Samsung DVD-1080PK Vs Pioneer DV-600AV-S

No Sony DVD player out there has an USB input - if that matters to you. As otherwise, there is nothing earthshakingly different between these three brands - Sony/Samsung/Philips

In my personal opinion, Pioneer is better than Philips or Sony, simple because they have been manufacturing DVD Players for a long time. If you see Secrets of Home Theater & High Fidelity and their famous DVD Player Benchmark, Pioneer have always been at the top along with Panasonic and such brands. The benchmark is not much appreciative of either Sony or Philips, at least in their budget variety.

Pioneer has been using a proven internal transport and basic video circuity for a long time. The new models do have additional features and connectivity, but the players dependability, MPEG decoding, and DAC circuitry have been rock solid for a long time.

At 6K, the DV-600 will be hard to beat.

Flared, don't even look at Panasonic, Denon and other brands. They are more expensive and outside your budget.

If you can lay your hands on a good piece of the DV-600, I think you should go in for it. Even a DV-400 is very very good.

Cheers

Just pick it up if its 6k. I took the same some 6 months back by paying around 7k equivlant USD. Dont worry about the region. You can upgrade the firmware apart from that my DV600 is in region 3 and it plays almost all the DVD's without any issues.

Is there some confirmation on that 6k price? Also buying a Pioneer, i assume, would mean buying grey right? and that would mean no warranty? So is it worth going for that route?

I would a bit careful here, as I have had some tense moments with Pioneer. I purchased a 686 from Europe, and it refused to play any DVD other than with Region Code 2. When I checked with Pioneer's service centres here in Chennai and Mumbai they told me that they have been instructed by the parent company not to encourage region code conversion. I wrote to both Pioneer Europe, and to Pioneer Singapore. They both came back with the same answer - Pioneer does not encourage region code change and will not provide any software or firmware upgrade for this.

Yes I know there are other ways of doing the region code change. But such methods are always fraught with danger unless it is backed by the manufacturer as Oppo does. In addition, third party firmware upgrades for Pioneer are complicated. I am also not sure whether firmware upgrades have been released for the 400 and 600.

I am not sure about the price, but yes that price will be in the grey market. Regarding warranty, look at this way. DVD players have become commodity items much like mobile phones. I purchased a Philips DVD player a few years ago for about 10,000. When it stopped working, the service center said it will cost me 15,000 to get it repaired and it will take 8 to 10 weeks as he has to import the parts.

I expect a budget DVD player to for work for 2 to 3 years without any hassle. After that, the best thing is to discard it and buy a new one. Technology would have changed, new features will come in.

On a safer note, I see a number of Pioneer service centers across the country, and they will service a Pioneer product irrespective of where you have brought it from.

If I were in your shoes, I would take a detailed demo, check the region code, and go for it.

The US prices are in the mid 7k mark so i'm very sceptical about the price I got. Anyway, I have messaged him the model number and have asked him to revert with the correct price.

Hi,
With a Stereo Amp, If I want to listen to the audio only of DVD/SACD/DVD-audio etc, what should I do. Ofcourse the video is connected with component to the philips (100hz) crt TV.
Does the players from samsung(1080pk),Pioneer(610-AV-K) or the new sony/philips can do this. Whatever the medium is, I want full audio fed to my stereo amp.
Will Connecting the L-R to AUX-in or CD-in of the amp will do?
Does the DD decoding in pioneer do have and edge?
-Any thoughts-

Hi flared, have you bought your DVD player as yet, from the TV threads and the DVD player threads, it looks like we're on a similar quest (i was aon a similar quest with someone else, till i irresponsibly decided to up my target to a 42" plasma instead ofa 32" LCD).

I am most likely to go for a Samsung Plasma (because it is 7k cheaper than the Panny), in that case, would it not make sense for me to go for the Samsung DVP if it's a good model?

Oh also, do you have a confirmation on the price for the Pioneer 600? If it is actually available for 6k then i might look at picking it up instead of paying 5k for the Sammy.

Nope, I'm gonna wait till Diwali.
The contact I tried never got back to me with the actual prices. I didnt follow up since I was not in a hurry.

Phillips 5996 is also supposed to be a good upscaling player. Check that out too. I really dont have an opinion on the players as I have not auditioned any of them.

Please don't make up your mind on the tv without actually seeing it. Look out for artifacts and motion trails when you audition them.

Can pioneer read Multisession DVD's ?? Also does it have a USB 2.0 slot ?