Pioneer DV-333 DVD Player

• Dolby Digital and DTS output
• Coaxial and optical digital-audio outputs
• Component and S-video outputs
• Advanced graphical user interface with basic and expert modes
• Twin-wave laser pickup and Viterbi error correction

First-time users of DVD will feel instantly welcomed by the DV-333's excellent video performance, clean design, and simplicity of operation--with a set-up menu that'll have you up and running in a flash.

Veterans of the DVD scene will appreciate the finesse Pioneer brings to this player. Despite its modest price, the DV-333 delivers a stunning, rock-steady picture (thanks in part to the patented Viterbi error-correction circuit) and more convenient features than found in earlier generation players selling for three times as much.

Parents with young children will appreciate the conditional memory feature. It lets you store settings, including parental lockout, for up to 15 DVDs, guaranteeing kids won't be getting into the scary stuff when you're not around.

Technophiles will enjoy having a digital bit-stream display on board. Accessed through the display button, this feature lets you see how the DVD's signal-encoding system flexes from second to second to most efficiently manage compression demands.

Almost every videophile need has been considered here. Pioneer's DV-333 offers the best connections if your TV has interlaced component inputs (showing up today in primo monitors). It also accommodates S-video and has the standard, reliable composite video input. The player starts up quickly and has a superfast (three-second) resume-play mode. The latter mode comes in handy, for example, if you pause a disc or shut down the unit with a disc in play. As power is restored, the DV-333 gets the disc cranking again almost immediately.

Naturally, this player handles Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound audio formats, and includes both coaxial and optical digital outputs for funneling the signals to your surround sound receiver. This is helpful, as many Dolby Digital/DTS receivers offer only one digital input of each variety, and other digital products that you might want to plug in--say a satellite TV receiver or minidisc player--have only an optical out. A light-transmitting fiber-optic cable offers better immunity to signal interference, but a coaxial cable with RCA jacks is less expensive and less prone to getting disconnected.

We auditioned the player's sound performance by tapping into both a digital out (coaxial) and to the conventional pair of analog audio jacks, which is how you'd be linking this receiver to a stereo or Dolby Pro Logic surround receiver. The 5.1-channel digital signal had a bit more edgy detail (when resolved in our receiver's own digital-to-analog converter). This was most evident as fighter pilots thundered through the skies (in Top Gun) or while listening to a live performance of our favorite country-classical string trio (Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor, and Edgar Meyer).

However, the Pro Logic decoding, which uses Pioneer's onboard digital-to-analog processing, had its own persuasive charms. The analog mix seemed a tad warmer and sweeter, with more robust and defined bass. Which is better? Since both digital and analog outputs are simultaneously active on the DV-333, you can connect both audio feeds to separate inputs on your receiver and choose whichever suits your fancy for a given DVD or audio CD.

Into making CD-R recordings? Homebrewed discs play back fine on this model--a different story than with most DVD spinners that have come before it.

We did discover a couple of cost-cutting measures, though nothing major. The remote doesn't have a backlight, it can't control other video products, and its buttons are relatively small. Still, the most important ones are easy to hone in on by touch and are logically positioned.

Trick play features are relatively sparse. There's only one very fast scan mode in forward and reverse directions, whereas other players we've tried have several speeds to choose from. Film devotees can study a scene carefully, however, with the four, ultraclean, slow-motion playback speeds in the forward direction, and the one in reverse.

Overall, the Pioneer DV-333 is a well-built player at a great price. It's a little short on convenient features, and the digital audio is slightly brittle, but Pioneer's video performance is first rate.

Pros:

• Stunning video quality
• Lots of connection choices
• Fast disc startup

Cons:

• Remote control doesn't glow
• Limited trick play options
• Digital audio exhibited slight edginess