Pioneer DV-400V-K

• Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 11 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

• 1
• 2
• next

• Sort by: Most helpful Highest rating Lowest rating Most recent

• 9 stars

  Impressed by the quality

  by r1208 on July 25, 2007

  Pros: Upscaling superb, better than most upconversion dvd players that i have seen.

  Cons: no optical output, digital coax works just fine though.

  Summary: I work for a major consumer retailer, in the hometheater field. I have seen almost ever upconversion dvd player we carry and i have to say by far this is ...

  Read more

  Summary: I work for a major consumer retailer, in the hometheater field. I have seen almost ever upconversion dvd player we carry and i have to say by far this is the best one i have seen yet. The only thing even compares would be the Yamaha DV-S5950BL, and the Harmony Kardon DVD-38. But for the price this DVD player is a much better value.

  Show less

  5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Great HD DVD player for well under $100

  by stxcep on November 8, 2007

  Pros: easy to set up, good HDMI output quality

  Cons: can't use digital audio output with HDMI output

  Summary: I bought the DV-400V to go along with my new Samsung LN-T3253H HDTV as part of an upgrade to my A/V system.
  
  Thus far I've been pleasantly surprised
  
  ...

  Read more

  Summary: I bought the DV-400V to go along with my new Samsung LN-T3253H HDTV as part of an upgrade to my A/V system.
  
  Thus far I've been pleasantly surprised with the video quality of the DV-400V. I have it set to 720p to match the Samsung and I've been really happy with the video via the HDMI output.
  
  The DV-400V's menu system is pretty basic and easy to follow which allowed me to be up and running in nothing flat.
  
  The only drawback was that the digital audio output is disabled if you are using the HDMI audio/video output. At first I almost panicked thinking I would have to choose between HDMI and digital audio output. It then dawned on me to run the HDMI to the Samsung and then run the digital optical audio output from the Samsung to my Pioneer VSX-816. Problem solved!
  
  All in all, great value if you're looking for a HD DVD player that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars.

  Show less

  4 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  It's a beauty for the price

  by Topkilz on June 23, 2007

  Pros: Picture, Sound, Features, Configuration

  Cons: Cheesey splash screen

  Summary: I have a Pioneer PDP 5071, 1015TX AV, and now the Upconverting DVD player. I would get Blu-Ray, but I am waiting for one to win.
  
  First off, I found
  
  ...

  Read more

  Summary: I have a Pioneer PDP 5071, 1015TX AV, and now the Upconverting DVD player. I would get Blu-Ray, but I am waiting for one to win.
  
  First off, I found out about this player on the Audio Video Science forums. It was discussed there in a decent light (which is always a good indication of quality)
  
  Picture
  Now for my take. I really like the picture quality. Believe it or not I can tell a difference; its not a HD picture but it is less jagged than before on 480P. I have mine converting up to 1080i (I tried the 1080p and it did not work. I didn't think it would since the TV is 1080i, but the PDP507X says it can take a 1080p signal). I have not tried the 720p yet but since 1080i looks great, I dont know that I have to. I hooked up the HDMI and chose the Full-range RGB and the colors look AWESOME. I still have my settings turned kind of down on my TV so imagine if I had that at recommended reference.
  
  Sound
  I had no idea the sound out is not the same between devices. The sound output over the digital coax makes me not miss the fiber. I almost did not buy the player for lack of fiber, but I found out that at 3 feet, the impedance should not matter (and it does not). The sound going to my receiver is higher in fidelity than any other product I have hooked up didgitally to date.
  
  Features
  The player spins up a little slow, but that is bearable- the player has a USB drive on the front so you can hook up a usb drive. I hooked up an iPod shuffle and it worked. using a USB drive was perfect in sound response and interaction. I have read that if you get an external USB HDD formatted with FAT32, it is the perfect media player. This means you could hook up your music / video library directly to the DVD player and stream the contents everywhere else.
  
  I am thouroughly impressed with this DVD player especially after I got BB to come down to their internet offer + get another 12% off for a fathers day coupon. After tax, I was less than $100.
  
  My wife enjoys having a quality product in the home (I know Pioneer is no Denon, Onkyo, or Oppo, but fir the $, it is better than the rest).
  
  The only drawback is the splashscreen. It is hot pink and sinply says "Pioneer" with no other grahpics. Bland.

  Updated
  In order to keep from having to do a factory reset on the player, keep your component video hooked up to the device. THis way if you go higher than your TV can really support, you can switch back to a supported format in a pinch instead of hoping the factory reset will work.
  
  My wife also says that if the DVD player lasts more than a year, she will give her final approval ( we have had really bad luck with Panasonic, Sony, and Phillips).

  Updated
  OK. So I decided to see how the upconversion compared to my HD cable. On the DVD player, I had my upconversion set to 1080i and full range RGB. The colors looked much richer, but darker overall. I thought this was due to the imperfection of the DVD player until I switched the color back to component scale. I was wowed at the overall similarities in quality of the video. To be honest, I could tell minor diferences between the HD 1080i and the upconverted 1080i, but it was mostly in minute background details. The full range RGB makes up for that in color quality and also DVD performs WAY better than HD cable (cable compresses the signal and you get blocking and pixelations). For $100 you will get basically as good as picture as any source under 1080i native resoltion will allow (even cable is only broadcast at 720p). Now if you are totally into 1080p, then wait for the format winner.

  Show less

  3 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Plays Movies from my flash drive in the USB port!

  by mablenay on June 26, 2007

  Pros: Plays many video file formats from flash drives

  Cons: some file formats slow to start when playing movies from flash drive/USB port

  Summary: I wanted to save money burning dvd discs and save time by simply downloading movies and copying to my 8GB flash drive. Now I simply download the movie, copy to ...

  Read more

  Summary: I wanted to save money burning dvd discs and save time by simply downloading movies and copying to my 8GB flash drive. Now I simply download the movie, copy to flash drive and stick it in the USB port on the front of the DVD player! SIMPLE, EASY, but can be a bit slow to start. Video quality good. some file formats dont work properly.

  Show less

  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Almost every format supported that you can think of and through USB!

  by jaypugh on February 1, 2008

  Pros: Multiple file formats supported, USB drive, Good upconversion, Tons of customization in screen settings

  Cons: Interface can be a little slow, Could use an optical out, wish it supported DVD-A but can't have it all

  Summary: This player blew me away. I bought it without even reading the reviews, loved it and then read to find that others loved it as well. The main reason I ...

  Read more

  Summary: This player blew me away. I bought it without even reading the reviews, loved it and then read to find that others loved it as well. The main reason I purchased the dv400 was the USB input but I was skeptical about the divx playback. I've read about MANY problems with other players and divx where it will play them but with glitches and hiccups all along the way. The Pioneer DV400 plays great. So far I've tested it with upscaling DVDs, playing MP3s, JPEGs and of course Divx. All worked well. My ownly complaint would be that the interface is a little clunky and that the response of the unit from the time you give the command at the remote till you see it perform the action can be a little slow. In the end this is a small gripe considering all it does and that it isn't like these DVD players have GIGS of RAM in them so they can breeze through everything quickly. The upconversion looks great and has many picture adjustments that I'm not used to seeing in a DVD player. I haven't spent enough time yet on it to see if I can actually turn all these off and let my TV do the picture adjustment other than the upconversion. One other minor complaint would be that I wouldn't mind seeing an optical out along with the rca type digital out. It was fine for me since I've filled all of my opticals on my receiver and actually needed to use the digital out which the dv400 provides but I could see where many others would not have this option. If your receiver doesn't have this input then you can find a cheap converter online without much of a problem.
  To sum things up I'll just leave it at this. I liked this unit enough that I bought one, had it 2 days and purchased a 2nd one for the bedroom. You simply can't beat the ease of use if all you have to do is plug in the USB (from one unit to antoher) and then put it in your pocket in case you find another divx movie you want to download later. All this for under $100? Technology has come a long way and I'm loving it.
  
  FYI - if you buy this at Best Buy as I did then you will have to tell them to look up the sale price that is online because it doesn't list the $91.19 price in the store. It shows $113

  Show less

  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  A Very Good Value

  by motomura-san on July 23, 2007

  Pros: HDMI Output, 1080p Upscaling

  Cons: No Optical Audio Output

  Summary: I bought this DVD player to accompany my new HDTV, figuring I can wait until there's a winner or a soon-to-be winner in the HD-DVD/Blu Ray battle. I ...

  Read more

  Summary: I bought this DVD player to accompany my new HDTV, figuring I can wait until there's a winner or a soon-to-be winner in the HD-DVD/Blu Ray battle. I purchased a region-free version too (http://www.regionfreedvd.net/), which increased the price, but I think the normal version is a bargain at $100. I have to admit that I don't really care about the extra features, like the USB port, so I won't discuss them. Also, the pink Pioneer logo doesn't bother me; I don't know why other users care about that. The HDMI output is present, and the 1080p upscaling works well. Although, it seems to me that the quality of the picture really depends upon the individual DVD's transfer. On the negative side (for me), there is no optical audio output. My receiver doesn't have any digital coax inputs, so I had to spend an additional $20 on a converter box (http://www.mycablemart.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=605).

  Show less

  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Overall very good product

  by gun_will_travel on July 20, 2007

  Pros: Superior picture quality and features

  Cons: Still frame shows aliasing in HD modes

  Summary: This was the most recommended player at the regionfreedvd website. It plays DVDs from anywhere in the world. I am very impressed with the overall picture quality and extensive features. ...

  Read more

  Summary: This was the most recommended player at the regionfreedvd website. It plays DVDs from anywhere in the world. I am very impressed with the overall picture quality and extensive features. I would have liked an optical output but the digital sound is still perfect over coaxial for short cable runs like mine.
  
  My only major complaint is that still frame does not work well in HD modes. The image is horribly aliased with diagonal lines becoming jagged. I tried it through HDMI and component at different resolutions, and the only mode that produced a clean still image was 480i. Strangely, this only occurs at 1/16 speed or slower - the image is flawless at 1/8 speed or faster. But if you freeze the picture in 720p or 1080i, it looks awful. Tried every setting known to man to fix this, but nothing works. Can't be the TV, it's a Pioneer Elite 50" plasma less than 1 year old.
  
  The still images do look great at 480i. But they need to look great in HD, and they don't.

  Show less

  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Good so far

  by lobo65 on July 3, 2007

  Pros: Good DIVX player

  Cons: Doesn't play as many different files as I would like

  Summary: I bought this player yesterday, and it's performed well thus far. I was able to get it to play DIVX movies that I downloaded, and stored in my Seagate ...

  Read more

  Summary: I bought this player yesterday, and it's performed well thus far. I was able to get it to play DIVX movies that I downloaded, and stored in my Seagate external hard drive via the USB port. I do wish that it would play the .avi files I have though, but that may be impossible. I am not a A/V expert, so that may not be possible with any player. I do like this machine though, and will soon discover how well it's upconverted signal is when my HDMI switcher arrives from Monoprice.com.

  Show less

  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Great playback, upconverting and sound.

  by nlawrence216 on June 30, 2009

  Pros: Picture is great when I upconvert to my Toshiba AV-500u 720p LCD though HDMI Philips HDMI cable. Audio is run through Sony optical cable to my Yamaha RX-V630 6.1 surround receiver with Klipsch RB-15's, Klipsch center and sub, and always sounds great.

  Cons: Once or twice a month the player will freeze and I'll have to unplug and plug it back in.

  Summary: I am very happy with this DVD player and I really like the settings available through the player. Everything is great overall.

  Summary: I am very happy with this DVD player and I really like the settings available through the player. Everything is great overall.

• 9 stars

  Great buy for the price. Can't imagine much better in the Spring of '08

  by beritolam on June 20, 2008

  Pros: menu navigation, small physical size, nice remote, great DIVX decoding

  Cons: auto-shutoff kicks in very quickly!

  Summary: It's really hard to criticize anything about this player. About the only 'con' is when you pause a movie/DIVX file -- I'm not sure the actual time ...

  Read more

  Summary: It's really hard to criticize anything about this player. About the only 'con' is when you pause a movie/DIVX file -- I'm not sure the actual time it takes for it to auto-shutoff, but it happens relatively quickly (around 15-20 minutes, I'd guess). But that's a small quirk and easily manageable.
  
  Playing DIVX files was one of the main reasons I bought the Pioneer, and those of you who have tried other brands know how painful that process can be! A number of reviews I read prior to purchase praised the DIVX capabilities via the USB port, and I have to say my usage of the machine for 4 months only confirms those assessments. Dump your DIVX files onto your external HDD, hook it up to the DV-400 via USB, and watch with ease. [It's a bit tricky with my Seagate external because of the way it powers on when it detects a signal, but switching to DVD-back-to-USB mode quickly seems to solve the problem!]. I got mine via a 60-buck WOOT special, but I think I would easily pay the 70-buck asking price right now in June 2008 -- it's definitely worth it.

  Show less

• 1
• 2
• next

See pricing