Pioneer DV-676A vs Sony DVPNS780

[black lotus]

Hi, I am looking at purchasing a dvd player.

I have reduced my search to these two models:
Pioneer DV-676A
Sony DVPNS780

The most important feature for me is a good video digital to analogue conversion, since my TV only supports component HD input.

Both offer a 12-bit 108Mhz video DAC and do progressive scan for PAL/NTSC.

Any assistance from owners or home theatre enthusiasts would be appreciated.

[SA000584]

Hi I can only speak on behalf of the 676. This system provides support for a lot of formats including SACD, DVD-Audio, DIVX (avi files), MP3, JPG, DVD-r(w) including double layer media, DVD+r(w), CD etc. Sony player includes all of these formats except dvd-audio. The video quality is fantastic as well as sound quality for movies however CD and SACD quality is average. The GUI interface for playing mp3 or jpg is very good. You can see the file name on screen and scroll down to the 1 of the 648 songs it can hold on a cd or DVD.

The only advantage of the 676 over the sony is that it plays DVD-audio. This is untested but I would put my money on that the cd quality of the sony would be better than the 676.

[black lotus]

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.

My primary interest in purchasing a new DVD player is to watch DVDs and avoid the awful layer transition pause I currently experience with my Sony DVPN730P when watching mutliple layer DVDs.

I read a comment in a related thread that the Pioneer 676a does not suffer from the lag caused by a layer change on multiple layer DVDs.

Apparently the Pioneer 676a reads ahead and stores the information in a memory buffer to eliminate this problem.

Would you be kind enough to confirm if this comment is true as this would be an extremely desirable feature.

I always thought that all DVD players suffer from the slight pause in video and audio caused by a layer change on multiple layer DVDs.

I also read that the Pioneer has animated chapter titles. Can you confirm.

Believe the Sony DVPNS780 doesn't.

I agree that Sony would have the edge with sound quality.

But considering that I will be mostly listening to CDs through digital optical, I believe this relies on the decoder in my amplifier and therefore it should not be a problem.

Thanks in advance.

[SA000584]

Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.

My primary interest in purchasing a new DVD player is to watch DVDs and avoid the awful layer transition pause I currently experience with my Sony DVPN730P when watching mutliple layer DVDs.

I read a comment in a related thread that the Pioneer 676a does not suffer from the lag caused by a layer change on multiple layer DVDs.

Apparently the Pioneer 676a reads ahead and stores the information in a memory buffer to eliminate this problem.

Would you be kind enough to confirm if this comment is true as this would be an extremely desirable feature.

I always thought that all DVD players suffer from the slight pause in video and audio caused by a layer change on multiple layer DVDs.

I also read that the Pioneer has animated chapter titles. Can you confirm.

Believe the Sony DVPNS780 doesn't.

I agree that Sony would have the edge with sound quality.

But considering that I will be mostly listening to CDs through digital optical, I believe this relies on the decoder in my amplifier and therefore it should not be a problem.

Thanks in advance.


Yes. There is little or no lag between layers on the pioneer dvd player. Definately a lot better than my old philips player which may have 0.5 of second lag.

I am not sure what you mead by animated chapter titles. I assume you are referring to when viewing dvd-videos. I have not noticed anything like this.

It does have a GUI interface for viewing jpg and mp3 which is very handy.

I play cd's through my optical and coaxil outs and it not comparable to my old philips player. I dont have the technical knowledge as to why this may be.

[black lotus]

I've been told by sales consultants that Philips and Marantz are affliated.

My brother has a Marantz DV-4300 DVD player and I noticed the GUI and functions were identical to some Philips DVD players at the time.

I also noticed that both companies manufacture their DVD players in China.

It's possible they share basic audio / video components.

Maybe this is why your old Philips DVD player is more sonically appealing?

I know that Marantz products are sonically superior. As I own the Marantz 7300ose A/V Reciever. It's made in Japan though.

Unfortunately Marantz video processing is dated. They are still using 54 MHz/10-bit video DACs and that's why I didn't buy a Marantz DVD Player.

In your previous reply you wrote:
> I am not sure what you mean by animated chapter titles. I assume you are referring to when viewing dvd-videos. I have not noticed anything like this.

According to the Pioneer website, the 676a supports animated thumbnails.
I understood this to mean that the chapter previews on a DVD video appear animated rather than static. Can you please confirm?

Also have you tried the zoom function? Does it operate during DVD-video playback? I sometimes find this feature useful when I pause a scene and want to inspect in more detail.

But, I don't have it on my Sony DVPNS730P.

Thanks again for the reply.

[SA000584]

According to the Pioneer website, the 676a supports animated thumbnails.
I understood this to mean that the chapter previews on a DVD video appear animated rather than static. Can you please confirm?

No there is no animated thumbnails for dvd video apart what is on the native menu on the dvd disc itself. The animated thumbnails refers to viewing jpgs.

Also have you tried the zoom function? Does it operate during DVD-video playback? I sometimes find this feature useful when I pause a scene and want to inspect in more detail.

The zoom function works during playback and you can pan around to see the parts of the screen you need to.

[black lotus]

Thanks for answering all my questions.

You've been most helpful.

Now I can make a more informed decision regarding the purchase of a pioneer dv676a.

Regards

[scalpel]

Another happy 676 owner

Very tolerant of dodgy discs (haven't found anything that wont play yet) - this was why I replaced my Denon player.

DVD - good quality video, not as good as my Denon DVD 1600 (which was fantastic), but very good

CD - not as good as a dedicated cd player (compared vs rotel - but then who would expect it to be as good!), again, happy with this

DVD-A Note the DVDa is via the analogue outputs (not the digital) - presumably some sort of copy protecting issue. Great sound.

SACD - dont own a disc to test it

Divx: good, doesnt support Subtitles (I have no use for this), doesnt support Packed bitstream (makes the playback jerky) - This can be corrected by running the files though mpeg4modifier and 'unpacking' the bitstream 1st

NOTE: there is a new Firmware version out since mine was bought (Now 2.10, prev 2.05) I am trying to find out what has been upgraded. (I just noticed a thread suggesting it is Ogg Vobis Support)

3 year warranty - excellent


There is a thread at DBA (here) (http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=18450&pid=202009&st=0&#entry202009) and another (here) (http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=18150)


J.

[keith m]

scalpel.

You might be able to help me here.Up until a couple of weeks ago I have been
making backups of my DVD's using Ritek x4-R with no problems on playback on
my Pioneer 717, I have just changed to Ritek x8-R and now for some unknown
reason it wont play any of them .I burn x8@x4 to be on the safe side
[Pioneer 106] I may have to buy a new player.
My question is, to your knowledge can the Pioneer dv676 play backup discs as I
have read on another site that someone was unable to play any of his discs.
I would be grateful if you or anyone else could answer this question.

Cheers Keith :)

[scalpel]

My Backups are Ritek 8* (can't recall if -R or +R, but I presume they were -R. Interestingly, Nero thinks they are 12* for some reason) on a Pioneer 108, using Nero 6.6.0.1.

I have never had a problem with playing a disc in either my computer (the other drive is a Pioneer DVD 105 ROM drive), or on my Pioneer 676a. I bought the Pioneer because my Denon 1600 DVD player was absolutely crap at reading backup discs (and I subsequently found that this seems to be a bit of a bugbear of the Denon players, regardless of cost, which is a bit disturbing). I have never come across any posts that ever complain of incompatibilities with the 676a (usually the reverse - people mention how tolerant they are - Although, that isn't to say that there are any such posts!)


I have also used TDK/Verbatim/various cheapie brands, but love the Riteks at $23/50 discs on a spindle.

I have tried the ritek discs in a heap of players (HiFi) and never had a problem.


See if you can test your discs in another player.

Another thought worth noting - The 'faster' DVD blanks required a hardware upgrade (ie new writer) to be able to be used to burn them. I wonder if for some reason they are not compatible in older players????. Isn't the Pioneer 106 only compatible up to 4* on DVD-R ????, so shouldn't you be using 4* discs. (I used to have a 106 in an older computer)

This is going to seem like a dumb suggestion - I presume that you can read the disks on the computer?.

J

[keith m]

Scalpel.

Thanks for your reply,I did forget to mention that the particular discs did
play ok on my other pioneer 535,it was only a problem on the 717 which up
to date it has played everything that I have put in it.The 717 is my main
player.the reason that I used x8 was they were all I could get at the time
and I decided to give them a try as the x4 could dissapear in the future
as drives get faster,so I guess idealy I should confirm it one way or the
other and take a disc with me when I go and check it out in store,also I
alway's burn at a slower speed as I believe that you get less errors that way.

Thanks Again.

Keith. :)