Pioneer 444 or Toshiba 210

[ronaldo9]

Which of these is the better player, was definitely going for the Tosh, but the Pioneer has great looks.

Can somebody give some pro's and con's

Thanks

[jfarr]

I have the Pioneer 444, and although I have not seen the Tosh in action, I bought the 444 because it's smaller, it plays MP3 CD-Rs, it is definitely compatible with DVD-R and DVD-RWs, and because there have been postings regarding the high rate of returns on the Tosh. I have subsequently found out it also plays SVCDs (although I couldn't tell you whether the Tosh does or not).

The picture and the sound are fabulous (see this month's What Video & TV for a review). I certainly haven't regretted it.

[gz5ztg]

I agree, I bought a dv444 and it is fantastic. Also plays CDs better than the tosh apparently so that maybe something to take into consideration if you were going to use it for music too.

AV Land appaer to have an offeron the dv444 at the moment, with multiregioned, macrovision diabled and playing RCE disks, all without opening the machine.

http://www.avland.co.uk/pioneer/dv444/offer.htm
of 179.99 inc delivery.

[Alanok]

Check here (http://thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=46246) for some pro Tosh 210e info.

And I can't for the life of me remember there being many "threads highlighting the high rate of returns on the Tosh". Any evidence to back this up? I am perfectly happy with my 210e and build quality is not an issue. Seems there are far too many people wanting to knock the 210e in favour of the Pioneer, although not as much in this thread but in some others. I think they are both very similar and the main difference is the CD playback (Pioneer is better as it uses the same internals as their CD players or something like that) and the size and shape to consider.

Do a demo and make your own mind up is the best advice I can give you.

[brattle]

If you have a Toshiba or Loewe Tv with component inputs then definately get the Tosh no question. The 210e through component has an outstanding picture that will leave the 444 standing.

[pwray]

Originally posted by brattle
If you have a Toshiba or Loewe Tv with component inputs then definately get the Tosh no question. The 210e through component has an outstanding picture that will leave the 444 standing.

Is this really the case? I've read a lot of posts which suggest that the difference between a good RGB signal and component is marginal. I've never had the opportunity to put this to the test myself, but I'd be interested to hear of any Toshiba/Lowe TV owners out there who have the Tosh 210e and can directly compare RGB v Component. :cool:

[brattle]

In theory, Component should actually be slightly worse than RGB as it is similar, but was used for broadcasts in some territories because it takes up less bandwidth.

However, with Toshiba machines the best output is definately via component. I don't know if this is just the way it is or whether Toshiba have engineered it this way to persuade people to but Toshiba TVs.

I suspect that it's because all early Toshibas (like the SD9000) only had component and no RGB. Since then Toshiba have implemented RGB at the consumer's request, but rather half heartedly. As a result, the 210 is actually much a better player than the 444, but is "brought down" to its level by the average RGB connection. If however you use the component connection the 210 really shines to its full potential.

As a result of this, many magazines say that component is the best connection available, better than RGB. But as you say this is not normally true, it's just the Toshibas that cloud the issue.