ezyernie

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $229.00 from talk of the town

Summary:
I have has an HD TV for over a year and I decided to upgrade from my old Sony DVD player which could not support HD because of a lack of HDMI interface. The sound was also not very dynamic. So after some research I decided that the Pioneer Elite was worth the checkout. I bought the DV-48AV, which I believe replaces the DV-46AV, but appears to be near identical. It has the HDMI I was looking for and it upscales to 1080p, 1080i, 720p.

Setup and connecting was easy and simple. The remote control did not identify my TV, but does control the key features of the DVD player including the all-important upscaling settings.

I played the THX remake of Star Wars Episode 4 and heard dynamics the Sony never delivered! The Millenium Falcon has to be heard to be believed! It sounded very real taking off from the hangar on Tatooine. Next, I I played Lord of the Ring: Fellowship of the Ring. Spectacular! The first defeat of Sauron and the cataclysmic first loss of the Ring, as well as Gandalf confronting the sizzling, fire-breathing Balroc and pounding his staff on the bridge, both were visceral events the clarity of the bass the detail in the sound was quite impressive. My old Sony never did THAT! The video was excellent. My HDTV plays up to 1080i and the Pioneer video was very good at 1080i and 720p.

So I did a comparison of the Pioneer with my (to my ear) rather excellent Denon CD player and the Pioneer more than held its own.

Back to DVDs. 2010: The Year We Make Contact is a bit old and doesn't upscale well, even on the DV-48AV. So, it won't revive every DVD. But it still Played the video better and sounded much better than the Sony.

Overall, a very welcome upgrade to my system.

Strengths:
1) Very Good Picture
2) Outstanding Audio
3) Upscaling to 1080P

Weaknesses:
None that I have experienced so far.

Price Paid:  $299.00 from Tweetwr

Summary:
Very impressed with the picture quality and sound. It's as close as one going to get to 1080p resolution without spending the big bucks. If your thinking about getting it let me help you decide. BUY IT!

Strengths:
Everything about it.

Weaknesses:
Just it's weight. I feel like the unit should be built more solid like Pioneers receiver line up. I feel like if I bang this thing around just once it will damage the interior.

gjpham

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $289.00 from Tweeter

Summary:
I needed a new DVD player with Hdmi output for my newly purchased 65" Misubishi HDTV. While I was very impressed with my brother's demonstration of his new BlueRay Samsung BD-P1000 ($900). Because each BlueRays disc cost around $25 each, I wasn't just so ready to add them on my long years of movies and music collection just yet. So I decided to save this new BlueRay/HD invention for later and I went out and bought a non-BlueRay/HD Pioneer Elite DV-46AV from Tweeter for $289, something that I think it will give me the quality as close as my brother's. We set both players side by side and switch them around for comparasion. We picked out a scence from a music video disc that we thought it'd provide the most details, colorful and sound quality and with same hdmi cable set up, the Elite was surprisingly stood out in both video and sound quality in non- BlueRay disc. The picture from the Elite was not so bright but very detail and VERY colorful. As for sound, we turn off the Tv's volume and via it thru our high end stereo audio system and its sound engine made it so greatful. It was hard to beleive but we both impressed and agreed that the Pioneer Elite is absolutely a great product.
We also added 2 more players that they happen to be in diff rooms. One was a Sony high end old timmer ($1000) and other one was a cheappy Samsung ($79). The picture from the Sony was decent. We have thought the Sony was sound awesome.....until today. The Elite smoked it. Some what, I was kind of worried about our last contender, the cheappie Samsung. What if it provided its picture and sound quality just as close as the Elite? The result was ....well, you guessed it. Very crappy.
I have not had a chance to test out players cost around $150-ish but with this msrp $299 Pioneer Elite DV-46AV, I''' be showing this off to my friends and families confidently. Tweeter has 30 days return and/or matching price so it's not hurt to give it a try.
I'm very happy with this Elite but I'm giving it 4 stars because we know there're better ones out there, we have to look for them.

Strengths:
Picture and sound are surpringly smooth. Like TV today, this player can adjust video like sharpness, tint, color, etc

Weaknesses:
I wish it's built bigger and heavier like any other high end players. Remote controller looks similar to any other TV's. Simple black with big glow in the dark buttons.