote that can't be differentiated in the dark

I have had no problems with this DVD player. I checked here and knew the issues to look for and I've experienced none of them. The CD-R aspect was an absolute requirement, which automatically excluded comparable Sony, Toshiba and JVC players from consideration.

The digital decoding is good for anyone with an older pro-logic receiver and the 3-disc carousel is just enough for music listen for those of us with a limited CD library. The one fault is the remote, which has tiny, little, identical buttons which has me turning on the light to pause the movie. An intelligent TV remote remedies this.

I would recommend this player to anyone (and have).

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 5 disc carousel

Tim,

About your problems with the transport and the reset: Go check out the reviews for the Panasonic A110. This is a 2 yr. old model (which I currently own), and seeing the same problems as everone else. It could be a heat problem surfacing...guess we will see. Good luck!!

I wish I didn't have to put a rating on this, I don't own this model.

Dave

3 Discs, DD/DTS out, DD decoder, s-video, composite and component video out.

Holding the ffwd/rev button down to scan.

Got the player, hooked it up, started testing. . . and it looks like it might be a winner.

The player details: s-video out (1), composite out, component out, selectable switch for either composite/s-video or component. coax and optical Digital out, R/L out and 5.1 out for audio. Built in Dolby Digital decoder (which I'm not using) and will pass DTS to a receiver. The discs are held in a rotating tray.

The remote details: It's a decent remote, the placement of buttons is fairly thought out. Not hard to use but you do have to hold down the fast forward/reverse button for it to "scan" in that direction.

Picture quality: I thought I noticed some artifacts in Night at the Roxbury (we were in the middle of watching it anyway :) ) but Matrix and Blade played cleanly on the parts I know sputter with DD on my DVD-rom. The images were clean (although I haven't seen enough examples of them to be able to say they were "crisp" they did look a bit better than the image I got from the dxr3 card) and I noticed only very minimal fun-with-lines from downconversion of the images.

Sound quality: Well, it's as good as my receiver. I used the coax digital connection and experienced no lipsync problems in movies which I'd seen it before (again, on the dvd-rom) even after doing a fast forward.

Other features: It has an "Image quality" (I believe was the menu selection) which lets you select between Cinema (enhanced black, nice), Cartoon (enhanced color, haven't used it yet) and Standard. The menu is accessible during playback and so far the only thing I couldn't change during playback (although certain audio settings might also be locked during play) was the screen size (16:9, 4:3 p&s, 4:3 letterbox) but all I had to do was hit stop, set it and hit play (and it resumed where it stopped). It also has pause, frame advance, slow play (not sure if there are levels to it yet though).

All in all it plays well, it swaps between discs nicely (with a nifty little image on the screen too) and does everything I want it to. I will be back to add on to this if I experience any problems, but until then I'm really liking it. I'm sure there will be someone to come along and have problems with it, but it seems to me that those with a problem are more likely to voice it (I know it's true for myself too) but I just wanted to let anyone who was considering it know that, at least so far, it's a good product.

Similar Products Used:

An RCA DVD player, Creative Labs DVD (5X) w/DXR3 card.

Excellent Picture, great sound, great price.

The tray.

I just purchased the player a week ago and I love it. I replaced my old Kenwood CD plyer with the Pioneer. Using monster cable (S-Video and Digital Coax) I get great sound and picture. I'm also using a Pioneer elite VXS-21 reciever which makes the 302 better. Playing CD's sounds better than my old Kenwood. A very good DVD/CD player for the price.

Built-In DTS decoder, carousel disc, nice design

None

I recommed it 5 Stars

Similar Products Used:

None

Picture, Sound, Disc Tray, Can read CD-R's. Style.

Just sound problems on a few discs

The only problem i am having with this machine is that when you play a movie the audio goes out. Than you have to press stop than resume, than the audio picks up again???
I find that annoying. The movie i played was Double Jeopardy ...I noticed that some others have listed this as a problem for them as well..Now what is my next step?? I have returned this machine once and exchanged to a new one (same model) And it still does the same thing...I am thinking of returning it and exchanging to Toshiba. Which that same movie works fine on my other Toshiba DVD player.
I love this Pioneer one, Does Pioneer know of any defects on this model?? Are they going to do a recall?? Does represenative of this product even read these reviews?? I know consumers do...If any one have any suggestions and ideas please write me...Everything else on this machine I totaly love!!! (Forgot: The Remote could be a little more formed and would of loved to have a glow in the dark key pad)

kamster52@go.com

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba, Kenwood, Panasonic, JVC, Sony,

Plays DVD,CD,CD-R,CD-RW very well.

Remote

Great mid-level unit. Plays anything you through into it.
Has all the nessary hook-ups for optical or coax.
Picture is great using the optical cable. Will be trying composite soon.(New Receiver)

Similar Products Used:

None

Plays CD-Rs *and* CD-RWs! Component video out. DTS-compatible. 3-disc changer. Great picture quality, great price

Remote. Aesthetics of on-screen display. Changer mechanism's a bit noisy. Setting some modes (i.e. random play) without a monitor on is awkward.

This is an excellent player for the price! I tried out a Sony DVP-S650D changer at first, a considerably more expensive unit which wouldn't play CD-Rs or CD-RWs at all. The Sony turned out to be defective, so I returned it for this Pioneer (to its credit, the Sony did accept five discs at a time, and had more bells & whistles, generally better build quality and "feel"... not enough to justify the ~$200 price difference, though!) The CD-R issue was what decided it for me; very few current DVD players handle these, and I didn't want to keep a separate CD player in my system.

Compared its Sony counterpart, Pioneer's remote is pretty bad-- poor ergonomics, lots of identically-sized tiny buttons for everything. I use a universal though (SL-9000), so the OEM remote sits on a shelf... only needed it for 1hr. to grab the codes :)

Another minor nit for me is the ugly on-screen display overlay. Its character set somehow manages to appear both jagged and blurry at the same time, whereas Sony used a nice anti-aliased font, white on a gray background, that looked much better. This applies only to the chapter/title indicators and setup menus, though. Quality of DVD playback, even menus and subtitles (which are stored as bitmaps on the disc itself) is outstanding. Every bit as good as the Sony 650D, as far as I can tell.

Viewing on a Sony 32xbr250, I see a tiny bit of video noise picked up in dim areas of a solid color. This may be from my cabling, though-- three 25' RG-6 coaxials for the component hookup, with "F"->RCA adapters on each end. Shorter, better-shielded cables would probably eliminate this minor blemish.

I don't use the internal Dolby Digital decoder or stereo analog outputs, and so can't comment on the quality of the DACs inside. DD & PCM sound through the digital outputs is fantastic, though.

No disc compatibility glitches yet, knock on wood.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-S300, Sony DVP-C650D, various PC-based players