Customer Reviews

Sony BDP-CX7000ES 400 Blu-ray Disc Mega Changer (Black)

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

 

 

The Sony "mega changer" is a unique product, capable of storing a medium-sized disc collection in a single, convenient device.

A wide range of disc types are supported in addition to Blu-ray, including conventional DVDs and audio CDs. Note that DVD-Audio, HD-DVD and SACD are *not* supported.

The build quality is first rate, typical of a Sony "ES" product. It weighs over 30 pounds and seems like it's built to last a while. It hooks up easily using a single HDMI cable (assuming what you're connecting to accepts this type of input). If you're using Sony gear, you can control the "mega changer" using a common remote and Sony's "Bravia Sync" protocol. For older equipment, there are 2 and 7 channel analog outputs, as well as digital coax. If you use high-end AV control system (such as Crestron), there are RS-232 inputs as well. The 5-year warranty is also a good touch.

In terms of sound and picture quality, I'd rate it as excellent. I have a variety of other high-end disc players, and in no case could I see or hear differences on the Sony. DVDs are upscaled for better performance, and the unit supports 24p True Cinema, BD-Live and so on. It supports all the latest surround audio formats and video features, and Sony has a built-in network connection supporting easy firmware updating. While I haven't seen a specific commitment from Sony to support future standards, at least the infrastructure is there if they choose to do so.

The unit also features a built-in Ethernet port that can connect to the Gracenote service to retrieve album art and disc cover graphics. This is a nice touch, saving you from having to manually enter disc information most of the time. Unfortunately, the graphics are sometimes low resolution and on a small display, they can be difficult to see clearly. Also, on prior generations of this product, Sony included a way to connect a computer keyboard so you could easily edit disc information. This feature has been dropped on the BDP-CX7000ES...so long as you're Ethernet connected and storing discs that can be found in the Gracenote service, this isn't a big deal - but if (for instance) you tend to burn your own discs and want to edit titles, it can be quite a chore doing it without a keyboard. Some complain about the lack of WiFi, but you can always use a wireless Ethernet bridge to eliminate the need for any cables (this is how I have mine connected, and it works fine).

Finding discs is always a challenge with units like this, and so Sony provides a variety of ways your collection can be indexed. It's possible to search by title, genre, rating - even director and cast member.

The unit can be somewhat slow loading and unloading discs, which I guess is a function of the size of the carousel. It can take 30 seconds to unload a disc, spin the unit to the desired slot, then load the chosen disc.

There's also a slot that can be used to play a single disc without loading it into the unit. This is a good idea, but as I've kept my single disc player connected to my system, I don't use the Sony for this type of disc. Similarly, there's a USB port for connecting various types of media to the unit (for instance, special BD-Live content, or photos, etc). So far, I haven't found a compelling use of this feature since it duplicates capabilities I have on other devices.

One problem I've had with the unit is that it seems sensitive to being moved - some of the discs seemed to move out of their slots just by sliding the device on its shelf. It seems important to not move the unit once its loaded with discs.

Although this is a fine unit overall, there are a few other areas that could use improvement:

1. WiFi should be built-in...I shouldn't need to buy an outboard Ethernet bridge to connect wirelessly.

2. The Gracenote service is still immature, mislabling about 10-20% of all discs.

3. Would be nice to have built-in support for Amazon's video on demand (or Netflix).

4. Takes a long time to setup initially if you have lots of discs. A wireless keyboard would be a big help.

5. The overall software interface is a bit clumsy...would be nice if it was easier to simply connect the device (over that USB channel?) to a Windows Media Center or iTunes.

6. It runs a bit hot in an enclosed cabinet and tends to generate audible fan noise.

7. Would be nice to have a way to link multiple units for those having more than 400 discs. While you can certainly connect multiple units to your system, each acts independently - without a coordinated index, you need to remember which discs are in which player.

Still, in spite of these shortcomings, I think this is a great product and I give it a solid four stars. It would probably be five stars for picture and sound quality, five stars for construction quality, and three stars for usability and software design.

I'm a Sony fanboi, but this is the weakest Sony product in over a decade and there's no reason for it. For the want of a horse a kingdom is lost... Sorry.

It plays disks wonderfully but there's no reason to have a changer so limited. Gracenote supplies disk information but it's just not sufficient unless you are only watching mainstream movies. If you watch indies or special-interest movies, you have to enter the information by the remote, which is data-entry hell. For over a decade Sony has had a keyboard input. This is a step back from the 400-DVD player. And the ES non-HDMI player before that. And the 300 DVD player. And the 200 CD player... All of which I've owned and all of which were more user friendly.

If iTunes had the ability to enter DVD information, that would be okay. Pop the DVD into my Mac, label it, and then into the changer. I'll do data-entry hell for Blu-ray. It would be an extra step but it would be a service to the community. It's simple with a CD to enter information with iTunes, but the latest iTunes doesn't let you do it with a DVD. There is I think an SDK [...] to let you write a program to do it, but my CS degree is 30 years out of date, and why should I have to? A keyboard input is simply not that hard to do.

Also it crashes. I don't use it that much for the above reasons (I bought one the used market another 400-DVD changer AFTER I bought this) but perhaps a quarter of the time I have to turn it off because it's stuck. I don't have to unplug it, or even lever myself out of the chair--the remote's power button will do it. But it's a problem. A software update can fix this though. But it can't fix the lack of a keyboard input.

The specs are wonderful. It has a lovely interface, like the latest Sony receivers (which I have and love). But the lack of a keyboard input means that I'd suggest passing on this unless you do nothing but mainstream movies.

This is the first Sony product that I regret having bought.

I guess I lucked out on this one. Purchased this from a site that was fulfilled by Amazon and it all worked fine. Here are a few pros and cons that I've found:

Pros:
Setup was really simple. Just did an HDMI into my TV, digital audio into my home theater, plugged it in, and plugged in the LAN. It found the internet and worked fine.

Loaded 399 movies (the 400th slot was left for a movie rental, more on that later) and told Gracenote to just do its thing overnight. In the morning I came to look at it and it had found titles of 397 of the movies. One movie had no name and another, with Nicholas Cage in it, was just blank. Will have to manually see what those two are but I think 397/399 is better than most people reviewing on here.

A lot of people had problems with the size of the unit but it fit into my cheap tv stand pretty much perfectly. Plus, what do you expect for something that holds 400 discs?

Picture quality and sound seem great (I'm watching Zoolander while I write this and it looks great to me).

Cons:

HEAVY. Heavy, heavy heavy. And HUGE. I'm an ex-military guy so I had no problem lugging this thing upstairs but it is really heavy.

Good luck using a universal remote. Set this up with my Logitech Harmony One and it works, but the actual remote has dozens more buttons than my Harmony One found and, when setting up the discs, etc., there are a lot of buttons on the original remote you will need to use unless you map them manually to the remote

Rental slot?!? Thought this was a cool idea. A slot on there that I could put DVDs in and such from Blockbuster or Redbox. Not so much. This is just another one of the 400 slots (#1 I think) in the carousel that is set aside for rentals. Really not all that impressive of a feature there

Sony has discontinued it. So a pro and a con here. I was able to buy a top of the line $2000 system for less than $600 but still, not fun to buy something that has been discontinued. Still seems to play Blu Ray and DVDs at great quality so it does everything technology needs right now

Connects to the internet but no Hulu, Netflix, etc. Why? Would be pretty easy to create apps on here you would think but Sony chose not to go that way. Oh well. Looks like TiVo and I will be friends for a little while longer.

Overall, this thing does store 399 of my movies (not 400 because of that rental slot), picked up the names of all of them, and seems to work as advertised. Wish Sony would put something else out because I think there is still a demand for this type of product for people who have not gone digital for everything (and, let's face it, 399 hypothetical blu ray discs is a huge amount of storage space on a drive. At its price point this seems to be a much better deal). So, since it does everything I want and more than I expected I give it 5 stars...

The 'analog sunset' has hit a number of blu-ray players. A clause in the specification of the AACS, the content protection standard used by the Blu-ray format, means blu-ray players sold from 2012 can't output high definition video over component connections, only HDMI.

And so this Sony blu-ray mega-changer, that retailed close to $2000, is now on offer for around $600. It's a BARGAIN.

Admittedly it's not perfect. the lack of wireless internet connectivity is disappointing, but its not the end of the world. The inability to plug in a keyboard is also a minor inconvenience when labelling discs; if you own a number of obscure titles this may affect you more.

I don't like Sony as a company very much but I bought this player because no one else made a blu-ray megachanger (I have a Pioneer 300 disc DVD changer, the DV-F07). I haven't found a surround processor I like that decodes audio from HDMI; the Sony BDP-CX7000ES has 7.1 analog audio outputs that the cheaper BDP-CX960 lacks and so the 7000ES became the only blu ray player I wanted to buy.

First impressions have been very positive. Its not a great deal larger than my Pioneer 300 disc DVD changer which was a surprise. It seems very well built and as others have remarked it is heavy.

Many friends have remarked on the quality of the picture. Both blu-ray discs and DVDs look quite stunning, crisp with rich color and fluid movement, although the TV plays a big part here. The 7.1 analog audio output is great although I don't have many discs that make use of all 7 channels. Compared to early blu-ray players I'd seen the discs load reasonably quickly; the player loads discs without that much noise. Some of the menu options on the player are rather confusing but that is what the manual is for.

This isn't a player for everyone. If you are looking for a blu-ray megachanger, now is the time to buy one of the Sony players, they may not be available next year. If the higher quality of the 7000ES appeals, or you want the convenience of 7.1 output from the player, this is the one to buy. I wasn't disappointed.

I purchased this to replace an older Sony 400 disc changer. Other than the HD capability I was looking forward to the Gracenote database. This unit was substantially larger than my older changer but I had space for it. The build quality was much better and it was much quieter. I loaded it with 235 discs and about 40 of those were blu ray. The Gracenote service took a little less than two hours to label all but five. Three of them were specialty discs that I didn't expect to be in the database but one the other two was a current blu ray title "Brooklyn's Finest". That's an excellent percentage that I can live with. One of the complaints I've seen on other reviews is the low resolution of the cover art but on a big screen it's acceptable. Another complaint was about the lack of direct access to a particular disc, however the menu scrolls so quickly it was a non issue. I was impressed the most by the way it upscaled SD DVD's to 1080p. I've owned two other players that claimed to do this but this was the only one that delivered. A couple of years ago I had considered purchasing this for$1900 but it wouldn't have been worth it, but at $665 it was a good deal.

If you are a home theater freek like me, you know the hassles of storing dvd/bd close to your player. This unit solves this problem while keeping disks clean,in order with pic of cover. The quality of play back is well ahead of any BD player I have seen. Buy one, You will love it!

I have hundreds of discs in several different formats. This device helped me to store and organize them all together with easy access and the familiar Sony Xcross navigation.

Having read some of the other reviews, I was a bit concerned about buying this unit. We have 2 400 disk DVD changers and a 400 disk CD changer and like the concept and the format. The Blu-Ray seems to be that next logical step. So far it has worked well and is easier to use than our prior changers. I have no real interest in hooking it to the net as we just run a spreadsheet with all of the disks and where they are.

So, my summary is it works, it was easy to setup and so far so good.

I purchased this product in November, 2011 from Amazon after much research such as reading reviews on Amazon and CNET of this and other similar products. I have over 600 dvd and was looking to consolidate my collection in one compact area. I am not that comfortable with technology, more of a late adopter. Let the manufacturers work the bugs out and watch the prices go down. I found this product easy to set up and was matched with a new Yamaha RX-671 receiver, also easy to set up. I followed the instructions that came with this product and started to load it. Gracenote, the dvd internet software was able to identify 98% of my collection. I like the units software to categorize my collection for easy retrieval and play. This is my first Blueray player and the picture quality is superb. This product is being discontinued and I am considering buying another unit to house the rest of my collection, but I will wait for the price to drop. I would strongly recommend this product and I gave it 5 stars. It's a winner.

The unit worked as advertised with no surprises. I've had the DVD version of this device for years. The remote was a little daunting to learn but after I spent a little time reading the owner's manual I was able to do basic functions with it. I like the disk selection menu, which shows a small picture of the disc cover and the title and some info about the movie, but you have to be able to hook it up to an internet connection or you're stuck typing everything yourself. Unlike the DVD version, there's no option to plug in a keyboard to do this - you have to do it all via the remote. All in all I'm very satisfied.