A good starter player
Written: Oct 09 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lightweight
Cons: Interesting default settings
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| purdey99's Full Review: Pioneer DV-525 DVD Player |
I've been using the 525 for a few weeks now. I also own a Panasonic A120, which started crapping out on me(the dreaded laser-assembly problem). The biggest drawback to the 525 is that it's noisy. It's as loud as my 10 year old LD player. The remote has small buttons which makes it difficult to operate in a darkened room. No complaints with picture quality. Those without a 16x9 tv, make sure to disable the "widescreen" video setting which is set by default. I was seeing vertically-stretched images until I located this setup option(changed it to letterbox and fixed the problem). Unlike the Panasonic, the 525 has only a 2-speed scan rate(versus variable speeds on the Panasonic). The player has component outs, which is nice but I can't use. All in all, I believe the Panasonic is a better all-around player but I was unwilling to shell out for an A120 as my (and many others) A110 started having problems after less than a year. Pioneer is offering a $50 rebate on this player until January. It's a good entry level player.
It offers DTS, Dolby 5.1 out (no decoder) *it's best to have a decoder in your audio rather then dvd player.* The picture quality is above standard, I have seen reports of it being too noisy, but I think that's a relative question, and myself do not find it noisy. ALSO you will find *no* reports of lip sync with this player, I've played The Matrix (white rabbit) Armegeddon, Pulp Fiction and a slew of other great films and have had zero flaws. On the downside, the remote is a little small, but with normal use you get the hang of it. I don't like the FF or RW on this unit, it's very hard to move to a concise point. If you stop the movie you can save your postion at the movie. It plays VCD, CDR's with twin lasers *Most high End players don't.* The unit is lightweight, but solid.
FEATURES
Other Media Supported: Audio CD, CD-R, CD-RW, Video CD
Dolby Digital Decoding On-Board: Yes
Video Output: Component Video, Composite (RCA), S-Video
Audio Output: Digital Coaxial, Digital Optical, RCA
Video DAC: 10
Audio DAC: 24
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID: purdey99
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Member: Kim Keller
Location: Buffalo, NY
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 17 members
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