Pioneer DV-420V-K Multi-Format 1080p Upscaling DVD Player

• 1080p Upscaling, HDMI Upscaling (to view on a 1080p display), HDMI Terminal for Digital Audio/Video Out
• USB Input for Compressed Music Playback, WMA (Windows Media Audio)/MP3/MPEG-4 AAC
• JPEG PhotoViewer*** (Fujicolor CD)
• Photo + Music Mix (JPEG Slideshow with Music)
• Dual-Layer DVD-R*/DVD/DVD-R/DVD-RW**/DVD+R/DVD+RW Compatible, SVCD/VCD/CD/CD-R/CD-RW Compatible

We originally tried the Samsung DVD-1080P9 after moving up from an old 480i Sony, but the 9P had trouble reading some of the more scratched up DVDs. Also, the Sony would remember your last play spot for the last 6 DVDs that you played, which the Samsung didn't. Not quite satisfied with the Samsung we decided to try out the Pioneer DV-420V-K and after one night of fiddling we're returning the Samsung.

As other's have said, it has all the important remote buttons on the face of the player, it has a high quality video output, and I have had no problems yet reading scratched up DVDs. As a bonus it remembers at least the last two DVD's play spots which is very handy if you have kids and want to swap out parent's material for the kidstuff. I also like the setup menu and manual better on the Pioneer.

Highly recommended.

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I received this today, but I am forcced to return the player to Amazon.

Be forewarned, this is no longer a multi-region player! On the back panel where the US power cord comes out there is an icon (a "1" on top of a global-map grid) that indicates it is a Region 1 player. Indeed, it ONLY plays US DVDs. Non-US DVD's are ejected with the TV screen message "Incompatible disc region number Cant play disc"

I am returning this to Amazon. I know that Customer Service has their procedures, but they wanted to know if the player was "defective" and never quite got that is not the multi-region player described by the earlier Reviewers.

The date of manufacture is October 2009. I can only surmise that Pioneer made it Region 1-only starting with that date of manufacture.

By the way, for USA DVD's, the picture is excellent.

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I recently bought a 37" HDTV and promptly bought one of the new sub-$200 Blu-Ray players (a Vizio). I wasn't particularly impressed with the Blu-Ray picture quality (it was good, but didn't bowl me over). The DVD upscaling was slightly worse and the DVD audio was very weak.

I sent it back and purchased the Pioneer DV-420-K. I'm very pleased with it. The construction seems solid, the picture quality using an HDMI and set to 1080P is just awesome and the audio is strong and crystal clear. I especially appreciate the various audio options for increasing the volume of dialog in movies, evening out the loudest and softest portions of the audio (Audio DRC for Dolby Digital). I haven't had the opportunity (or need) for adjusting the picture quality, but there are a number of options there for color, contrast and sharpness.

All in all its a great player and definitely worth the $89. It struck me that I can get a "top of the line" upscaling DVD player like the Pioneer for half the price of a cheapish Blu-Ray player. That quality gets me an excellent upscaled picture over HDMI (tops in Consumer Reports testing) and clear, beautiful sound. It rivals the cheaper Blu-Ray players BR disc image quality on a mid-sized TV like mine (and beats them on upscaling DVDs). If you have a larger TV I can see getting a Blu-Ray player, but at this point its just not worth it for a smaller set (like 37" on down). Plus there's just a lot less trouble with mature technology like this (less disc incompatibility problems, no constant updating of firmware like with Blu-Ray). That's something I forgot to mention this player is very forgiving of damaged or scratched discs. And speaking of the discs, there are still about 10 times more DVDs available for rent vs. Blu-Ray. Plus they are half the price or less when purchasing them.

I'll eventually get a Blu-Ray player (and it'll be a good Pioneer model!), but until that standard matures I'll be very happy with my Pioneer DVD player.

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I looked a long time before purchasing this player. Not all of the features are listed here, but are on other sites. First is, it plays the Euro standard PAL, which was one reason for buying this. Many of my burned disc are PAL and dual layer disc, which brings me to the second reason. DVD-DL. While I can split a disc into two DVD-R's, I don't need two discs laying around when one will do. Also plays every region I can throw at it too.

Some other positives. I'm able to change from 5:1 to 3:2 on the remote without going to the main menu which always irked me on my Sony stuff. I don't have an HD set yet, but I'm set for 1080P up scaling when I do get one. I wish this unit had an optical out in addition to the digital coax, but it's not a deal breaker.

Also, instead of just blindly buying this unit, I downloaded the manual, so I wouldn't start whining after I received the unit and found out that some desired features wouldn't work.

Manual link:Discs I've used successfully.

Windata DVD +R DL

Verbatim DVD -R

Windata DVD -R

Sony DVD +RW

Highly Recommended.

I've been using this player for a few weeks now and have no complaints. There are features I have not used yet (and may not) but the picture is great... it is easy to setup and use... and I think my favorite feature is that there are control buttons on the player itself. I don't plan to use them often but I have had remotes get flaky on me before so it's comforting to know I can still play a DVD and move thru the menus etc even without one.