laserfanhld-gb wrote:
Yet if you check out the NTSC versions of these models digital outputs are all present and correct - I know I sound like a stuck record but doesn’t it seem like we always got a raw deal here in Europe compared to our US and Japanese cousins
The players sold in the US were no different in respect to cost cutting on the PCM outputs.
Starting with the CLD-D502, Pioneer took away the 2nd set of AV outputs, the S-Video output, and optical output that were on the 501 the previous year. After that, all the subsequent 500 series models lacked the optical out but AC3-RF did make its way to the 504 and beyond from that point.
awesomewelles wrote:
Thank You!
I didn't know that! That indeed renders it almost useless to me as I have several DTS LDs that I like to watch once in a while.
Makes you wonder why they did that...
I assume Pioneer did this as a marketing tactic regarding the “player upgrade path”. Starting with the 1995 model year, the 600 series was introduced to provide a mid level player between a 500 and 700 series and I’m sure they wanted consumers to weight the options of what they could afford or desired in a model. The difference between a 504 & 604 was that the 604 included the optical output, digital field memory for CLV trick player, an extra mic input for karaoke, and a key controller also for karaoke. That’s quite a number of added features and I think the cost might have added up to an additional $150 which wouldn’t be bad (but I could be wrong on that).