Customer Reviews

Pioneer DV-610AVE PAL Multiformat DVD, SACD Player with HDMI and USB Host

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the most amazingly satisfying electronics product I have ever bought. The features are many and easy to learn. I especially enjoy some of the audio and video adjustment features:
Audio: DRC setting helps bring up quieter sounds while controlling loud peaks. Great for taming those annoying audio surges in 'background' music or battle scenes, etc. The Dialog feature lets you adjust the dialog perception so that you can hear the voices better over the background sounds in the soundtracks.
Video: You can adjust the Sharpness, Brightness, Contrast, Gamma, Hue, Chroma Level and BNR (block noise reduction). Each one has several levels to choose from and you get to sample it as it adjusts, so you can skip back and forth and compare the difference before you decide what to settle on.
The USB mode has great, easy to navigate menus. You can also record to your thumb drive from a CD that you are playing. There is a choice of different bit rates to do this and you can record individual tracks or all tracks. Very user-friendly menus for all these choices.
This unit has too many features to list, especially for someone like me, who is not quite fluent in tech terminology. Suffice it to say that it performs all the functions beautifully, the manual is very user-friendly and not only tells you how to adjust/change the various settings, but also explains the technical terminology in real English, so you know what those settings actually do when activated.
I do love the region-free feature too. But for me, this is more ho-hum, since I already owned one - a far inferior quality Philips one.
About the only thing I can think of to improve the user-friendliness of this product would be to have an alphabetized index in the manual. But, since it's only a 61 page manual, it's not such a big issue overall.
Another suggestion I would have would be to allow to record audio from DVDs also. So often, the audio track on a DVD sounds so much better than the soundtrack that is published on CD (i.e.: Brassed Off, Eyes Wide Shut), although I recognize there may be some copyright issues with that concept.
For the record: I am getting a second unit for my upstairs TV. Have I mentioned that I love it...? This is a really great product!!!

No problems at all with this DVD player, except for one minor annoyance (which I solved after reading the manual)

I would have expected the NTSC/PAL settings to be somewhere within the set-up menu, but no, the TV-standard options are controlled by pressing the power button while holding down the "next" button (see page 52 in manual)
The weird thing is that the manual says "except Taiwanese model" in regard to this function, and I'm pretty sure this IS the Taiwanese model because it comes with the Taiwanese accessories listed on page 61, but in any case, it works fine.

If you have a multi-standard tv/monitor, set the player to Auto so you get pure NTSC and pure PAL video from NTSC/PAL DVDs. If you have a US/NTSC tv, set the player to forced NTSC so that it will convert PAL to NTSC. If your tv is PAL-only, set the player to forced PAL, and it will convert NTSC to PAL. Simple once you've found the "hidden" function lurking at the back of the manual!!

Just wanted to add my two cents that this is one killer device. If you ever plan on listening to high quality surround sound that DVD-Audio or SACD can provide, this is a great, inexpensive unit to consider. Actually, most other units cost much more. This Pioneer AV 610s for me, is more for audio than video although it has the ability to play all region DVD videos. I have a separate Blu-ray player for my videos.

Set-up was a little tricky for me as the DVD-Audio played right away causing me to think all is well with my set-up. But I had a little struggle getting the SACD's to play in surround. (I use the direct analog component output, 6 separate cables to the input of my Onkyo Receiver -not the usual Digital opti-link or RCA connector). For that to finally work I had to go to the options section and specify 5.1 sound in the speaker section. That makes sense to me now, although it took me awhile to realize that the AUDIO section in the set-up was NOT were this takes place. Again that's in the OPTIONS menu. Once that was done I finally had great surround sound. Took about a half an hour for me to figure that out. A little alcohol may have been involved. My bad.

Anyway, when you get past the instructions, which are well written, it will do all it's supposed to do. Except for the fact that actual DVD-Audio discs are apparently no longer being made (but still available -some for a premium price I'm afraid) this is well worth it to me. I'm not sure about SACD's current production status.

One more thing... Music has a repeatability factor that movies don't have. One can enjoy listening to songs & music over and over. Try that with most movies.

This is a great buy for a multi-region and HDMI-capable (1080 resolution upscaling too) player. Right now the blu-ray multiregion players are still way way overpriced, but the upscaling on this is fine. Playing a regular DVD disc (which many foreign tv dramas and movies are still put out on) with 1080 resolution selected and using a quality Monster brand HDMI cable to my excellent Kuro plasma tv looks equally great on my blu-ray samsung player or my new multiregion Pioneer player. Playing my foreign k-dramas or foreign movies (europe, asia, wherever) the picture is great on my tv, so the video capabilities of this are quite fine. I'm very happy with it. And it has other neat features as well - record CD music to a USB device, play SACD discs (hard to find that capability), etc.
Read the reviews for this model player in black, which is where all the reviews are. I agree with them on quality and functionality. (I guess people prefer black to silver. Same player. The silver looks nice.) The unit itself is very slim in height so it fits atop other things on my entertainment unit well. The remote works well functionally too - unlike some dvd player remotes, it has no problem going across the room in signal strength.
Thanks, Pioneer!!! You've made a quality and budget-wise multi-region dvd/cd player that I appreciate.
PS - The black version of this had a LOT of (good) reviews last week but was temporarily out of stock - this week, now, I can't pull that item's page up to add my comments to it. I suppose that page is no longer available if this player in black is still out of stock, so, oh well. But the silver is same exact thing, if you care for functionality bang-for-buck over exterior color.
PPS - Appending comment some time after the above was written: WOW I've been watching Queen Seondeok (kdrama, it's region-1 and high quality video visually). The other reviewer on this player (in black) who said how fabulous video quality was exactly right. The video quality out of this player (sound too) is really fantastic and equal to my high-quality top chip blu-ray player with blu-ray discs, displayed over quality monster HDMI cable to my Kuro Elite plasma tv. All the eye candy costumes, indoor and outdoor scenery (day and night) etc. really pop in color richness and visual detail, down to hair, sweat, whiskers, textures and embroidery. So with a quality video disc and equipment, this player really really delivers, better than most other non-blu-ray DVD players!

The Pioneer DVD and HDMI and USB Host player is great. It has faster response time to loading your mini-hard drive movies and can take the larger programs of more High Definition movies. We love it as a family! Also I like the silver color because I can actually see the buttons on the player!

This was easy to connect to my TV and Stereo system and works great. It takes a while for the DVDs to load and get to the menu, but that is a minor and likely true of most DVD players. Very satisfied.

I was looking for a multiregional DVD player that would play my DVDs from England. It was easy to set up the zone or region. Once installed, I read the instructions that came on a separate printed page. I had it working in a second. You don't need to read the manual.

I was looking for a multi region dvd upconverting player, with sacd and dvd audio capabilities.

This is it, no complaints, other than the startup is a bit slow and you cannot play or eject without powering up.

Plays all my region 1, 2 and 3 discs. DSD capability for SACD is great so you get high bit rate multi sound through HDMI, which can be played as direct multi channel, or your receiver can add other effects to it.

Great buy for around $100. Cannot go wrong.

DVD was invented in 1995 & it's taken more than 10yrs to perfect the DVD player. The early DVD players all suffered from the same problems that plague Bluray players of today. They were plagued with slow loading times & they came locked - region coded. Even today, there are a lot of DVD players out there that are region coded & they need to be hacked, if U intend to play international DVDs.

The Pioneer DV-610AV is a true universal DVD player because of the following reasons:

1) Out of the box, this player comes unlocked. It plays DVDs from all 6 DVD regions.
2) Universal power supply, it works on both 110V - 220V. It comes with two power chords, one with the N. American flat pin & the other one has the Asian (Chinese) round pin. It can be plugged anywhere in the world with the help of the right pin / plug adaptor.
3) It plays almost all formats other than High Definition formats such as Bluray. It even plays DVDA & SACD.
4) Available in both black & silver. This sure adds up to the universal appeal that many other DVD players lack.
5) All the video / audio connections U'd ever want - HDMI, Component video, Composite video, S-Video, Coaxial audio, Optical audio & 5.1 channel analogue outs.

Design, features & performance:

I bought a Pioneer DV-610AV('S' - Silver) from B&H, NYC in Jan 2009 for USD120. After using it for over an year, I'm truly impressed with its capabilities. I have the Pioneer DV-610AV connected to an Onkyo TX-SR604 AVR Onkyo TX-SR604 7.1 Channel A/V Receiver (Black) with Mediabridge HDMI Mediabridge Ultra Series - High Speed HDMI Cable With Ethernet - Category 2 Certified - Supports 3D & Audio Return Channel - (3 Feet). The DVD upconversion to 1080p over HDMI to a Panasonic 42in G10 plasma Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV is as good as anything I've ever seen on an upconverting DVD player. The video upconversion of the Pioneer DV-610AV is much better than that of the Panasonic G10 plasma TV. I found that a lil' hard to digest, especially when the DVD player cost just 1/8th the price of the HDTV. It's a very simple test. U'll output the DVD player at both 480i & 1080p. If 480i looks better than 1080p, then the video upscaling of the HDTV is better than that of the DVD player, if 1080p is better than 480i, then it's the other way around.

A unique selling point of the Pioneer DV-610AV is its capability of playing home made / burned DVDs without a hiccup. This function is important to me as I make a lot of Windows Media Videos (WMV). This DVD player is especially very good at playing WMVs & DVDs that contain it. There are far & few DVD players that can boast this capability.

The Pioneer DV-610AV has a 24bit/192khz DAC due to its ability to playback DVDA & SACD. The budget DAC in the Pioneer DV-610AV sounds a lil' warmer than the budget DAC used in Onkyo TX-SR604 receiver. Most budget / cheap DACs sound almost the same, but I did enjoy listening to 2 channel music in my Zone 2 setup consisting of Mordaunt Short 902i bookshelf speakers. I had the analogue out of the Pioneer DV-610AV connected to Zone 2 in the Onkyo TX-SR604 receiver. I was happy with this 2 channel setup till I upgraded to a Musical Fidelity V-DAC Musical Fidelity V-DAC Upsampling Digital to Analog Audio Converter. Of course, the MF V-DAC sounds richer, warmer, wider & deeper than the budget DAC used in the Pioneer DV-610AV. It gets more evident when used / tested with better amplifiers & speakers.

This DVD player comes with the 'auto turn off' function, it's especially good if this player is ever to be used as a CD player / source for Zone 2. When activated, this function turns off the DVD player, 30mins after the CD has stopped playback. This is surely an option to have when U do not have a 12V external trigger. The 12V trigger is an impressive function & one that I really like a lot. It may be used in sync with other devices, such as an a/v receiver that has a 12V external trigger and a sleep timer, to auto turn on / off all devices that are connected to the 12V trigger. It is not to be expected in devices at this price point.

These days, almost all manufacturers are turning to 'Black' as their choice of color, possibly due to cost cutting. Not that silver color costs more, it's just that making a product in multiple color options adds cost. Gone are the good old days when most equipment was available in Silver, Gold & even Champaign. As much as black looks cool, it's sad to see that customers are now being forced with no color choice. Brushed Aluminium (Silver) used by Onkyo remains my all time favorite finish for an audio equipment. It's got a vintage & nostalgic feel to it. I'm glad that Pioneer at least gave a choice of both black & silver colors for this DVD player. Sadly, even Pioneer has taken the 'Black' route & now offers all its Bluray players only in black. As of this writing, the only budget Bluray available in silver color is the Onkyo BD-SP807 & that too in Europe. Europe is the only market that still demands & has a taste for silver colored audio / video equipment. It really looks classy & that's what sells there. Only the very high end brands like Lexicon, Mcintosh, Krell etc still sell silver colored gear in the U.S.

Before buying this player, I had considered the following players:

1) Onkyo DV-SP506: This player came region locked & at the time, there were no known hacks for this machine. This player had the best build quality of all the budget DVD players I had considered. Brushed Aluminium (Silver) looks stunning. Onkyo DV-SP506 1080p Upscaling Super Audio CD/DVD Audio/Video Player - Silver.
2) Oppo DV-980H: This player is easy to hack. It was available only in black color & I wanted it in silver color. It had lots of issues with home made / burned DVDs, especially the one consisting of WMVs. It also lacks auto off which is found even in the most basic DVD players. They don't have this function even in the Bluray players they are selling currently. C'mon Oppo, wake up. OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH Audio.
3) Cambridge Audio Azur 540D V2: Very identical to the Oppo DV-980H, except that it is available in black & silver colors. The silver here looks more like raw aluminium. All other short comings of the Oppo DV-980H is applicable here. Cambridge - 540D v2 - HDMI DVD Player - Silver.
4) Denon DVD 1940CI: It looked like a product with great potential but there were lots of issues with home made / burned DVDs. Denon DVD 1940CI - DVD player - upscaling.
5) Marantz DV6001: Very identical to the Denon DVD 1940CI & it had the same short comings too.
6) I w'd never consider any of Sony's products that are almost always plagued with company made proprietary hiccups. So why buy from a brand that's always so non flexible?
7) LG, Samsung etc were never up to my taste for a DVD player.

I finally settled for the Pioneer DV-610AV which was cheaper than the above mentioned DVD players, & yet it had all the functions, features & performance that I was looking for in a budget DVD player.

The Pioneer DV-610 c'd have improved on the following:

1) The build quality of this DVD player is nothing to boast about. I really wish the build quality of this DVD player was at least close to Pioneer's own Elite DVD players. And may be a lil' more quiet operation w'd have made this a hell of a DVD player.
2) Random play is good but shuffle play w'd have been better for CD playback. Almost all universal Bluray / DVD players suffer from this. This is where a dedicated CD player still has an advantage.
3) It w'd have been great if we c'd change the player menu settings without stopping the DVD / CD, a la (in the style of) Oppo.
4) I don't have SACDs or DVDAs but I do have HDCDs. If this format w'd have been included, this w'd have been the universal DVD player to beat.
5) Auto turn off is good, but a 12V external trigger w'd have been a dream come true.

Conclusion:

I know I'm expecting too much from a USD120 budget DVD player, but that's just me. With the DV-610AV Pioneer has managed to make a superb universal DVD player at a decent price point & goes on to prove that it does not have to be expensive to really perform well. This is a great DVD player regardless of price. Unfortunately Pioneer c'd not perform a similar trick with their Bluray players which severely lags behind in the competition. Anyone who is not ready for a Bluray player yet & is still looking for a truly capable universal DVD player, sh'd put this player right on top of their list.

This DVD player was especially made for the Asian & European markets. The ones sold in the U.S. come without a warranty. Now that's a risk U'll have to consider before buying the Pioneer DV-610AV universal DVD player. And it's almost the same risk U'll be facing, when U plan to buy an unlocked universal Bluray player.

Just my $0.02.

Brgds.

I have only had this for a couple of months but this player was so easy to set up. It took about 1/2 hour to do and the directions for setting it to multi-region DVDs were in the box and worked like a charm. I've used it most everyday for netflix, workouts, and movies and it's been great so far. Everything has played. It is small in design so fits neatly in place and doesn't look cumbersome. It does what it says it will. I had a Pioneer DVD player/recorder for about 5 years and it was great while it lasted. I recorded a lot of shows for about 3 years until I got my Comcast DVR. The old Pioneer worked perfectly until about 5 months ago. Then it stopped playing a lot of dvds reading, "no disc." I'm not sure why but I hope this new one lasts longer than 5 years.