Customer Reviews

SONY DAV-C770 DVD Dream(TM) System

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I bought and took back this system 3 times. When it worked it was absoulutely incredible. In all three, the subtitles kept coming on in the middle of movies. Drove me nuts. The progressive scan and sound was superb. The first one: on occasion the video would go out while watching a dvd, just turning it off and on again made it work again but it was a pain. The subtitles always came on, after turning them off, over and over again so we exchanged it. The second one: was better with the subtitles. They would only come on once or twice during the movies. The problem with the second one was it would reset itself from component output/progressive scan to interlace. We had to hook it up differently to reset it back to progressive scan. We took it back and tried it one more time. The third one only worked for 4.5 hours before it died alltogether. No power, just went completely dead. It worked great for the 4.5 hours but again the subtitles did come on during the movies. Just too many bugs in this model. It was great when it was working. I'm even tempted to buy it again just to see if I can find one with no flaws! We even bought all the recommended surge protectors and cables but it did no good.

Very poor engineering by Sony on this one. I am experiencing the same problems reported by most people

1. DVD's are getting stuck in the player
2. Most DVD's are not playing properly - even a clean DVD will not play well.
3. Subtitles going on and off during the movie

Stay away from this product if you value your money. I have started looking for an alternative.

I took a risk in 2002 and bought this system when it was launched. At first, the performance met my expectations for sound and video image. Over time, the player has had increasing difficulty in reading many discs (even clean, new ones). Even after cleaning the laser, once the unit heats up the video problems pop up again. Movies that are playing fine when the unit is cool, will freeze for a few seconds or just stop playing altogether. I am becoming more and more frustrated with this product since I have come to expect high quality from SONY. I am also convinced that the slot loading has something to do with the poor performance. I have an older SONY drawer unit, and it is fine. Also, no problems with CDs. Finally, the sound is remarkably good for a compact system, and I am pleased with the sound options. For a compact unit, SONY was on the right track, but this system missed the mark. I hope that subsequent products are better.

Mechanism : 1. The Snail-paced disc changing really pisses
me off.
2.The slot loading for the discs has broke twice
within 2 years. You're screwed because manual disc removal
is not possible. Say farewell to the 5 DVD/CD's you have stuck
inside.

Sound: 1.Bass, what bass? My TV gets more bass than this crap.
2.The sound is very muddled and harsh {if thats possible}.
There must some sort of treble suppression to protect
those feeble, fragile and weak speakers.
3.Volume level: Totally inadequate.
Where's the 550 watts?

Anti upgrade design: It seems they{Sony}go out of their way
to thwart your attempts for decent sound.
The evil use of 3 Ohm impedance: Partly to get the wattage ratings higher. The main purpose is to prevent you from
getting better speakers.

Through intensive searching, I found replacement speakers for the front and the sub.
Front: Bose 201/301 series V
Sub : Polk Audio PSW202
Their 4 Ohm nominal impedance gets you by.
The mismatched speakers improve the tonal quality at the expense of surround sound imaging. I think it is a good
trade-off.
A graphic equalizer is a must for an outside cd player or other audio gear. The resulting sound is acceptable. Without one the sound is just too devoid of treble and clarity.

Video: good picture quality but faulty drive and laser pickup. CD's are almost impossible to play because of serious freezing. DvD's skip even with no scratches or smudges.

Reliability: The DvD/CD player portion has died on me.

Please stay away from this overpriced money pit.

I have mixed feelings about my new DAV-C770. The pros: The overall sound upgrade from my old (non-surround sound) system is a major improvement. The sound quality is excellent and the five disc CD/DVD player is a major bonus not found in many systems this size and at this amount. Now the cons: DO NOT BE MISLEAD, 90 watts a channel as a crock. I'm not sure who does the ratings for Sony but a corporate calibration of all equipment they use to measure output wattage is way over due. My old 45 watt Yamaha will spank this little component right in the amp and never look back. If you're looking for a small relatively inexpensive system with good sound, this is your unit. If you occasionally want to mix it up with the guys and rock the house, save the embarrassment and buy something else. My C770 still has that new toy smell ...

I own 2 of these systems. Initially I too had problems with DVD's not playing to the end without digital freeze framing and other image problems. The design is not good, but easily overcome. Just go to Home Depot and by some 1 and 1/2 inch adhesive/felt pads to put under the feet of the unit (4 on each corner will do. This gives it the ventilation it needs to keep it cool. DO NOT BLOCK the air holes on the right side of the unit. They are also finicky about being moved. Guess what? Sony tells you quite clearly in the book that comes with it, that if you're going to move it (or ship for that matter) you must a. Be sure all CD's and DVD's are taken out of the unit, and b. Press the "Stop" button on the unit itself until the words MECHANO LOCK appear. Then the internal delicate mechanism is "locked" and it's safe to move it around. It's a great deal for a surround sound system...this from a classical music broadcaster with 40 years experience in the business. Lesson: ALWAYS READ THE BOOK FIRST, then, if you still have problems, THINK "overheating". I don't regret for a moment now making the purchases. Sony's bad design can be your ticket to a great system. If you get one in an auction, test it immediately, as the seller may not have read the instructions. Get your money back fast if these suggestions don't make your unit work.

I thought this would be a very nice system. Compact. Great sound. Was initially glad I spent the extra bucks - system cost me around $600. Sure the changer is unbelievably slow, but who cares right? The sound is great. Within 4 months the DVD's started freezing. This happened so often until it froze completely. Had it fixed under warrantee (had to store it for a year). Came back, plugged this new item in - same thing starts to happen. Sent it to Sony for repair. Since technically no longer under warrantee, I ended up paying for half the repair. The Sony Service Center seemed nice to deal with otherwise. Then, within 5 months the first sign of trouble. Disc image freezing again, while the DVD player makes noise trying to "search" the disc. Only occasional and after 1hr 15 minutes. I figured this was due to poor ventilation. Problems getting worse and worse. DVD's start sticking in the player and wont eject. Now, the DVD's won't play at all. Well, they do manage to play the FBI warning over and OVER and OVER!!
I'll NEVER buy another Sony product. Sony should recall this unit, but it wont because it must not be an easy fix. Rather a fundamental design flaw. Whatever the case, Sony just lost a customer. Will be in the market for an HD camcorder and DVD projector soon. Will never buy Sony again. Think twice about purchasing a Sony. You could end up with a total piece of junk. So $600 for less than a year's worth of a working player. This has been THE biggest headache ever! Now to contemplate fixing for the 3rd time versus junking it. If only there was a Sony corporate office nearby...I'd gladly throw it through their window in a heartbeat.

I paid a lot of money for this system in March 2003. It has been used very little. I doubt I've played more than 50 DVD's in it in three years, haven't used it to play music CD's, and haven't used the tuner function. There aren't any little kids messing with it. It hasn't been moved around or abused. In spite of this very light use it has quit playing DVD's. Right now it's in the shop and I'm real disgusted with the quality. Sony used to make good products.

I carefully researched home theater systems priced between $200 and $600 before choosing the Sony DAV-C770 and I have been very pleased with the purchase. It is incredibly easy to hook up (hooray for color-coded, long wires!), it provides quality sound for this level of product (especially the Super Audio CDs - wow!), and is easily the most stylish product in this price range. I had heard about the subtitle problem that plagued early models but learned from a review that they had been fixed late last fall and I can report that I've had no problems. Some reviewers have griped about the small buttons on the controller, which is understandable. They're small, but you get used to them. I've yet to find many audio-video controllers that I actually like, quite frankly. As for the issue of the rear speaker sound being too quiet, this is rectified by properly adjusting the speaker settings using the manual. It's not difficult. I set the subwoofer to +2 and the rear speakers to +6 with great results. Unless you're planning on using this in a large room, the sound should be plenty powerful enough. I have only two complaints: no DVD-Audio capacity (although I knew this) and it would be nice to have an additional sound input. That said, the connectivity is acceptable overall and the SACD capability is a nice bonus. This one is a winner, especially since I picked it up online for more than $100 below its list price.

Let me first admit, I've only had the c770 installed for about a week now, having watched 4 DVD's on it thus far, in addition to normal TV watching and of course the NFL playoffs. Saying that, I've yet to experience any of the problems I've read about in other reviews. So far I absolutely love this system.

I've had an RCA surround system for about 5 years and upgraded to this. The C770 puts my old system to shame. The sound quality is a major improvement.

I did find the instructions a little hard to understand. I actually stopped trying and just hooked up.

Set up of the speakers took a little time to get just the right balance. It was easy to do, just time consuming.

I do not like the remote. The buttons are too small, the TV buttons are too few (no go-back for instance), the TV channel up/down buttons are not intuitive, and most of all, you have to switch the button on the side back and forth between TV and DVD to change from adjusting channels to adjusting volume. In my opinion, the volume buttons on a home theater remote should always adjust the volume on the home theater. If I was going to use any other speakers why would I bother buying a home theater?

One note about the NFL playoffs, the "game" mode of the surround sound is awesome for watching football!