Pioneer DVF 727 301 Disc Mega-Changer DVD Players
Pioneer DVF 727 301 Disc Mega-Changer DVD Players
USER REVIEWS
[Mar 15, 2002]
drinkingbird
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Audio quality Video Quality (except the Matrix, has some problems with black scenes) GUI
Weakness:
Customer Service is VERY poor, even though it says on the web site "our CS reps are empowered to do ANYTHING necessary to satisfy the customer". Yeah right. Very happy with this player until it got all jammed up one day on its own. Cleared it out and snapped the arm back in place (like others I''ve read, this seems somewhat common). Unfortunately it now does not load cds correctly, every 3 to 4 cds gets spit back out. Anyway, the only complaint about the unit it Pioneer''s support of it. I dropped it off for service at Sears like Pioneer told me to, a month later I get it back "could not verify complaint" and they didn''t repair it, still broken. I call Pioneer to try and have them send an exchange for it, they say no, and give me the name of another service center. I call them and they say 3 weeks just to GET to the unit, then another 2-3 to fix it, more if they need parts. Call Pioneer back, "you can ship it to this place in California, they are faster". At my expense of course, and I''ve already been without it for a month. Anyway, I''m now fighting with Sears to get them to replace the unit since their repair center messed up. Anyway, other than that, awesome unit, I could get a Sony to replace it from sears, but I''m willing to fight it out to get the better unit! |
[Mar 02, 2002]
rg505
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
301 discs, easy to load,on screen selection.easy remote.
Weakness:
i have not found any yet does every thing i wanted it to do, i already own the pioneer 301 cd player it is very similar, with some great features the ability to plug in a key board to the front so you can input titles.i am using it with the pioneer vsx-d850s reciever and jbl speakers and sub woofer |
[Feb 15, 2002]
ramivic
AudioPhile
Strength:
Ability to daisy chain 2 players together to use only one video input on a tv or receiver. Great machine for the price.
Weakness:
Only 10-character input, no on screen thumbnails like the Sony Disc Explorer jukebox, plays SOME video cds. The Pioneer DV-F727 is a great machine. A strong workhorse compared to the Sony 200-301 disc jukeboxes, the Pioneer allows one to daisy chain and have up to 600 movies on one GUI. Sony can''t do it. I purchased two players and discovered one cannot enable slave or master controls. I currently have both at the shop since I dont know which one is "not talking" to the other. Similar Products Used: Sony DVP-CX860, Pioneer DVL-700 |
[Feb 15, 2002]
TakeFlight
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Price, capacity, great user interface
Weakness:
possible build quality due to mechanical failure that I had to open the machine up to fix I just purchased this product and received it this week. After setting it up and loading it with all 70 of my DVDs and proceeded to do the "all disc update" and it got to the 2nd disc and then jammed up. I had to take the unit apart with a screw driver to get my DVDs out. One of the DVDs (#2) was still in the play position and I had to fish it out. After getting all my DVDs I inspected the machine a noticed that the plastic arm that pulls the DVDs into the play position had jumped off of the roller that it''s attached to. There is a plastic pin that goes into a track on the arm and that pin had skipped out of the track thereby rendering the machine useless. I was able to put the part back in place and put the machine back together. I then loaded all 70 of my DVDs again and this time I was able to do the "all disc update" with no problem. What was the difference this time you ask? I load balanced the tray. Instead of putting all 70 DVDs in a row on one side of the tray I skipped every 4 or 5 slots so that way the weight distribution would be equal all the way around. After doing this the machine has worked fine. Of course, I just fixed it last night so I will have to use it some more to see if it continues to work fine. I will write another review in a few weeks or so. Other than the obvious mechanical problem that I had I have to say that the user interface on this machine is really good. It''s too bad you are limited to only around 10 characters per title but other than that I really don''t have any complaints with the GUI. Using a PS/2 keyboard to type in the titles was a great time saver. Similar Products Used: Panasonic A110 single DVD player |
[Mar 15, 2000]
James Riehl
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
300+1 discs!
Weakness:
Display (especially that blue light!) is pretty bright and cannot be dimmed I already put a review in the sony 200 disc changer page since it took so long to get a page for the DV-F727, but I will recap a little here. Similar Products Used: Toshiba SD2109 |
[Mar 23, 2000]
Trevor Jackson
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Great picture quality, excellent features, 301 disk capacity(ability to link 2 together for 601 disc) Every feature you would ever want or need (besides MP3 playback and Progressive Scan Output)
Weakness:
To nitpick: The remote is not back-lit (glows in the dark) If you are on the market for a DVD player then look no further than this gem. I honestly CANNOT imagine ANYONE not being happy with this thing. My life has been made infinitely simpler since I added this to my system. It has great picture quality and all the features you would ever want and more in a DVD player. One BIG plus for me was the fact that it can re-route video and audio signals, even Dolby Digital and DTS, allowing me to connect my DVL-700 to the same input on my receiver through the 727. The menu system is fast and responsive. If there was anything that I would improve it would be the remote. While there's nothing wrong with it from a function standpoint, it isn't backlit so you're left squinting at the buttons in the dark once the 'glow charge' has run out. The disk changes are fast, faster than I think any human could do (without scratching the disks I mean)clocking in at about 10 seconds average per disk. The blue light is a little on the bright side, but once you have the DVD's in there they really help to diffuse the intensity and it makes for a cool effect when the spindle is rotating. Similar Products Used: Pioneer DVL-700 |
[Dec 21, 2000]
Greg Stark
Casual Listener
Strength:
Capacity,convenence,modes of operation,expandable,fits my cabinet & reliable 1st month with heavy use.
Weakness:
15 second wait between disk,12 character input,remote buttons too small & not laid out for ease of operation but funtions well once you know where buttons are located. I've run this player for three to six hours a day for the past month with no problems. I use it alot for random play. NO jams yet. Video is good & the sound is great with a sony 935 digital reciever & 5.1 JBL setup. I've setup music DVD's in one of the program modes witch can program up to 300 plays per program.10 dvd & 10 audio. Our family likes the convenience as well. our music,movies,dvd music & kids movies all in one box. Once learned it's easy to operate. I've had no problem with it yet & had no problem with A Plus Digital. They were all business & delivered. I would recommend this player to anyone who wants to organize & have easy access to there cd's & dvd's. I think for the money at this time($562.00)Santa found a good player. Similar Products Used: checked sony 850. |
[Nov 16, 2000]
Larry DesJardin
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
300 disks, or 600 if a pair. On screen menu is nice.
Weakness:
Complicated remote procedurs. Even hard to automate into a Pronto or similar universal remote. Lost Title and Artist Memory. 12 letter limit. I bought a pair of Pioneer Elite DV-F07s, that are functionally equivalent to the F727s, but for the RS232 port and better DACs. My usage is primarily for CDs. I have almost 400. I haven't loaded my 20 DVDs yet. I spent a weekend entering the titles. I ordered the CDs alphabetically, due to the comments below that the search function doesn't list CDs in order beyond the first letter. I have empty disk spaces between each letter. This took a long time. The 12 letter limit was a problem, but using abbreviations I got around this. Also, despite claims, I found a bug in the 2 player set-up. When I moved disks from player 2 to player one, and did Update All, player 1 did not recognize them. They should have recognized these! So I decided CDs A-M were in player #1, and the others are in player #2, and I have room for expansion in both. Once loaded, I loved the player, and being able to choose some music from the screen. It really is easy! I started programming macros into my remote control (a Pronto) and found a big problem. Many controls "loop" from the state they are in, so there is no deterministic pattern to get to the state you want! This makes this approach a pain in the ***!. I played around to get something reasonable to work most of the time. While I was playing with remote commands, player #2 lost ALL it's memory! This was NOT because power was turned off at the plug. I had put the power mode into Stand-by via the remote control many times the previous days, and my power source is in an equipment rack where it is difficult to turn off by unplugging. I still have no idea what happened, and will re-load everything again when I return from vacation. It also reset all player setup for that player, but not the master player. Go figure! So I had to select a disk from the 2nd player, and THEN go into setup to put into my desired configuration AGAIN. (The first time I did all this once, while the other player had a loaded disk). Similar Products Used: None. |
[Oct 15, 2000]
Jimmy
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Good Video & Great as a party jukebox
Weakness:
Build Quality (It's a Pioneer) Not a bad unit so far. I've had mine about 6 months with no problems. I guess I have about 40 hours total, so that may not be enough for the real test. Similar Products Used: Sony 200 Disc CD Player |
[Jun 03, 2000]
John
Strength:
Keyboard input
Weakness:
Buggy software I replaced a Sony 200 CD changer and an RCA DVD player with the DV-F07. The unit is just loaded with features, and I'm generally happy with the it, with some strong reservations. My first unit failed mechanically after about an hour of use, which was surprising given this is their "Elite" line. After compiling a list of software bugs/misfeatures and calling Pioneer, all I got from them was "No one else has reported them, talk to your dealer" which I found surprising. Similar Products Used: Sony CDP-CX255 |