Pioneer DV-46AV DVD Player

I bought a Pioneer Elite DV-46AV (upconverting to 1080i) DVD player, since I have a lot of Standard Definition DVDs (it cost around $300). I played a few and let me tell you, most of them looked amazing! They were clear, crisp, and had a good saturation of colors. The only exception would be any older DVDs, where they did a poor/quick job in converting the video (Batman 1,2; these were re-released , which remedied the grainy video and improved the sound). Any CG movie (Final Fantasy, Finding Nemo, Cars, Dinosaur, Robots, Ice Age, etc.) looks fantastic (even sharper than regular movies)!

I'm into lots of animation. If you have newer DVD releases of Disney favorites, you'll love the detail, beauty, and colors. As for Anime, newer Anime (late 90's and beyond) will look great!

The Pioneer setup menus are great! And the remote is designed well (well placed buttons and glow in the dark).

Unfortunately, I did have some problems with this player. Sometimes, when I would play a DVD, it would split the picture in half (top half of the picture would appear on the bottom half and vice-versa). Other times, it would display a thin green line on the left side/edge of the TV. This would be resolved by simply powering off and back on. But after a few times, especially for a Pioneer Elite product, I figured it was time to return it.

I could have gotten another Pioneer (same model), but I decided to try the Denon DVD-1930CI (upconverting to 1080P). I have to say, I definitely liked the Setup menus of the Pioneer better, compared to the Denon. I definitely liked the remote on the Pioneer better (the Denon's buttons weren't spaced as well). As far as features, both of these DVD players have similar features. They both play:

DVD-R
DVD-RW
DVD+R
Audio CD
DVD Video
DVD Audio
Super Audio
WMA & MP3s
Jpeg files
Kodak Picture CD (Jpegs)

Both offer Composite video, S-Video, Component, HDMI.

You definitely want to use HDMI to get the best picture. Composite, S-Video and Component are all analog signals, while HDMI is transmitted digitally. The other benefit of HDMI is that it not only broadcasts high quality video, but also sound (up to 5.1).

The one thing that differentiates the Denon from the Pioneer Elite is that the Denon can upconvert standard DVDs to 1080P (480P, 720P, 1080i, 1080P). The pioneer only upconverts to 1080i. This would matter if your TV can display 1080p natively. If your TV can display 1080p signals natively, then connecting a 1080p signal via HDMI into your TV would not require your TV to upconvert; it would just display the 1080p signal unaltered. If your TV natively can only display 720p or 480P, then you could consider another upconverting DVD player.

The manual on the Pioneer is also better (it's well written). The Denon manual seems to cram as much instructions on one page as they can. So its a little harder to read or skim through; and on some options, they don't explain how to use adjust the option.

The Denon has a Pure Direct mode (which the Pioneer doesn't have) which turns off all video functions and the front display, so you can have a higher quality audio listening experience (especially when using DVD-Audio and Super Audio discs).

They both have a Zoom mode (2x and 4x). The Pioneer smoothly zooms to 2x or 4x. The Denon jumps straight to 2x or 4x. The pioneer just handles it more elegantly.

To change upconverting resolutions (480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080P), you have to go to the front of the Denon DVD player and push the HDMI button, whereas on the Pioneer Elite, its built into the remote. This is also true for the Pure Direct Mode. I'm not sure why Denon decided not to have these buttons built into the remote?!

The Denon player is light out of the box. Where as the Pioneer is heavier and sturdier. The Denon disc tray feels flimsy, compared to the Pioneer.

But ultimately, one should care about the picture and sound that comes out of a DVD player. And Denon does deliver on these critical requirements.

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