Customer Reviews

Pioneer AVH-P5200DVD In-Dash DVD Multimedia AV Receiver

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been a Pioneer "Fan Boy" for many years, and have owned a little more than a 1/2 dozen of their mobile audio head units. Each Pioneer/Primier HU I purchased got progressivly better as time went on, and each one offered more and more features.

The AVH-5200DVD, so far, has been my favorite Aftermarket HU to date - but my very first video capable unit. I'll break this review down into a few sections.

SELECTION / DIY INSTALLATION: I chose this unit for its single-din design, and motorized screen. This allowed for what I considered a "lower profile" install, and helped keep folks in the parking lot from being too impressed with the stereo to consider breaking into my SUV. I own a 2007 Jeep Commander Sport (no OE Boston Acoustics amplifier for you Commander owners out there), and am pretty protective of my possessions as I'm sometimes not in the nicest of areas.

Installation was a breeze, especially having installed several in the past. As always, you'll want to look up/purchase the single din conversion kit for your particular vehicle. I'm using a Metra branded kit, mostly b/c it was the only option. I also recommend a wiring harness.

Something a little unusual about this unit over previous models is the inclusion of an "external" radio receiver. Its pretty much a small 1"x3"x4" box that contains all the guts for the AM/FM radio. My assumption is that since the screen retracts into the body of the unit, they had to sacrifice some space internally and the radio got the boot. The HU and the radio box simply connect together with a proprietary cable that is included in the packaging.

Something else "new" for me was the inclusion of the parking brake wire. You're supposed to ground this on your parking break to allow you to watch video while parked. Aparantly its not recommended to drive with video playing in the front seat. There are ways to "hack" this - but you'll have to do your own Google search on that.

***NOTE: Make sure you boot up the unit BEFORE you put the dash back together. The screen screen slides out and into a pre-determined angle and distance from the dash - there are controls in the set-up menu that allows you to chose a "pitch" and 2 distances from the face of the dash. I pitched mine back a few clicks for a better viewing angle, and set it up to extend out a little further due to a lip/overhang on the top of my dashboard.



FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Once I had the unit installed, I "oooooh'd" and "aaaaaaah'd" over the glossy finish, the smooth action of the screen sliding out and into position. The unit should be fully booted up by the time the screen locks into position.

There are tactile buttons on the exterior that made sense to me. Track Skip/Advance and Reverse, Source, Menu, Mode (for switching from possible GPS mode, regular mode, rear camera, and rear seat video), and of course Eject and Screen "Hide/Open". Since the unit is a touch screen, I feel a little better about using the "physical" buttons to advance songs, rather than having to look away from the road to change tracks.

When the car is shut off, the unit waits a few seconds, beeps to remind you take the removeable anti-theft faceplate with you, and quietly retracts the screen. The anti-theft face is sort of a joke, I'm not sure if it's keyed into this specific unit, and its removal doesn't radically alter the appearance of the unit - so a thief might not know the faceplate is missing until they've smashed their way into the car.



INTERFACE: The interface is a little confusing to learn at first, with some items not being labeled. You'll want to play with it a bit before cruising around and trying to operate it. Keep your manual handy in the glove box if you ever get confused. Its quick and easy to pick-up though, and I mastered it within a few short days.

The 7" screen, animations, and graphics are great - fonts and displays are easy to understand a read - even while driving. The unit is a show-stopper, and will impress your passengers the moment the screen slides out and blazes to life.

The touch screen controls are intuitive, though the sliding motion will be a little awkward to you iPhone and BlackBerry Storm users out there as the pages don't "glide" after you've lifted your finger. Very little pressure is needed to activate something on the screen. Just a VERY light tap. You can calibrate the screen too if you need - but mine operates flawlessly out of the box.

The screen is a matte texture (very smart) - which guts down on glare from other light sources like the sure and reduces finger prints/smudges.

You can also change the colors of the external lighting - and the interface colors to match your car's esisting lighting. The ability to make your own custom wallpapers is amazing as well.


AUDIO PERFORMANCE: The MOSFET powered amplifier built into the unit pumps crisp clean highs and punchy powerful lows from the Commander's 6 speaker factory speakers (haven't replaced them yet). It currently pushs two 3.5" mid/high speakers, two 6x9" woofers in the front doors, and two 6.5" mid-rangers in the rear doors. The sound fills the cabin of this fairly large SUV nicely with minimal distortion at fairly loud volumes.

I'll be upgrading to a 5-channel amp shortly, using all 3 of the RCA inputs on the reverse of the unit for front, rear, and sub componants.

The menu gives you a great EQ options with 8 bands, bass boost control, 3 "loudness levels", Front/Rear/Sub crossovers, and much much more. Pretty much everything you need to build an audiophile set up.

iPod integration works well. I was a little disappointed that they put the USB input on the front, and not the back as I'm unable to hide the cables for a clean install. It's nice though, for people that want to play files off of a USB flash drive, etc...
I'm using an iPod Classic 160gb loaded down to about 80% capacity. Songs read clear, with song ID tags loading promptly with just a slight delay. There is also a delay when using the SongLink feature - which allows you to search for songs/genre/album/artist based on what is currently playing. In some cases it took several minutes to load up some results. I'm ASSUMING that this is because of the sheer number of songs I have loaded onto the Classic, and the fact that it is a hard drive based player. My wifes flash memory-based iPod loads song data instantly, and has a much faster SongLink retrieval time. So this is probably iPod technology-based, not Pioneer Hu software-based.

I organize all oy my music by genre - so tearing through the organization tree is fast and efficient. The "Alphabet Search" is fantastic too. You slide your finger along the alphabet for the first letter in your search, and a LARGE magnification of that letter appears in the middle of the screen, making it easier and safer to see while driving.

Album art loads a few seconds after the song begins to play and looks pretty sharp - it even animates a little when it loads - making for a flashy display.


VIDEO PERFORMANCE: DVD's play just as they're supposed to - like any normal DVD player. Menu items are selected by simply touching the option with your finger. The unit supports several aspect ratios - most of my movie collection is in 16:9 widescreen format - so it fits perfectly. The 16:10 stuff looks great too.
I watched the original Star Wars trilogy (not the new CGI garbage Lucas put out recently) in its entirety on my way too and from Gatlinburg with nary a hiccough or hang up.

It is capable of reading video from an iPod as well. I'm having issues with it reading video from my Classic 160gb, but my wifes flash-based iPod Nano reads perfectly. My issue with the Classic is probably the encoding method I chose to convert the music videos to that I had intended to watch.



EXPANDABILITY!!! I, personally, am happy that Pioneer decided to make this unit one of their more "expandable" head units - giving the consumer a boatload of technology to add onto their unit at their leisure and in small increments as your personal cash flow allows.

Just a few of these "upgrades" include:
Bluetooth (if you didn't buy the unit with BT built in - the AVH-5200BT)
HD Radio - I don't personally listen to the radio, unless its a little conservative talk radio, and thats mostly on the AM bands
Sirius/XM Satillite
Rear View Camera
and - most notably - GPS Navigation
You can also add rear seat video monitors utilizing the rear video output on the unit,



Now on to some of my gripes about this unit:

No remote control - every single Pioneer HU I've ever purchased came with a remote. This one, for whatever reason - did not. At $500 for a HU, I'd think a remote might not be too much to ask.

Expansion module price - I'm also a little disappointed in the price of the expandsion modules. Dropping $500 on a HU, then another $400 on a GPS unit might seem a little insane - but if you look at the prices of head units that INCLUDE GPS, the price comes out on par, or cheaper, than an "all inclusive" option.

The SOMETIMES slow crawling speed of the iPod library search - even though this is probably iPod related - a 15minute long search for a tune is more than little rediculous. The integrated search on the iPod itself would only take a dozen or so seconds - MAX. Of course - 100-160gb of music/movie files could be a little overwhelming. Perhaps Jobs will offer a little support and help Pioneer find a way to speed up this process.

this item is really great i received it on April the 23th and really everything is good but the only thing i dnt like about this item is the USB it is on the front and that is the only problem i had with this unit other than that everything is great the equalizer is perfect , themes are really good and even the screen is assume i recommend this avh better than the 5000 , or the , 5100 avh , last thing i wanted to say if u have you have Pioneer CD BTB200 its not gonna be fully compatible with the avh-p5200 but it will work good but you will not be able to save the contacts into ur device

The Pioneer 5200 DVD is a great head unit. Crisp clean display and menue's that are easy to navigate. The DVD plays movies easily but requires a button be installed on front dash installations so that you can watch or view movies from the front. This basically overrides a factory safety feature. Now the bad news, I had made a mistake when I purchased this unit without the built in blue tooth. I had intended to buy the BT model but missed it at check out. I found the pioneer external Bluetooth module and called pioneer to varify it would work with this particular head unit. The support person for pioneer told me that it would work just the same as if it were built in. Unfortunetly after having the unit professionally installed I found that information to be untrue! The add on Bluetooth pioneer CD- BTB200 unit is at best the saddest handsfree attachment on the market. It is not at all what you have grown to expect from a company synonymous with excellence. This unit has to be sinked each and every time you get in your car. Long process and it has none of the features the built in unit has. So in short Pioneer needs to discontinue the CD-BTB200 as it is unworthy of bearing Pioneers name. At the end of the day this mistake cost me several hundred dollars in installation and un installation and shipping fees. When I explained everything that had happened to the head of support for pioneer he did not seem to care much one way or another, almost as though he didn't think that a poor review of a 2010 flagship model would make much of a difference. I think he is wrong, I think the public does care. In short if you want a great head unit with built in Bluetooth buy it built in to the unit. Do not buy the CD-BTB200. Additionally the add on with the head unit costs more than if you bought it built in. I wound up sending both back and purchased the AVH 5200 BT and it works perfectly, I love it!

Great deck. Kinda wish it would display the song when its closed like the older models used to. Great sound, easy to use.

It is an excellent breeding animal of dvd for car. It has many functions and they can connect many accessories. There is impressive the range of colors that can change, both in the presentation and in the menu. Only I had a problem on it having connected, due to the fact that I cannot see the videoes on screen, because it gives me a message of safety alert. I connect the long green cable to the direct current of the vehicle, because that of emergency brake does not work. If some body can help me, I will be very gratefull.

I bought the product and am generally satisfied how ever it says that video can be viewed from a USB drive. I dont seem to be able to get this done. Can anyone with the product help me. Additionally I would like to purchase the bluetooth adapter to work with my nokia phone but not sure which one to get . HELP!!!

The unit is great! Nice 7" screen which is easy to read and operate while driving.
Sound is great (added an amplifier and sub woofer). Great value for price.

When I bought this item I didn`t see what is the region midia receiver. Now, I`m in Houma - LA but I`m Brazilian and for the equipment works properly in Brazil, the region midia receiver must be #4 and this one is set to work properly in region #1..... I made a mistake!

BUT, OF COURSE, THIS EQUIPMENT IS THE BEST ONE!!!