A Swiss Army Knife for your home theater!
Written: Apr 15 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Picture Quality: |
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: The only disk this player won't play is frisbee!
Cons: Setup is lengthy, but worth it.
The Bottom Line: Yes, I definitely recommend this DVD player. It is so versatile and does it with such excellence, that you can't pass it up.
|
|
|
| Briss's Full Review: Pioneer DV-45A DVD Player |
I recently purchased my second Pioneer Elite DV-45A. I bought one for my parents for Christmas and I liked it so much I went and bought me one soon after.
This machine could possibly do your laundry with a small upgrade that Pioneer needs to get started on. Hint! It will play just about any disk out there besides frisbee. DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, CD, CD-R, VCD etc. Not only does this play them, but it plays them with extreme excellence.
Out of the box, this little puppy weighs less than nothing and is quite sleek. The buttons are well placed on the player, not that you would ever need to use them unless you lose your remote in the couch, again. As with all Pioneer Elite products, the DV45 has a nice glossy black finish.
The remote is also very well laid out, but most importantly . . . IT'S BACKLIT! No more fumbling around in your dimly lit home theater/living room trying to find the right button. The joystick is easy to use and is very responsive.
Now on to performance. After the setup, of course. Out of the box, this player requires about 30 minutes of setup in order to perform to is maximum capability with your other home theater components. Most of my time was spent looking up specs on my receiver (Pioneer Elite VSX-36TX) and television (Sony Wega KV36XBR450) in order to get the correct settings. So be sure to have their manuals readily available. At first you might think that a 30 minute setup is a con, but after you play your first disk, you realize just what the other players are lacking. No two home theaters are alike and you want to make sure you get everything you paid for in your electronic equipment. You get that with the DV45. Of course, you could get a little more if you step up to the DV-47Ai, but more on that later.
This is one of the best DVD players that I have seen. Especially for the money. In Progressive Scan mode the picture quality is excellent. It has twin lasers so that annoying pause halfway through a movie is very minimal. On some disks, I have yet to notice the slight hesitation.
Brief explanation: If I understand correctly, (if not, someone please correct me) DVD players read the disk from the inside out (the exact opposite of a vinyl record) and read every other line. Then, when it reaches the edge of the disk it goes back and starts over and picks the lines that were skipped. DVD's are processed this way to basically keep people from copying them. But, where there is a will, there is a way and I am sure somebody has figured out a way to copy an entire disk.
The DV45 also plays DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD's (SACD's). Please notice that there are completely different parts for each one and this machine is still extremely slim and lightweight. Personally, I prefer the DVD-Audio format over SACD (at this point), but they are both a vast improvement over your now obsolete CD's. The downside here is that the selection of DVD-Audio's and SACD's is scarce and difficult to find. I have found a few at Borders, Best Buy and Amazon.com. I have heard that there will be a lot more available in the near future.
For those of you that don't know, your typical CD plays your music in 2.0 stereo mode. With DVD-Audio or SACD you get to hear your music in 5.1 surround sound. You will be amazed at the difference. Remember the first time you watched a movie with your 5.1 surround sound set up? Now your music has moved into the modern age. I am ready to replace my entire CD collection with 5.1 discs! I am also looking forward to the day when we have DVD-Audio and/or SACD capability in our cars. I am not a big classical music fan, but have been known to listen to a few works occasionally, but I have yet to purchase a classical music DVD-Audio or SACD, but I would imagine that it is truly awesome and probably the best media for showing off the difference between 2.0 and 5.1 music.
DVD-Audio and SACD is the VHS and Beta of the New Millenium. It is unclear who will win at this point, but it doesn't really matter if you own the DV45. Also, Marantz and Yamaha have DVD players that play DVD-Audio and SACD's but they are a lot more expensive. I imagine more companies will follow Pioneer's lead and come out with similar players.
Okay, Pioneer Elite also makes a DV47Ai for an additional $500 more than the DV45A. Basically the only difference is that the DV47Ai has some bass management for the DVD-Audio and SACD's. Not really a big deal for me. The other major difference is that the DV47Ai is firewire compatible. Okay, this would be awesome! I repeat, AWESOME! NOTE to manufacturers, firewire and LAN is a must on future products!!! Oh, the catch, it is only compatible with the Pioneer Elite VSX-49i receiver. No big deal if you can afford the $3500 receiver. It is truly an awesome receiver. I admit that if I ever win the lottery the 49i receiver and 47Ai DVD player are on the list of top ten things to buy, but until then the 45A DVD player is just as good for half the price.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 445
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Briss
|
|
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 2 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.