gareva1

here is where I got mine should you want to look into buying one; great price w/shipping included

http://www.electronicsoutpost.com/padvd740r.htm

overstock.com also has it for about the same price


I got the pa-dvd740r (or its equivalent I should say...Power Acoustik quit making this unit a little while ago, and pushed its manufacturing over to SPL, a subsidary of power acoustik...same unit in every way, just spl & model # sdvd7400r on the front instead of pwr acoustik) about a week ago. There are definately some things you should think about before buying this piece:

1) at this point, I am under the impression that accessory remote eye does not mean extended remote eye, but that is pending a callback from the vendor; I was under the impression that it did and made this unit one of my top choices b/c I mounted it in my glovebox...now I have to either open the glovebox everytime I want to use it, leave the g/b open, or figure out a way to open it just enough to get infrared from the remote to the radio while concealing the deck. I talked with the vendor today, and they will call me back if there is indeed an extender piece. Speaking of the remote comes to point
2) The remote works with the CD/DVD ONLY; it does not control any other functions as you would think, such as volume and radio frequency...for me this is a real pain in the arse...
3)The radio tuning knob is MANUAL, in the sense that it is a mechanical piece tied to a digital display;the reception is decent in line with any other car stereo on the market, but has no seek or scan function and has a kind of cheap feel to it for my tastes; it looks fancy, and you would think that with all the electronics in this unit they could have made the tuner controls digital...but then again you'd think they could also put radio and volume controls on the remote, but....

The dvd playback is wonderful through my 7" lilli, and the cd player works fine (havent tried the mp3 function, but it looks like all cd functions actually run through the dvd firmware on the device, so I'm sure an mp3cd would work about the same as it does on any dvd player a la walmart) Since all the discs run through the dvd player's fw, load times are a little slower than your typical regular cd headunit, but tolerable


I've had the unit for a week, and have only played about 10mins of dvd playback; the unit pretty much functions as a radio/cd player for me for trips when booting up the carpc would just not be practical...this being the case, I think I would have been much happier buying a pioneer headunit and buying the IPbus connector to make my aux in (aux in was the real reason for buying a new head unit, this one just had the extra bells and whistles at the right price, about $50 less than my local shop wanted for the pioneer w/aux in, w/o dvd)...if DVD playback and MP3s off cd is what ur after, this piece isnt a total waste of money, just make sure that the radio is close enough for you to be able to reach it w/o the remote, because its (the remote's) functions are so limited, you will have to be able to get to the unit to do most things.

Hope this helps someone else who may be looking at this same piece is the controlling unit for their audio solution.

chiefsalami

How is the sound reproduction of this unit? I bought a Farenheit (also a subsidiary of Power Acoustik - how many do they have???) DVD-13 model because it has DVD playback as well as AM/FM radio, but have noticed that any audio coming out of the device (except for the radio) sounds very noisy - no matter what I do or how the setting are. There is a lot of white noise in the background. I think it's just cheap components - you get what you pay for, right (about $150-ish)? What is your experience with this unit?

Now this is not a ground loop problem or anything like that - I have been installing systems for quite a while now and know what I am doing. My previous stereo setup (Kenwood monitor and Sony DVD player) in the same car did not have any noise. Please let me know.

gareva1

well, since this message, I have actually sent it back to the vendor, and swapped it for a boss dvd5000b receiver. the sound quality was ok I guess, bass was a little lacking, but I came from a higher end pioneer deck, so I assumed it was "get what you pay for" as well. the boss unit was much much much better in comparison, and I recommend it a thousand times over the power acoustik unit. I'll tell you more about it if you are interested.

chiefsalami

actually, yes - I am curious. Do you know if the Boss unit uses the same connector and/or pinout that the PA unit does (and I am assuming the PA and Farenheit ones are the same)? Also, the picture of the unit shows a kind of light blue for the front controls. Is it actually this way, or are the controls a bit of a bolder blue? thanks!

gareva1

The boss unit does have a nice blue glow to it, kinda like a neon color, but not excessive (the picture I saw of it had a green glow, but I was happily suprised to see a blue one arrive to me) the pinouts are not the same between the boss units and the power acoustik/SPL systems, nor would I assume them to be anyways, but the install was very easy, as they are standard stereo wiring colors, and are a cinch to install. what I especially like about the boss unit is that the remote control controls more than just the dvd player as the PA unit did not. The remote will adjus the volume, radio stations (and has presets which the PA did not) and other settings that are important to have if you wish to control the system with the remote. Also, the boss unit has a remote extender that connects to the back of the unit and has a 6-8ft wire on it, so you can place it elsewhere in the car for easier remote control (since mine is in the glovebox, I put my extender in the airvents so I could control the radio without opening the glovebox, allowing me to keep the box locked most of the time). Hands down, the boss piece has much better audio ciruitry in it, producing a much cleaner sound, with better highs and lows from it. Overall, I certainly think that this piece is worth the extra $40-50 I had to toss in to swap it for the PA hu.

chiefsalami

I appreciate the input. Let's see what I can manage to do with my setup...