Panny or Pioneer??

[chaundster]

I am looking to buy a Panny SCHT500 or a Pioneer DCS313.

I know this has been brought up various times but no one has said which one they prefer. They are both around £210 at Richer sounds.

The main purpose for it will be two watch DVD's filsm on the Tele and to run a Playstation 2. Which would be best for me?
I doubt I will play CD's so not bothered about that side of things.

Please help!!

 

[DDDavo]

Hard choice. Personally i would go for the panny because of looks if there is nothing else to decide between. The panny also delivers more depth in audio compared to the pioneer.

I'm not certain but i think the panny only supports pro logic encoding not pl2 but not certain where as the pioneer does.

Also, people seem to have more problems with that pioneer model when it gets to around 6 months old with noisy fans and certain channels on the amp cutting out but pionner seem happy to replace them!

Up to you at the end of the day. (oh and although i do prefer PL2 there isn't a great difference between them since Pl2 only does more channel encoding)

 

[thesnowman]

Can't comment on the panasonic but I can tell you from my own experience with the pioneer 313 that it was nothing but a disappointment

the first system I had I encountered a problem with the speakers, it was producing a rather loud humming sound

so I sent the system back for a replacement

The replacement system not only had the same problem as the last but also the fan was constantly on even when it was not hot, the fan was also producing a really load buzzing sound that made using the system for even short periods unbearable, it would leave my ears ringing.

I decided to get a refund in the end

and another thing the picture quality was kinda soft
even my 5 year old dvd player produce a more sharper and detailed image than the 313.

 

[DDDavo]

Yep there have been many problems with the 313 so i would personally choose the Panny if you can miss out on pro logic 2 (which i don't think it has)

 

[bimmer]

I own a pioneer 313 and i didn't notice any of those first two problems. Concerning the picture quality there is some problems with dark scenes (in bright and colorfull scenes everything is ok), but i'm not sure is this because of my crapy scart to scart cable. I'm planing to buy a better cable. The sound is very good both with dvd and cd. DTS sound is great. There is some minor problems with some type of music, but this is not an expensive system.