Convenience and high "Cool" factor.

Remote is just ok. Component video out questionable.

Here goes: I upgraded from a Philips single disk player to the Pioneer 727. Everything has worked flawlessly and as advertised (with one exception noted below). I've combined this unit with a MultiRoom MultiSource Pioneer receiver so I can access my DVD collection from the downstairs rec room or the upstairs living room (albeit only via composite video), which is cool. So here is the rub: my TV is an HDTV front projection Sony-1272Q which I drive with a Focus QuadScan Scaler. I used to watch DVDs by running the component video (YPbPr)thru the QuadScan when I had the single disk player, and it looked great. When I try to watch the component out from the 727 the same way, there is real distinct video noise (vertical lines that slowly scroll from right to left), so I am relegated to S-Video, which is ok but not as good. Believe me, everything gets magnified at 120" diagonal. Interestingly, when I hooked up the 727 to my Toshiba 36" via component out the picture is terrific with no noise, so it must be an incompatibility with the line quadrupler. That is my only beef; otherwise I recommend the unit highly.

Similar Products Used:

Philips single disk DVD player.

- Major convenience factor if you are an avid music listener and have a lot of music CDs.
- Very easy to use
- Fantastic picture

- Very large unit (which is expected for most 300+ changers)
- Quality of first unit (technical problems)

Overall, I think this unit is a great value. It only costs a couple hundred dollars more than the 5-disc players out on the market. I like the convenience of not having to store my 200+ music CDs & cases in a stereo cabinet. The menu is easy to bring up and intuitive. I think the unit as a whole is very easy to use - easy to program in the CDs/DVDs, easy to catalog, and easy to cable up.

The only reason I didn't give the 'overall rating' a 5 was this: in the first 2 weeks, I started getting a flashing error message ("CPU AERR") anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour when powering the system on. After the message stopped flashing, the unit played fine. Pioneer has since exchanged it, and the new one works fine.

I'm a loyal Sony fan, but during my research for a changer, I read quite a few negative reviews about the Sony 301 changers (mechanical problems, poor user interface, starts playing a disc automatically when turned on, etc.) I also looked at Onkyo. I have read, in more than one place, that Onkyo have a unit out that is nearly identical to this Pioneer, but with a higher price tag.

Lastly, I would highly recommend Etronics.com for purchasing any equipment. Their prices are hard to beat. However, I would also highly recommend paying the ~$20 extra to get 1-3 day shipment on this unit, because of all the moving mechanical parts. It is more likely to be damaged by riding across the country in a truck.

System:
TV: Sony XBR WEGA 32"
AV Receivers: Yamaha HTR5280
Speakers: NHT(surrounds), Monitor Audio(centers/mains), Atlantic Technology(subwoofer)

Good Video Quality
On-Screen Display
Box up all your Jewel Cases
Great Idea, Poor execution

Build Quality
3 units in 4 months

While shopping at Costco I found the Pioneer 300 disk dvdcd player. It was only $599 for a product that I could put all my disks in. This unit allows the use of a computer key board to enter all titles for display and selection via your television. It took over 2 hours to enter all titles. After using it for 2 weeks, it jammed and broke a disc. I returned it to Costco, and they gladly exchanged it for another one. I re-entered all titles and started using the unit. The component inputs on the unit display video beautifully. A month later this new unit jammed again. I returned the 2nd unit and I am now on my 3rd unit in less than 4 months. Fortunately, Costco's refund policy is very liberal or the units would be in the shop all the time. A great price if it worked right. But It Does'nt

Capacity. Auto Update feature. On Screen text input.

Shaky Video??

I have used this dvd player for about 6 months or so. It seems to be holding up nicely. The first unit I received from Crutchfield did not have any video output so I sent it back and got another one. I have had no problems that I know of. The video quality does not seem to be as good as my Sony DVP-7000 and at times seems to jitter a bit. Maybe my eyesight is going, or maybe it is the dvd itself. The audio portion has been flawless. It's a very good product and easy to operate.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP 7000

Mentioned elsewhere

Would like to have 2 sets of analog audio outputs, see main text for my main complaint.

All the Pioneer 727 and DV-F07 players I have tested fail to play back Video CDs properly. Other Pioneer players and players from other manufacturers play Video CDs without a problem.

After long conversations with Pioneer I have been told that at this time they are not willing to accept that it is a fault with their hardware but that they will keep me informed.

Assuming they eventually own up to the fact they have produced a faulty design, it will be some time before a fix can be made available.

Video CD playback may not be a concern for many of you, but you may remember the problems with lip-sync on some Pioneer players last year. My DV-F07 cost $1000, and a machine of this price should work as claimed. I won't trust Pioneer again.

Great video, audio and digital output, looks
Ability to hook up a keyboard, capacity, reads CDRs

Can not display composite and component video at the same time. No prograssive scan. Limited input characters.

I was very weary about getting a mega changer as I read that many people had problems with any mega changer, be it CD or DVD changer.

I got the unit from uBid, refurbished for jot about $500. Since I have a full multi system home theater I sent the unit to be modified to enable multi zone and PAL/NTSC output. The reason that I did not mind refurbished is because in any case the modification renders the warranty worthless and so I did not care much about it.
It cost me about $750 to get the unit and this is even below the purchase price of a regular unit.

Setting up the unit was a breeze. I put all my CDs and DVDs in it and used a keyboard to enter all the labels for it. The labels are pretty short, but it is not a major issue because 12 characters are usually enough to find the right CD or DVD you are looking for. I left some empty slots between the CDs to be able to insert new titles in the future without moving existing titles. So far I was very happy. Even after moving existing titles around, the unit is still capable of recognizing them in their new position. This update all function takes some time though…

When buying the unit I was looking for a progressive scan one, but surprise – there is no mega changer that I know of which has progressive scan output. I purchased the new DVDO iScan Pro (multi-system) and connected it to the unit (Component out) and my projector. I connected the second connection (S-Video) to my TV. Guess what? The unit cannot output S-Video or Composite video with the Component Video. And, the switch that toggles the output is at the back of the unit. Meaning that you cannot control this from the unit’s remote, and you will not be able to do a macro for your multi remote (in my case the Denon Aktis). This is very inconvenient because I wanted to be able to use the TV as a monitor and the projector for movies.

The video and audio quality of the unit is superb, I have not seen any DVD player that had better output, and when coupling the unit with the DVDO, I get the type of output you will get from any serious $2k-$3k progressive scan unit on the market.
There are no motion effects, sync problems and the blacks are great.

The ability of the unit to read CDRs is a blessing as you can have a couple of copies at the house (for the car, bedroom, etc.).

Changing one disk to another takes about 10-15 seconds, not too quick but it not that annoying either. The remote is OK, but it is not backlit.

Some issues that I encountered – it is impossible in many DVDs to change the output from any standard (Dolby Digital / DTS / PCM) without shutting down the machine and powering up, or selecting another disk and returning to the disk you want to change the output for. It is not a major issue, but it is annoying.

Another issue is that I have is that the unit’s face is nice, but plastic. I guess that Pioneer did that to save costs. The issue is that the face tends to get scratched pretty easily; you just need to watch this…

Other than this it is a great unit.

To sum up – great capacity, easy setup and operation, great audio and video output. But, there are a few snags which you can ultimately live with.

Similar Products Used:

Single disk DVDs (Pioneer 535, 626; Panasonic A-120)

Follow Up Review

Follow Up Review

Follow Up Review: After getting a few emails from folks on this website, I contacted Focus Enhancements and they upgraded my QuadScan to version 2.5 which fixes the known incompatibility with Pioneer component out. So, now I can watch component out just fine, which is great. (Thanks Focus and fellow AufdioReviewers.) So far, so good. HOWEVER, I have a new minor problem (which is only a problem for Pioneer multirooms): I must manually move the tiny switch on the back of the unit to component out when I want to watch movies on the projection TV and then, when I'm finished, remember to switch it back so that it will work when I try to call up a DVD from upstairs, which needs composite video. So far, I can only remember to do it about 50% of the time. Other than that little complaint, the unit is awesome.

capacity and category ability

no way to backup information that is entered into unit.

I was really clueless when I bought this unit. I was looking for another 300 cd disc changer and when I saw it at Costco I said great. It can also play dvds and since I was looking to finally buy a dvd player I got it. I went home thinking this thing could only play one dvd and was blown away when I found out it could play up to 301 dvds if you wished.

I quickly have created a dvd collection of 50 dvds and 30 cds. Using categories I have created dvd categories for Family, Action, Thrillers, Comedy, Terror, and Romance. This makes it so easy to find a dvd to view. I like to buy dvds and just store them in there for viewing at a later time. For cds I only have one category so far and that is for xmas music. I have a whole bunch of cds that I haven't had the time to enter and categorize.

On the cd changer model only, I have the low end version where you can only group by number, no keyboard input, and you are limited to only 5 groups. But that worked well for me. The problem with the cd only model is that you lose all the information if you lose power. The F727 does not have this problem.

Somebody mentioned that they were frustrated that they couldn't switch to cds after playing dvds easily. You can, all you have to is switch to audio mode from video. Then you can perform all the related functions.

Similar Products Used:

cd version of unit

Obviously holds 301 dvds...the autoloader feature also is excellent.

Limited characters for titles.

Haven't had any problems whatsoever (knock on wood)...Unit functions as it should as a library. The only real reason to have one is to be able to have all your media loaded so you don't have to mess with loading and unloading...It does an excellent job.

Similar Products Used:

none

Dvd/Vcd playback ability with an acceptable programed playback input system

infrequent bugs

I bought this player specifically for karaoke parties. I wanted a player that can 1) hold a large number of discs, 2)have vcd playback ability, and 3) have a programable interface that is not too complicated or intrusive.

A1) This player meet the first requirement because it hold up to 300 discs and have the abilty to expand to 600 discs if you hook up another unit in tandem.

A2) This player do play vcds however there is a problem because it does not play back vcd encoded with a "Bit rate of 1120000 per second." That would not be a big problem with most vcds but for many karaoke vcds comming out of malaysia are encoded with the aforementioned bit rate. So if you are not able to reencode and burn a backup of the disc after purchaseing it, you are left with a bunch of perfectly good vcds that just can't play on you machine.

A3) This player's programed play back interface is not too complicated because all you need to do is hit the program button and then enter the disc number and the track number, but the input screen is very intrusive and during my parties I will need to pause the action once in a while to input the new songs requests because you really cannot see the screen with the input menu switched on.

Extra Problems:

1)The video output is buggy but the occurance is infrequent and easily fixed so it is more of an annoyance.

2)In six months of heavy use the player put in the wrong disc a total of two times so that is an okay error rate, at least for me.

Conclusion:

This player is the best mega player up to date and if you are a karaoke enthusist like me you really cannot live without it. Although the unit have minor problems, the unit meets my needs well and is a good addition to my home entertainment system.

Similar Products Used:

sony mega changers - forgot model number