Pioneer 868 - worth getting?

[creative-av]

Hi All,

I am looking to upgrade my Pioneer 575 and wondered if a 2nd hand 868 is worth pursuing. I know that HD machines are out next year but am not a fan of being an early adopter pluse I don't want to be paying £1k for a player!

I have a Pioneer MXE-1 panal which I am looking to add a HDMi card to and it seems that the 868 gets rave reviews for its HDMi output. So, is it worth upgrading or should I save up and wait for the new 969 to come down in price next year?

Thanks,

Steve

[sbowler]

I run the 668i via HDMI and paid over £450 for it. Its a cracking picture though, you can make more adjustments than any DVD player i have had, yum endless tweaking.

[creative-av]

Thanks Sbowler. I don't really want to pay more than £450 for a player and the 868 does seem to have a lot going for it as long as you don't use the scart output!!!!

[gandley]

I would wait for an 989, but if thats too much cash then if you can get a cheap 868i it should serve you well.

Downsides are

Chroma bug issues
Awfull layerchange

Upsides

very sharp picture.
HDMI can pass interlaced
plays all discs.
reasonable sound quality.

+ its going to be sometime late 2007 before its worth jumping on the HI DEF dvd bandwagon.

[creative-av]

Cheers gandley.

Will connect to the panel using HDMi and maybe use the component output to my amp so that I can connect my Z2 pj to it aswell.

My thinking was that if I can buy a 2nd hand 868 now for < £450, I can sell it on next year for around £100 less and go for a 969 when they have come down a bit. That way I get a good HDMi player now and can upgrade without losing too much in the near future.

[kumamoto]

late 2007 for Hi def!!
It's a shame as i was kind of keen. I had lots of guys on the forum telling me it's not worth buying marantz dv9500 as hidef is just round the corner, that was early this year. Glad i bought the dv9500 as hidef seems such a long way off.

Steve, get the 868 as its a cracking player and superfi are selling it for £499.00

[creative-av]

Superfi are all sold out at that price otherwise I would be tempted to get a new one.

The only way Hi-Def is coming in next year is with the PS3. I'm sure Sony will sell a lot of these and will get their foot in the door with Blu-Ray.

Steve

[gandley]

well considering there will be a format war, and the fact that PS3 may not get here till early 2007 i dont think its not worth getting a decent dvd player now. Who nows how long the format war will last and how many decent films will make it to which format etc etc.
1080p will be here next year for sure ie via projectors and rptvs etc but the content will be limited till 2007.

[gandley]

£500-550 new from fleebay

is this site slow for anybody else

[creative-av]

This site has been very slow over the last couple of days.

There is one on there at the mo that I have my eye on. Is there any difference in a model that was purchased originally last year or this i.e firmware? Also, if the firmware does need upgrading, does it strip the MR capability?

[s.morris]

Yes site is very slow over 1000 user on at the moment, think they are getting a new server soon

Steve

[gandley]

as long as its newer than a yr old i doubt you have to do anything with the firmware.
pioneer are a bit more stable with firmware than say denon are

[creative-av]

Cheers Dustin.

Have seen one from mid-last year. Do you think that would be ok?

Steve

[gandley]

should be fine, that was about the time i had mine, and that did have latest firmware already loaded

[Nic Rhodes]

2007 seems about right to me, but I have been saying that for years. £400 for 868 should get a low hours one