I have been very happy with my Pioneer DV-500. I got it on Tuesday, and I have devoted each night this week to a single film.

I have a Pioneer Elite-97 (modified with an AC-3 output) and my set is the Pioneer Elite Pro-107, and I have been very happy with the results so far. I am running the DV-500 through my Adcom AC filter/enhancer, rather than the wall or a power strip. I keep my amps & Citation 7.0 on one Adcom AC filter/enhancer, and all of my digital equipment on another just to be safe. At any rate, I haven't been subject to large blockiness that others have reported. I haven't compaired the unit to just plugging it into the wall straight, as the way I have it set up works great for me. Just reading other postings here, It seems that a good AC filter might make a difference in the amount of grunge in the MPEG playback, but time might prove that to just be a placebo.

In compairing the DVD release of Batman, Twister, Seven, The Road Warrior each with my LD copies, and in each case by the end of the night I prefered the DVD over the Laser pressing. To tell you the truth, I prefered them over the laser after just about 5-10 minutes in, but I was trying to avoid biasing myself. After switching back and forth between LD and DVD for about a half an hour, the gaps between switching back to LD from DVD became longer and longer, and finally to the point where I would finish watching the movie on DVD. This may be the best endorsement of all: DVD: so good that it makes me forget to be a gearhead and just enjoy the movie.....

Again, not to repeat previous postings, but in each case the DVD had a much lower amount of 'graininess' than the LD. The colors seemed overall more even, with it's handling of full reds and deep blues to be less noisy than the ld. On the plus side for LD, bright outdoor shots seem smoother and less 'digitally' than the DVD, but this was a small trade off for the greater sharpness of the image that DVD affords.

To all those who would complain about one the 'digital' look of DVD, I would say that in any format, be it DVD or CD, you get a whole new set of artifacts that go with the new improvements. For me, the 'digital' look of the DVD is a small price to pay for what you get. Forgetting massive block artifacts, which to this date, I haven't encountered. But beware, just because I haven't seen them, doesn't mean that you might not. Remember as always, your milage may vary!

As for the DV-500, I like the build of the unit. It seems solid, and the overall design lends itself to a higher class of componets.Without raising the hackles of other player ownners, I felt the other units (Panasonic & Toshiba) seemed to look more like a mid line VCR than a Laserdisc player, which I suppose is the look that Pioneer was going for. I payed $595 (US) for the unit, and although you might find it cheaper, I felt that it was well worth the money, and would be the player I would purchace again. I have seen advanced photos of the Sony prototype and like the look of it as well. I decided not to wait because, well, I felt the Pioneer DV-500 was a notch above what one usually expect from a first generation _anything_, and after living with it for 5 days, I can recommend it without reservation. Besides the price difference between the two would allow you to go out and buy at least 15 DVD discs to go with your player.

Coming from a fellow who has over 600 LD, a collection that I largely plan on keeping intact, I plan on purchacing DVD from here on out.

Good luck, and make sure you don't just listen to any one person's opinon on the alt boards, but go check them out for yourselves. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.

John V
jvenzon@deltanet.com