Price Paid:  $99.00 from BB

Summary:
Do not buy if you need a player where you need to resize the screen. Does an adequate job at it's regular Screen size though.
If you are looking for a cost effective DVDP for DVD playback I suggest getting a Panny unit as I have their changer hooked into a Panny Plasma and it is stuning for the price and is able to switch screen sizeing withhout any grain. The Pioneer I cannot tolerate when resizing using a Samsung TV in my bedroom.

The reason I bought the player anyway is for it's multi purpose playback of CD material. I have no SACD capability although I have no SACD's I wanted one to roundout my system in case I ever have a collection.

If you have a Redbook collection of CD's it was explained by JA of S-Phile that it is better to use an older player that does not include MP3 processing as that will diminish the playback do to the remastering clock. I am not that technically orientated ,but I assure you he is correct.Some of the newer players do have seperate reclocking designs ,but you will neeed to pay considereably more for them.

It has been said that Toshiba makes some great value DVDP's that also are able to have aceptable playback of Redbook.

I use a 1989 Phillips CD-80 for my Redbook CD's and a Panny DVDP for other sources like Video.

Anyway for the $$ I would prefer the Panny Changers for Video and this may be good for a universal player

Strengths:
Universal Player for cheap!

Weaknesses:
Resizing is a disgrace when you do not want to view DVD's wth the Black Lines.

Similar Products Used:
Panny F-65 which is better value for the $$ but will not play SACD's and a few other formats I think.

Price Paid:  $99.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
If it wern't for this product at this pricepoint, I'd prolly still be w/o a SACD/DVD-A player.
For my current, entry-level setup, it's perfect. That system consists of:
Marantz SR-4400
Paradigm CC-170
Paradigm Mini Monitors
Paradigm ADP-100's
Velodyne VRP 1000

It sounds great! It's oviously no Rotel or Lynn by any means, but for 99 bucks, it rocks! It's comparable to a Denon or Sony running at a $400 pricepoint.

Pioneer knows how to make products.
99 bucks for SACD/DVD-A/24-bit Burr-Brown CD DAC...can't go wrong.
Too bad you can't find it retail anymore...try to get yourself one on eBay.

As for Picture quality...I couldn't say as my TV atm is horrible.

Strengths:
Price, compatability, MP3/SACD/DVD-A/VCD/JPG

Weaknesses:
At 99 bucks...nothing.

Price Paid:  $99.00 from best buy canada

Summary:
There is no other dvd audio/sacd player I've seen at this pricepoint. By no means is the price compromising quality. Pioneer does it again with another quality product that's cheap.

Strengths:
Multiple formats, great framerate on dvd video.

Weaknesses:
None at this price.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic rv-30

Price Paid:  $90.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
My system:

Carver C-1 Sonic Hologram Preamp
Harman Kardon T-40 turntable
Harman Kardon Citation 15 tuner
Harman Kardon Citation 22 amp
Koss CM-1020 speakers
Tascam 202 MKII cassette deck
Pioneer DV-578A DVD-A/SACD player

I bought this for my bedroom as a replacement for the 15 year old Magnavox CD player which died. I don't use it for video, but bought it because it plays just about every audio format around. Even at full retail, the price to performance value of this unit is outstanding. This will play just about anything: DVD-Video, video CD, DVD-R, and video-mode DVD-RW. It plays super-high-resolution DVD-Audio and SACD (stereo and multichannel), as well as compressed audio files (MP3 and WMA) on recordable CD.

The literature says it does slideshows of digital photos -- JPEG digital photo CDs, Fujicolor CDs, or Kodak Picture CDs. As a bonus, it has progressive scan, and lots of other nice video features including nearly twice the video processing power of previous Pioneer models with a 12-bit/108 MHz video digital-to-analog converter (DAC). I never use them. The video is fed out to the tuner card in my computer, so you can see my values! MUSIC!

There is nothing in this price range which will do what this unit will do. You would have to spend at least twice as much to get any other combination SACD/DVD-A player. On my home theater system, I have a Sony SACD player and a JVC DVD-A player. I had to run both through two 3-channel switching boxes with lots of extra audio cables, because both SACD and DVD-A require the one six channel direct feed input on my HT preamp. This unit solves that problem.

Strengths:
Looks good, sounds good, plays everything. VERY INEXPENSIVE

Weaknesses:
Cheap remote, unit is a bit light on weight.

Similar Products Used:
7 disk JVC DVD-Audio player, Sony SACD player.

Price Paid:  $50.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
An awesome product and my last DVD Player. I've owned 2nd & 4th Gen Toshiba's, & recently a Marantz DV-4300. This player does it all and does them well. I've played the infamous Fleetwood Mac Rumours (no clicking) and Pink Floyd's DSOTM. ELP's Bran Salad Surgery and it paseed my tests for both bass management and overall audio quality.

The best part, Black Friday at Best Buy had one left on the shelf with no remote, no box, no owner;s manual, & no AC Cord. No problem when you have a One-For-All Remote already at home with the IR codes already loaded into it.

Just imagine connecting a tube amp to this killer machine just for litening to 2 channel Hi-Res audio.

Strengths:
DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD, mp3, progressive scan DVD-Video. Easy setup & bass management that works.

Weaknesses:
What weaknesses. For Fifty bucks - you can't go wrong!!

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba & Marantz DVD-Video machines