Pioneer DV-578A skipping on DVD-Audio (1 Viewer)

[Paul_Psutka]

I was really happy with everything about the new DV-578A player I hooked up last week, until I started to hear various skipping on DVD-Audio discs. It plays CD's and DVD-Video discs just fine, and it plays 1mm errors on a test CD I have, which is better than average, and much better than the 0.2mm redbook standard.

The skipping I hear is on various DVD-Audio discs from different companies (AIX, Reprise, DTS Entertainment, DGC). The discs are all flawless (no scratches). It's definitely a player problem because the skipping is random, and can't be repeated at the same point in a song. It's just a 1/2 second skip when it occurs but it's annoying. Doesn't occur on every song, and usually never more than once in a song.

And then when trying to play Steely Dan's "Everything Must Go" DVD-Audio after selecting the 2 channel stereo 192/24 track, it plays fine for about the first 25 to 29 seconds of a song, and then skips like crazy so the song becomes unlistenable.

Anyone else had these problems with the new DV-578A's? I'm going to call Pioneer today to see what they have to say. Mine was manufactured in June 2004. I purchased mine mail-order, otherwise I would have exchanged it by now to see if a different unit would be better.

If I could get a unit without this skipping problem I'd be quite happy, considering the low price tag of this player. Though I still would have been willing to pay an extra $100 or so for the unit if they put more quality into the power supply, chassis, etc.

 

[Chuck Kent]

My 578A was also made June 2004. I don't have the disc you note but I have not had any skipping from any disc I've tried so far, no matter what the format...

 

[Paul_Psutka]

Good news....

I picked up a 2nd DV-578A, and it's not skipping on any DVD-Audio discs I've tried so far. Even the Steely Dan "Everything Must Go" DVD-Audio disc plays back flawlessly in the 2 channel hi-rez mode, which previously skipped like crazy about 25 to 29 seconds into each track.

Also, I've never seen such impressive results with my test CD that does simulated dropout/error correction tests. It will playback the 3.0mm simulated dropout track without any skipping.

This 2nd unit I'm happy with was manufactured in April 2004.

One thing to note in the initial settings menu is that when you make adjustments for the speaker distance and speaker installation (size), be sure to go back in and look to see that your settings were saved. It took me a while to figure out how to get them to save instead of them resetting back to the default settings.

I found it easy to adjust the multichannel levels, as my receiver allows separate volume settings for the multichannel inputs. However, the setting that works best is the exact same setting I have for my regular analog and digital inputs. No boost necessary for the subwoofer channel. This is when testing DVD-Audio discs. I do not have any SACD's to test.

 

[Paul_Psutka]

I'm no longer happy with these Pioneer DV-578A players after purchasing the "Neil Young - Greendale" DVD-Audio disc, which will not playback in DVD-Audio mode.

See my posts on page 6 of this thread...

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...0&pagenumber=6

 

[Mark McQuaide]

I bought a 578a a couple weeks ago and since then I've discovered some serious problems with it. It outputs heavy static when playing the following DVD-Audio discs:

Bach Classics, Neil Young Harvest, Eddie Money Shakin with the Money Maker, Organ Spectacular by Ton Koopman, George Benson Breezin, and Linda Ronstadt What's New. In addition it lets out a loud pop during a track on a Handel DVD-A. All of these disks play fine on the RP91.

I called Pioneer tech support and they stated that they are aware of no issues with the 578. They gave me the number of a local service center to take it for repair.

I'll probably take it up with Tweeter where I bought it. If another unit has the same problem, I'm just going to give up and save up for a better player.

If anyone that owns this player could try one of these disks I'd like to hear from them.

Mark