Play Me Everything!
So my old Pioneer DVD player which must be around 5 years old by now (and cost me $800 at the time!) has been superseded in the Hooverpad with a new model - the DV383. Now I picked this model for two reasons – price and flexibility. I got it for $140 (rrp $169) and this would normally worry me for any sort of electrical good but with the Pioneer name attached, I feel like I’m in relatively safe hands.
Now remember kids, this is a DVD-player NOT a recorder and since most distributors are now pushing the recorder models, the price of players has dropped significantly. But has performance dropped aswell? So far, so good. And it plays just about everything you throw at it. DVD-Video, DVD-R/+R, DVD-RW/+RW, MP3, JPEG, SVCD, VCD (although who uses those formats anymore?), Windows Media, and best of all DivX.
This was one of the main reasons why I picked this model in particular because lets face it, for distributing and watching large video files over the Internet, DivX is everywhere! Of course, the quality isn’t quite on par with the DVD-Video standard mpeg2 but it’s pretty damn close for most users. Give it some time and you probably won’t be able to tell the difference. And if the movie studios ever decide to sell their movies via the Internet, will they adopt DivX codecs? Unless another compression format becomes available or broadband becomes even faster and more prolific, it’d assume DivX (or XviD, a variant on DivX) will be their choice.
Find any of that confusing? Well prepare for what’s next. The movie studios are currently developing the next generation DVD formats including Blu-Ray and HD-DVD for release in 2006 which essentially have a greater capacity than current DVD-discs. But there’s a shitstorm going on right now about which format will reign supreme. You can read more about that situation here.
My guess is that if movie studios and developers don’t decide on one or the other, consumers won’t adopt either. And would you really buy another version of Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition or your two-disc special edition of Heat just because the picture quality is slightly better? Hell no! Seriously if I worked for these companies, I’d think about ways to push the content securely through the web rather than developing another DVD format. People adopted DVDs originally because they were innovative. HD-DVD or Blu-Ray only have capacity and possible encryption methods as their major benefits. I don’t think it’s enough to make the majority of people switch. But if I could download a movie legally through the Internet in say 2 – 10 minutes and watch it on my TV, then I’d prefer to do that. Hey it’s working for mp3’s on Apple’s iTunes store.
4 Responses to “Play Me Everything!”
I just looked up the specs on Pioneer’s website. It’s got a 108Mhz/12bit video DAC. My Pioneer from a few years ago is 57Mhz/10-bit. So yours will crunch MPEG-2 faster than mine, which gives you slightly more detail and smoother pans. The quality of the internal components won’t be as good as mine…but for that price it’s a bargain. Pioneer also have the best remote control layouts of any manufacturer. And yours has got DiVX, which must be standard on newer chipsets. Sweet-o-rama! Make sure you turn down the contrast, colour saturation and especially the sharpness to sensible levels. DVD is digital and hence does not need sharpening!!!! This unit should have video EQ in the set-up menus, as mine does.
Yeah for $140, it was practically a steal. DivX playback I’ve found isn’t the greatest (slight pixelation occurs during rapid movement) but apparently that’s pretty standard on all but the most expensive DVD players on the market that can play back DivX.
And I’ve finally settled on my DVD-a-thon theme (took me long enough aye) so expect the player to get a good workout over the next few weeks. I will email the invite out tonight with the films I’ll be screening so keep checking your emails (That includes you Beth!).
I remember back in the day buying my Pioneer DV-525 for about $750. We had to drive to one particular video shop to rent DVDs, and they were all stuffed onto a single shelf in the corner of the room. We felt very exclusive as we were the only ones renting them!
Ah, those were the days. Mind you, the 525 is still going strong!
Andrew: Yeah that’s the model I replaced with this one.
It’s a solid model the 525 and I think a big seller back in the day. Mine still works but it occasionally has troubles with DVD-RW media and of course, no DivX playback. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it outlasts my new one!