Review of the Pioneer DV989-Avi DVD Player
 £758.99 Your Best Buy |  £799.50 |  £799.50 |
If you consider that you can get hold of a DVD player for less than a shirt in your local supermarket, it’s hard to understand how there are some on the market for £1,000. Well, that’s because these top-end DVD players are a whole new ball game above the budget supermarket offerings. For example, this Pioneer DV-989AVi has recently spent time at London’s prestigious Air Studios getting the audio tuning of its life. Design |
| Completely stainless, the DV-989Avi is a good looking piece of kit, depending on the rest of your entertainment system of course. The chunky design weighs 9kg, giving it a good sturdy hold. The front is dominated by the central, rather large LED screen. And this is situated above the smaller disc drawer. At both ends there are two larger buttons for playing and power, joined by eight smaller buttons, for all your other needs. In our opinion, it is maybe a bit too busy visually, but not as bad as some others we’ve seen. Like a breath of fresh air – we have finally found a nice looking remote. The Pioneer DV-989Avi DVD Player comes with a similar coloured, attractive remote, with a contemporary illuminated jog and joystick control. |
| Features |
| Let’s just say the Pioneer DV-989Avi DVD Player is advanced. Not as advanced as some other DVD players at the top-end of the market, but not too far off either. We wouldn’t normally start with audio, but Pioneer have given this player such a plethora of sonic specialities it seems ludicrous to wait. First up is the Built-in Dolby Digital Decoder which works in conjunction with the Bass Management feature. It has an awesome dynamic range of 108db; this is the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds in an audio signal. A 108db dynamic range is perfectly capable of delivering cinema-like effects, what’s more is that you can adjust it to your requirements too. As if that’s not enough – SurroundSound also makes an appearance. Pioneer have provided a PureCinema Progressive Scanner, works alongside the full 10-bit video processor. The DV-989Avi supports 480i, 480p and 576i resolutions and MPEG2, MPEG4 and MP3, giving you the go ahead to turn it into a mini-jukebox and take advantage of the audio advancements. It’s compatible with DVD video, VCD and SVCD disks, and you can play DVD-RW, DVD-R and MP3 in Playback mode; this is a pretty average offering in our opinion. Looking good at the same time as being technologically advanced up to the eyeballs is all good and well, but a DVD player is useless if its connectivity isn’t future-proof. Luckily, Pioneer have been generous here too. It’s just screaming to be plugged in, with its HDMI connection, 2 RGB enabled scarts, 1 component, 2 S-Video outputs, 2 video outputs and Audio, coaxial and optical outputs too. |
| Performance |
| Overalll the Pioneer DV-989Avi DVD Player performs well on both Plasma and LCD. After really getting into the DVD Platoon, we remembered that we were reviewing the player and picked up on some slight noise. Apart from that, the colours were bursting with life and detail was sufficient. In some areas it could have probably used more light, but it was still a pleasure to watch. Film audio was great, a powerful all-rounder, but unfortunately music CD’s just didn’t reach the level we had initially expected, especially after the promises of advanced technology. The best way to describe it is to say that it seemed to struggle to make the music stream comfortably. |
| Overall Opinion |
| For its primary use, the Pioneer DV-989Avi DVD Player is a great contender. And for the price you won’t get much better, as it‘s about £200 less than other players with similar features. If you already have a sound system, and only want to watch DVDs you should consider the Pioneer DV-989Avi DVD Player. |
| By Lisa Malyon |
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Pros + Great performance + Contemporary remote control + Futuristic connectivity + Stylish design |
Cons - Playing music CDs was disappointing |
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Overall Rating 
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By Lisa Malyon
13/10/2006 at 11:30:32am
13/10/2006 at 11:30:32am
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