Pioneer 656

[petergeorge72]

Hello People,

I'm thinking of getting the multi region Pioneer 656 to replace my old Pioneer 606. Is anyone aware of any issues regarding this player? The main things I'm concerned about are...

1) Are there any lip synch problems with the 656? Older pioneer models seemed to suffer from this.

2) How noticeable is the layer change?

3) Has anyone had problems playing certain discs? Basically, is it as 'universal' as Pioneer claim?

Any comments would be much appreciated...
Thanks, Pete.

 

[phil_evans]

Hi Pete,

I've had one a month or so now.

1. Lipsync - I did notice that one of the soundtracks on Seven was worse than another, but I don't know if this is the disk or the player. I can't say I've noticed lipsync problems on other disks and in a plasma system its hard to say where they would reside anyway.

2. Layer changes seem fine on the 20 or so disks I've played - typically less than 1 second.

3. I haven't played a wide variety of discs - just CD Audio, CD-R and DVD (Regions 1 and 2). No problems so far.

If I was buying again, I'd want to audition against the Tosh 520 and the new Philips 963, but it would still be on my shortlist.

Phil

 

[petergeorge72]

Thanks for the reply Phil. Anyone else have any comments or views on this player?

Cheers, Pete.

 

[Rob100]

I bought a Tosh 520 and I regret it so much.

I have compared it to a 656 (which I am now looking at getting - still need to do a little more testing...), and the PQ of the 656 was way ahead (tested both using component). On the Tosh 520 using all video signal I've noticed some green edges to peoples faces etc.

The Tosh 520's DVD-R compatability is useless and it won't even look at my DVD-RW's. The 656 seems okay in my limited tests using DVD-R's, but did choke on one disc of mine (it was a 2x Datasafe) - the same disc plays fine in my Pioneer 525, Panasonic E30 and my £100 Tesco's Dansai DVD-852 (don't laugh - for the money it's a bargain!). I personally think my Pio 525, Pana E30 and the Dansai all have better PQ than the Tosh 520.


Rob.