Black box of delights (Pioneer DV 626)

Member Name: wildtinsey

Product:	Pioneer DV 626
Date:	17/04/08 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High quality sound and vision.

Disadvantages: Too many settings

I have owned this DVD player for several years, I didnt buy it new but got it second hand via ebay.
It is a hifi connoisseurs DVD player, state of the art, and plays DVD video, video cd and normal cd's.

Lets just go through a brief description of the 4 types of digital formats available when this machine was created, Dolby digital, DTS, MPEG and linear PCM.
This machine has an inbuilt decoder to stream the info contained on the discs to the AV (audio visual) components you are using.
Using this machine allows you to enjoy cinematic surround sound from Dolby Digital and DTS audio soundtracks without having to have additional decoding equipment.
I have mine attached to a Technics SA-GX370 audio visual control stereo receiver. Through this i can then amplify the signal to my 5 surround sound speakers Thus giving a true home cinema experience. A sub woofer can also be included to as the DVD output features a 6 channel discrete audio output via the internal Dolby Digital and DTS decoder.
The output to your visual output i.e. your television from the DVD player is via 2 composite, 2 s-video jacks and an AV connector terminal. RGB signal output is also possible from this same terminal.
The DVD player also has a digital noise reduction system which improves the quality of the video by enhancing it and removing any digital noise. This is pre programmed but manual adjustments ca be made too.

When you first get the product out of the box you will find the machine itself, an audio cord, a video cord, a power cord (UK and european), a remote control with batteries and the operating manual.
The machine is easy to set up following the instructions, once the machine is wired up to both the mains and the tv and stereo, its almost ready to.
My tv automatically recognised the DVD when i turned the tv onto the AV channel so it was plug and play.

The wiring diagrams in the manual show you everything from just attaching it directly to a tv and also how to connect it up into a home theatre set up.Behind my stereo system is just a spagetti of wiring due to so many connectors from tv, dvd, vcr, hifi etc.
Once its all set up you are ready to play with it. The menus are all used via an onscreen menu and can be as complicated or as simple as you like, again all well explained in the manual.

I must admit this DVD player is best suited to those who love gadgets as the english part of the manual amounts to 67 pages and the majority of them relate to the onscreen menus.
It can be made as complex or simple as you like and im still finding features on it that i didnt know even existed.

The machine is black as was popular when this was made roughly around the late 1990's. The display screen is very clear and the lcd has blue figures, the brightness can be varied or the display can be turned off.
It is multi region but only if you know the unlocking technique, i was lucky in the fact that the previous owner provided instructions for me on the unlocking procedure, useful if you want to watch DVD's that arent region 2.

I thoroughly recommend this machine but dont think it is any longer available to buy new so shop around on the auction sites for the best deals.
The picture and sound quality are amazing and if you are watching a DVD of a live music concert it is like being there yourself.

Summary: Great machine.

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