This DVD player kicks arse !!!Really couldn't ask for more. D.D, DTS, VCD and excellent stereo CD.
Great picture and even great audio.

Build, Image, Sound

Remote, no progressive scan, Disapointing Disc navigation!!!

Well. that's it. GOOD build. Very good build! Excelente Image and Sound. Plays CDR and RW. Period. For someone who wants to throw a disc inside and push PLAY it's a fine machine.... but..
Well ho well... Pioneer disaponted me with the Scan ( forward and Reverse ) functions.. Reverse is the worst "jumping" frames i've ever seen, and, sometimes is doesn't stay put and plays one or two frames ahead!!!!! :- in forward mode, it jumps EVERY 3 FRAMES! Unacceptable! If you want a good navigation sistem, SEARCH elsewhere!
Remote... strange... my philips remote cannot learn all the IR button except navigations ones... What have you done pioneer?
A machine of this build quality should not miss a nice processing power of frames and better menu system ( not so easy to understand the logic of this ones!! )
The manual... well, let's forget about it... anyway, who cares!
Disc memory is odd... very limited and does not recall ALL the video and audio parameters of the disc ( Pioneer says otherwise... )
Many negative points just for standing with Build quality... because picture and sound are SUCH as good or EVEN better on other machines. Sorry. Not even as a CD player a can recommend it. Flat sound. No control on low frequencies, in one word, dead music, compared with a dedicated cd player.
But, as said in the begining, if you are looking for a LOOKER, go no further! This machine is the ONE!

Solid Build, Audio & Video Clarity, Easy Multi Zoning, Dual laser

Progressive Scanning??

I looked long and hard before I purchased this unit, and bought it after it was highly praised by a local Audio Magazine. I've had this fantastic DVD player for almost a year, and I have nothing but PRAISE for this complete DVD player.

Although, when I initially purchased I did have some problems with power supply and video image. However, the retailer graciously exchanged it (twice!!). Except for this minor hiccup, I have been very happy.

The unit is very solid and looks great with the GOLD finish. I was told that this player just missed out on THX certification and being classified as part of Pioneers Elite unit.

I've got it hooked up via S-Video to my large screen Panasonic TV. I have watched well over 40 DVD's and I've never experienced any problems. I use it to play all my audio CD'd - which sound just as good as any other dedicated CD players (this will depend on your receiver & speakers).

I have found the remote to be very useful. However, scanning is very awkward. It's difficult to scan precisely. This is only a minor issue..

It was a little more expensive (in Australia $1,100). This is become cheaper after 1 July 2000. However, it is WELL WORTH IT for a top end player.

Similar Products Used:

Other Pioneer and Sony Models.

DVD

AUDIO

I have now tried this player for 3 months, and Im amased about the DVD part. Fantastic colors and picture. But the audio part really sucks (sorry to say that)It's like the player cuts the low frequenses. A normal cd player is MUCH better for listening to audio cd's.

Picture and sound quality, DTS, AC3 many outputs.

Too light:)

I bought this to match a Philips 32 widescreen. If there was any picture problem i would have seen it with this TV. In fact I now notice the lower quality on some poorly produced DVDs (there are some) at low bitrates. RGB scart output is best, sound is lower volume than normal (low output) BUT sound quality is excellent to my taste.

Audio CD quality beat a similarly priced SONY Cd -only player.

Just get it.

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Denon 5000

I'm not going to say so much more than that I love it. Since I got it in Andorra for almost half price, I must say that it has excellent value, I still would have if I payed full price.

Fantastic picture quality, SCART output.

Layer change not seamless.

The picture quality from this DVD player is simply fantastic. The picture quality (via RGB SCART) on my 16x9 widescreen RPTV is simply superb.

For those people who saw offsets of colour with this DVD player, will need to check their television's convergence. I have no problems.

There were no lip sync problems that I could see.

The step forward button on the remote seem for step forward a few frames in pause mode. However, everyone complaining about not having perfect single frame stepping didn't look hard enough!

In pause mode, hit the "JOG MODE" button. Slowly spin the jog dial for perfect single frame stepping (about 1/4 revolution per frame). I should also mention the still picture in pause is very stable.

Here's a list of the good features: On screen display, DTS out, SCART output, button to backlight keys (not all of them), memory to remember where you stopped on a DVD, screen saver (!)

Excelent Sound, Great as a CD Player, Fluid DVD Playback Framerate

Picture Quality (Color Definitions?)

Ok,I guess I am not very good at making reviews, mainly because I'm not into technical details. I just wanted a good DVD Player that would fite nicely into my Audiolab 8000A, my Epos Speakers and my Panasonic TX28PK1F TV and that was good at playing dvds and also audio cds.
When I went to my retail shop to choose a player, I cared first of all for the sound quality and the DV-717 cleary standed out from all of the rest. Then I quickly compared picture quality saw no big differences and settled for this DVD Player.
So, sound is excelent, framerate is excelent, everything is excelent (as people have told me before).
But, recently I found some kind of picture malfunction. Some colors, specially red, seem to be out of place, the seem to be more to the left than the rest of the picture thus deforming a bit. That is also very noticeable on dark skin tones where I can cleary see that there's a lack of color at the right side whereas at the left the color seems to overflow.
I also noticed that such problem is a little decreased when using RGB output instead of S-Video, but picture quality also decreases a lot.
The movie where I can better notice that problem is Blade, specially in the main titles.

Anyway, I still think this is a great DVD Player altough I don't understand the reason for this problem. Two friends of mine have DV-717 and after I told them they also found that their players also do the same thing!

So, can't give a rate as high as I first expected.

(PS: if anyone knows anything about this picture malfunction, please e-mail me!)

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo, NAD, Rotel and Philips (can't remember the models, but around the same price)

RGB SCART OUTPUT, S VIDEO, DTS, THX COMPLIANT, 24-96 OUTPUT. BUILD & IMAGE.

VOLUME OUTPUT THORUGH TV VERY LOW - RECTIFIED THROUGH
HI-FI AMPLIFIER & SPEAKER CONNECTION THOUGH. JUST A NIGGLE

I've been checking reviews on this player for a while, then decided to buy. The wait has been worth it - excellent to
superb is the only description. I wanted an upgrade for my
Sony stand alone machine (£250) and a DVD player as well.
On the stereo front this machine is perfectly resepctable
for the money in my case £400 may not compete with a 400-500
standalone CD player but thats not what you buy it for I reckon. Its digital outputs are excellent - currently using coaxial for mini-disc recording, and its hooked up for play through my Sony amp with IXOS 104 interconnects (this is of course upgradeable) I'm more interested in the HIFI side of my machine but another positive is the provision of
'Trusound virtual surround' (through 2 speakers instead of 5)which gives a fantastic home-cinema experience to the
hi-fi nut - even through Castle standmounters. On the picture side I took home Ixos s-video-scart & Ixos scart to scart (for RGB) from the delaers for comparison and settled on the Scart RGB output on my Panasonic TV. Prices for this machine are at a premium just now and you can pick it up for
400-500 pounds in multi-region mode - I reckon it is better value for money than the comparable Sony 725, just remember all the reviews in the mags & on the net are based on a R2 machine at 550 pounds (nearly all are *****). Thats nice to remember when your watching an imported region 1 disk 3 months before it appears here in R2 format.

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ALSO LOOKED AT SONY 725

the look for gold version

picture, menu

i used my 717 for four month and i always found that pictures were 'specials'. i mean that on thin details, colors overflow.
i then buy a test dvd and then i saw an horrible picture.
the definition is 400pts per line on all output and a color (red) is shift on rvb scart output.
that is the explanation of bad picture.
i get it back to be repared two times but it can't be repared, it is the conception that is bad.
Pionner technicians made the test with others 717 and they told me that 717 are all the same.
On tv this is not flagrant but with projector this is impossible not to see shift colors and poor video bandwith.
the pictures are really better than vhs but not so nice that they should be.
big big disappointment.

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none