Pioneer DV-588A-S Slim Progressive Scan DVD Player
Surprises, Good and Bad - Plays OGG!
I'm a loyal Pioneer customer but there are some major disappointments with this product.  I bought this to replace my beloved, but outdated, 563A-S.  I wanted something than can play a variety of media codec's, such as XVIDs and DIVX, but also offer SACD capabilities.  Apparently, this is a rare combination of capabilities so the Pioneer offers the most features for an SACD capable player.  It's also nice to have some of the primary controllers on the front of the player, something that is vanishing as players grow thinner and cheaper. All in all, the Pioneer offers great features and functionality with a quality and attractive design.However, I have concerns about the image quality.  I have several DVD players and this one generates the most artifacting and interlacing moir.  This is especially problematic with XVID/DIVX/VCDs, etc...  In fact, the image quality is poorer than the Pioneer it replaced.  In general, the new player has a few more capabilities, but it also has some handicaps that essentially neutralize its advantages.  The interlace moir might be less evident on digital or HDTV, but the artifacting/blocking will likely be much more prominent. <br /> <br />One of the more interesting discoveries I made while testing the player is that this model can play some .ogg and .ogm files.  I think it hangs up on .ogg with 5.1 channels and .ogm files above a certain bitrate.  However, my newest Toshiba SD-K850 player (with the exception of ogg/ogm files), can handle a larger variety of XVID and DIVX file formats. <br /> <br />I also regret that the Pioneer OSD does not include the detailed codec information also available on the Toshiba SD-K850. <br /> <br />In the end, it's impossible to find the perfect DVD player so I've resorted to connecting two of the latest and greatest well featured players and I can now play just about anything short of connection my PC to my entertainment center.  So if you want the best solution, I would buy the Pioneer for SACD and OGG playback, and buy the Toshiba SD-K850 for DVD and general multi-codec playback.