I'm thinking on buying a Pioneer DVL-919 "American Version", because i still can find it brand new.
I need to know what's inside this machine, is this a CLD-704?

i have read somewhere that the LD section is 6 series and the Dvd section is a none-progressive scan average Pioneer dvd player of its time. The component video out is only for the dvd playback, you have to use s-video or composite for the ld side.

I'm sorry about my ignorance but i don't understand what you mean with "6 series" underman.

But if i use the component i will use the comb filter from my Pioneer Plasma, that is better than the older comb filters. Does this means that the DVL-919 will be used basically as a transport right?

And if connected to a good video processor/scaler i think it will behave pretty good.

My idea is to save me best units... and use this one when i want to watch Ld's that don't need an X9 or X0 to be played.

At this time it's time to save pickup's and spindles to make them last... call me crazy... LOOOL:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::)

I would not buy any of Pioneer's LD/DVD combi players. I believe the LD section was based on a CLD-D604, a pretty middle-of-the-road model.

The DVD section is a very crappy first-gen player. 480i output only. Has the chroma bug. Can't output or decode DTS audio at all (on DVD). It's absolutely worthless in this regard.

The player's Component outputs will only work for DVDs. They will not output LD video. You have to use Composite or S-video for that.

It is correct the DVL-919 has the CLD-D604 type of picture, not the sharper more defined picture with the CLD-D704.
As for DVD, agree, an entry level system, only 480i. But the 909 did not output DVD DTS but the 919 does output DVD DTS. That is the main difference between the 909 and 919

sorry i meant cld-d604

you will mostlikely get the best possible picture by using its s-video

919 bitstreams DTS

One nice thing about the DVD side of the 909 (at least the earlier production runs, the ones with the old Pioneer logo I think) was that it was easily made region-selectable (via a remote code) with a blob of solder and could also be modded to have its Macrovision output disabled if I wanted to make an S-VHS backup of anything. I believe it could also be modded to output DTS, but I never bothered since I didn't have a DTS-capable receiver at the time.

Being that it was both my first LD player and my first DVD player, it got a lot of use watching imported DVDs and LDs from Japan. The picture might not have been great but it did a good job serving my needs in the late 90's.

One nice thing about the DVD side of the 909 (at least the earlier production runs, the ones with the old Pioneer logo I think) was that it was easily made region-selectable (via a remote code) with a blob of solder and could also be modded to have its Macrovision output disabled if I wanted to make an S-VHS backup of anything. I believe it could also be modded to output DTS, but I never bothered since I didn't have a DTS-capable receiver at the time.

All of the DVL-909's had the multi-region and Macrovision disable feature. But the DVD DTS only worked for if you had specific firmware loads. That mod actually gave the 909 the same menu's as the DVL-91, another addition was V-DNR for LDs but the picture is soft enough that was not really needed.