Pioneer DV-333 DVD Player
Just the facts
I believe that most of you buyers out there will not buy a DVD based on a customer review that only tells you it's a 'great' appliance or the picture an sound are 'great'. I've owned 4 DVD players and sadly the best way to know how it will perform is to test it on your system.  So I will try to focus on issues that I think you should consider for your purchase.<br />Video:  The clarity and sharpness of the picture will depend on your TV set.  I've tested this DVD on a Panasonic Tau, a Sony Wega and a JVC regular set.  The picture is just fine with a regular set, but with the Wega and Tau it presents rendering problems. My suggestion: if you'd already spent a couple of extra bucks in your TV set you should consider buying a better player because this one won't take full advantage of your TV.  If this is not your case then this DVD is a perfect match for a regular TV set. (It has a picture quality enhancement and I've seen that it performs better if you turn it off).<br />Audio:   No complaints here with the optical an coaxial outs. The signal to noise ratio is quite better compared to similar priced players. The transport is a little bit noisy on some DVD's and CDR's. This depends on the spinning speed of the disc. In other words, it will not be noisy through all the picture, just on some portions of it (mostly at the beginning and if the DVD has dual layer somewhere in the middle of it).<br />General: Although it has no zoom feature, it has a couple of extras that might interest you like the last memory function, condition memory and the access speed (this last one is amazing). The remote is not as intuitive as others (example: the play button is not between the REW and FF so you'll find yourself looking for the buttons in the dark). I've tested it with region 1 and 4 DVD's without any problems.