I bought the Pioneer DV636D in october 2001 for £300 multiregion. plays dvd and cds with superb sound and picture. Bass response is very low indeed and the ability to play cd-r/w is a big bonus (tried philips, verbatim, vivastar). according to most sites it has no trouble with dvd-r/w or dvd+r/w but I haven't tried this yet. most modern players will also play jpegs and mp3 but i'll not upgrade this player until it dies a sudden death. I would recommend any pioneer DVD player on the strength of this machine alone!

My Pioneer DV636D died recently after two-and-a-half years
of very light domestic use. Still plays CDs
but stick a DVD in and it freezes up, sometimes
with a "carpet" pattern on the TV screen.

Pioneer official service centre says it needs
a new MPEG decoder board and it will be 270
quid to fix. So forget that, and forget
buying Pioneer again.

I have been researching the web for ages looking for a dvd/cd player. I had a Cambridge Audio cd player and traded this in against a NAD T550 paying £200 and receiving £100 for my cd player at a very good shop called Richer Sounds. I was told it would be a very good music player for my cd's and would be very good with dvd's. It wasn't, and I was very disappointed.

I returned it to the shop and checked out the Pioneer 636. I saw it on numerous web sites, and I paid especial consideration to a British hi-fi magazine web site called hifichoice.co.uk. They gave the 636 a good write up.

When I got the Pioneer 636 home I set it up and found it to be fantastic. It played my cd's, but it didn't just reproduce the music - it actually played the music. My music came alive. I even found myself preferring it to my Cambridge Audio D500 cd player. Although it lacked a certain amount of bass I still found it to have sufficient for my tastes. I play a lot of rock, and when I played Metallica's Master of Puppets, the player made me realise what I had been missing - it completely blew the cobwebs away.

I use this DVD player primarily to play my cd's. I occasionally take take the player downstairs from my bedroom and play dvd's on the telly. I don't have a massive home theatre (just a basic hi-fi system of Mission cyrus amplifier and mission speakers)- although I will probably upgrade at some point.

I have only had this a week so I can't comment on reliablilty - but if you are looking for a DVD player that can rock along to your cd collection and spin a very good dvd picture then this is the one for you. I am completely in love. Other things I like is the ability to dim the display or remove it completely and a wonderful funky blue light below the disc tray.

This DVD player is a bargain. it retails in the UK for £400 and I got it for £300 multi region - it's a steal.


get one!