Plays anything, solid performance, easy setup,
dual digital outputs

Remote blows, no smooth ff/rew, "plastic-y",
changing discs is a bit slow and noisy

I went to the store with the intention of getting a decent DVD player and a CD player in one box. After dictating required features to the salesman (5 disc, CD-R, digital outputs, etc) I had one choice - the Pioneer. I was skeptical of Pioneer as a brand (other than their Elite line) but decided to give it a chance.

I haven't been disappointed. The unit plays everything and well. It's now a disappointment to watch any movie on anything but DVD. Minor scratches on a DVD haven't caused any hiccups yet. Music sounds good but that really doesn't have anything to do with the Pioneer since the amp is doing all the processing of the digital signal.

Overall the unit is flexible, sounds good, the picture is good and I think it was a bargain ($500 Can). If you want the best with all the features, buy something else like a high end Toshiba. If you want bang for your buck, check this one out.

Similar Products Used:

None

This machine will play anything it was designed to play including CD-R's.

Sound quality, and picture processing suck. The remote is poorly laid out.It took me at least a whole minute to find the stop button.

This is not what I expected from Pioneer. I am taking this player back.
I watched the Eagles on first the Hitachi. Great picture, great sound quality, and the remote was nicely laid out.
Then I watched The Eagles on the Pioneer..... :( what a disappointment. The main stuff you were watching was ok but pay attention to the things that are going on in the background. It was choppy, like trying to watch a poor stream video on a computer.
I bought the Pioneer because it played CD-R's but it just wasn't worth it. I taking this piece of junk back and picking up that Hitachi again.

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Hitachi DV-C605

Plays anything that you can fit inside it! Great picture and sound quality, really easy to set up and use

My TV only has composite video...

For the past year I have been using the DVD drive and decoder card card in my computer to watch movies on TV. I still got a lot of the benefits of DVD's, but because of the distance I had to run cabling, I could only use RCA stereo cables for the audio. Because of that my perfectly good DD receiver was only doing what any old receiver from 5 years ago would do. The sound was still good, but not near what a DVD can do. I can never go back now. After hearing the sounds coming from my DVD's now I can't even stand to watch regular TV anymore. This player even makes my CD's sound better than I have ever heard them. My only problem now os that I need a newer TV so I can use the component video that this thing puts out.

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Sony, Toshiba, Onkyo

Picture quality, sound quality, plays CD-R/W, change disks while playing, optical Toslink audio out, CD mode for random play of CDs loaded in carousel.

FF/Rev not variable speed, remote is cluttered and not backlit.

I got this player to replace my Hitachi which had problems with several DVDs, wouldn't play many of the CDs attempted, and wasn't capable of playing CD-R/W (which about half my music is on). I removed the Hitachi and hooked up the Pioneer to my Yamaha HTR-5240 home theater system. So far it's played everything I've put in it, various DVDs, CDs, CD-R/W. This unit doesn't detect and play MP3s. My first attempt to play a CD-R didn't load, I ejected and tried again, since then it's worked perfectly. With the Hitachi I always saw some video distortion or artifiacts when watching a DVD, since I was new to the DVD world and most DVDs I watch are rentals, I thought this might be acceptable performance. After watching about 10 DVDs in the pioneer, I've only seen one possible distortion, what might be described as a frame skip, but I'm not even sure it was aplayer problem. The ability to change any of the other four discs while a fifth is playing is a great feature.

You can buy this unit at PriceClub/Costco for $269.

Similar Products Used:

Hitachi DVP305U

5 disk carosel (Load 5 movies and don't have to leave the couch again except to make more popcorn). Plays CDRs.

Remote. Sporatic problems reconizing disks on first try.

I don't have any experience with other players to compare with, but I feel that this model performs very well for the price. As with almost every other DVD player review, the picture and sound are superb. The remote could be better, and sometimes has an annoying problem of not recognizing a disk on the first try, but I'm still very satisfied overall. I also considered the Sony DVP-C660, but I got cheap when I found the Pioneer ($285 at BEST BUY) for $65 less.

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None.

Plays DVD, CD, CD-r, CD-rw, Passes 24bit/96kHz bitstream

Remote is hard to use, buttons are too small, wish it had a smooth scan fast forward and reverse, perhaps a few different speeds of fast forward and reverse (only has one)

I was actually shopping to replace my dying CD changer, a Harman Kardon 8400. I wanted something that would play any kind of disk and had 24bit/96kHz output for audio-DVD (do not confuse with DVD-A). The Pioneer fit the bill. I actually didn't care about the sound quality, since that would all be handled by the DAC's in my Golden Theater GTX-1 Pre/Pro. I just needed a transport that would handle anything. As it turns out it is a hell of a DVD player too. The picture is sharper than the Sony and I like that. So right now I for simplicity sake I have removed my CD changer and my DVD player and replaced them with the Pioneer and am quite happy. The remote for the Pioneer is pretty weak, the buttons are all the same size and pretty small and close together. I like the Sony's remote much better, it was large, well laid out, with glow in the dark buttons and a jog shuttle. I will be using the universal remote that came with the GTX-1 mostly anyway so I guess it's not that big of a deal. The price I got on this unit is fantastic. I can't believe that just under 2 years ago I paid $400 for the sony 550.

So over all, in it's price class it offers a lot of features in flexibility, and digital output. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the Toshiba, or sony have (no zoom, job shuttle, etc.) but I wasn't interested in that anyway. It has a great picture with very few artifacts. For a non-progressive DVD/CD changer I think it offers the best value in it's class.

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Sony DVP-550D, Sony DVP-300, Panasonic, Sharp

The only multi-disc player I could find for under $200 (except for cheap players like Apex).
Very fast loading DVD's.
Solid construction

None that are important.
The buttons on the remote could be a little bigger but who really cares about that sh#@t?

This is a great buy. The 5-disc carousel is perfect for me. I bought a JVC XV-S45GD at the same price and it sucked. It couldn't play The Matrix past Chapter 22, and it was slow in loading. I traded it in for the Pioneer DV C503 and what a difference! The Pioneer loads twice as fast, and it plays all my DVD's (including The Matrix) with no problems at all. Plus it has a solid frame. Much better than the JVC. Besides DVD's it plays CD's and CD-R's with no trouble at all. There are a lot of audio functions like repeat and program that some other DVD players don't have. I love the CD mode. Plus it played a CD-R that was scratched up all over the place. I highly recommend this player if you don't have a TV that can utilize progressive scan.

Similar Products Used:

JVC XV-S45GD

Fast Smooth Loading, Screen Saver, 5 Disc changer, solid and sturdy, so far, EVERYTHING PLAYS FLAWLESSLY!

No smooth special effects scan...but who cares?

Picked this unit up in place of the piece of junk Nuon Toshiba that Pixeld EVERY DISC i put in it! This is a nice solid unit. Picture is BETTER than a Toshiba...especially when viewing THE MATRIX. Will give periodic updates

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Phillips Magnavox 825 & Toshiba SD2300