Soon-to-be owner of a Pioneer 704 LD player (1 Viewer)

[Gregg Loewen]

Funny, I still have a 704 and an Elite 99 for sale (see the Hardware for sale forum). I thought my pricing was reasonable ??

Patrick you are right the 909 vs the 704 has a huge difference with video quality.

Gregg

 

[Jim Douglas]

Patrick,
Glad to hear the 704 arrived ok. So is everthing ok after having a few days to watch it? My CLD-79 shipped this week and I should have it Wed. of next week. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed it arrives in good shape. Since it's new in the original box the seller is double boxing it along with extra packing.
Later
Jim

 

[Patrick Sun]

Jim,

Yep, so far, the 704 is working very well. I've already integrated it into my HT setup.

You're lucky to find a new-in-box 79! Let us know after you've evaluated it, and share your thoughts on its performance once you have it all hooked into your HT.

 

[Jim Douglas]

Pat,
Glad you are happy with the purchase. I can't wait to get the 79. Should be here tomorrow going by the tracking number. I'll post some thoughts once I get it hooked up.
Later..
Jim

 

[Tony Kwong]

I just recieved the HLD-X9 today! I was so excited but it didn't arrive in the best shape. I got the classic E2/E3 error. So I guess the transport, slider or something is messed up during transport. I guess some of you are lucky....

 

[Rachael B]

Bummer Tony! It happened to me too. My first X9 arrived broken. All it would do was power on and click. It couldn't even get to the error messages. It wouldn't even open. I hope you bought from Daniel. He fixed me up with another unit. It took about a month. I had to wait about ten days for an inspector to come take a look at it. From that point on things moved along pretty well. Daniel is da man in my book! Be patient, it will be worth it. Good luck and best wishes!

 

[Tony Kwong]

Well Rachael, when powered on I cannot open the tray, I get the error message with clicks. Sometime afterword it turns off, sometimes it displays the counter but still cannot open the tray. I might open it up and take a quick peak. I did buy it from Daniel as you reccomended the Chinese Club.

What carrier did you ship the unit with anyway? I had FedEx, when I received it the top face of the remote control was all scratched up.

So what did the inspectors do? Just took a look at the packaging, you showed the clicking, they just take the unit away? I hope I can get a good scheudel as I work 14-16 hours a day, 5-6 days a week!

 

[Will Gatlin Jr]

I'm buying a Pioneer 704 from my buddy (he hasn't given me a price yet...I have the mint unit). I also have a Pioneer 919, and I want to know which player is better? My Sony RPTV (older than baseball...but still a beautful analog picture) only has one SVHS input, so I'm running an ENTECH 4-way SVHS high performance A/V switcher. The colors between my DV-09 and the DVL-919 can't get right. Would it be better if I put the 704 in my main system, and retire the DVL-919 to the bedroom? I think I want the best player in my bedroom because of the smaller (36') Sony TV with seperate S-VHS inputs. Any thoughts!! Thanks!!

PS...IMHO, LD still has the better sountrack.

 

[Rachael B]

Tony, my inspector was more intrested in the boxes and end caps than the player. He had a digital camera and must of taken 40 pictures. He thought the player was well packaged and said he believed that the player had been droped or fallen hard atleast once, maybe twice? The foam end caps were very broken he noted. The corners of both the inner and outer boxes were more crushed on one side he said.
The wharehouses up in Anchorage are big and rough. That's where most of the players might get damaged...? Most everything that flys in from Asia goes through them too. That's alotta' stuff!!! Hungry Wal-Marts are waiting!
Inform, Daniel that the player came in damaged. You'll have to discuss your options. In the old days he'd get you a replacement unit pronto. Now...? I hear the X9 is getting scarce. Used X0's are supposedly easier to find in Nippon. S9's are supposed to be easier too. Oh, yeah, as far as I know all Daniel's U.S. shipments are Fedex.
There was a Brit over on AVS who had two X9's arrive broken via UPS. He finally lucked out on a third unit. Fedex didn't deliver in his area as best I can remember. Maybe all Daniel's stuff to the U.K. goes UPS for some reason? This dude was really peeved with UPS too!!!!
Anyway, Daniel works out the insurance with Fedex, not you, thank goodness! You'll proably get a call from Fedex and get interviewed by phone sometime after the inspection. I did.
My S9 aviated over in 3 days and the box was absolutely unscathed. The paper wrapping over the outside box wasn't as much as torn. My first X9 was stuck in the Alaska wharehouse for about a week. I bet that's where it got broken. It's box felt damn neas as soft newsprint. It got whooped! The replacement is flawless. If it suppourted LD-G it would be the absolute perfect player. It's close enough for me! I do have a bunch of LD-G discs though...and an S9. Daniel, will do his best to please you. His best is real good and muy bueno too. Good luck with it!
Will, you'd proably get the most gain using the 704 on your projection TV. It is the bettter player. It'll display less noise and better colour than a 909. The 704 has a really decent 3-line comb filter. I'd hook it up both ways and put on an A-B repeat of segments of some video to compare. I'd use one great looking disc and the worst looking disc you have. What players and connections do on crappy software is often more revealing than what it does with the good. Noisey 80's discs like BUCKAROO BANZAI or the original Woody Allen stuff is good. Any Vestron disc is usually good. Most of them sucked by 2-days standards. Whichever TV gets the 704 will proably end up being your favourite LD venue! Have fun with your impending (?) new player!

 

[Brian-W]

My X9 arrived barely alive. Believe it or not, the player looked and worked great. But the box was very distressed, and the styrofoam corner units that hold the player were literally disintegrated (pile of styrofoam dust).

While shipping is largely to blame, Pioneer is to blame for using such chintzy materials. For a $3k player and especially how much it weighs, they use materials that are only suitable for delivery by hand from the factory to the new owners home.

Bad Pioneer, very bad!

-Brian

 

[Tony Kwong]

Spoke with Daniel, he told me to check and see how damaged the box was and then to send the unit back to him via his FedEx account. I have yet to discuss options with him yet...
Mann this really sucks! Was really looking forward to this player. Now I'm stuck watching LD's on a DVL! I wonder how many or these X9's were ruined by shipping? I'm happy to say that the LD-S9 I was auctioning off on eBay a few months ago was sent without problems at all.

 

[Rachael B]

Tony, I had to rebuild my end caps and fortify them with duct tape to send mine back. Mine were rebuildable, just barely. Brian is right, the packaging for such a heavy player is substandard. If you don't have to wait for inspection the return will go fast. I hope Daniel can rustle up another one for you. It's late in the game. Best wishes!

 

[Will Gatlin Jr]

Rachael...

My other player is the 919 not the 909. Does it make a difference?

 

[Tony Kwong]

My end caps are like in 20 different pieces!!! It's a mess. I still have tons of packaging material here. I'll figure something out, so it wont be any further damage to the player.

I'm curious, so gonna open up the player tomorrow and take a quick peak. I just want to find out why the tray doesen't open.

 

[Rachael B]

Will, the 919 and 909 are pretty much the same thing except the 919 passes DTS for DVD's.

Tony, good luck with making end caps and getting another X9.

 

[Brian-W]

Rachael, did you buy that E.T. Hi-Vision on ebay? You bad girl

 

[Rachael B]

Si senor Musealot!

 

[Jim Douglas]

Got the CLD-79 today and it was in excellent shape. Everything was well packed and double boxed so it looked just like you would go into the store and pickup a new unit. Watched a movie tonight and it looked and worked great. I will probably wait a week or so and make sure everything is ok and then sell my 704. Sorry to hear about the problems on receiving the broken X9's. I bought a S-9 a few months ago and the styrofoam end pieces really got hammered but the unit worked ok,but when I first opened that box I was "OH NO!!". Hopefully you'll get everything worked out without to much hassle.
Later
Jim

 

[Tony Kwong]

Glad everything seems fine. You should also try some CAV disc like Toy Story, or something that fills up a complete side of a CAV disc. That way you can find out if your player is still align properly.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

The Pioneer CLD-D704 is a very fine Laser Disc player. In fact it is so good that Video Magazine (now Sound & Vision) while reviewing it, had termed it as the 'Holy Grail' of Laser Disc players.

Sanjay
Member since 1997