New beefy DVD player in da house!

[polksda]

[Taken from a post I made over at www.avsforum.com]

Received my new Pioneer 79avi universal player yesterday. This is one beefy beast. In fact, it walked in from the curb and took over my couch! ;)

My Iscan HD+ video scaler is still en route back from service at DVDO, so I hooked the Pioneer up via HDMI-DVI dongle to my Mits WS65613 (CRT) using 1080i, with it set to "Direct".

Oh my.

This is such a huge improvement over my Zenith DVB318, it's not even funny.

I purchased a bunch of music DVDs during DDD's last 20% off sale, and deliberately waited for the new player to watch. I'm watching Blackmore's Night - Castles & Dreams, and it looks and sounds incredible! Just a hair short of HD quality IMO.

Star Wars Episode III looked stunning! The vibrant colors and smoothness was amazing. No *bleeping* macroblocking!!

If 480i over HDMI to the HD+ is better than 1080i direct (as people claim), I'll be in hawg heaven!

I haven't had a chance to do any multichannel audio listening yet, although I have a nice library of SACD, DVD-A, and DTS audio CDs. I am only using the 5.1 analog connections to my receiver (Denon AVR-3803), and the Pioneer seems to do a better job of DTS and DD decoding than the Denon did.

The only disappointing aspect is that it doesn't do any PAL/NTSC conversion. I have a number of PAL music DVDs I was hoping I could play (newest Within Temptation Silent Force Tour DVD in particular), but no dice. Looks like I'll have to keep my DVB318 in the setup for PAL and other-region DVDs.

You'd think at this price point Pioneer could include PAL-to-NTSC conversion. :(

[Aside for the Club Polk folks - The Blackmore's Night DVD is way cool! Amazing audio and video quality!]

[billbillw]

Looks very nice.

[polkatese]

One very nice player! congrats! I am torn between this player and Denon 3910, or wait for BR/HD-DVD player. One thing that I know for sure, my PE DV-37 is still playing as it was bought yesterday, and my Denon DVD-3800, which was bought about 8 months after, took a major dump and being possessed by tray demon. Do let us know how the multichannel audio performance. Btw, what is the street price on this player?
thanks.

[polksda]

One very nice player! congrats! I am torn between this player and Denon 3910, or wait for BR/HD-DVD player. One thing that I know for sure, my PE DV-37 is still playing as it was bought yesterday, and my Denon DVD-3800, which was bought about 8 months after, took a major dump and being possessed by tray demon. Do let us know how the multichannel audio performance. Btw, what is the street price on this player?
thanks.

Be aware that the Denon 3910 suffers from macroblocking. I had one on demo and couldn't stand it.

The MSRP on the 79avi is $999. Since Pioneer insists that the Pioneer Elite line not be discounted, if you go through "authorized" channels you're not going to get much of a break. Pioneer will not warranty any units not sold by "authorized" retailers. There are no authorized online vendors, and they explicitly exclude Ebay.

I got mine through soundpros.com ($855 shipped). Since I was concerned with warranty coverage I called them up on the phone and inquired. They said that should there ever be any problems, rather than my contacting Pioneer, I would ship the unit to Soundpros and they would take care of warranty issues through one of their retail locations. A loophole to be sure, but soundpros has been around a while, so I'm not worried. A number of people on avsforum have ordered equipment from them.

I thought about waiting for Blu-Ray, but figured that affordable units with all the kinks worked out are just too far away.

[trubluluc]

....I too am looking at this player, as well as the denon 3910, which gets raves reviews over at "secrets of ht",
but yes the Macroblocking issue is a concern, but an even bigger concern to me is Denon's lousy CS reputation.
Of course compared to POLK's Customer Service, everyone else will seem weak.

Lately I'm looking at the Onkyo DV-SP1000S, did you compare the Onkyo to the Pioneer?

-Luc

[polkatese]

thanks, polksda for the info. I am looking forward to read your review on the m/c features of this player.

[wingnut4772]

I have the denon 2910 and wish I had your Pioneer. Macroblocking abounds with the DLP. Nice player.

[polksda]

Lately I'm looking at the Onkyo DV-SP1000S, did you compare the Onkyo to the Pioneer?

-Luc

I *strongly* considered the Onkyo, as it has been getting rave reviews, especially with respect to audio. I decided against it for two reasons:

1. It does NOT do 480i over HDMI. If you don't have an external scaler this is a nonissue, but for those that do, it's a biggie. Previously, the only way to get a "pure" 480i signal from DVD (480i is the way DVDs are encoded) to scaler was to have both the DVD player and scaler modded with SDI, a rather expensive proposition. 480i over HDMI accomplishes the same thing without 3rd-party modifications (or voiding warranty) to either unit.

2. The cheapest I found the Onkyo was about $650 more than the Pioneer. I could swing $850, but $1500 was seriously pushing it for me.

[trubluluc]

I hear you on the pricing....it's a huge jump, I'd be looking at getting a used one for sure.
On the 480i over HDMI issue, I guess I'm going to have to get edumacated....as I'm not sure what that's about.
I know there are better connections, but I'm just running good ol' component, as my TV doesn't have the latest inputs.
Thanks for the good information.
Let us know how this bruiser works out for you.

-Luc

I *strongly* considered the Onkyo, as it has been getting rave reviews, especially with respect to audio. I decided against it for two reasons:

1. It does NOT do 480i over HDMI. If you don't have an external scaler this is a nonissue, but for those that do, it's a biggie. Previously, the only way to get a "pure" 480i signal from DVD (480i is the way DVDs are encoded) to scaler was to have both the DVD player and scaler modded with SDI, a rather expensive proposition. 480i over HDMI accomplishes the same thing without 3rd-party modifications (or voiding warranty) to either unit.

2. The cheapest I found the Onkyo was about $650 more than the Pioneer. I could swing $850, but $1500 was seriously pushing it for me.

[dorokusai]

Neat.

[cfrizz]

Oooh purty!!!!!

[reeltrouble1]

Enjoy, oh the fun of new Toys!!

RT1

[RuSsMaN]

Beefy?

I have a craving for a strip and cobb salad now.

[wingnut4772]

I think I am going to go 'borrow' one and try it out today. Sound Advice (Tweeter) has them?

[cfrizz]

Heh, heh, heh!!! Going to press your S/O boundaries somemore huh Darla!!!! ROFLOL!

[wingnut4772]

He he...It looks kinda similar. I think the DVD fairy can pull it off..besides the Denon can go on Ebay. It's a nice player , just not on DLPs I guess. I am also considering a Sony NS999es. Polksda, did you happen to compare the Pioneer to any Sonys?

[cfrizz]

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! :D Go for it!!!!! :D

He he...It looks kinda similar. I think the DVD fairy can pull it off..besides the Denon can go on Ebay.

[polksda]

Polksda, did you happen to compare the Pioneer to any Sonys?

Sorry, I did not.

[wingnut4772]

I called Sound Advice today and they said that they would not have any untill the 22nd. So...just for an experiment I picked up a Sony DVP-NS70H just to compare it to my Denon 2910 because I have been really unhappy with the PQ of the Denon on my Sammy DLP. Lot's of macroblocking and artifacts. Anyhoo, so far the Sony's PQ is much better (with my set)but I am not as impressed with the sound quality ...yet. I still plan on picking up the Pioneer and trying it out.

[dorokusai]

I haven't had a single video issue with my Denon.

[wingnut4772]

What display do you have?

[dorokusai]

Casio 5" B&W handheld.

[wingnut4772]

Well there you go ....maybe if I hook it up to my Etch -A-Sketch it would be better.

[dorokusai]

LOL, wingnut you have just been written into my cool book. It's always nice to know some folks have a sense of humor around here.

[wingnut4772]

Life is too short to take stuff seriously ;)

Since I boiled down my bad PQ on my set to the faroudja chip on the Denon just not working out with my DLP. I have definitely decided that I am selling the 2910. So that is out. The Sony is going back too. That was just to make sure it was the 2910 and not the set. I like the looks of the Pioneer...BUT....in my internet travels I also ran across THIS ONKYO SP1000 ....and well...um...I kinda saw one on Crutchfield scratch and dent..and.... ...I kinda bought it. Hello my name is Darla and I am a Ht -a-holic.

[cfrizz]

WAAAA!!!! Congrats Darla!!!! ROFLMAO!

[wingnut4772]

I am just going to try it out...I will still try out the Pioneer . I am crazy but I am not so sure I want to spend $1400.00 on a DVD player. That may just be a little much even for me.

[steveinaz]

That thing is gorgeous--looks real solid.

[trubluluc]

.........I'd like to know how much the sp1000 went for in the scratch and dent category, and how scratched and dented it was.
Also, please give us a review of the unit once you've dialed it in.

-Luc

Life is too short to take stuff seriously ;)
BUT....in my internet travels I also ran across THIS ONKYO SP1000 ....and well...um...I kinda saw one on Crutchfield scratch and dent..and.... ...I kinda bought it. Hello my name is Darla and I am a Ht -a-holic.

[polksda]

I've bought from Crutchfield's Scratch & Dent room before. Units looked brand spanking new; no dents or scratches at all. I think that is how Crutchfield simply sells units that were returned on a whim rather than because of a problem. Remember, Crutchfield has a no-questions-asked return policy, so they get units back that are perfectly sound (people order and evaluate, then return)...