Pioneer Elite DV-45A (1 Viewer)

[Pablo C]

I’m thinking of changing my old DVD-Player Pioneer 606D for a new one. I’m interested in Pioneer Elite DV-45A but when I entered into the official web Site I noticed that it was out of order. I wonder why, is there a new model for sale?
Thank you.

 

[Brian L]

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pi...,92158,00.html

Still looks like its up from here.

BGL

 

[AaronJB]

I believe Pioneer will have a new SACD/DVD-A/DVD-V player either in late May or early June. It will be cheaper than the 45a, but will also probably have less costly internals & less features.

Although I've read a few negative reviews/comments about the 45a (regarding video quality and SACD playback), a pretty sizable majority seems to be pleased with the player. I'm in the market for a player and was considering the 45a, but I'm leaning more towards the similarly priced Philips 963 at the moment.

 

[Tony Casler]

If you can afford to spend a little more, I would highly recommend the pioneer DV-47Ai. I am very impressed with mine, and it has received better reviews than the 45A in every magazine I've read recently. It is also somewhat future-proof, with it's IEEE 1394 digital audio connection.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I started with a 45a, then moved to the 47ai. In retrospect, my only complaint with the 45a was ... the weight. The 47ai has a hair better video, but the audio is real close. In the $400 to $500 range right now, there actually are no other choices anyway. But definately don't feel like you'd be giving anything up by getting the 45a. It is a very good machine for the money.

 

[Mike Sloan]

I too have the 45A...but plan to also get the Outlaw ICBM to take care of the faulty bass management exhibited by the player. Spend a little more and get the Denon 2900. It appears that they did the bass M. stuff correctly!

 

[Pablo C]

Thanks for the suggestions. Is really better the Denon DVD 2900 than the Pioneer Elite DV-45A? Thanks.

 

[Mike Sloan]

The Pioneer 45A has goofy bass management...do a search on this site and you will see what I mean. To fix the BM probs..you need to spend $200.00 on the Outlaw ICBM and then it works great. The specs on the Denon 2900 appear to have solved alot of the problems: 80hz crossover for both DVD-A and SACD...plus the proper slopes. If I was doing it over...I would go for the 2900!

 

[Brian L]

If I was doing it over...I would go for the 2900!

Me too....AFTER the 2900 has been on the market for 6 months and all the REAL users (not the magazines that don't always get it right) have reported how it REALLY works!

As for the 2900 being better than the 45A...on paper, yes, (at least as far as video is concerned) but then again, I don't think anyone has thoroughly tested it yet.

And yes, those that have the 45A are happy with it, but we like to keep are heads in the sand

Note to Mike: Any chance you have 101 Dalmatians II? Very curious how that would play on your 45A. On mine, with Pure Cinema on, the combing artifacts are unreal. I had never seen combing before I played that disc. Looks like it is poorly played, which kills our players 3:2 detection. Only disc I won that does that.

BGL

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I agree with Brian. Pioneer advertised the 45a and 47ai as both having BM for SACD and DVD-A. But when actual users tested it, not quite. So who knows in practice what the BM of the 2900 will be.

Remember too, that the 45a is about 1/2 the cost of what the 2900 will be. Even with the ICBM, it's still cheaper.

Depending on how you will use the 45a, the BM might be perfectly acceptable to you.

 

[BrianMagog]

When is bass management an issue on the 45A? Is it an issue if you have full range fronts?

 

[Brian L]

When is bass management an issue on the 45A? Is it an issue if you have full range fronts?

There are hundreds of posts on the subject. Search 45A and BM and plan to spend about a week reading!

Short story:

DD, DTS, and SACD are said to be OK, but I do not know of any users with SACD test software to confirm.

As for DVD-A, there is no BM at all. This can be confirmed with the Chesk Ultimate DVD. As such, you will not be able to redirect bass from the .1 channel to the mains (if you have full range mains and no sub), nor will you be able to send bass from the mains to a sub, which is death on a x.0 recording (that is to say, a recording that does not use the .1 channel for bass). That is fairly uncommon, but not unheard of.

BGL

 

[BrianMagog]

Thanks for saving a week of my life, Brian! I was totally turned off on this unit because I had heard of the BM issue and was leaning toward the 2900, but the 45A is substantially less, and it sounds like the DVD-A issue isn't that great if you have both full range fronts and a subwoofer (particularly in my instance where my fronts are substantially higher quality than my sub).

 

[Brian L]

DVD-A issue isn't that great if you have both full range fronts and a subwoofer

Well, it can be depending on the software.

If a DVD-A is 4.0 (like many Chesky titles), you will not redirect any bass to the sub. If a DVD-A is 5.1, you will only get bass that is on the .1 channel.

Forgetting about DVD-A, the BM that does work in the 45A is at a fixed 100 Hz. That would not be optimum for full range fronts.

And an unknown is what the 45A would do with SACD, DD, and DTS if you set it for large fronts, small center and surrounds, Sub on. I know of no posts that refer to tests with that configuration.

I use an ICBM, and the combo is really a sweet rig. In your case, you would benefit by being able to choose a lower crossover for the full range mains.

I tend to sound like a sales man from Outlaw (if there listening, I would accept a discount on a 950 as compensation!) but I would use the ICBM with ANY player, regardless of how good its BM is said to be; its that good a product.

BGL

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I found that BM works correctly for DVD-A 2.0 discs. Just the 4.0 ones is where the crossing over doesn't occur (if you have small speakers set). I don't know if anyone has been able to tell if crossing over occurs for 5.1 DVD-A discs or not. SACD 2.0 also works as it's supposed to.

And to somewhat reiterate what Brian M says, if you run full range fronts, then you'd have large selected there anyway, and it's much less of an issue. (Because there wouldn't be any crossing over anyway.)

 

[Brad Newton]

On the video side of the 45a.....since I have a 4:3 tv, does it play the widescreen dvd's properly. I have a JVC model now that allows me to use the zoom button to fill the screen. I have read that the new JVC's have a "fill screen" option that reduces the black bars on 4:3 sets. Does the 45a have any of these "features"?

 

[Brian L]

There is no zoom function, but using one is a hanging offense around these here parts

That said, the 45A does do a very good job of in-player letterboxing, which is important if your TV lacks a 16:9 mode.

BGL

 

[Kevin_Wadsworth]

A follow-up question on the bass management: I have a H/K AVR-525 receiver, which can re-digitize the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs, perform bass management, and then re-convert them to analog. Doe anyone here have any experience with how well this works? I was considering buying a DV-45A and using the receiver for bass management, but I'm curious how it's quality would compare to buying an ICBM for the DV-45A.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

The ICBM will be better as it's analog. A digital conversion can only worsen the quality of the signal. But, you get it for free in the receiver. I would try the receiver first, and see if it's good enough for you.