Customer Reviews

Pioneer DV275S Silver Progressive Scan DVD Player

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

 

 

I had this DVD player for quite some time now and initially I was a bit suspicious because of the low price. But I'm very happy with this Pioneer DVD/CD player -- it functions perfectly and it does virtually everything I need it for. I just bought this DVD player because my $600+ Sony DVD player which was a few years old had something with the sound quality and I wanted to see if an inexpensive DVD player from a popular consumer brand like Pioneer would do the job, and I'm to say it does and it's even a lot better than my Sony which I've given to my kids for their small TVs.

As we watch DVDs several times a week and a lot on the weekends, this DVD player has proven to be a workhorse. If it would break I would definitely buy the same one right away.

It does what it says it does; I've tested it with a European DVD (from Germany). It apparently has an (undocumented) PAL ~> NTSC converter, but perhaps the presence of this feature is assumed (what would be the use of a DVD player that reads a Region 2 DVD but doesn't convert it from PAL to NTSC?).

Its picture quality is close to my much more expensive Pioneer DVR-520H (multi-region playback is the one thing the DVR doesn't do), the main difference being in a particular anomaly which makes a person's face distort when the person moves; it looks as though you are watching the person's face through an opaque window (like through the opaque glass of a bath shower door); as the face moves, parts of it get bigger and then smaller as if the glass has different thicknesses throughout. This type of distortion is more pronounced on this unit but it is also noticable on my DVR.

The only differences in playback functionality, compared to my DVR, are pretty minor, such as how you go about doing frame-by-frame playback. The DVR has a separate set of buttons for this function while on this unit you must first press Pause and then FF or Rewind (big deal!). Also, the DVR has sound in its slowest FF mode while on this unit there is no sound and its slowest speed is much faster than on the DVR. Again, big deal.

On the other hand, there are also minor advantages on this unit; both units have 4 FF and Rewind speeds but unlike on the DVR, if you keep pressing FF (or Rewind) past speed #4, this unit cycles back to #1 (the DVR just stays on #4). Very minor differences both positive and negative. The only other thing worth mentioning is that this unit has fewer video setup options; it just has basic contrast, color saturation, etc.

If you're on a budget or simply need a one-trick-pony (multi-region) DVD player, this is a good choice.
[...]

I came across this DVD player while auditioning a friend's speakers. In his den, he had a one thousand dollar obscure-audiophile-brand CD player and a Sony 300CD carousel player, there was a huge improvement in sound with the audiophile CD player. In his media room he had this Pioneer and I found the sound quality to be fairly close to the audiophile CD player...we tested them side by side!

So for those of you who plan on using your DVD player that can deliver excellent musical performance, this would be a solid choice among the mass market stuff.

For movies it's no slouch either.

I know it's not entirely fair to judge a product line according to one defective unit, but this has happened twice in the past 4 months. A Sony DVD player I bought in the same price range died after one week, and now this Pioneer gave up the ghost in less than 10 minutes. Really. It froze up the very first time I used it and would no longer read discs. The local electronics shop said it needed a new optical thingy-ma-bob which would cost more than the DVD player is worth. The moral of this tale is simple and can be applied to almost any purchase: Do not buy from the low end of the price spectrum; spend half again as much and get something of quality. If only I'd learned my lesson the first time.