Digital Trends

Pioneer DV-563A July 2nd, 2004 | by Tim Price

Set up and Installation

The Pioneer DV-563A is easy to install. If you have component video inputs on you television then we would suggest using them. If not, then you can use the S-Video or composite video outputs of the player. The player has an advanced GUI system with a setup navigator that will easily help you configure the player according to your surrounding components. If you want to make sure you get the most out your player, the DV-563A's menu is very easy to navigate and control every option you may want.

From the menu system you can designate which layers of an SACD you want to be read. For instance, if you do not have the six channel outputs connected to a receiver, then you would want to read the two channel layer. You are also able to determine your speaker size and crossover levels. Normally you would want to keep this at the defaults, and let your receiver handle those functions, but if your receiver is older, than configuring these options can greatly improve your sound quality. You also have the ability to read the DVD-Video or DVD-Audio data on your disks. The unit ships with DVD-Audio as the default setting.

Video Testing

Movie playback and picture quality on the DV-563A is excellent. The display is selectable between progressive scan (480p) and interlaced (480i). Thanks to Pioneer's PureCinema de-interlacer chip, we had no complaints viewing DVD movies on a quality display. This is the same chip that was normally reserved for their higher end ELITE models.

For testing, we first popped in our copy of DVD Home Video Essentials, and from the opening sequence we knew we had a high quality video feed on our hands. The opening scene of a space shuttle launch was crisp and clear, and there were no visible distortions or noise in the picture what so ever. We decided to up the ante and try one of our favorite video reference movies; Finding Nemo. The player handled the computer generated characters perfectly, adding no artificiality whatsoever. The edges were sharp and smooth, and stayed that way throughout the movie. The player's 3:2 pulldown had no problem keeping up, and there were no choppy lines or artifacts to be seen.