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Ok, for starters, I wasn't really in the market for this piece when I bought it. I just went harmlessly to a private sale at a local A/V store, NOW Audio Video. While browsing at the store, I happened to see the DV-07, and it was a new product. The beauty of it, with the blue light in it, was very mesmarizing. It was an Elite too.
What can I say, I had to have it. I brought it home and hooked it up and commenced with the time consuming job of sorting my DVDs, preparing for loading. What a job!
Once loaded, it was time to add titles using CD/Text feature, and manual input. One quick trip into the manual, and I quickly saw how to accomplish this. So, I got out my spare PC keyboard, with a standard connector on it, and went to work. This part is boring, and does take time when loading in a bulk amount of discs, the best way was to just play the start of the disc to see what was loaded, after you physically load into logical groupings.
CD quality seems ok, but of course, I won't do my critical listening using a mega-DVD player. That's what the S7000 stays with me for.
As far as I can tell, the only negatives to this changer is the fact it is not progressive scan and the remote. I am not fond of remotes with just a mass panel of buttons, and that's what Pioneer gives you right now. Very little creativity, or thought went into the layout. When I have to search and read to see what a button is, sorry, this won't do that. More on that later.
But first to the audio and video quality, ergonomics, asthetics, and robustness of features. The DV-07 plays smoothly, without harshness or edginess on my Lexicon/Proceed/Sf setup, and video quality is tops in my stable, IMO. Bettering first generation Sony S7000, Panasonic A110 and portable, and yes, even the Toshiba 9000. Toshiba won't play CD-Rs, and has freeze problems on dual layer discs. So basically, performance wise, the Elite delivers.
Regarding ergonomics, I already covered the remote control issues. But regarding the faceplate layout, it seems to be a bit more well planned. Telling me the same group is not in charge of the components as the remotes. Build quality is par iwth the Elite line, and very well made. Appearance is nothing short of breathtaking. Especially at night when the blue light makes it's presense even more pronounced. It's really not distracting, just warm and pleasing.
Feature wise, it seems to take care of my needs. For example, the player is designed so that if you press stop while playing a disc, and follow that with the open button, the player positions to unload the disc you just pressed stop on. Of course it pays to pay attention to which specific disc, because the closeness of the discs means finding the one on which the player is stopped, is not really all that easy to know which disc you stopped it on without pulling it, and reading the title. Basic menu functions are easy once you know what to do. So easy in fact, that I designed a Pronto layout for it, and with 2 screens, can do 90% of things I want to accomplish with the player. The whole device has 3 screens I think. One screen that is used for scrolling through your loaded movies is particularly useful.
Lastly, the player does come with a screensaver built into it's ROM, to prevent burn in, if you walk off and leave it unattended. It's a colored Pioneer Elite Logo that moves from top to bottom on the screen.
To conclude. If your loaded with DVD cases, aren't quite ready for the HDTV era or progressive scan, and are ready to code or copy a CCF for the remote, then this player is a sure fire winner. Glad I purchased mine. Really made reviewing your library of DVDs a pleasure. Up to 301 that is.
Lexman
<A HREF="http://www.catcables.com" <IMG SRC="http://www.htguide.com/lexman/other/sm_logo.gif"
What can I say, I had to have it. I brought it home and hooked it up and commenced with the time consuming job of sorting my DVDs, preparing for loading. What a job!
Once loaded, it was time to add titles using CD/Text feature, and manual input. One quick trip into the manual, and I quickly saw how to accomplish this. So, I got out my spare PC keyboard, with a standard connector on it, and went to work. This part is boring, and does take time when loading in a bulk amount of discs, the best way was to just play the start of the disc to see what was loaded, after you physically load into logical groupings.
CD quality seems ok, but of course, I won't do my critical listening using a mega-DVD player. That's what the S7000 stays with me for.
As far as I can tell, the only negatives to this changer is the fact it is not progressive scan and the remote. I am not fond of remotes with just a mass panel of buttons, and that's what Pioneer gives you right now. Very little creativity, or thought went into the layout. When I have to search and read to see what a button is, sorry, this won't do that. More on that later.
But first to the audio and video quality, ergonomics, asthetics, and robustness of features. The DV-07 plays smoothly, without harshness or edginess on my Lexicon/Proceed/Sf setup, and video quality is tops in my stable, IMO. Bettering first generation Sony S7000, Panasonic A110 and portable, and yes, even the Toshiba 9000. Toshiba won't play CD-Rs, and has freeze problems on dual layer discs. So basically, performance wise, the Elite delivers.
Regarding ergonomics, I already covered the remote control issues. But regarding the faceplate layout, it seems to be a bit more well planned. Telling me the same group is not in charge of the components as the remotes. Build quality is par iwth the Elite line, and very well made. Appearance is nothing short of breathtaking. Especially at night when the blue light makes it's presense even more pronounced. It's really not distracting, just warm and pleasing.
Feature wise, it seems to take care of my needs. For example, the player is designed so that if you press stop while playing a disc, and follow that with the open button, the player positions to unload the disc you just pressed stop on. Of course it pays to pay attention to which specific disc, because the closeness of the discs means finding the one on which the player is stopped, is not really all that easy to know which disc you stopped it on without pulling it, and reading the title. Basic menu functions are easy once you know what to do. So easy in fact, that I designed a Pronto layout for it, and with 2 screens, can do 90% of things I want to accomplish with the player. The whole device has 3 screens I think. One screen that is used for scrolling through your loaded movies is particularly useful.
Lastly, the player does come with a screensaver built into it's ROM, to prevent burn in, if you walk off and leave it unattended. It's a colored Pioneer Elite Logo that moves from top to bottom on the screen.
To conclude. If your loaded with DVD cases, aren't quite ready for the HDTV era or progressive scan, and are ready to code or copy a CCF for the remote, then this player is a sure fire winner. Glad I purchased mine. Really made reviewing your library of DVDs a pleasure. Up to 301 that is.
Lexman
<A HREF="http://www.catcables.com" <IMG SRC="http://www.htguide.com/lexman/other/sm_logo.gif"
Lex if you do want to me help out you only have to ask. 
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