Price Paid:  $179.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
Not a bad unit.....especially for the money. Believe it or not, I'm now running it into a Theta Casablanca I borrowed for the weekend. The sound on DVD is not bad...but obviously not the top of the mountain either. On CDs, you can forget it...but then, what do you expect for 180 bucks. Anyway, for youngsters or those just starting out, you may want to give it a try.....college students...heads up. My rating will look a little low because there are obviously better units out there. But for the budget consious, it may be just what the doctor ordered.....

Strengths:
Good price for what you get. Well layed out remote. DTS sounds prety good.

Weaknesses:
well....given the price, I'm not going to complain....

Similar Products Used:
Any low to mid-fi unit under 4 bills new...

Price Paid:  $325.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I purchased this unit about three and a half years ago. Although this is no reference player, the DV-414 was a very good player for a decent price at the time. I have experienced no lip-sync problems as some have stated earlier, and until recently, have had no problems with the unit at all. It even played the occasional CD-R and CD-RW. Now the player is gradually ending its playing of conventional CD's. Initially, it would spin up a CD and quickly spit it out or turn itself off; only after a little coaxing would it play. Now it is becoming increasingly frustrating to load a CD because the unit is taking increasingly more iterations of inserting and ejecting the CD in order to work properly. Usually it takes twenty or so iterations with plenty of expletives to get the CD portion of the unit to work. DVD playback is still exceptional, so all is not lost. This player is over three years old, and has been installed in a dust free enclosure. I did not know that CD non-playback was a common problem until reading similar reviews here. Overall a very good DVD player - even by today's standards. Even though it has limited extra features, it does offer DTS playback and component video output, features not commonly found on other DVD players of its day. I think that it is not fair to compare this player to those of today; DVD technology was just becoming accepted when this unit was introduced. Since this is a DVD player and not a dedicated CD player, I think that it deserves four stars for value and overall rating. With that said, the unit's days spent on my component shelf are numbered; I will be replacing it soon.

Strengths:
Execptional Video and Sound Reproduction

Weaknesses:
Unreliable CD playback; Noisy

Price Paid:  $350.00 from HiFi Buys

Summary:
This has been a superb unit, except for the distortion on the screen. I'm assuming that the TV has some distortion problem with the S-video input (I hope). Other than that, this player is highly recommended. It's picture is brilliant and bright, and the sound quality is above par for an entry-level DVD player. New to the game? Pioneer has been developing home theater products for quite some time. Remember laser-discs??? Buy an entry level Pioneer component and you won't be disappointed.

Strengths:
Great all around player. Good CD audio playback, GREAT DTS and DD playback, reliable, looks good on my shelf, and I like the cool blue light on the front!

Weaknesses:
I am having a peculiar problem; when playing letterbox features, my Mitsubishi 29" (1990) w/S-video has a "prism-like" distortion on the right side of the screen. Though only about a half inch wide, this refracts light and images and skews them, it is very annoying to the eye. Distortion gets wider when true 16:9 movies are played. I'm hoping it's the TV. Yes, unit is a bit noisy, but you end up blocking it out while viewing a movie.

Similar Products Used:
Denon 3801, Cerwin-Vega spks, Mirage spks

Price Paid:  $219.00 from Best Buy (on sale)

Summary:
A great entry-level, budget DVD player. Had it for over 2 years now and NEVER had a problem with skipping, freezing, or lip-sync. I played on average 3 DVDs per week (on weekends). Musical performances such as Sarah Brightman's La Luna or Eagles' Hell Freeze Over (in DTS) were beautifully renditioned. Even in these live performances, the pictures were vivid and life-like. Dolby & DTS digital outputs work great for both coax and Toslink(optical). The pyramid and opera scenes from Fifth Element just looks and sounds awesome. You better hold on to your chair when that Panzer tank is coming in Savings Private Ryan.

I only use it for DVDs, so I can't really comment on CD or VCD playbacks.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an good, quality, entry DVD player.

Strengths:
Reliability, Dolby & DTS outs, beautiful picture, (and it looks cool too)

Weaknesses:
Make small whirring noise during playback. Confusing remote and menu makes changing options, such as aspect ratio or digital out, a little difficult at first.

Summary:
I have enjoyed the **** out of this unit since 98. There is no lip-synching error. Dvd performance is better than all other mass market players I've seen, only surpassed by flagship units and high end makes. Audio in dvd 5.1 formats is exceptional, with an immense soundstage and serious impact from the coax out; Dolby digital is quite smooth and glitzy given the limitations of the ac3 format, and dts is like moving to 70mm from 35mm, highly resolved, fast, and liquid, depending on the program content (the 1509 kbps bit rate is better, but most dvd's are at 754kbps, though Saving Private Ryan, The Haunting, and Gladiator simply sound magnificent)--it's more like seamless imaging all around vs Dolby's sonic shower stall approach to holosonic imaging. I do not recommend using the analog 2 channel audio outs for cd playback-- I use the coax out. 2 channel pcm playback for CDs is again quite good. In deferrence to the criticism I've read it does have a bright, forward, etched quality but it retains a sense of detail and seems sharp rather than brittle; additionally think of a wide, shiny lateral soundstage with acceptable longitudinal depth (it's like in flat stages, maybe not subtle shadings) to better the mass market cd players I've heard, and perform to my ears better than my NAD cd unit, but then I maybe have a taste for sharper, analytical sounding components (I like the Sony ES sound, particularly the flagship loudspeaker design). Dynamics have an intensity and impact that I simply enjoy and look forward to dealing with. Softness, and warmth are good too, but this unit is far from the flatly synthetic. I read a recommendation of the 414 in The Absolute Sound which suggested this machine for its "robust" cd playback as a reasonable holdover til newer technology established itself. I agree totally. If you can afford it bypass the bargains and go for Marantz and Sony high end SACD, and CD playback by Wadia or the Ayre D-1, go for the best and quit beating up on yourself! For good cheapskate CD get a used California Audio Labs, but the 414 is still damned good--The lip-synching problem could just be an anomaly specific to the way Dolby Digital content is authored, as this was a common issue in the laserdisc era, blame falls somewhere in the chain from content to decoding, but I have not seen this on my player unless it was an early disc (Ronin, Air Force One) in which case the authoring method would have been cruder.

Strengths:
excellent video, great dts, dd, acceptably robust pcm

Weaknesses:
confused remote

Similar Products Used:
nad cd player