THinkin of Buyin Pioneer DV-343

[TTBoy]

Thinkin of Buyin the Pioneer DV-343.......is it a good choice...any opinions would be greatly appreciated

[JJamez]

Hmm... Plenty of opinions here

http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdlist/288.html

[TTBoy]

thx for the link dude.......seems to be a good choice especially since I have alot of SVCD's so im gonna get it

[homerpez]

May I add my 2 cents?

Worst peice of crap I'd ever seen in my entire life.

Maybe mine was defective, but the picture was awful (too bright) and things I encoded using TMPGEnc didn't even work on it. Again, maybe just this unit...

Also, note the max bitrates on this model... very constricting...

I would personally say Apex, or similar (look for one that's purposely made to play DVD, VCD, SVCD, XVCD, XSVCD, they're you best option).

[Stinky]

wow I TOTALLY disagree with homerpez

I have the 343 and it BLOWS away the Apex I've seen - GREAT picture - just read any review of it's quality!! It improves VCD quality.

it plays everything I throw at it (any xVCD/xSVCD/SVCD/VCD on any cd-r/cdr-w) - the quality is far above my Raite (and as I've said the Apex(s) I've seen!) -- I would by another in an instant!

[homerpez]

I would have sold you mine, Stinky, but I needed the money back to grab another Apex 500W. I'll grant you only that the Rom drives on an Apex are time-bombs... I have a computer dvd-rom drive as a back-up in case that happens.

[Setter]

Just got the DV-340 which suppose to be the same as 343, paid $139 and it plays my VCDs and DVDs with perfection.

Nice machine for the price..

[JJamez]

I completely agree with Stinky

The picture quality is significantly better than any other player I've had... not only for DVD, but SVCD/VCD as well. My only gripe is it has problems sometimes with some weird resolutions, but that's about it.

You may have had a defective unit Homerprez, as you mentioned - it's a shame, because it soured you on a really nice (not to mention CHEAP) player.

JJ

[TTBoy]

I appreciate all the feedback fellas......I previously had an APEX 660 for a little over a year now and just this past week I went to turn it on and it kinda blew up this is also the second one I have gone through the first one was broke from the beginning......so I figured I would try another brand this time around......i really need it for vcd and svcd playback and since it seems to play everything I guess ill give it a try

[buzz10]

I'm very happy with my Pioneer 343. It has played all my VCD's and SVCD's with no problem. I know for certain that the Pioneer produces a better picture than my friends Sony, because I tested an SVCD in both, and his Sony sucked.

[homerpez]

To be fair, yes it probably was my particular unit. It had really messed up color (too bright), plus it played VBR VCD's (similar to Sefy's template) very badly. I guess I can't argue with so many positive remarks.

It was just my instinct to go back and try an Apex again... I was really impressed by it, except for the faulty drive it had, so I just ended up with one of the same as my first. I didn't feel like taking a chance on another defective Pioneer (the store that had the Pioneer was 25 miles away, the store with the Apex is 2 miles away... I'm lazy when it comes to returns)!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: homerpez on 2001-12-15 20:51:25 ]</font>

[Sefy]

homerpez, I think you just had a defective model, i've seen plenty of Pioneer DVD's and their quality is exceptional, i've not seen a single DVD Player manage to beat it in quality.

I've got an old timer Pioneer 525 DVD Player, and the only issue I got with it is the inability to play a CDR beyond 90min
but considering the DVD is nearly 3 years old, i forgive it

[Khizhiy]

Consider DV-444. You will enjoy MP3's as well.