Pioneer DVD-633H-S DVR/DVD Recorder Page 3

TEST BENCH:

DVR-TO-DVD-R/RW RECORD/PLAYBACK PERFORMANCE All results are for the progressive-scan component-video output. Test patterns were 4:3 shape. Video encoding is MPEG-2. Audio encoding is Dolby Digital 2.0

Recording mode Recorded pixel count (horizontal x vertical) Video bit rate with Avia resolution test pattern (megabits per second) Onscreen resolution (horizontal x vertical lines) Audio bit rate (kilobits per second)
XP (1 hour per DVD) 720 x 480 7.32 Mbps 450 x 480 256 kbps
SP (2 hours) 720 x 480 5.73 Mbps 400 x 480 256 kbps
LP (4 hours) 352 x 480 2.03 Mbps 260 x 480 256 kbps
EP (6 hours) 352 x 240 1.62 Mbps 260 x 240 128 kbps
SLP (8 hours) 352 x 240 1.08 Mbps 260 x 240 128 kbps
SEP (10 hours) 352 x 240 0.88 Mbps 260 x 240 128 kbps

DVD PLAYBACK PERFORMANCE All results are for the progressive-scan component-video output. Test patterns were 16:9 widescreen except for onscreen resolution. Vertical luminance response (re level at 100 lines) 200/300/400 lines ±0/±0/±0 dB Horizontal luminance response (re level at 2 MHz) 4/6/8/10 MHz -0.18/-0.18/-0.35/-1.0 dB 12/13.5 Mhz -2.5/-3.0 dB Onscreen resolution 540 lines (4:3 image) In-player letterboxing good

The most surprising results were the recorder's very slightly limited horizontal resolution figures for recordings made in the XP and SP modes, even when using the i.Link (FireWire) digital input. The typical DVD recorder manages, though sometimes just barely, to get to full DVD resolution (540 lines). The Pioneer's performance had little effect on the picture quality of typical off-air recordings, however. Perhaps because the recorder always uses MPEG-2 video encoding and doesn't, like many others, switch to MPEG-1 in the extreme-capacity modes (EP, SLP, and SEP), encoding artifacts in those modes were less annoying than usual. As the table above shows, the recorder drops to half horizontal resolution starting in the LP mode and then down to half vertical resolution as well with the EP mode, which looked quite soft. Recorded sound quality was very good in the XP, SP, and LP modes and approximately equaled 128-kbps MP3 sound quality in EP, SLP, and SEP.

Playback of DVD movies showed good horizontal luminance performance all the way out to 540 lines, with no rolloff in vertical resolution from the progressive output. Progressive performance was typical, with good picture quality for programs originating on film but jaggies and other minor anomalies on video-originated programs.

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