Pioneer DVF 727 301 Disc Mega-Changer DVD Players

Pioneer DVF 727 301 Disc Mega-Changer DVD Players 

DESCRIPTION

300+1 DVD/CD changer with Dolby Digital/DTS - 10 Bit 27MHz Video DAC - Component, S-Video and Composite Video ouputs - Analog audio output - Coaxial and optical digital audio output

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 51  
[Mar 15, 2002]
drinkingbird
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Audio quality Video Quality (except the Matrix, has some problems with black scenes) GUI

Weakness:

Customer Service is VERY poor, even though it says on the web site "our CS reps are empowered to do ANYTHING necessary to satisfy the customer". Yeah right.

Very happy with this player until it got all jammed up one day on its own. Cleared it out and snapped the arm back in place (like others I''ve read, this seems somewhat common). Unfortunately it now does not load cds correctly, every 3 to 4 cds gets spit back out. Anyway, the only complaint about the unit it Pioneer''s support of it. I dropped it off for service at Sears like Pioneer told me to, a month later I get it back "could not verify complaint" and they didn''t repair it, still broken. I call Pioneer to try and have them send an exchange for it, they say no, and give me the name of another service center. I call them and they say 3 weeks just to GET to the unit, then another 2-3 to fix it, more if they need parts. Call Pioneer back, "you can ship it to this place in California, they are faster". At my expense of course, and I''ve already been without it for a month. Anyway, I''m now fighting with Sears to get them to replace the unit since their repair center messed up. Anyway, other than that, awesome unit, I could get a Sony to replace it from sears, but I''m willing to fight it out to get the better unit!

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Mar 02, 2002]
rg505
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

301 discs, easy to load,on screen selection.easy remote.

Weakness:

i have not found any yet

does every thing i wanted it to do, i already own the pioneer 301 cd player it is very similar, with some great features the ability to plug in a key board to the front so you can input titles.i am using it with the pioneer vsx-d850s reciever and jbl speakers and sub woofer

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 15, 2002]
ramivic
AudioPhile

Strength:

Ability to daisy chain 2 players together to use only one video input on a tv or receiver. Great machine for the price.

Weakness:

Only 10-character input, no on screen thumbnails like the Sony Disc Explorer jukebox, plays SOME video cds.

The Pioneer DV-F727 is a great machine. A strong workhorse compared to the Sony 200-301 disc jukeboxes, the Pioneer allows one to daisy chain and have up to 600 movies on one GUI. Sony can''t do it. I purchased two players and discovered one cannot enable slave or master controls. I currently have both at the shop since I dont know which one is "not talking" to the other.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-CX860, Pioneer DVL-700

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 15, 2002]
TakeFlight
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Price, capacity, great user interface

Weakness:

possible build quality due to mechanical failure that I had to open the machine up to fix

I just purchased this product and received it this week. After setting it up and loading it with all 70 of my DVDs and proceeded to do the "all disc update" and it got to the 2nd disc and then jammed up. I had to take the unit apart with a screw driver to get my DVDs out. One of the DVDs (#2) was still in the play position and I had to fish it out. After getting all my DVDs I inspected the machine a noticed that the plastic arm that pulls the DVDs into the play position had jumped off of the roller that it''s attached to. There is a plastic pin that goes into a track on the arm and that pin had skipped out of the track thereby rendering the machine useless. I was able to put the part back in place and put the machine back together. I then loaded all 70 of my DVDs again and this time I was able to do the "all disc update" with no problem. What was the difference this time you ask? I load balanced the tray. Instead of putting all 70 DVDs in a row on one side of the tray I skipped every 4 or 5 slots so that way the weight distribution would be equal all the way around. After doing this the machine has worked fine. Of course, I just fixed it last night so I will have to use it some more to see if it continues to work fine. I will write another review in a few weeks or so. Other than the obvious mechanical problem that I had I have to say that the user interface on this machine is really good. It''s too bad you are limited to only around 10 characters per title but other than that I really don''t have any complaints with the GUI. Using a PS/2 keyboard to type in the titles was a great time saver.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic A110 single DVD player

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Mar 15, 2000]
James Riehl
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

300+1 discs!
Plays any CD-R or CD-RW disc I've put in
Onscreen browsing of discs possible while playing a disc.
Remembers disc info if you take a disc out and put it back in later, even if it goes back in a different spot.

Weakness:

Display (especially that blue light!) is pretty bright and cannot be dimmed
Cannot play a disc while adding/removing others.
Does not allow icons or thumbnails, but according to Sony reviewers the Sony changer does it so poorly that it might as well not...

I already put a review in the sony 200 disc changer page since it took so long to get a page for the DV-F727, but I will recap a little here.
Audio and Video quality are great in this player.
Can input disc info via remote/front panel/keyboard/mouse.
Recognizes CD and DVD text info and displays on front-panel.
According to the manual, this player is compatible with CD-R discs only, but it has played every CD-RW I have put in, including one so cheap that neither mine or my girlfriends computer DVD-ROM drives would read. (They have both played other, not-so-cheap CD-RW's.)
The +1 slot is a nice touch. The push of one dedicated button brings this easily accesible slot around so that you can put temporary discs (such as rentals) in with extra room to grab the disc. The slot also has a dedicated play button.

This player is being so deeply discounted already that it can be had for $100's less than the Sony if you shop around a little. Costco had the DV-F727 for $650, which I got the Good-Guys to match. (I'm sure any other big chain would match that price as well.)

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD2109
RCA Five disc CD changer

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 23, 2000]
Trevor Jackson
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great picture quality, excellent features, 301 disk capacity(ability to link 2 together for 601 disc) Every feature you would ever want or need (besides MP3 playback and Progressive Scan Output)

Weakness:

To nitpick: The remote is not back-lit (glows in the dark)

If you are on the market for a DVD player then look no further than this gem. I honestly CANNOT imagine ANYONE not being happy with this thing. My life has been made infinitely simpler since I added this to my system. It has great picture quality and all the features you would ever want and more in a DVD player. One BIG plus for me was the fact that it can re-route video and audio signals, even Dolby Digital and DTS, allowing me to connect my DVL-700 to the same input on my receiver through the 727. The menu system is fast and responsive. If there was anything that I would improve it would be the remote. While there's nothing wrong with it from a function standpoint, it isn't backlit so you're left squinting at the buttons in the dark once the 'glow charge' has run out. The disk changes are fast, faster than I think any human could do (without scratching the disks I mean)clocking in at about 10 seconds average per disk. The blue light is a little on the bright side, but once you have the DVD's in there they really help to diffuse the intensity and it makes for a cool effect when the spindle is rotating.
CD Audio playback is decent, although my main use of the unit is for DVD's I would be happy to have this as my main CD player.
Inputting the text is simple via a PS/2 Keyboard. I wouldn't even bother to try and input titles with the remote, especially considering that keyboards are so cheap.
Like someone else has already mentioned, if you buy anything besides this, you are making a BIG mistake. I rate this unit 8stars out of 5. Truly a great product.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DVL-700
Pioneer DV-05

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 21, 2000]
Greg Stark
Casual Listener

Strength:

Capacity,convenence,modes of operation,expandable,fits my cabinet & reliable 1st month with heavy use.

Weakness:

15 second wait between disk,12 character input,remote buttons too small & not laid out for ease of operation but funtions well once you know where buttons are located.

I've run this player for three to six hours a day for the past month with no problems. I use it alot for random play. NO jams yet. Video is good & the sound is great with a sony 935 digital reciever & 5.1 JBL setup. I've setup music DVD's in one of the program modes witch can program up to 300 plays per program.10 dvd & 10 audio. Our family likes the convenience as well. our music,movies,dvd music & kids movies all in one box. Once learned it's easy to operate. I've had no problem with it yet & had no problem with A Plus Digital. They were all business & delivered. I would recommend this player to anyone who wants to organize & have easy access to there cd's & dvd's. I think for the money at this time($562.00)Santa found a good player.

Similar Products Used:

checked sony 850.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 16, 2000]
Larry DesJardin
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

300 disks, or 600 if a pair. On screen menu is nice.

Weakness:

Complicated remote procedurs. Even hard to automate into a Pronto or similar universal remote. Lost Title and Artist Memory. 12 letter limit.

I bought a pair of Pioneer Elite DV-F07s, that are functionally equivalent to the F727s, but for the RS232 port and better DACs. My usage is primarily for CDs. I have almost 400. I haven't loaded my 20 DVDs yet. I spent a weekend entering the titles. I ordered the CDs alphabetically, due to the comments below that the search function doesn't list CDs in order beyond the first letter. I have empty disk spaces between each letter. This took a long time. The 12 letter limit was a problem, but using abbreviations I got around this. Also, despite claims, I found a bug in the 2 player set-up. When I moved disks from player 2 to player one, and did Update All, player 1 did not recognize them. They should have recognized these! So I decided CDs A-M were in player #1, and the others are in player #2, and I have room for expansion in both. Once loaded, I loved the player, and being able to choose some music from the screen. It really is easy! I started programming macros into my remote control (a Pronto) and found a big problem. Many controls "loop" from the state they are in, so there is no deterministic pattern to get to the state you want! This makes this approach a pain in the ***!. I played around to get something reasonable to work most of the time. While I was playing with remote commands, player #2 lost ALL it's memory! This was NOT because power was turned off at the plug. I had put the power mode into Stand-by via the remote control many times the previous days, and my power source is in an equipment rack where it is difficult to turn off by unplugging. I still have no idea what happened, and will re-load everything again when I return from vacation. It also reset all player setup for that player, but not the master player. Go figure! So I had to select a disk from the 2nd player, and THEN go into setup to put into my desired configuration AGAIN. (The first time I did all this once, while the other player had a loaded disk).

Regardless, I like the player. Wish I had more music categories. I've figured out Pronto macros which aren't too bad. I'll give more inputs after I play around with it more.

Similar Products Used:

None.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Oct 15, 2000]
Jimmy
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Good Video & Great as a party jukebox

Weakness:

Build Quality (It's a Pioneer)

Not a bad unit so far. I've had mine about 6 months with no problems. I guess I have about 40 hours total, so that may not be enough for the real test.

Got it loaded with about 50 DVD's and 200 CD's, and everything's cool. Hope that it stays that way!

I found out about it before it was released @ http://www.potce.com, but bought it from One Call.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 200 Disc CD Player

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jun 03, 2000]
John

Strength:

Keyboard input

Weakness:

Buggy software

I replaced a Sony 200 CD changer and an RCA DVD player with the DV-F07. The unit is just loaded with features, and I'm generally happy with the it, with some strong reservations. My first unit failed mechanically after about an hour of use, which was surprising given this is their "Elite" line. After compiling a list of software bugs/misfeatures and calling Pioneer, all I got from them was "No one else has reported them, talk to your dealer" which I found surprising.

My bug/misfeature list:

1) Parental lock is broken. If you have any discs with parental lock, you must set the player's lock level to the SAME as the disc to avoid being prompted for a password. Setting it to 8 should result in never being prompted for a password. (I only have one PL disc, so it may be a disc problem, but this disc was handled correctly on my RCA player). You can work around this problem with condition memory.

2) You can't resume playing a DVD after going into standby mode.

3) Under certain conditions I haven't yet figured out, the unit will switch into 16:9 output mode on a 4:3 TV. This has happened to me numerous times.

4) You can't STOP during some "no skip" DVD tracks. I can understand not being allowed to SKIP them, but being unable to stop your player?

5) Virtual surround sound stays on while playing CDs, even though it shouldn't (and the manual says it shouldn't).

6) When you go to "Random All" CD play mode, the player always plays a song from the CD you just selected.

7) There's no easy way to put the unit in "Random All" CD mode. If there's a DVD currently loaded, you must manually load a CD, then go to random (2 keypresses), then press enter, then press next to skip the song being played due to bug #6. And you cannot get into random mode from the front panel, which I find very annoying since this is one of the primary functions of the unit for me.

8) There is no way to play your CDs in a continuous mode. You can only play your CDs in random mode -- in continuous mode, the player will not skip a DVD it encounters.

9) The "RS-232 interface", which is a selling point on this unit, is not documented in the manual, and Pioneer has no idea what you can do with it.

10) If you're playing a CD, and the unit has been in pause for a while (maybe 10 minutes or so), you must press pause or play TWICE to get the unit to start playing again. Similarly, if you're playing a DVD and the unit goes into screen saver mode, it takes two presses to resume play.

11) When you're entering title info for DVDs with a keyboard, the keyboard response is VERY sluggish. You have to type slowly and deliberately. This doesn't happen with CDs.

12) If a DVD has DVDText, it will override what you have entered for the title -- even if it's wrong. Examples: the DVD of "54" uses the incorrect title "Studio 54" in DVD text; I shorted "The Winslow Boy" to "Winslow Boy" in the title, but the player overrode it with "The Winslow".

13) Searching by name is much less useful than it could be -- you get to specify the first letter, but the unit will NOT alphabetize the matching titles. If you want to search for a title starting with "A", you have to page through all the "A" titles, five at a time.

14) You can't repeat certain chapters on certain discs, which other players WILL let you repeat. Granted, this could be a bug in the OTHER players, but it's a bug that I'd rather have.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-CX255

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
3
Showing 1-10 of 51  

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