Home Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

Re: Pioneer DV-414. Is this a good DVD Player?

198.133.22.74

The Pioneer DV-414 is on the entry level end of DVD players. It is a good player given its competition at that price point. I would say the price you got is fair, not great. With your system, a better DVD player is just a waste of money. If you are using it for music, that could be improved with a better CD player or an outboard DAC like the MSB link. The 5.1 you refer to specifies how many discrete channels of sound you are hearing. In the case of Dolby Digital, 5.1 channels (5 full range, 1 sub which is 1/10th of an octave) is one of the supported formats. Dolby Digital also supports 2.0 channels which is really just Pro-Logic. DTS also uses 5.1 channels of information. So the answer is no, they are not the same, Dolby Digital is the sound encoding format, 5.1 is how many channels of sound are encoded.
About the s-video. If you are using the RCA composite video input you are losing video quality. The video is stored on the DVD in component form (3 signals) and can be down mixed to s-video (2 signals) or composite (1 signal) and then reconstructed at the TV with a comb filter. The more downmixing you do, the more info you lose. Go to s-video ASAP and you will get a much better picture. To get the best video performance out of your DVD, rent or buy the DVD video essentials, that will help you optimize your video picture. Also, try turning your "sharpness" adjustment down. Sharpness adjustment is really for fixing ugly NTSC signals like VCR pictures. For DVD signals, it does more harm than help in most cases.

Hope this helps

-Darren



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