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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:
Cons:
This player is a bit picky about screatches on the media.
it plays EVERYTHING i have thrown at it
mostly used for CDR and DVD+R
a great piece of equipment, 10/10!
The most common problem is the DVD player telling me that "This player is incompatible with the region marking on this disk." Which is, of course, not true at all. All of the disks are from the local video store (region 1). I own a few DVDs, and sometimes they work, sometimes they don't - which is very frustrating.
Often times it will simply not play certain tracks. Again, no apparent reason - just won't play. It's pretty annoying to be watching a movie, and the player decides not to play chapter 3.
The lastest thing that it did was the wierdest. When it got to chapter 4, it replayed chapter 3 - but displayed chapter 4 on the display. This led me to believe that the DVD was messed up, so I took it to the store and of course, it worked fine.
When I finally called support they were very hard to reach and antagonistic. Since it had been over 12 months, they could do nothing for me. Great. Thanks alot.
And of course it's not worth it to get it fixed - so now I'm shopping for a new DVD player. I definitely won't get a Pioneer - and I would suggest that you don't either.
pioneer claims there is no service bulletin on this model, so you are responsible for all repairs. it's a great unit, but considering that i could get a new dvd player for [money], i'm not sure that it's worth the money to repair this.
My husband and I love DVD's for their wonderful sound (even though we don't use speakers or a home-theater system), picture, and ESPECIALLY the bonus materials that often come on DVD's.
So, I got rid of the Emerson and went out & bought myself a Pioneer, because of Pioneer's reputation. (I did have last- minute doubts over whether I could just get another reliable brand that was cheaper and pay extra for an extended warranty through the store. However, I saw more value in the Pioneer brand-name.)
I have never regretted buying this DVD player. We play rental DVD's, as well as purchased ones, and the player has never frozen up on us. (Occasionally, there is a split-second pause at the end of a scene, but that happens very, very rarely and isn't noticeable.)
I have read that this DVD player can do a lot more high-tech stuff than just play DVD's, but if you are like us & just love movies, you will still be VERY CONTENT with this player.
Also, since it is now over 2 years old, it obviously has stood the test of time!
This particular one was on a great sale along with a few other bargain players.. I debated between this and the slightly less expensive Toshiba 1600 - but the fact that I can play CD-R/CD-RW's on the Pioneer DV-333 won me over.
I've been extremely happy with this DVD player. The Dolby Surround Sound is superb.. especially considering the cheap TV I have this thing hooked up to. There was no set up; all cords and batteries included. You just put it on the shelf, plug it in and attach it to the TV. This machine also processes very quickly.. if this is supposedly a low-end model, I can't imagine how fast a [more expensive] model runs. We've never seen it skip or error in any way and we use it every day. Thanks to this handy player, we've become DVD junkies!
The only drawbacks to this model is a slight hum of the disc that you hear while the DVD/CD-R is playing (you get used to it), the lack of lighting on the remote control and the fact that there's no `zoom.' That really only means that you are going to watch everything on wide screen. Not a big deal.. and not worth [the] extra [money].
Overall, this is a great machine. I know a lot of people refer to it as a `starter DVD player' just because it's cheap and lacks a couple toys machines five times more expensive offer.. but I am satisfied with it and don't plan to upgrade any time soon.
Unless you are playing mostly new or well-cared-for discs, I'd look at alternatives to this model.
Obviously the critical parts on this Pioneer system were not burned in. We got an early unnecessary failure. What a waste of money! As an engineer who has acquired over sixty patents and put a lot of products into production, I know this failure did not have to happen. Pioneer has disappointed me.
Obviously the critical parts on this Pioneer system were not burned in. We got an early unnecessary failure. What a waste of money! As an engineer who has acquired over sixty patents and put a lot of products into production, I know this failure did not have to happen. Pioneer has disappointed me.
My Pioneer DVD has now been in the shop recommended by Pioneer for over three months. The parts required to repair my DVD have still not been provided by Pioneer. No more Pioneer products for me!
Original Review:
I am very disappointed with my Pioneer DVD Player DV-333. After playing approximately 20 DVDs during a period of seven months it has failed. I called customer service 1-800-421-1404 and the representative told me where to take the unit for service. A call to the service people told me that it would take ten days to two weeks service if no parts were required and a month if service was required.
Obviously the critical parts on this Pioneer system were not burned in. We got an early unnecessary failure. What a waste of money! As an engineer who has acquired over sixty patents and put a lot of products into production, I know this failure did not have to happen. Pioneer has disappointed me.
Video:
The picture quality delivered is amazing, and I say that as I've seen it on my Sony Wega TV. This TV has a very clear definition and you would notice imperfections easily, but there were none on any of my discs. Anamorphic DVD's can be viewed in the 16:9 enhanced mode and for those the picture is quite life-like. Note that I am using component video cables to connect the DVD to the tv.
Audio:
Using a digital optical cable to a Pioneer receiver, the sound is excellent for Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS. I have previously used the Pioneer DV-525 which also delivered a great sound. make sure that you have a receiver with a DTS decoder for DTS movies.
Playback:
This DVD player plays everything. Here's what I tested on it: DVD (region 1 or all-region) CD, CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, and SVCD! If you have a CD burner on your computer this will come in very handy if you might want to burn downloaded mpeg-1 and mpeg-2 video-clips on CD media.
Value:
At this price you won't find a more complete or better quality unit. If you have more money to spend I recommend buying the 5-disc model, Pioneer DV-503.
Video: The clarity and sharpness of the picture will depend on your TV set. I've tested this DVD on a Panasonic Tau, a Sony Wega and a JVC regular set. The picture is just fine with a regular set, but with the Wega and Tau it presents rendering problems. My suggestion: if you'd already spent a couple of extra bucks in your TV set you should consider buying a better player because this one won't take full advantage of your TV. If this is not your case then this DVD is a perfect match for a regular TV set. (It has a picture quality enhancement and I've seen that it performs better if you turn it off).
Audio: No complaints here with the optical an coaxial outs. The signal to noise ratio is quite better compared to similar priced players. The transport is a little bit noisy on some DVD's and CDR's. This depends on the spinning speed of the disc. In other words, it will not be noisy through all the picture, just on some portions of it (mostly at the beginning and if the DVD has dual layer somewhere in the middle of it).
General: Although it has no zoom feature, it has a couple of extras that might interest you like the last memory function, condition memory and the access speed (this last one is amazing). The remote is not as intuitive as others (example: the play button is not between the REW and FF so you'll find yourself looking for the buttons in the dark). I've tested it with region 1 and 4 DVD's without any problems.
The remote was easy to use, even so the buttons are a little small and it lacks a back light feature. The only thing I wished that would come bundled with this player was a S-Video cable. That one I had to buy separately from Best Buy.
So, if you are looking into getting a basic "work horse" of a DVD player, do not hesitate, the Pioneer DVD 333 is a great buy!
First of all, DVD players have an annoying tendency to fade in and out IF you connect them to play THROUGH your VCR, this is an attempt to stop people from recording them, there is a quick fix for this at Radio Shack!
The BEST thing about this player is, you can actually PLAY VCD's on this player. They all say they can, but they dont mention to tell you that they will NOT play VCD's or SVCD'd that were created on CD-R's CD-RW's or any other of the media us computer nuts use to burn CD's, well this is just stupid, since VCD's are so simple to create by yourself at home (see vcdhelp.com).
After getting completely disgusted over the RCA so called "top of the line" DVD player I had, which was indeed better than most but still VCD non-compliant, I took a chance and purchased this unit which comes so highly recommened.
Besides the fact that it is about $200 cheaper than the other "top of the line" models, it is just a WONDERFUL unit! It played all of my DVD's without a hitch! Better yet? It played my VCD's even when I TRIED to make them incompatible! You could actually just burn the MPEGs to the CD's in complete non-compliance to VCD requirements and this unit played it WITHOUT even a stall. Popped it in, 3 seconds later, my family home video was playing! It was remarkable! One would think you could stick a rock in there and it would play it (not recommended :) )
This is a must have for those who digitize videos on their computer, edit them, then burn them to VCD to tape! This machine is a MUST HAVE!!!! A+++
Be particularly wary of this player if you like Hong Kong DVD's, as I have gotten a couple that play without a hitch on a friend's crappy Apex or the Chinatown DVD store's noname Chinese $99 DVD player but won't work on mine at all (and these are all-region disks that ought to work on anything but a toaster), or will play for a while and then drop me to the bluescreen on a layer switch and make me completely restart the whole damn film and have to reselect subs, etc. before going to about where it was and frantically ffwd-ing through the spot to avoid it happening again...
Pioneer tells me I shouldn't buy Hong Kong DVD's (which is not a valid solution since a lot of awesome Hong Kong films never make it to the States). I think I shouldn't buy Pioneer DVD players... :o)
I have had my Pioneer dv333 for about 2 months and have been extremely pleased. The picture is perfectly sharp and the sound equally pleasing. Pioneer also must have attended to the lip-synch problem which existed on the 525 and fixed it on the new model 333.
In short, I would recommend this unit to anyone looking for a "good bang for the buck".
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!
First and foremost it has excellent video reproduction, you would have to pay hundreds more and purchase a progressive scan player, use a widescreen projection television too see any distinct difference.
This player will pass both DTS and Digital audio through either a coax or optical out, as long as your receiver will decode the signal for you.
The Digital to Analog converter on this player will pass it's 24 Bit/96khz signal via the digital out which is truly a rarity with all but a few upper end models.
This player also will playback CD-R' and CD-RW's with no problem as well as DVD's from other regions.
The player also offers special effects like slow motion scan and the only feature it does not possess, is the zoom feature, which is a feature on a select few other manufacturers models.
The remote is small but functional,and my only complaint with it is the fact that it is not backlit, but nevertheless it functions admirably from different angles in relation to the player.
I have seen some comments in regards to the drive motor on this unit being a touch noisy, all I can say is if you are playing this baby back through anything other than your television speakers, thus utilizing the incredible sound reproduction, you will not even notice it.
In summation, if you are looking for an all-around performer and don't want to break the bank doing it, look no further than the Pioneer DV-333.
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!
I'm now in the process of receiving warranty repair service from a Pioneer-authorized service center (which is essentially a local independent contractor approved by Pioneer). The customer service folks ar Pioneer were average -- not overly dismissive but not overly helpful either.
I bought the DV333 thinking I'd have a nice little unit on which I could watch my budding DVD collection over the holidays. Instead I've had the headache of driving the unit to a repair center -- and I have no idea when it's coming back. This unit may be fantastic when it works as intended. But not all of them do. I'd at least consider another brand before opening your wallet.
1/ the DVD drive itself is noisy: if you listen to TV at a normal volume level, you can actually hear a DVD drive "hiss" in the background (very annoying). 2/ the unit does not have a headphone jack (??!!??). 3/ the remote is not easy to use because of the tiny buttons
Overall however, I am very happy with purchase.
+Twin-Wave Laser Pickup for CD/Video CD/CD-R playback, +96KHz/24-bit Audio DAC for superb sound quality, +10-bit Video Signal DAC for high-quality DVD pictures, +Dolby¨ Digital and dts¨ Digital Outputs,
And several outs:
+Component (Y, Cr, Cb) Output x 1, +S-Video Output x 1, +Composite Video Output x 1, +AC-3 Bit Stream/PCM Optical Output x 1, +AC-3 Bit Stream/PCM Coaxial Output x 1, +Analog Audio Output x 1
So, why not 5 stars? A DV333D ( built-in decoder for 5.1 outputs ) could beat this one; but Amazon price ($249) is fine to go with.
Push where it gives and scratch where it itches.
Ma Bell is a mean mother!
