Customer Reviews

Sony DVP-NC800H/B HDMI/CD Progressive Scan 5-Disc DVD Changer Black

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I purchased this DVD player to replace an outdated (probably produced around 1998) Sony Progressive Scan DVD player that still got the job done but was lacking in many areas (stopped playing burned CDs). I cannot say how happy I am with this purchase. First and foremost, the picture is absolutely beautiful. There is no comparison between the video output of this machine and that of the outdated Sony, which was an early iteration of the progressive scan.

I had thought about purchasing a Hi-Def media player (most likely the PS3 but an HD DVD player was probably more in the realm of affordability), but decided, quite fortunately as it turns out, to go with this player seeing as though I do not own nor plan to purchase any type of Hi-Def media in the near future. This player makes those old crusty DVDs shine in 1080p. Each time I throw in a movie that I haven't watched in years, it looks like a completely new movie. This player single-handedly brought the life back to my DVD collection.

The player has many other good features, as well as a brilliant video output, such as a six disc memory for the resume feature which threw me for a loop the first time I experienced this in action. It displays JPEG image CDs/DVDs better than any other I have seen in recent memory and allows a soundtrack for a picture slide show. The load time is pretty quick for both switching discs (about 20 seconds for audio CDs and a little more for DVDs), and exchange feature is quite intuitive, which can be said for most of the controls of this machine. I could go on but I think I have said enough to make you all think that I'm a salesman for Sony.

The only gripe I have with the machine so far is that the remote is very sensitive when navigating menus, but it does not hold much water in my book because of how little time I, or anyone actually, really spends in the menu.

All in all, this is the best upscaling DVD player around for the money, and depending on the longevity of the output, I will enjoy this player and more importantly my DVD collection for years to come. So provided that you do not want to spend the money on a shiny new Hi-Def player, this machine packs a wallop for a relatively small price.

Do not buy this changer. I have had two of these, and two of its predecessor, the H85 (non-HDMI precursor). It seems that Sony just can't make a DVD player worth owning any more.

It has all the features I want, including the upsampling HDMI, excellent image and audio output and logical controls.

The problem is that it's a piece of junk. Tonight, I just boxed-up my newest version (bought 3.5 months ago) to send back to Sony for exchange ($33.00 plus tax) since it just stopped playing DVDs entirely.

I have had similar problems with every one of them - at some point, the player does "loading... loading... loading..." and doesn't load. This time I suspect the laser has died entirely, 14 weeks in!

The others lasted at least a year before this problem surfaced. This one was barely used.

Sorry, Sony, but your quality control has gone down the drain, particularly on the changer. I'll be looking for a different brand next.

I don't usually buy something that hasn't first been tested by Consumer Reports but I needed a new DVD player and I preferred one that allowed more than one disc to be loaded at a time. I couldn't believe how remarkable the picture was on my HD tv. Granted I haven't ever seen an HD movie being played on an HD player but this picture appears to be just like HD. I have not had any problems watching a movie. I am a teacher and I tend to watch movies only during the summer and it has received a lot of play time. I highly recommend this product.

I bought this to replace my 8-year-old Pioneer DVD changer that didn't play RW or mp3 discs. Other than that, the Pioneer still worked OK. Some other reviews mentioned this Sony's fine picture quality to which I agree; my DVDs and the ones I burned from my analog camcorder all look better. But the Sony's operation frustrates me. It takes a very long time to load, during which time it will not accept other commands from the remote or front panel, so if you want to play a different disk than the one it automatically starts loading when the platter closes you just have to wait until it finishes. Also, when the partly-full tray opens it does not present the empty slot(s)outward; instead you must hit the button up to 4 times to rotate the tray to the empty. And you cannot hit the button until the tray's rotation fully stops each time, there's no command memory, so this takes up even more time. In other words, just loading this machine is a whole process in itself.
These may be nitpicks to some but after enjoying the convenience & speed of the Pioneer for so long I find this Sony to be big-time irritating. But choices are few so unless I find an updated Pioneer changer onlne in the next few days I'm stuck with this one.

The previous post by A. A. Katz (Johnson City, NY) is right on the money.
I have owned two of these units. The first ran great for several months then
suddenly stopped working. I kept getting "Loading" message and it cycled thru
disc as if it did not detect a disc in the tray. Eventually cycled thru all
5 trays and declaring "No Disc" (i.e. it could no longer detect disk in trays).
I believe this is caused by laser going bad or the chips controlling the laser.

So I purchased a 2nd unit thinking I had worn out the previous unit. Well after
only maybe 4 months the 2nd unit went bad with same error. This time I noticed
the unit went bad on a very hot day (no air cond). I suspect if this unit gets
too hot a chip gets fried and laser goes out.

I would avoid purchasing this unit. If you do purchase it get the extended warranty.

I purchased this DVP NC800H on St Patrick's Day of this year, and it's just started doing the SAME thing that everyone else is complaining about in these reviews:
Display says, "Loading, Loading," accompanied by strange whirrings and clicks, finally to stop alltogether. The discs that played just fine two days ago are now unable to work at all. We treat our electronics very carefully, making the breakdown that much more frustrating and infuriating! Please beware of the obvious pattern Sony's products are displaying. Shame on you, Sony, for such shoddy "quality".
I'm spending my hard-earned money on another brand !!

I reviewed many DVD players before purchasing the Sony DVP-NC800 HDMI/CD 5 disc player. I was looking for a multi disk player that played both DVD Movies and CDs to replace a 3 disk CD player. I discovered that this DVD progressive scan player played my DVD movies flawlessly whereas my previous Sony DVD would not open some of the special features on DVD disks. The HDMI connection allows DVDs to be played in 1080p resolution whereas the composite connection on the DVD only allows 720p resolution. Also this Sony DVD plays all of my recorded CDs and MP3s. Please note, because this DVD is a 5 disk carousel it is 16 inches deep and after you plug your cables in, it requires 17 inches of space. It wouldn't fit in the space where I first intended to place it.

I bought this DVD player for my husband for Christmas. It was to replace the DVD player we bought together 7 years ago. That DVD player was still working for the most part, it just skipped every now and then, so we retired it to the guest room. Now we've had this Sony DVD player for 5 months and it's broken. The DVDs are getting knocked out of place somehow. Either when we first close the tray, or sometimes in the middle of the movie. We'll just suddenly here the disk start sliding around inside the player. It could pay for shipping and labor to send it back to Sony where they'll just cover parts, but I'm guessing it'll be cheaper to take it to a local repair location. I hope it can be fixed, otherwise it's just $130 down the drain, basically. I don't consider 5 months to be a very reliable life span for a DVD player.

I bought two of these on June 11, 2008. The both died within a week of eachother, starting to go bad, randomly not reading discs in July this year and by today one is completely worthless, the other still reads a disc every 15-20 tries, but not always the same slot. I used them regularly but also maintained them, cleaned the laser, kept a fan behind so they can't get too hot - all problems I have had with other players and it did no good. Still, just 14 months. If it's worth that price, for a year's worth of player, buy it, if not, don't. Since I bought two and both died at the same time, I'd say that will be the case for anyone else who watches dvd's regularly and keeps them plugged in. Me, I'm sick of dvd players lasting a year when a vcr lasted 10 years. The better the technology, the worse the quality of the units, the less time you get out of it. Or they do it on purpose to make you buy them more frequently. But that can't work too well when you don't buy the same brand next time.

This is a great product; specially when I can put 5 music cd's and play each cd non-stop. Also, dvd upconverting or upscaling of my older dvd's is superb. The image is clear and crisp. I supposed one can put in 5 dvd's to watch movies all day, all night long. But I don't want to sprout roots on the couch and become a permanent couch potato. I don't know why some of these critics offer negative reviews. Unless, of course, they just want to sound like experts. Yeah, it takes a small while for the Sony player to set itself to play the first disk, but it's no big deal. I connected a hdmi cable from the Sony CD/DVD player directly to my 55 inch Sony Bravia 1080p LCD Tv for improved hi-def dvd image quality, and I connected an optic audio cable from Sony CD/DVD player to my Onkyo home theater receiver for surround sound. Of course if I just want to hear the cd or dvd audio through my Sony Bravia LCD TV speaker, the hdmi cable which I have connected directly to the TV enables me to do that. But to have the option of hearing the audio play through my home theater for that surround sound movie theater-like sound effect, the choice of using optic audio cable or coax audio cable connections works great.