Got myself a brand-spanking-new DVD player on Saturday, a Pioneer DV-444. Strictly speaking, I didn't need a new player: the one I have, a Sony DVP-S560D, is rather good, and it's less than two years old (I bought it in L.A. in May 2000). The only problem is that the Sony doesn't play CD-Rs (only CD-RWs, and it's still annoyingly picky about brand and recording-speed), and it only plays region one discs (i.e. North American DVDs). While all of my 200+ DVDs are region one, I do get a lot of American TV-shows on VideoCD (Buffy, Angel, Enterprise), and I wanted a player that could play everything I'd throw at it. I also wanted the freedom to play region two (European) movies. Last -- and admittedly least -- the MP3 capabilities of the player were a cool bonus: putting together a party-mix on a CD (with up to 250 tracks) and selecting random play... Convenient. The Pioneer also has progressive-scan capabilities, but since I don't have a progressive-scan TV, that's a feature I won't need -- at least not yet.

I haven't had a chance to really put the player through the moves in a proper audio-video test, but so far it looks and sounds quite nice; the DVD playback isn't all that different from my Sony, but the added features and choices make it a worthwhile purchase.

Also, I just love getting new stuff. I'm materialistic and shallow.  ¶ 13:44