Pioneer DVF 727 301 Disc Mega-Changer DVD Players

Pioneer DVF 727 301 Disc Mega-Changer DVD Players 

DESCRIPTION

300+1 DVD/CD changer with Dolby Digital/DTS - 10 Bit 27MHz Video DAC - Component, S-Video and Composite Video ouputs - Analog audio output - Coaxial and optical digital audio output

USER REVIEWS

Showing 41-50 of 51  
[Apr 25, 2000]
Keith Snell
Casual Listener

Strength:

Lots of disks, plenty of space, apart from double sided disks - leave region 2 disks alone.

Weakness:

Same as other reviews - only 12 characters but abbreviations are easy to work with.

To be different from the other reviews (that I agree with), just like to add; I recently purchased my unit from Techtrinics.com in the UK £650. They import, modify for region free, and supply with a step down plug-in transformer. I chose this option rather than buy one whilst in the US, pay import going thru' customs, then obtaining a transformer and getting the unit modified - it'd probably cost the same if not more.
The unit works great. My only problem was that I had a Pioneer 505 before that converted region-1 output to Pal. As the 727 doesn't have this feature, I ended up spending a bucket load of cash on a TV that supports the NTSC 3.58 format. I first tried a JVC but that was black and white only i.e. same as my original Philips. Anyway, Hitachi 32" Widescreen looks good. My wife doesn't understand though - do I care (well sort of). I also have a Pronto remote to now play with and configure - what joy we technophiles have!

Similar Products Used:

None - but I do have a 10 disc CD changer in the car (Sony!)

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 30, 2000]
Ken
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

301 disc capacity; disc management features; audio and video quality; value for the money

Weakness:

limited title input; remote not back-lit; cannot select disc by number

This dvd player has been reviewed in detail below, and I will comment briefly. I have loaded over 100 music cds and have watched over 30 dvds without a hitch. I upgraded from a 100 cd mega-changer and have noticed a clear improvement in audio quality. The player has a lot of nice features but one thing I would add (unless I missed it) is the ability to select a disc by punching in its number with the remote rather than using the multi dial. In addition, the player needs to accept more characters for title input. Otherwise, I have really been enjoying this player. It is a great value and saves you from having to find the particular cd/dvd you want in that stack of jewel cases.

Similar Products Used:

sony 200 mega-changer

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 05, 2000]
Steve Ayres
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

This review is for the DV-F07 Elite player, as no review section exists yet.
300 Disc changer, plays CD-R, smooth efficient operation.

Weakness:

Build quality, quality control. First machine arrived faulty (only played audio, no video), current machine plays VCDs with the top third of the picture missing.

I love the design of the Pioneer 300 disc changer. It's very easy to use and the picture quality is stunning. The options for picture control are great. Even my difficult Devil's Advocate Original pressing, that had a juddering picture on my old Pioneer, and pixellated and froze on the Denon, plays acceptably on this beast.

The built in DACs for audio are also very good, I'm happy to replace my existing (and admittedly old) CD player for the Pioneer changer. My only complaint is mentioned above, the first player would only play the audio of a DVD, and my current player chops the top off a VCD picture. This second problem may not affect many people, but it annoys me and makes me wonder if Pioneer's quality control is all it should be, or if they are so poorly made they can be damaged in transit. For this reason I have marked the player lower than I might have.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV606, Denon 5000.

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
4
[May 15, 2000]
Apaullo

Strength:

I found this for CHEAPER than the price I was quoted on the Sony, a great overall value based solely on what I read about the product before the purchase.

Weakness:

The "film-recognition" circuitry seems to create a "jumpy" picture (hardly noticeable) compared to my first DVD player, the Toshiba 3107.

I first got very excited about Sony's DVP-CX850D 200-disc changer when I saw it in Home Theater magazine, but after some somewhat negative reactions about its user interface, I did some more searching and found that Pioneer had come out with a 301-disc changer that seemed to be better in almost every comparison, so I chose that route instead and am VERY happy with my purchase. Let's see: 101-disc MORE capacity, nice and quiet, a breeze to program/set-up/catalog (heard too many horror stories about the Sony)... and it works great - awesome picture and sound.

Similar Products Used:

None - this is only my second DVD player in 3 years.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 21, 2000]
David Willis
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

301 Disks, video and sound quality, disk management features

Weakness:

Kinda big, but hey, it's 301 disks!

I was "talked" into this one by a salesman (I was considering the Sony DVP C650D). Anyway, I don't regret it at all. Being able to put all your disks in and never have to touch them again is wonderful!!! It took me a day or two to figure out how the use the disk management features (impractical, I think, if you don't use a keyboard).
It's dissappointing that more CD's arent DTS encoded, because this play really shines in that category.
The disk management is excellent, especially that you don't "have" to have the TV one to go through the disk titles.

A few things: The remote's "glown the dark" feature is pretty worthless, but I like the rotating dial for disk access. Also, it would be nice if it would skip DVD's when playing random or sequencial CD's, but it's not that big a deal to me

Got it for $580 at Crazyeddieonline, so value is definately 5 stars.

System:
Monster HTS 2500
Pioneer Elite VSX 26TX
Altec Lansing THX Surrounds
Technics fronts
Better Cables everywhere
Crappy little TV
Crappy little VCR

Similar Products Used:

Technics Cd carousel

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 30, 2000]
Steve
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

301 disc capacity; disc management features; audio and video quality; value for the money

Weakness:

carousel jammed,limited title input; can't skip warnings or jump to menu

Pretty much all the strengths and weaknesses have been covered in the rest of the reviews here and don't need repeating.

It has played all my videos flawlessly. The DV-F727 is a fairly standard DVD player, offering 10-bit/27-MHz video decoding and Pioneer's PVC Video Quality Enhancer VQE4 chip.

The sound production while playing the CD's was also above par from other dvd players I tried. The DV-F727's analog audio outputs from 96-kHz/24-bit Burr-Brown digital-to-analog converters (DACS), and there's a virtual surround mode for users with 2-channel audio systems, but is not needed unless you are listening with headphones.(I mean if you can buy 300 dvd's, why not a nice surround sound system as well?)

The only and major flaw I had was that the carousel had jammed on me after working flawlessly for about a month and a half. Right now I am waiting to have it repaired which is estimated to take 3 weeks. It appears that the the actual disc transport mechanism is located inside the carousel's central spindle. On other units(the sony), it's mounted in a corner of the cabinet, outside the carousel rack. This design results in a reduced cabinet depth: The Pioneer is only 17 inches deep vs. 20 inches for the Sony. Although relatively quiet, the mechanism is not particularly speedy. Typical random disc/track transitions takes about 15 seconds. Their technical center said that my problem relates to a beam alignment problem where the unit thinks there is a disk located in front of the laser when it isn't so it doesn't move. If anyone had similar problems I would like to know.

Pioneers tech service could also be better and more informed about their products. I asked if this unit could control their cd-changers and they had no clue. I got it to work.

All in all it seems like a good player, but time will have to tell...

Similar Products Used:

sony 200 mega-changer,Pioneer DVL-700,Pioneer PD-F1007 CD-changer

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 03, 2000]
Dustin
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Same as others have said.

Weakness:

Not very resilient.

I love this player when it is working properly. However for me that hasn't been very often. The first one shipped to me had something wrong with the transport and a small platic arm would hit the discs when the carosel turned. The replacement worked fine for a week or so and then only played audio no video. My third is currently working fine, but I'm moving soon and am worried about it. I suspect that the build quality isn't exactly top notch and they have been getting damaged in transit. But they are a great bargain and when they work they are awesome. I'd recommend waiting a year or so for the next generation of them. Maybe they'll have some bugs worked out by then.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
5
[Oct 04, 2000]
Robert
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Wouldn't know.

Weakness:

Broken.

Well, I went out and bought the unit after reading the glowing reviews here. For about 15 minutes, I was having a great time - I had ordered about 40 DVDs to start off my collection, and after I loaded all of them in the F727, I was having fun flipping through them. Then I heard some loud noises coming from in the player, didn't sound good, and the thing is all jammed up. The door won't even open on the player, and it won't power on. This after FIFTEEN MINUTES! Pioneer customer service is closed right now was I write this, but I have NEVER had a component of any kind blow up the first day I used it, and let's just say I am also not too happy that $800 of new DVDs are now trapped inside this piece of garbage.

Similar Products Used:

1st DVD player.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Nov 07, 2000]
Matthew
Casual Listener

Strength:

Unknown.

Weakness:

Delivered broken ... no video

I did a lot of research and had originally ordered an Onkyo DV-S535 single DVD player from Crazy Eddie but after weeks of waiting, canceled this order. I then started researching multidisc players and narrowed down the list to the Pioneer DV-F727 which I ordered from Centore.com. The website stated that the unit was in stock and my order would be processed in 24-48 hours so I signed up for 3 day delivery (ordered on a Sunday and expected the player by that Friday). When Friday came and no DVD player, I called Centore.com and they came up with a story that the player was in stock when I placed the order but went out of stock when they processed the order (obvious inventory control problem with these guys). I was told that the DVD player would ship the next Tuesday. I called the next Tuesday to confirm and spoke to the same individual who stated he was going to have it Fed-Ex'ed out that afternoon. I waited again until Friday and no DVD player. I called Centore.com back and spoke to the same individual. He stated he was waiting for me to call him on Tuesday ... then I reminded him I did call on Tuesday. He then asked me if I wanted the DVD player shipped out to me. I spoke with numerous individuals following this trying to get the name/address of their CEO or President. It became very obvious that these guys are totally seat-of-the-pants with no competent management. Finally, my unit arrived the following week and I hooked it up just as the owners manual stated and absolutely no video. I wrote 2 emails to Centore.com but not reply to date. Whatever you do, avoid Centore.com like the plague. They are totally incompetent and I wouldn't be surprised to see them dragged into Court on some Class Action Lawsuit. I have boxed up the DVD player and will be putting out for the trash shortly if Centore.com does not get back to me.

Similar Products Used:

None.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Nov 06, 2000]
Todd
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Capacity, features, DVD/CD cap., coax./s-video outs, size.

Weakness:

questionable build quality, minor software quirks.

I purchased this based upon reviews only. I knew that the stacks of CDs that were 20 deep around my house were becoming problematic and it was time to clean up.

First, sound quality seems good. I won't say great because I am of the opinion that you don't buy a carousel for excellent audio. As CD players are a mature technology, players of this price range should sound good. I define good as there are no immediately noticeable deficits in the sound. My Toshiba 2109 DVD player has a deficit in sound and is noticeably harsh, almost brittle when used as a CD player. I can barely listen to music by it. Not so with the pioneer. My initial impression is that bass may be a tad softer with the pioneer than the NAD 515 multichanger I just sold. All in all, this unit is musically enjoyable as you would expect from any competent mid-fi CD player.

No snapped CD/DVDs or jams so far. I'll admit, I actually EXPECTED it to be broken upon arrival or to chew my CDs. The reviews below can't be ignored. However, my compulsion to own a multi DVD/CD changer just for peace of mind and organization outruled my fear of receiving a lemon. I was willing to try one round of returns if needed. I reviewed all available CD/DVD players on the market and this one seemed to have the features I wanted and reasonable reviews - so I bought it.

One thing to consider - I had mine shipped from OneCall via overnight FEDEX. Packages shipped FEDEX 2-day or overnight get a dedicated shelf on the old FEDEX truck, as opposed to getting stacked and jostled with a million other packages on normal ground track UPS or postal service. At least that is what the guy from OneCall told me. The ONECALL salesman suggested that this was the reason so many other players arrived damaged and didn't work out of the box, or broke soon thereafter. You have to decide if you buy that line of reasoning - it made sense to me and my unit works. I paid around $640 shipped overnight from OneCall. $40 of that was shipping cost.

I've had my unit running A LOT for the last two weeks. Against wisdom, I loaded my unit with about 295 DVD/CDs after testing only 2 disks first. No problem. The thing worked great. I did hit "autoupdate" and it took about an hour to go through all my disks and DVDs. Only 2 of about 295 had CD text on them. Oh well, off to the computer. I entered all my titles into an excel spreadsheet, sorted them as desired, then printed the list. I then typed this list directly into the player via the keyboard connection in about 45 minutes. No problems with a slow interface because my unit reacts to typed commands quickly. Now all my CDs/DVDs currently are in order by number. In only two weeks, I've probably got about 100 hours on this player already. My wife and I do A LOT of casual listening and a multi CD player is perfect for us.

My wife and I already have created 10 music categories. I can do random jazz/classical, mainstream, techno... you get the drift. This is the most appealing feature. I've heard new music from my own CD collection from CDs I thought were uninteresting or outdated. This is why multichangers are great! My wife and I are having a great time listening to music as we almost have a mini-radio station with 275 CDs in our player. Also, its great to jump around and listen to this song or that song without having to pull out CDs and put them away or set them aside. This is great!

The remote is not intuitive. You can't simply use the keypad to type in a disk number - you actually have to go through a couple of key sequences on the pad. For somebody who organizes their CDs in their player (e.g., I have a printed list next to the player) it often is easier to find a CD by number and not by title. I do like the way the remote works for DVDs better than my Toshiba 2109 remote.

A few of the disks needed to be rearranged and renamed. On two slots, my machine keeps naming two side-by-side disks the same name and title. I can't seem to get this to stop. This is the software glitch.

I like the fact that this unit has coaxial out versus optical. That is one reason I bought it. Also, it is only about 17.5 inches deep and actually fits on my entertainment cabinet. Please consider this fact if you decide to go with the sony units, which will be problematic for most shelves.

Picture quality when setup properly looks as good as my last player. I've got no noticeable stretching problems by watching widescreen movies on a 4:3 tube like I have (27"). You can easily switch between several display modes while the movie is paused to get the effect you want. The picture looks great to me on my smaller TV. I won't vouch for quality on a larger one yet.

This player does just about as much as I want it to. There are some minor inconveniences, such as being limited to 10 music categories and 10 DVD categories. I can't figure out why a person would want to file DVDs as it would be weird to watch DVDs in random. Wish we had 15 CD categories and fewer DVD categories. The remote could be more intuitive and have the ability to directly enter disk numbers versus song numbers only.

Build quality seems OK - it is a pioneer. I do like the blue light. I hope this unit lasts for at least 3 years. I've had cheapo technics players in college last for 5 years and were still working when I got rid of it.

Well, can't think of anything else to discuss. This player truly does seem to be a gem so far for me. Because I got it for $600 online, I have to give it a fairly high value rating. As for an overall rating for a player in this class, I will give it 4 out of 5 for now since it still has a few minor bugs and is still untested by me in the long run. I will repost a review and give it a 5 if it is still working in a year.

Similar Products Used:

None

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 41-50 of 51  

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