With a couple of quality Blu-ray players due out later this year and a new range of cutting-edge plasma TVs hitting stores soon, nobody would blame Pioneer if the humble DVD player was on their priority list would slide down. But a DVD player market without Pioneer is like Man United without Alex Ferguson – it just wouldn’t be the same without them. The company has a duty to its legions of fans to continue producing standard def decks that push the limits of technology, and luckily Pioneer is keeping the flame burning bright this year with another great selection of players, recorders and systems.
Included in this range is the £90 DV-410V DVD player, the successor to last year’s superb DV-400V, which beat its budget competition by six with an unbeatable range of features and top-notch performance. At just under £90, it looks like the DV-410V offers more of the same great value without adding anything radical to the 400V’s already generous feature list. There’s also the more affordable DV-310 and the upgraded DV-610AV, which adds DVD-Audio and SACD playback.
In stark contrast to its bulky premium players, Pioneer’s budget decks have traditionally been slim and sleek, and the DV-410V continues that trend. It’s certainly attractive, but in a way that will appeal to techies rather than interior designers. Available in black or silver, the deck doesn’t have any minimalist pretensions – its front is unashamedly busy, packed with everything from menu controls and play buttons to logos and a USB port, the latter of which allows you to connect and play memory sticks and other digital devices media files.
On the back, the port selection might seem a bit light at first, but you’ll quickly find that it actually covers most bases. Of greatest interest to owners of flat screen TVs and projectors is the HDMI input, this time in the 1.3 variant, which will hopefully deliver crisp digital images in 720p, 1080i and 1080p flavors.
That’s joined by an RGB and composite capable SCART socket hanging in there despite it being an endangered species, as well as component and composite video outputs. You can connect the deck to your AV receiver via the HDMI socket, the stereo analog outputs, or the coaxial digital audio output (but remember there’s no optical digital output for those who need it).
One of the DV-410’s most impressive talents is its ability to play a wide range of compressed formats, including less commonly supported WMV9 (unfortunately only in Standard Def) and non-copy protected AAC, the format used by iTunes. It also plays MP3 and WMA audio files, and there’s a Hi-Res mode for JPEG playback, which will display photos without converting them to a lower resolution.
In addition, the player is DivX certified and plays all file types up to v6 and supports VOD with a registration code. All of these file types can be played through the USB port, saving you the hassle of inserting discs. The player can also handle any recordable CD or DVD format except DVD-RAM, and also accepts Video CDs and Picture CDs.
Elsewhere, Pioneer offers its usual flexibility in picture tweaking thanks to the Video Adjust menu, which allows settings for brightness, sharpness, contrast, gamma, tint and chroma levels to be altered. In terms of audio, you’ll find a range of equalizer modes (rock, pop, live – that kind of thing), as well as virtual surround, dynamic range compression and a dialog booster.
Changing those settings or changing the aspect ratio and HDMI resolution is an incredibly easy process thanks to the wonderful home menu system that hasn’t changed since last year’s models – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The presentation is self-explanatory from the start, the options are broken down into logical groups and presented with inviting colors and fonts, and the entire operating system is incredibly fast.
Adding further to the usability factor is the remote control, which looks the same as previous Pioneer DVD phones, apart from a few minor cosmetic changes. Key placement is near perfect and everything is clearly labeled.
In terms of picture quality, the DV-410V isn’t the best we’ve seen from Pioneer, but it does a pretty good job with the ‘Gladiator’ disc on our Toshiba 40ZF355D LCD set, bringing out most of the film’s detail Preview boosted to 1080p. Scenes set in the Roman Colosseum are the most impressive, with the deck easily processing the different patterns and textures, like gladiators’ mail and the densely populated crowd.
Also impressive is the player’s reproduction of skin tones, which are absolutely convincing throughout, and in the film’s brighter moments (like the gladiator training scenes) the colors appear vibrant thanks to the deep black level, giving the image a dense and cinematic feel.
It’s not perfect, however – the scene where Russell Crowe speaks to his troops before the film’s opening battle is quite loud, with some ringing around certain outlines, while shots of wide open spaces like blue skies reveal some pulsing noises. But overall, the Pioneer’s picture quality compares well with players in a similar price range, such as the Samsung DVD-1080P8 or the Philips DVP5980.
We also went through our range of test files and most of them played without any issues, although we did have a few lip sync issues with some WMV files.
Finally, we’re impressed with the deck’s audio capabilities, which deliver extremely smooth CD playback via the analogue outputs and clear stereo sound via the HDMI output and TV speakers. MP3, WMA and AAC files are also scrubbed well.
“‘Verdict”‘
It boils down to one question: has the DV-410V earned your hard-earned money? The answer is a resounding yes. Picture and sound quality are impressive and more features are offered than you’d normally get for £90 – but if that price still seems high, remember you’re getting a player from a respected and reliable manufacturer whose products have stood the test of time – and on that basis the DV-410V is a solid investment.
points in detail
performance 8
functions 8
value 8