DEAD - Pioneer DV-400 upconverting DVD

[Captante]

One of the better upconverting DVD players available according to folks at AVS Forums for a very good price on Woot.

Note that this is new NOT refurbished ... cheapest I've seen it for is $96.


Woot link

 

[saya2005]

Dang I was going to post this as a hot deal!

Good ratings from the wooters. I got one.

 

[kaborka]

Good timing. My old player won't handle DVDR. n41.

 

[Nole7]

Thanks, OP. I actually need one.

Edit: What's the difference between all the connectivity options?

 

[dnuggett]

I'm in!

 

[ibex333]

Is this a "region free" dvd player?


Also, it says this thing supports WMA, DivX, and MPEG. But has anyone seen one that can play Avi files too?

 

[MadScientist]

Good price for this DVD player, but I needed one in black to match my other components so I picked up the Philips DVP5982 1080p Upscaling DVD Player at Amazon for $59.99 shipped. It is based on the same Mediatek chipset as the Pioneer. There's a region free hack for the Philips on the AVS forum. Specs

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Nole7
Thanks, OP. I actually need one.

Edit: What's the difference between all the connectivity options?

The only really important difference is that in order to upconvert DVD's beyond 480p you'll need to use the HDMI connection which is a single cable & carries uncompressed video + audio.

To do this you'll need a TV with either an HDMI connection or a DVI connection & an inexpensive HDMI to DVI converter ...also no HDMI cable is included with the player.

You can get a high quality HDMI cable from Monoprice for about $10 shipped. (they also carry the converter if you need it)

 

[VegasF6]

I have been researching this DVD player for a minute now. I am torn between it and the DV-600 (which is quite a bit more expensive). My biggest concern is getting an external hard drive to work with it, which kind of drove me away from the Phillips.


Anyhow, my point is if the cheapest you have seen it is for 96$, you haven't checked Wal-Mart.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog....do?product_id=5811826
It has been 79$ there since at least Dec 20th which is when I first started researching it.

And it come's in black.

And while it is not region free, it will play multi-region dvd's at least. So, you can always rip the dvd and burn it as region free.

 

[Captante]

If you missed out on the $59 deal then $79 is a great price for that player ... frankly if you are going to spend any more then this on an upconverting DVD I'd go with a Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player for $127 on Amazon as its a very good quality upconverter which plays HD-DVD's as a bonus.

If you want a region-free player take a look at this website where you can buy the black version of the Pioneer modified to be truly region-free for $135.

Also note that I believe the Pioneer works with external HD's but cannot power them via the USB port & they must be formatted in FAT32 as it won't read NTFS.... USB thumb-drives also work but also must be FAT32.

For more information have a look at this huge thread over at AVSForums about the Pioneer.

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: VegasF6
It has been 79$ there since at least Dec 20th which is when I first started researching it.

And it come's in black.

$79. + tax + shipping

Yes, I know the Pioneer comes in black, the K version, but not for $59.99 shipped.

 

[VegasF6]

Mad Scientist: True, plus tax plus shipping. You would think they would be willing to do it for free, wouldn't ya? Of course, if you live in Montanna you can get out of that pesky sales tax.

Capatante, The Toshiba HD's are very nice unit's and for most that would be great. In this case main feature I want is a player that I can put about 30 or 40 Disney and other kid's programming on an external hard drive and play. Sort of a cheap media server. Any suggestion's on this? In the room that I will be using it in my HDTV is limited to component level only. I currently use a Liteon LVD-2001 which does upscale via component, but frankly I see very little difference. It also has a built in card reader, but no USB. Maybe I can find a compact flash to usb adapter or something??

 

[Nole7]

Originally posted by: Captante

Originally posted by: Nole7
Thanks, OP. I actually need one.

Edit: What's the difference between all the connectivity options?

The only really important difference is that in order to upconvert DVD's beyond 480p you'll need to use the HDMI connection which is a single cable & carries uncompressed video + audio.

To do this you'll need a TV with either an HDMI connection or a DVI connection & an inexpensive HDMI to DVI converter ...also no HDMI cable is included with the player.

You can get a high quality HDMI cable from Monoprice for about $10 shipped. (they also carry the converter if you need it)

Much obliged.

 

[nycdude]

Originally posted by: Captante
If you missed out on the $59 deal then $79 is a great price for that player ... frankly if you are going to spend any more then this on an upconverting DVD I'd go with a Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player for $127 on Amazon as its a very good quality upconverter which plays HD-DVD's as a bonus.

QFT

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: nycdude

Originally posted by: Captante
If you missed out on the $59 deal then $79 is a great price for that player ... frankly if you are going to spend any more then this on an upconverting DVD I'd go with a Toshiba A3 HD-DVD player for $127 on Amazon as its a very good quality upconverter which plays HD-DVD's as a bonus.

QFT

i have had an a3. and well...

i sold it the day the warner announcement happened for maybe a $20 loss so not too bad.

the main thing about the a3 is that it is HORRIBLY slow.

i had the philips 3982 and it was fast (thought it had a weird scaling problem with my tv so i had to return it).

granted the a3 is a good upscaler (i am using like a $35 rca hdmi upscaler from best buy, that is hoenstly almost as good as the a3). but as a normal dvd player, i would not recommend the a3.

the horribly boot up time, just to watch a dvd is just not worth it in my opinion. especially since hd-dvd is probably goingto be dead, so you are jsut spending $50 extra for an upscaling dvd player that is dog slow. not to mention the a3 doesnt support divx.

 

[jbloggs]

You can find the region free hack posted at the Region free hack info

 

[lebe0024]

Does this player do 720P output?

 

[kaborka]

Looks like the upconverting is only on the HDMI outputs. It will output 480i/p, 720p, and 1080i/p. I am currently using component-out, which is only 480i/p.