A tour de force in dvd players, great value with unique features (Pioneer DV 600AV-S)

Member Name: SnooP_WiggleS

Product:	Pioneer DV 600AV-S
Date:	10/12/07 (4054 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A+ picture quality, 5.1 analogue output, DTS dec, plays movies off usb fine. DVD-A and SACD to!

Disadvantages: jpeg slideshows could be better.

Getting an average dvd player is an easy task today - even the bargain basement $30 jobs provide acceptable picture quality over component (some even with progressive scan) and digital output for sound. But it takes a fair bit more to get an exceptional dvd player, and the Pioneer DV 600-AVS is one of them.

At its core this is a top quality upscaling dvd player. Picture quality is faultless, with excellent component and hdmi output. All the usual adjustments of brightness, color, contrast etc are available. But its in the sound department that this excels over other dvd players. It decodes AC3 but also DTS, so those without a DTS receiver can enjoy the benefits. More importantly this has 5.1 analogue output with quality 24bit DACs and burr brown opamps. Even the top end $1000 dvd players will be hardly any better in the sound department than this model. This puts this Pioneer DV 600-AVS in the unique position of being able to provide 5.1 sound for those who don't have an expensive digital receiver in their sound system (such as those with an older analogue 5.1 receiver, or one that doesn't decode DTS, or one using typical 5.1 speakers).

Playback wise this dvd player decodes CDs, DVDs, but also DVD audio and Super Audio CDs. The new audio formats are great which typically offer much improved sound quality thanks to 5.1 sound and a general high standard of audio mastering compared than loudness mastered cd's. Even better this will play all your divx and xvid avi's you've got straight off your usb stick (and dvd/cds too), even including ones with 5.1 AC3 sound (and decoded as 5.1). mp3 is no problem either. It does wmv videos fine as well. Unlike a lot of dvd players that have usb ports, this one had no problem with my 20gb hard drive based mp3 player, and provided enough power to charge it even! If theres are thousands of files it can take a little while to scan however.

JPEG playback also works fine, though its best to resize your photos to say 1024x768 or even 800x600 to speed up loading time. A say full 8mp photo can take a couple of seconds to load, i've seen worse though. It takes half a second or so to seek between photos as well so if your one to skip through lots of photos this could get a little frustrating. None of this is disaster territory, it just means a prepared and processed sorted lot of photos is required rather than your raw unprocessed photos straight off the camera unsorted. The output resolution of jpeg even over hdmi upscaled isn't quite HD, but its a dvd player, not a hd-dvd player.

Overall an excellent dvd player, with top picture quality, silent, good feature set and having some great unique features (such as 5.1 analogue output, DVD-A, SACD playback).

Summary: Great for anyone needing 5.1 analogue output, or just a top quality dvd player with DVD-A and SACD

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