Pioneer DV-343 DVD Player
Another region locked player
I bought this player after reading rave reviews from (...).  And so far, I like it a lot... with a few caveats.  Firstly, Pioneer caved in to the evil MPAA and disabled the 343's region-code changing functionality, the primary reason I bought it.  Thus, I removed 2 stars from my rating because of Pioneer's asinine decision to make their player incompatible with over half the world's DVDs.  Secondly, it does not have fast-forward or reverse capability, something present on a lot of cheaper players - and flipping through random scenes in the \\"forward seek\\" mode is disorienting and imprecise.  Thirdly, a minor annoyance occurs when a new DVD is inserted: the intro sequence plays, and cannot be paused.  And lastly, it's not slimline.  I have little enough space with all the other stuff stacked in my TV cabinet; why on Earth must Pioneer expand their player to 10 times the size of its internal electronics?  If I cut a hole in the side, I could probably store a couple dozen DVDs, with their cases, in the empty space in the box.<br />It does get some minor bonus points, though, for having a relatively dim display (so the unit's faceplate doesn't distract you from the movie) that turns off completely when the power is off.  So unlike my VCRs, it doesn't light up a dark room with an eerie glow when not in use.<br />If you put in a region 1 DVD and press play, the 343 works well.  I have had no problems with scratched rental DVDs, and the layer transitions are completely seamless, as they should be.  The motor is also very quiet; silent at 3 feet, to my ear.  So, apart from some stupid design decisions, the general operation of the player seems to be excellent.  My conclusion is that Pioneer's engineers are top-notch, but their product designers are either (...), or worse - marketing department personnel.