Jan 04, 2003 06:23 PM
9383 Views
(Updated Jan 15, 2003 11:49 PM)
This is the best Player available at this price in the market. Even though it is not officially sold in the Indian Market, it is the number one model selling in the Indian Market (Ask any home theatre consultant). At its price no other player can match it feature for feature.
The player itself is a sleek slim gold piece (part of the slimline series). Would look great on any rack without hogging space. In-fact, it about half the size of Pioneer’s previous player namely the 525. Even then has all the features and more, with that Pioneer Quality.
It can play a lot of formats, the more usable one’s being CD, CD-R, CD-RW ,MP3s, VCD, SVCD and finally DVD. May play more but I have no clue what the hell those letters stand for leave alone getting them or having access to them.
The front Panel has the essential buttons being the addition of a mic input with echo and mic level (only in the 533K and not the 533, the K stands for Karaoke). Not yet chkd out the Karaoke function. The buttons on the front panel are a touch small . ( demerit of a slim player)and are not backlit so you can’t access the player in the dark but would not trouble you since majority of the time you will use the remote. The disk tray opens pretty fast and quietly (useless info).
The Player can be connected to other Pioneer equipment (Pioneer feature). It has an S-Video and Composite output, analog left and right audio outputs, optical digital audio output and finally a coaxial digital audio output. All the connectivity one needs.
The remote although of a very nice size (easy to hold) does not appeal to me. For one it looks like a typical Malaysian bad quality piece. Compare that to the prior Japanese Pioneer LD player remotes and the difference can be seen. Secondly its buttons are not back lit so you have to get used to the raised feel of the buttons while operating the same in the dark ( unless you watch movies with the lights on ). Since my Yamaha amplifier has a backlit remote, I really do miss this feature on the Pioneer.
Love the MP3 playback function on this player as the contents of the disk can be displayed on your TV.. Don’t however like the display of the system for the filename of the artist or song as it can display only 8 -9 characters on the player ( unlike the scrolling names of other players ).
The image quality in combination with my Sony TV is outstanding. Nothing to complain about. My player is a Multi-region player so no problems playing disks from any region in the world. Love the Fast forward and reverse functions which go at 1X,2X and at 3X. – not in other players. The system is DTS compatible so great to watch movies ( provided your receiver also has DTS).
At this price this player stands out from the rest and has completely no competition. Satisfaction Guarenteed. Do remember that Pioneer does not have a comprehensive service network in India. As one MS member mentioned to me that one of the service dealers gave him trouble. But there are many non authorised persons ( who I can vouch for ) who do a perfect job.
