Pioneer DV-333 DVD Player

Other products by Pioneer

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 16.6 x 4.1 inches ; 6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004WHFM
• Item model number: OUTLET-DV-333
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,174 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1999

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Digital Versatile Disc performance has been a delight to our eyes and ears since the first generation of DVD players. Yet electronics manufacturers continue to refine their art in ever tidier and more thoughtful packages, as nicely reflected in Pioneer's affordable DV-333, which offers something for just about everyone.

First-time users of DVD will feel instantly welcomed by the DV-333's excellent video performance, clean design, and simplicity of operation--with a set-up menu that'll have you up and running in a flash.

Veterans of the DVD scene will appreciate the finesse Pioneer brings to this player. Despite its modest price, the DV-333 delivers a stunning, rock-steady picture (thanks in part to the patented Viterbi error-correction circuit) and more convenient features than found in earlier generation players selling for three times as much.

Parents with young children will appreciate the conditional memory feature. It lets you store settings, including parental lockout, for up to 15 DVDs, guaranteeing kids won't be getting into the scary stuff when you're not around.

Technophiles will enjoy having a digital bit-stream display on board. Accessed through the display button, this feature lets you see how the DVD's signal-encoding system flexes from second to second to most efficiently manage compression demands.

Almost every videophile need has been considered here. Pioneer's DV-333 offers the best connections if your TV has interlaced component inputs (showing up today in primo monitors). It also accommodates S-video and has the standard, reliable composite video input. The player starts up quickly and has a superfast (three-second) resume-play mode. The latter mode comes in handy, for example, if you pause a disc or shut down the unit with a disc in play. As power is restored, the DV-333 gets the disc cranking again almost immediately.

Naturally, this player handles Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound audio formats, and includes both coaxial and optical digital outputs for funneling the signals to your surround sound receiver. This is helpful, as many Dolby Digital/DTS receivers offer only one digital input of each variety, and other digital products that you might want to plug in--say a satellite TV receiver or minidisc player--have only an optical out. A light-transmitting fiber-optic cable offers better immunity to signal interference, but a coaxial cable with RCA jacks is less expensive and less prone to getting disconnected.

We auditioned the player's sound performance by tapping into both a digital out (coaxial) and to the conventional pair of analog audio jacks, which is how you'd be linking this receiver to a stereo or Dolby Pro Logic surround receiver. The 5.1-channel digital signal had a bit more edgy detail (when resolved in our receiver's own digital-to-analog converter). This was most evident as fighter pilots thundered through the skies (in Top Gun) or while listening to a live performance of our favorite country-classical string trio (Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor, and Edgar Meyer).

However, the Pro Logic decoding, which uses Pioneer's onboard digital-to-analog processing, had its own persuasive charms. The analog mix seemed a tad warmer and sweeter, with more robust and defined bass. Which is better? Since both digital and analog outputs are simultaneously active on the DV-333, you can connect both audio feeds to separate inputs on your receiver and choose whichever suits your fancy for a given DVD or audio CD.

Into making CD-R recordings? Homebrewed discs play back fine on this model--a different story than with most DVD spinners that have come before it.

We did discover a couple of cost-cutting measures, though nothing major. The remote doesn't have a backlight, it can't control other video products, and its buttons are relatively small. Still, the most important ones are easy to hone in on by touch and are logically positioned.

Trick play features are relatively sparse. There's only one very fast scan mode in forward and reverse directions, whereas other players we've tried have several speeds to choose from. Film devotees can study a scene carefully, however, with the four, ultraclean, slow-motion playback speeds in the forward direction, and the one in reverse.

Overall, the Pioneer DV-333 is a well-built player at a great price. It's a little short on convenient features, and the digital audio is slightly brittle, but Pioneer's video performance is first rate.

Pros:

• Stunning video quality
• Lots of connection choices
• Fast disc startup

Cons:

• Remote control doesn't glow
• Limited trick play options
• Digital audio exhibited slight edginess

Amazon.com Product Description

Pioneer's DV333 is an extremely affordable DVD player, without compromising on audio-video performance or features. The DV333 has a 10-bit video digital-to-analog (D/A) converter for high-quality image reproduction, and a 96 kHz/24-bit audio D/A converter for superb sound quality. It features a twin-wave laser pickup and Pioneer's exclusive Viterbi error correction for superior reading accuracy. A newly designed remote control and advanced graphical user interface make the DV333 well suited for advanced users and for basic operation. The DV333 has S-Video, and composite and component video connections, as well as coaxial and optical digital audio outputs. The player is compatible with Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround formats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More useful features than the Toshiba 1600, January 7, 2001

By	Jason Shea (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

I've owned the Pioneer dv-333 for about a month now and I researched it for months prior to that; basically I came down to it and the Toshiba 1600 which is $25-30 cheaper. Both have excellent reviews and there are only a few differences worth noting in making a decision between the two.

Most people agree that the remote for both the pioneer and the toshiba 'sucks' and having used many remotes in-store demonstrations I can say they arent that bad. My friends Rca dvd player remote was universal but the remote stank. I actually prefer the pioneer remote and even if you hit the wrong button, which will happen on badly spaced remotes, its unlikely to eject the disc or stop it as those buttons arent in confusing areas. You can buy a nice universal rem0te at radio shack but I prefer to use the original because of its simplicity.

I decided to go with the pioneer because of the optical and coaxial digital outputs(toshiba 1600 has only coaxial). I already had an optical cable (go with accoustics research, excellent and not as expensive as monster) and I used it many times when I borrowed my friends Rca dvd player. I went out and bought a coaxial cable anyway to compare the difference in sound. Though you may not have a digital reciever yet or do and dont care which output you use I think it is best to be able to chose which one you want to use instead of being forced to use the coaxial. Its all about personal preference.

A couple of other differences worth noting are the 'zoom' feature in the toshiba and the ability to play CD-R and CD-RW on the pioneer. I havent seen the zoom feature and even on my 32 inch tv it is annoying to watch movies in widescreen. My understanding is that the zoom feature, while cool enough, is more of a gimick and it is unlikely you will reguarly use it. It reminds me of my old zenith tv which has a zoom feature(that tv is older than I am).

The CD-r and RW playback wasnt a must for me even though I regularly burn cds and now love playing them on the pioneer. I found that the cd-r brand 'Cursor" worked on many dvd players that did not support cd-r playback so it is possible this could work on the toshiba, this is common so check it out before hand by testing it out at the stores if possible.

This player is definately quieter than people give it credit for. Although in a wall unit (glass encased) even with the glass door open the player is relatively quiet. I have a small room so I sit less than 6 feet away and I simply cant notice any noise even during lower volume scenes during a film. Also the advertised feature of faster loading and resume is very much true. A few seconds doesnt matter much to me but it is convenient none the less. I used to like it when I would put the disc in on the rca and be able to sit down and get comfortable before it loaded but now on the pioneer it loads so fast I have to press stop so I can go sit down first.

Dv-333 also plays Vcd's (whatever they are!) but really I think most people care about dvd and cd playback and this player delivers. The only difference between this and say a high end model would be progressive scan ,which, if you dont know what it is you likely cant take advantage of it (ie you need a High definition tv). I have a decent home theatre with a subwoofer and I cant complain about this players compatibility with my setup. I even like how you can hookup the analog stereo jacks to your tv while still getting Dolby digital/dts out of your reciever. This is nice if your center speaker sounds bad or if you dont have one and are watching dvds with just two speakers.

Really, I dont think you can go wrong with either the toshiba 1600 or the Pioneer dv-333 so I wouldnt feel any apprehension about your purchase afterwards no matter what you go with. This player simply has more useful extras that you may need soon enough and I believe its best to have that option.

Also I recommend you buy a good s-video cable and even if your tv is 7-8 years old it should have the input for this. I recommend Accoustics Research but they were sold out here and I had to go with a higher end Rca because Monster was simply way overpriced for what it delivers.

Also when you first use this player there is a switch on the back to select either s-video or the regular analog (yellow color coded cable) and I know of a few people who were frustrated because they didnt read the manual (like me) and thought there was a problem with the player when they could not get any picture.

Have fun with whatever you decide to purchase!

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Depends on your system..., December 29, 2000

By	[e-mail] "B" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This was the first player I had ever bought. I was looking for a nice entry-level unit that had good picture and sound, and people seemed to like this one. I especially liked how it had component video out, and was, of course, affordable.

The problem I found, however, was not so much with the player, but with its compatibility with my system. I've got a Sony WEGA (flat screen) TV. It's a great set, but for this player, too good. With all the DVD's I tried, there was a lot of video noise (pixelization) on the screen. It had problems rendering, especially, greyish areas. While this wasn't interolerable (depending on your P.O.V.), it didn't let me appreciate the DVD's as much as I knew I could. On 2001: Space Oddysey, it did a horrible job rendering many of the images. As I said, I attribute this to my system entirely. For those with mid-range to high-end systems, you should spring for a better player. (I got a Marantz DV-7000).

So how did the player fair on a regular set? Just fine. In fact, I gave it to my parents as an x-mas present, connected via composite cables on an old Trinitron set. The picture looks great, and they are very happy. Still, I must confess, there is some noise, but nothing worth complaining about if your not really into home theater anyway. And I'm pretty damn picky.

Here's a break down:

Pro's: (1)Dual-laser pickup (will play CD-R's); (2)great sound; (3)simple interface; (4)wide array of connection options; (5)good value

Con's: (1)slightly pixelated picture (varying by quality of TV set); (2)noisy transport (louder on some DVD's than others); (3)flimsy tray; (4)remote sucks (but what would you expect?)

If your comparing this to the Toshiba 1600 model, I'd say the main differences are that the Toshiba has a Zoom feature, while the Pioneer will play a wider range of media (because of the dual-laser pickups.)

Consider it!

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible player!, September 12, 2000

By A Customer

First, the picture is amazing. It is hard to believe that this thing is so good for the money. IT PLAYS CD-R's! It has optical and digital outputs, and it is quiet as hell. I first played some DVD's that I have had problems with on other players, and this thing played them flawlessly. I cant reccomend this player enough! It is just awesome.