301 Discs, Optical and S-Video connectors, Input Titles via PS2 computer keyboard, exceptional audio using optical connections. THX CERTIFIED.

Remote is a little tricky at first.

When I first saw this unit, it was all out point and click until I could find one. I am amazed with every aspect of this unit including 301 Disc capacity, optical and S-video connections, auto-title reader, being able to input titles via a computer PS2 keyboard which conects to a PS2 port on the front of the unit, gorgeous blue light inside looks smashing at night, Plays CD's as well as DVD's, CD-R and CD-RW no problems playing anything I have. Nice jog dial for changing selections, has a nice feature that saves where you are watching in the movie in case you don't have time to finish watching it right then. Shows 9 different angles. 96Khz,very quiet, and the remote glows in the dark. I have over 100 DVD's in it already and it is better than going to the movies any day of the week. I just matched this up with a Pioneer Elite VSX-26TX receiver, infinity cm-255 front speakers, infinity cm-215 rears, infinity 12" sub and CC3 center channel. Make the popcorn, grab the drinks, hit THX mode, pop in the Matrix and be completely blown away. If you buy anything else, you will sincerely regret it if you see this unit in action. 5 stars? I give it 10 stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

none

300+1 changer, catagory searches, title text display,
All audio formats supported, VCDs/CDR/CDRW's work.

Bright blue light
Audio catagories listed before video catagories
Animated icon displayed during disc changes

I love this player and it is truely the best choice on the
market unless you are looking for progressive scan.
In fact, when Sony can out with a DVD changer I
held off knowing that it was only a matter of time
before this one became available. I already owned the
300+1 audio changer and loved it. How can you beat having
all your movies accessible without getting up?

As far as some of the disadvantages: a piece of tape over
the blue light works fine and does not interfere with the
unit's operation. A pronto remote overcomes any
disadvantage the unit's remote has.

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I have the CD-only version of this product.
PD-F1007.

Storage, ease of use, speed

Anamorphic Downconversion, Title input length, lack of MP3 play, not able to read common DVD names

I won't repeat all off what ohers have already said in regards to the strengths of the player.
I am very happy with the speed and ease of use of this player. I own well over 300 DVDs and it is nice to have almost every title at my fingertips.

My biggest complaint is the anamorphic downconversion. If you have a 16x9 TV, then it is not an issue but I own a 51" 4:3 Hitachi Ultravision. I'd say the downconversion quality is only a small notch above my first generation Pioneer DVL-700 which just blows my mind. This is a 4th generation Pioneer and they still don't know how to downconvert (or don't care about the quality). In every 16x9 enhanced DVD that I have played, the jagged edges are so apparent, they are distracting. Just unnacceptable for a 2000 model player. My Sony handled these DVDs beautifully.

I also had a minor quibble about title info. About 95% of DVDs have title info (you can read them with a DVDRom) yet the Pioneer (and Sony) uses only the DVDText that no one seems to support. It would save so much time if they would read the title info flag if no DVDText is present.

If I could get past the horrible downconversion, I would seriously consider keeping the player but now I'm not sure.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVPC650D, Pioneer DVL-700, Toshiba 3109

Pretty much stated in other reviews.

Mine broke also

I used the unit for 2 weeks with no problems. During that time I never had more than about 10 disk or so loaded. I then loaded up 30 disk. As I was titleing the disk, I hit return on the key board to play a disk and the unit started making a popping noise. I stopped the unit and opened it up and disk were flipping every which way. I was able to get all the disk out and it appeared the loading arm had gotten the disk about half way into the player and jammed up. One disk actually got broken but as luck would have it , it was an old cd and not a DVD. I called Crazyeddie's up and they gave me a RMA and my unit is on it's way back for replacement.
In defense of the unit, the two weeks it worked, it did so without a hitch. I use the component video out to connect to a sony wega tv and the picture is like looking through a window instead of watching a recording. The sound is excellent as is all other aspects of the unit, except for the little break down. I got the unit for $575 from crazyeddies and think the value is great. I'm a little concerned by the quick malfunction and the report of other similar events. For this I give it 2 stars overall. When my next unit gets here, I'll run it and report back then.

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1st DVD

Excellent A/V quality all around

Terrible build quailty

As reported before, my player broke on my first try to use it. I was unsuccessfull getting the vendor to respond about replacing it, so I decided to attempt repair myself.

Warning! Using the following info may void the hell out of your warranty!

I opened the case to examine the mechanism and remove my DVD library. After some fiddling, I found the problem: the loading arm had disconnected from it's actuating cam. Apparently, if a disc gets in there sideways, or gets hung up on something, the loading mechanism has no ability to detect stress, so it just keeps going until the thing falls apart. Hence all the popping noises.

My fix was to move the loading arm back into place, and get it's connection to the motorized cam in place. If you look at the unit from overhead, front facing you, you'll see the loading point to your left @ 7:30 (45 degrees left from straight towards you). In this big plastic rail rides the loading arm inside a set of grooves. When broken, the arm was resting in full 'load' position; i.e. all the way inside the disc donut. The motorized cam that moves the arm is on the bottom left, and has two little nubs on it. Mine is white, with a little red grease on one of the nubs.

The loading rail is flimsy, so you can flex it a bit as you guide the arm from 'loaded' to 'ready to load' positions. Look in from above in the 'window' of the loading rail as you move the arm. You'll have to push the arm around inside the rail a bit; it's nub that rides the grooves inside the rail must be made to jump a few guide edges. Go easy and take your time. There's a ways to go.

The motorized cam rests pointing to the left. When the arm has been moved all the way to the left side of the rail, it will disappear into it, and you will see it's base resting against the cam. Bend it a bit to get the cam's nub into the base of the arm, and you are all set. The other exposed nub on the cam (nearest you) will slide into a plastic slot on your right that moves the disc holding mechanism open and closed. You can test the motion of the loading arm by gently turning the gears that run the cam with your finger tip. The arm should move smoothly in it's groove as it sweeps across the disc donut and into the center.

All that poping sound you heard when it broke was the cam and arm breaking out of their slide grooves. There should be no sound on the test. When you re-power the unit, it will self test and the cam will move to the 'ready to load' rest point. Mine has worked fine since putting the arm back in place.

Good luck!

Picture and Sound quality, ease of use, huge disc capacity

None

I've had this unit now for over 8 months and have been extremely happy with it. I had started off with Sony's 200 disc changer, but returned it for this one when I had problems with it having trouble loading discs and with it's horrible interface. The picture and sound quality on the Pioneer has been fantastic, and compared to the Sony, navigating and finding the disc you want is easy. I'm not sure about others having trouble with the transport or with it not working. I used mine most everyday to listen to a music CD or watch a DVD and over 8 months time I've never had a single problem. If you like having your entire movie and music collection accessible anytime, this is a wonderful player to have.

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Sony, Pioneer, RCA

Picture quality, user interface, 300+1 capacity, expansion capability to 600 discs.

Character length for title names.

This thing is great. I have my whole collection of DVDs in there and it still has plenty of room. The on-screen user interface enables easy switching between discs. Easy keyboard/mouse input. It has all the outputs that you need. S-video, composite, component, mixed L/R audio, and optical for DTS/Dolby Digital. Setup on this thing is effortless. Only drawback is that the title length is limited to 12 characters. However, you are able to list all titles and sort by title, type of disc, artist, etc. It really does outperform all other high capacity changers on the market. Buy this changer if you have a lot of DVDs and CDs stacked up everywhere. The price is right for around $700.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-CX850D

Huge disc capacity, ease of operation, quality of audio and video, tons of great features

None that I can think of...

What can I say? This unit is exactly all it's billed to be. I picked one of these up for less than $700 and couldn't be more thrilled with it. It's a great way to have your entire DVD and CD collection at your fingertips. The unit is much easier to use than I anticipated. The disc search and labeling functions work very well. Once everything is loaded and labeled, you can easily find anything you want to play through the OSD. Video and audio quality are both excellent, and I find the remote well suited to access most of the player's features. There are also numerous picture and sound adjustments, some of which are not found on other players. All in all this is a wonderful machine that won't break the bank to buy either.

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Various Pioneer, Panasonic, and RCA DVD players

Easy to use, superb menues.

See the review

Everything is working great, just as it should, apart from ONE thing.
Last night - ALL OF MY MANUALLY ENTERED INFORMATION WAS
WIPED AWAY!!!
I had entered information regarding some 150 CD's and
some 80 DVD's and all of a sudden everything was gone, so
I had to start over with blank menues!
Don't know if this was caused by the fact that I turned
the power of(totally, not only STAND-BY-mode).
I had done this for some nights, and it had worked fine
until last night.....
Very well, this time I only will use STAND-BY-mode, let's
hope that this will work better. Apart from this failure, this is "a-dream-come-true" machine for me.

Similar Products Used:

SONY CD-mega-changer(200 discs)

Incredible flexibility and quality.

Not enough characters permitted for titleing.

Plays CDs, DVDs, DTS CDs. No need to physically organize the disks. It sorts by disk type, artist, title. Take out 12 CDs to put in your car's magazine for a trip, then put them back anywhere in the carousel you want. It finds them, remembers them, then puts them back into the log.

I use a wireless GyroMouse permantently plugged into the P/S port. It's a terrific remote control for sorting, choosing, and playing disks.

They thought of everything with this one.