Finding enough space on a single-DIN head unit for all of the controls has long been a balancing act between cramming as many features as possible onto the faceplate and providing a usable, intuitive interface. Pioneer has created a novel solution to this dilemma with the DEH-P8400MP. At first glance, you will see a classic silver faceplate with a simple 8-character LCD display and a well-designed set of controls. When you press the "Open" button, the motorized front face glides down at an angle to reveal the hidden rear face with a large display and a few additional controls. The front face is removable, and the rear face is then covered when the deck is not in use. The CD slot is behind the rear face, and is accessed with a button that causes the rear face to drop down, revealing the CD slot.
The larger OEL (Organic Electroluminescent) display on the rear face is bright and clear, with a 128x33 pixel dot matrix section. There are many different animated displays to choose from, including six "background visuals" (these allow you to see the display text in the foreground), two spectrum analyzers, three level indicators, and two screen-saver type movies. If you like space shuttles or dolphins, these last two should be just what the doctor ordered. The brightness of the display has a large range of adjustment, with 16 individual levels. There is also a scroll function that allows you to see file or folder names longer than 16 characters.
The built-in CD player handles CD Audio, MP3, and WMA files. It will read CD-R and CD-RW disks. MP3 and WMA files compatible with level 1 and 2 of ISO9660 and with Romeo and Joliet systems can be played, with ID3 tag support included. Multi-session and mixed-mode discs are also supported. When a disc is playing and the power is shut off, playback resumes at the same point on the disc after power-up. Fast forward and reverse functions work with MP3 and WMA, although there is no sound during these operations, so it can be difficult to find a particular point in a long track like a complete album encoded as a single file. Standard control functions repeat, random, scan and pause are available for all types of discs. Titles can be programmed for CD audio discs with ten character titles for up to 48 discs.
Control is provided for optional external multi CD players from Pioneer, using the proprietary IP bus interface. Up to 100 disc titles can be programmed when using one of these external players. Another feature is called ITS (Instant Track Selection). This lets you set up a playlist of favorite tracks from the discs in your multi CD player. Once you set up the ITS playlist, then only the tracks you have selected will play back.
The AM/FM Supertuner III has 18 FM presets and 6 AM presets. A feature called BSM (Best Stations Memory) will lock in on the six strongest stations and memorize them in the current bank of presets. There is also a local seek sensitivity control with four level settings. An optional DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) tuner can be attached to add PTY and other features. You can also get an external XM satellite tuner for dozens of channels of digitally broadcast music.