Question about the Pioneer DVR-650H-S

[jh76]

Hi. I am about to buy this recorder as a replacement for my VCR and, if the DivX playback features are comparable or superior to my current player (Pioneer DV-393-S), to replace my current player too. I went to the store today set on buying it but unfortunately they only had one unit left and it was reserved for somebody else (they should have them back in stock in a month). However I was able to test it with a DVDR I had taken with some 5 or 6 DivX movie files, most of them were in Xvid, one in DivX5 and with different audio codecs. It read them all, audio and video (after a few minutes of suspense where it wouldn`t even read a regular DVD, since apparently it was trying to access the HD first), but there was one thing. One of the files was a japanese movie with external SRT subtitles. It read the subtitle file, but on every single file on the disc.. So everytime it started playing one of the movies it would also display the subtitles for the japanese movie. My current player, a Pioneer DV-393-S, will read the subtitles only if the file name is the same as the movie file (eg: HolyBeast.avi and HolyBeast.srt), which makes sense, it`s just like if you were playing it on a computer. Are there any owners of the Pioneer 650 who can tell me whether this was some sort of fluke or glitch in the unit or if it is normal behavior for it? Because I am wondering what would happen if there was more than one file that had subtitles... would it display them overlapped, make you choose the subtitle track or it wouldn`t play them at all? Also, the manual (which I downloaded) didn`t mention the subtitle formats that it supports when playing DivX files. It does appear to read SRT files (with the issue mentioned above), but does it also support sub/idx format?
Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

[jh76]

Anyone...?

[p_l]

Burn a disc with more than one subtitle file. Take it to the store and try it out. Post your results. Thanks for volunteering to test this.

[jh76]

Burn a disc with more than one subtitle file. Take it to the store and try it out. Post your results. Thanks for volunteering to test this.

Does anyone have any useful comments?

[p_l]

The point is if after several days there are no replies to your question, perhaps no one knows or has tried this, so look at it as an opportunity to be the pioneer who does a little experimenting and posts the results to contribute to the knowledge base we all benefit from.

Pay it forward.

[jh76]

And how do you suppose I do that? Did you even read the post...? It was the last unit and it was reserved for someone else, it`s gone by now....

[p_l]

When they get new ones. Good luck. Let us know your results.

[jjeff]

jh76-Don't take a lack of response as people ignoring you. More than likely it just means as p_I said no one on the board knows or has tried this. Personally I never use DivX or sub/idx so I would be of no help, otherwise I'd be glad to answer your questions.

[orsetto]

I cannot give you first-hand information, because your rather exotic subtitled DiVX files are not something I've ever run across, but what I *can* tell you is you've probably answered your own question: if the display model you tried in the store had problems with the subtitles on your test disc, its nearly a certainty that EVERY Pioneer 650 will exhibit the same problem. The instructions/ability to play back various files are hardwired into the recorder firmware, it is unlikely you encountered a "defective" machine. It is also extremely unlikely that copying those files to the 650 hard drive would magically fix the subtitle problem. People really HATE hearing this, but the plain fact is these recorders are NOT designed for maximum file compatibility with DiVX and JPEGs and AIFFs all the other stuff people expect them to handle. DVD recorders are designed to record and playback ordinary MPEG2 DVD-spec discs, and similar material from their hard drives- period. Any other "abilities" you see listed on the box are an afterthought and not guaranteed to be fully functional.

Name-brand DVD/HDD recorders are very expensive to engineer and manufacture, they have a MUCH smaller market than players and so are on a much slower engineering cycle. Pioneer introduces new players more often than new recorders, and the players are updated to handle anything worldwide that might be put into them *on discs*. Potential buyers need to beware the marketing hype on hard drive recorders: they are NOT full-service anything-goes jukeboxes, no matter what the mfr claims in its advertising or even the instruction manual. If you want to load up a hard drive with an assortment of file types, stick to a computer.