Pioneer Universal DVD Player - DIV-x playback compatible - Silver Best Buy

An audio treat - 28 Feb 2005

36 out of 36 found this review helpful.

When my old Toshiba died and I was looking for a replacement, I could not believe how many features and capabilities this player had (Basically it will play any format currently available) for half the price my old player originally cost.

The real selling point for me was the ability to play DVD-A and SACD discs. Very few machines will play both, and nothing else at this price will do it. The benefit of this is that I can try out both SACD and DVD-A format titles and not have to worry which format is going to become the Betamax of multi-channel audio.

All this versatility is not at the expense of sound quality. Films are as good in either Dolby Digital or DTS as on any other player I have heard, and listening to Pink Floyd on SACD and Mike Oldfield on DVD-A added a whole new dimension to the music listening experience. I am so happy with teh sound I have taken my CD player out of my set-up and use this machine to play CDs now.

The picture is good too. The machine is capable of outputting progressive scan (only through component video though - throw away that SCART lead and get a component video cable) which offers a slightly better picture on screens which also support that.

Setup is easy, even though there are a lot more options than most players because of the SACD and DVD-A options, and the remote control is comfortable to hold and use.

My only complaint is with the speed of operation. When switched on the player takes longer to come to life than other players I have used, and when a new disc is inserted it seems to take longer to get to the menu. I don't know if this is because it will accept so many different formats and has to analyse the disc first to work out what it is and adjust its operation accordingly. I have noticed the same thing with computer DVD drives taking longer to play a CD than a normal CD drive does. Although this is annoying, I can live with it when all the benefits are taken into account. Its not worth dropping a star for. Maybe half a star.

When basic DVD players are available for about £30, this might seem expensive but its far from basic. I hesitate to say that you get what you pay for because in this case you seem to get a lot more than you pay for.