Rating: 
Summary: Do Not Buy
Review: This Pioneer DVD player stalls constantly!I have returned it. The RCA I bought has worked like a champ.
Rating: 
Summary: Unhappy!!!!
Review: This player is picky about certain dvd's sometimes i can't bring up the main menu. sometimes the player will begin a dvd in the middle of a movie. why? It was fine for 2 1/2 months then boom it wouldn't play my dvd's. iam mad. i haven't sent it out for repair yet. but until i do it only get's 2 stars. My vcr was cheaper and i bet it will last longer........Pioneer better work it out or they will loose a lot of business.......
Rating:
Summary: Ugh.
Review: This was an out-of-the-box-right-back-into-the-box purchase. The motor is ridiculously loud. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Right On
Review: Well, I really don't see what there is to dislike about this DVD player. I purchased it after buying the D510 receiver and H452F-K speakers (both Pioneer) to upgrade my existing theater sound. It works with the remote that came with the receiver, but the buttons on the receiver remote are even smaller than the ones on the DVD remote. However, I don't seem to have a problem with either one.I connected it with an optical cable (not included) and the sound is absolutely awesome. By the way, don't kink the optical cables or they're toast. An acquaintance of mine found that out the hard way. Easy to connect with analog or digital cables, lightweight, and has many options in the GUI setup including pan and scan, condition memory for specific DVDs, parental lock, and it is relatively quiet, although I must admit that I have it behind glass. It plays CDs and various CDRs without any problems. Going through the Pioneer receiver, it really sounds sweet. Great sound especially for orchestra and big band/swing. Fills up the room. I am very happy, and perfectly content that that Pioneer makes all of my digital audio and video products (including a 6-disk magazine CD player). Hey, and it looks good as well. If only they had a decent subwoofer. ; Þ
Rating: 
Summary: Open the box and plug it in!
Review: What can I say? ... It works great and it comes with cables. You can open the box, have a DVD in the tray and be watching it within 10 minutes. Dogs bark in a movie and my Jack Russell ter...rer... OK! ah... er... We can't atribute that to the DVD player. :-) I'll try again: Dogs bark in a movie and the 14 year old corgi wakes up and sniffs! :-) Yea! If you are going to use this DVD player in the bedroom with just a stereo tv, it will work just fine.... If you have a home theater set-up with 5 speakers, a Dolby Digital decoder is needed separate the sound and send it to 5 speakers: left & right, front & back and center. This model does not have a Dolby Digital decoder. I'd sort of consider that a moot point. If you have 5 speakers, most probably you'll have a Dolby Digital stereo receiver sitting there with the speakers. If possible, I'd recommend running any DVD player through your stereo receiver. Unless you have a real high-end tv, there is a good chance your stereo speakers are much better quality than any TV speakers. I have 4 foot high speakers (front, back and sideways) and a Harmon Kardon receiver. Apollo 13 took off in my living room. Just as a test of what it would sound like on an old cheap stereo... I plugged in into an old Panasonic ... yard-sale-stereo and... Apollo 13 still took off in my living room! I have a 13" TV. I don't plan to upgrade until I get an HDTV. I refuse to spend $1000 on a TV set unless it cooks dinner. :-) So why get a DVD player now? Even with the great sound... I wanted to buy movies... VHS tape is magnetic and "drops out" in a few years. DVD's (and CD's) won't change unless you leave them on the dash of the car in July. There is tons of information on DVD's in addition to movies. A narration of Apollo 13 by Jim Lovell and his wife. How Carl Sagan's "Contact" was made. (Jodie Foster saying "OK to go" billions and billions of times.) Why Meg Ryan wore red in "Sleepless...." Tibits, gossip, computer animation and special effects techiques. Did you like this movie? Indexes. Other films by the stars and director. Complete documentaries about the subject: On the "Saving Private Ryan" DVD -- what was the real story about D-day? I haven't had any problems with the Pioneer remote mentioned by others. I am glad it is not the size of a bass. It is the size of a trout. Brown trout. Native. It insisted once on replaying the same segment of special effects footage on "Contact" -- no matter what I selected off the special effects menu. I think it was a problem with the programming on the DVD -- not a problem with the Pioneer player. It happened again in the same place when I tried again another day. Both times, I went to main menu and was able to start the special effects menu over. I go through all the bonus materials and that was the only "funny" -- and I have probably watched 60 DVD's with this player. One goodie -- this DVD player will remember where you were at the last time you turned off the movie. If you stop 1/2 way through, a week and 3 movies later it will remember this. My player remembered this even after a 5 hour power outage. Want a spare DVD player for the bedroom or den... Want to justify that HDTV and go digital a few years earlier than planned? Buy this DVD player now and just look at those pretty pictures! Even on a 13" TV, I am Happy watching! Cynthia PS What kind of cables? There are RCA jacks and cables for the audio. Most stereos and stereo TV's have RCA plugs. (2-3 1/4" round metal ring, color coded: red, yellow and/or white.) There is a S-video jacks and cable for the picture. Newer TV's and VCR players have s-video jacks. If you have an older TV with just a coaxial plug (round ring, screws on), you'll need to buy an "RF Modulator" black box. ... Mine came from the mall. A bonus -- the black box acts as a switch between your DVD and your VCR. i.e. you don't have to swap cables on the back of your TV set to go from one player to another. There is a coaxial optical jack on the Pioneer if you have newer equipment. Optical cables are not included -- but, if you have optical, you'd probably want higher-end cables anyway. (And you probably haven't read this far in my review either. :-) Ta! c.
Rating:
Summary: it was broken when it got here
Review: When my player arrived we hooked it up and put a dvd in.Only it wouldn't take the dvd. A spring was sticking out in the way. So we took it apart and couldn't figure out where the spring went. The dvd will go in now, but will start shaking and it is spit right back out. The player won't work and I'm very angry right now!!!
Rating:
Summary: I did a lot of research and Pioneer came out on top!
Review: When we decided to buy DVD players as Christmas gifts (one also for myself), I did a lot of research. Not just what Consumer Reports rated the units at but what consumers thought of the product. Not only did I review what was written here at Amazon.com but at other sites too. The only negative things people had to say about the Pioneer-343 was that they thought the remote control was too small, the remote wasn't backlit and the unit was a bit bulky. If those were the only problems consumers had how could I say no to the Pioneer-343. This unit is great! Fantastic! It went over big as a gift too. After purchasing a RF-Modular (I have an older TV and I also wanted to still have my VCR connect - Cost [very little] at Radio Shack), I had the unit up and running in less than 15 minutes. I was watching a DVD movie in under 20 mins. With additional audio cables (Red and White) I was able to get the DVD player to play through the stereo speakers. All my devices old and I still get fantastic picture quality, etc. And at [this price] you can't beat it!
Rating:
Summary: 6 months and it's already in repair shop
Review: yep, I've always been a Pioneer person. From automobile decks to home components. That's why I went with Pioner for a dvd player.
The 1st thing that happened is it stopped playing burned or store bought music cd's. I put a disc in and a grinding noise would happen then it shot the tray back out. O.k. I've got another cd player, I can live with it for the time being. Now, the next problem is when sometime in a dvd movie a loud pop would happen through the surround system and the screen would go digitized into the little squares that make up the signal. It did this 2 out of the last 5 movies. I thought it may have been from used rental dvd's but then it did it on a brand new one. Tha's when I took it into the shop. Fortunately Pioneer supplied a 1 yr. parts and labor warranty. It's in the shop right now with a 2 week turn around. It hasn't soured me from buying more Pioneer products in the future but the next few months until the warranty runs out will tell the tale. Good luck with yours.
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