[ptelles]

I purchased a DV-400V from Best Buy yesterday. I was shopping for a DVD player that featured USB flash drive support and was capable of playing AVI files encoded with the Xvid codec. Based upon that criteria, the DV-400V was an excellent fit.


I tested AVI playback using DVD+R DL media and a 16GB Corsair Flash Voyager USB 2.0 drive. So far it has played every AVI file that I have thrown at it, including those using external subtitle files.


Interestingly enough, although Pioneer makes no mention of this in their specifications, I was able to successfully play a multi-region PAL DVD. The DV-400V itself is region locked.


One quirk that I discovered is that my unit appears to suffer from video clock jitter. When connected to my Samsung SPN4235X/XAA EDTV plasma and set to 1080i output, the horizontal and vertical sync signals fluctuate sufficiently to cause a band of distortion along the right side of the display. The Samsung reported frequencies alternating between 33.76 kHz H / 60.08 Hz V and 33.84 kHz H / 60.22 Hz V.


My Westinghouse LVM-42W2 HDTV LCD did not appear to be affected by the clock jitter and was able to display all signals, including 1080p, without distortion.

 

[polyscroll]

I too purchased a DV-400V from Best Buy and despite not having a TV at the moment to hook it up to, I'd like to report on a few things about it that really has me excited.


The following info is taken right from the owners manual:

TV Aspect Ratio

4:3 (Letter Box)

4:3 (Pan & Scan)

16:9 (Wide)

16:9 (Compressed)

HDMI Resolution

720x480i (rare)

720x480p

1280x720p

1920x1080i

1920x1080p

Component Out

Interlaced

Progressive

HDMI Colorspace

Full range RGB

RGB

YCbCr (Default for HDMI) (Called "Component" in menu)

Video Adjust Menu

Sharpness (Soft, Standard, Fine)

Brightness (-20 to +20)

Contrast (-16 to +16)

Gamma (Off, Low, Medium, High)

Hue (Green 9 to Red 9)

Chroma Level (-9 to +9)

Audio DRC (Dynamic Range Control)

Off, Low, Medium, High

Virtual Surround

Off, On

Equalizer

Off, Rock, Pop, Live, Dance, Techno, Classic, Soft

Dialog Enhancement

Off, Low, Medium, High

Digital Out

Off, On

Dolby Digital Out

Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital --> PCM

DTS Out

DTS

DTS --> PCM

96 kHz PCM Out

96 kHZ

96 kHz --> 48 kHz

MPEG Out

MPEG

MPEG --> PCM

HDMI Audio Out

LPCM (2CH)

Auto

Off

DTS Downmix

Stereo

Lt/Rt (compatible with Dolby surround matrix decoders)

General Features

Will do Zoom X2 and X4

Will play DivX, VCD, MP3, WMA, WMV (discs), MPEG-4 AAC, CD, JPEG, and of course DVD

Will display a multi camera/angle icon on-screen when it detects a multi-angle scene. (Defeatable)

USB input on front face

DVD/USB Button on player and remote

17 button functions on the player. (Full menu controls)


Downside: No Optical Out....Only digital coaxial out. This might be a big deal to some but not to me. My Audio system has Coax in and TV is HDMI.


A little more info....after removing the case, I found it to be using the MediaTek MT1389FE chip


Now I just have to hook it up and check picture quality.


By the way, BB had it for $30 more than what Pioneer was listing it for on their website

. Once I pointed that out and they checked Pioneer's site, they gladly beat that price.



Anyone else out there that has tried this unit out yet ???

 

[MCaugusto]

???? I was at Best Buy last Thursday and asked a salesman about the availability of the Pioneer DV-400V and was told that they only carry the Pioneer ELITE line and not the standard Pioneer line of electronics; So, what's going on here ?

By the way, did Best Buy have the DV-400V in both finishes, black and/or silver ?

--------------------------------------------

Marcos

 

[polyscroll]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MCaugusto /forum/post/0


???? I was at Best Buy last Thursday and asked a salesman about the availability of the Pioneer DV-400V and was told that they only carry the Pioneer ELITE line and not the standard Pioneer line of electronics; So, what's going on here ?

By the way, did Best Buy have the DV-400V in both finishes, black and/or silver ?

--------------------------------------------

Marcos

You must have gotten a clueless sales person.


They DO carry the DV-400V-K Pioneer now. It is the Black model and looks great aesthetically.


I went to the store and looked for the DV-400V but didn't see it on display so I asked a sales associate. He said they just had one and they weren't allowed to put it on display yet. I asked if I could buy it and he said "Sure as long as you specifically ask for it, I can sell it to you."


Next time you go to your store, ask for it and if they say they don't carry it, ask them to look it up in their system....it should be there.


By the way, they do carry other "non-Elite" stuff. The Pioneer PDP-5071HD Plasma for one.

 

[ultimix]



Quote:
Originally Posted by polyscroll /forum/post/0


I too purchased a DV-400V from Best Buy and despite not


A little more info....after removing the case, I found it to be using the MediaTek MT1389FE chip


Now I just have to hook it up and check picture quality.





Anyone else out there that has tried this unit out yet ???

Is the MediaTek Chip suppose to be a good one.. sorry I dont know..


thanks


Mark

 

[ptelles]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MCaugusto /forum/post/0


???? I was at Best Buy last Thursday and asked a salesman about the availability of the Pioneer DV-400V and was told that they only carry the Pioneer ELITE line and not the standard Pioneer line of electronics; So, what's going on here ?

By the way, did Best Buy have the DV-400V in both finishes, black and/or silver ?

--------------------------------------------

Marcos

The local Best Buy had one on display and one on the shelf which I purchased. Black was the only finish available.


The Pioneer web site doesn't show anything other than black.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...756832,00.html

 

[ptelles]



Quote:
Originally Posted by ultimix /forum/post/0


Is the MediaTek Chip suppose to be a good one.. sorry I dont know..


thanks


Mark

This is my first experience with it. It appears to be used in a number of DVD players.

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers?...Tek%20MT1389FE

 

[ptelles]

To display the region and ROM information:


1) Power on the unit with no disc or USB flash drive inserted.


2) Press Home Menu on the remote.


3) Select Initial Settings


4) Scroll down to Options


5) Press Display on the remote.


Here is what I get:


REGION: 1

ROM VERSION: YGB7328I

 

[ptelles]



Quote:
Originally Posted by polyscroll /forum/post/0


Downside: No Optical Out....Only digital coaxial out. This might be a big deal to some but not to me. My Audio system has Coax in and TV is HDMI.

It looks like the Japanese version has optical out.

http://pioneer.jp/dvdld/player/dv_400v/img/zoom_06.jpg

 

[TonyS]



Quote:
Originally Posted by polyscroll /forum/post/0

A little more info....after removing the case, I found it to be using the MediaTek MT1389FE chip

So, the question now becomes... does the 400V suffer from the "vertical compression" error when upconverting like some of the other players that use the Mediatek chipset?!?

 

[MCaugusto]

The DV-400V is listed as having "PureCinema 2:3 progressive scan" which to my understanding would imply that it uses Pioneer's in-house developed de-interlacer/scaler chip.... Pioneer has been using this nomenclature for at least a couple of years to describe it and, as tested by Home Theater magazine, was one of only three manufacturers (Pioneer, JVC, Hitachi) that passed all de-interlacing and upscaling testings without having to resort to "hunting" and selecting different options in the user's menu to find the best settings for such purpose.

Perhaps the DV-400V uses the MediaTek MT1389FE only for MPEG2 decoding and for DivX playback leaving all de-interlacing/upscaling up to its own processing chip ?

By the way, after going to BestBuy and calling Tweeter etc plus J&R just to find out that none of them would have/were planning on stocking the DV-400V, i placed my order with the Pioneer Store and should be getting my unit by tomorrow...I certainly don't think that for $100 there is a better dvd player out there right now.

-----------------------------------------

Marcos

 

[edsspam]

Am I the only one excited about the USB option for MP3 playback? I plugged my flash drive into the slot and was playing tunes in 5 seconds.


I also did a sound check on my test bench and found the USB sound quality (@ 320Kbps) to be only slightly lower than CD on my $3000 amp/speaker system. As such, I consider this playback quality to be near-audiophile grade. This is a big concern for me because many of the MP3 players have inferior sound quality, and the high-end stores still refuse to acknowledge a bit stream as a legitimate audio source.


What I want to know is: what are the compatibility options for USB devices? The Owner's Manual is very vague:


"Compatible USB devices include portable flash memory (particularly keydrives) and digital audio players (MP3 players) of format FAT16/32. It is not possible to connect this personal computer for USB playback."


So I purchased a Seagate/FreeAgent 250GB external drive (also at best buy for $99). It is NTFS. If I convert to FAT, will it play back via USB on the DV-400V ?


This to me is HUGE because it is a much cheaper solution than using a dedicated media PC with sound card upgrade. Of course I got passed back and forth from blue shirt kid to blue shirt kid at Best Buy, but the asst mgr in the Magnolia section was a true geek - he said Pioneer TVs already play back hard drives via USB direct to the TV, and that technically an I-Pod is a hard drive (and a proprietary one at that).


Any bitheads out there have an opinion about this????


Cheers,


Ed

 

[dr0s]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MCaugusto /forum/post/0


The DV-400V is listed as having "PureCinema 2:3 progressive scan" which to my understanding would imply that it uses Pioneer's in-house developed de-interlacer/scaler chip

The predecessor (DV-490V) is also listed as having "PureCinema 2:3 progressive scan". Most likely this unit is just an incremental updating of the 490V, with the added ability to scale to 1080p and the inclusion of the USB capability.


edsspam, on other players with USB and the same chipset (Philips, Oppo), there seems to be a wide variation of which disks are compatible, and there is even some sensitivity to what formatting software works. I would expect the 400V to accept essentially the same drives. The following thread on videohelp, though about the Philips 5960, might be useful for you: http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=301465 - DR

 

[TonyS]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MCaugusto /forum/post/0


The DV-400V is listed as having "PureCinema 2:3 progressive scan" which to my understanding would imply that it uses Pioneer's in-house developed de-interlacer/scaler chip.... Pioneer has been using this nomenclature for at least a couple of years to describe it and, as tested by Home Theater magazine, was one of only three manufacturers (Pioneer, JVC, Hitachi) that passed all de-interlacing and upscaling testings without having to resort to "hunting" and selecting different options in the user's menu to find the best settings for such purpose.

Marcos -


While I'd love for that to be the case, Pioneer has also slapped their "PureCinema Progressive" on their players regardless of whether or not it uses their proprietary de-interlacing solution. Check out Kris Deering's review of the DV-588A here , specifically the second paragraph where, despite the "Pioneer Pure Progressive" written on the unit, the Mediatek MT1389EE chip does all the de-interlacing and MPEG duties.


That said, has anyone checked the upscaling on the DV-400V for any signs of vertical compression?!?

 

[polyscroll]



Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyS /forum/post/0


Marcos -


...Pioneer has also slapped their "PureCinema Progressive" on their players regardless of whether or not it uses their proprietary de-interlacing solution...despite the "Pioneer Pure Progressive" written on the unit, the Mediatek MT1389EE chip does all the de-interlacing and MPEG duties.

That statement appears to be correct in the case of the DV-400V as well. I just thoroughly checked the main board and there is a System Ram chip, Flash Memory chip, Video Driver chip, DVD driver chip, and the MT1389FE. There are NO proprietary Pioneer ICs at all. (Unless the MT1389FE in this unit is a special Pioneer only version)


My assumption is that the MediaTek chip does the Scaling AND De-interlacing.


That being said, the fact that this unit will do 1080p AND 480i over HDMI, will do DivX AND WMV from the USB port, and is around a C-note is a good thing.


If the PQ is sub-standard however, then "all bets are off" and it must be relegated to the pretty paper weight category.


I am unable to hook mine up as I'm in the middle of moving from VA to NY and my TVs are boxed-up.


Anyone out there that can review the operation, and, more importantly the PQ, Scaling, and De-interlacing abilities? I plan to do an A-B comparison with 3 other HDMI equipped players I have once I get the TVs unpacked.

 

[MCaugusto]

polyscroll >>> Does the DV-400V come packaged with a HDMI cable included in the box ?

>>>> Thanks > Marcos

 

[polyscroll]



Quote:
Originally Posted by MCaugusto /forum/post/0


polyscroll >>> Does the DV-400V come packaged with a HDMI cable included in the box ?

>>>> Thanks > Marcos

Nope...just Composite Video & Audio...Standard Fare.

 

[edsspam]

DR -


Thanks for the post - I am working on the reformat issue as we speak - got my fingers crossed!


Marcos -


I found much better deals on cables online...retail outlets seem to have two options: very cheap and very expensive. I ordered an open-box NXG cable for $15 (retails for $50).


Cheers,


Ed

 

[MCaugusto]

Thanks for the tip eddsspam, however, yesterday i ordered a HDMI cable from MonoPrice, one of the sponsors listed at the top of this page, which is a company that's been highly recommended by several posters at AVS - and it only cost me $9 for a 3ft length, shipping included !

On a side note, i'm not too pleased with Pioneer either (besides Samsung and the "HQV fiasco") for advertising the DV-400V as having "PureCinema 2:3 progressive scan", which to my innocent ears meant that it has the same video processing chip as the one used by its premier video displays and dvd players, and now i find out that it does not, it simply implies that the unit "correctly" de-interlaces film-based material....Talk about false advertisement : had i known that last week when i placed my order for the DV-400V i wouldn't have rushed so much to purchase it and would continue my research for a very inexpensive dvd player with 1080p HDMI output and a good, reliable video processing chip onboard; At this point, even a player with a Faroudja/DCDi chip would be high in my list.

Amazon is advertising a Sylvania dvd player with the above described features (1080p HDMI output plus DCDi) but upon further research i found out that the particular model number is not even listed at Sylvania's website and the closest dvd player to it does not have DCDi listed as an option...

-----------------------------------------

Marcos

 

[zoro]

Region free hack please