Customer Reviews

Sony DVP-NC875V/B 5-Disc DVD/CD/SACD Changer, Black

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this recently to replace an older 5 disc Sony model that I spent nearly 200 for just 2 years ago. Some changes I noticed include: they did remove the front panel menu navigation buttons, so make sure you don't break/lose your remote. Also gone is the cool 2 color front panel lights around disc buttons 1-5. One good thing though is that they made it shorter in height, thin is in. Never had a problem w/ my old one, Sony is among the leaders in reliability. I like the dot matrix display a lot- which features a 3 stage dimmer.

This model DVP-NC875V(Black) is a great value. I bought the black because it matches the rest of my AV gear, but it's also available in silver. I got mine from a local retailer for 123, new. The on-screen menu is clear and easy to use. The manual is also easy to understand and well written. Set up was painless, I had it out of the box and playing with-in minutes. The remote is sleek/thin, easy to use, tons of buttons, and fits my hand well w/ the bottom finger groove. Some cool buttons are the (2x & 4x) zoom and instant replay. It can be easily programmed to control the volume on your receiver(lacks a mute button) as well as control your TV.

It features hi-fi. multichannel SACD - though unfortunately only playable through the analog 5.1 outputs, would be MUCH better if it was playable through the superior digital outs instead.(Running one wire is also a much cleaner install than having to run 6 for audio to the machine's rear) I hope they someday get this right.

It features a list of various play modes, including program play, shuffle(random) play, repeat play, A-B repeat play. CD/DVD text compatible(if available). Built-in dolby digital/DTS decoding, great for people who don't already have decoding in a receiver, lacks pro logic II decoding I've seen others have. Of course, selectable progressive scan.

It has BOTH optical & coaxial digital outs. Superior 108MHz/12 bit video DAC! 192kHz/24 bit audio DAC! Sony's new precision drive 3 system. 40 disc resume memory- very convenient feature and a lot more than others offer! region 1 or all region/NTSC only. Built-in screen saver(after 15 min.). Energy star! It shuts off after 30 min. of inactivity. Great feature! Power consumption is 14w. S/N 115db. Distortion: .003% Dynamic range: DVD video & SACD =103db/CD=99db.

Just a couple cons: lacks(higher end)HDMI output, doesn't play WMA, DVD-RAM, DVD-ROM, CD-ROM(photo CD format)or DVD-audio discs. However, it is extremely hard to find a player that's compatible w/ every single format out there. What it will play: DVD, CD, SACD, VCD, JPEG, Kodak picture CD, MP3, CD-R/RW, DVD +/- R/RW, CD-ROM(music CD/video CD format).

Also, a personal issue, I still wish DVD players had built-in digital clocks like VCRs did. I also wish you had a choice to rotate the open tray either way when exchanging discs. Keep in mind the 5 disc models are quite a bit larger/wider than the single disc models, but they do offer you more flexibility in return.

One final piece of advice, please use component video for your video signal (if you can) and invest in quality set of wires, like monster cable. S-Video is the next best thing. Composite aka A/V cables should NEVER be used for a DVD player, even though they are usually thrown in the box for free. Composite: Good for VCRs, Horrible for DVDs. Anyways, hope my review helps... this is a great product so go get one!

I bought this DVD changer so that I can play movies as well as mp3 audio cds. I have a Panasonic single disc DVD player which works fantastic except that it plays only one disk at a time. In my Panasonic player, I can memorize any position on all types of disk including DVDs, Audio CDs and MP3 CDs. In this player it only memorizes position when you hit the "Stop" button. In case of MP3 CDs it doesn't remember the position even after hitting the "Stop" button. Every time you play it starts from first track. You have to manually navigate to the track you played last to listen to the tracks after the last played track, if you don't do that you'd end up listening to the same 15-20 songs over and over. I have connected optical digital audio cable, so have no complaints as far as sound quality goes, it is as good as my Panasonic. The LCD panel display is feeble compared to even other Sony AV components. Also can't shuffle tracks across multiple disks. Other than these issue this is a good product.

I bought this unit to replace my old Pioneer DV-434(had loading tray issues). I didnt expect much of a difference from this unit because I figured that all units were pretty much the same. I was wrong. With the beefed up video and audio bits, it makes a huge difference. DVD's sound unreal, and the seperation and accuracy is unbelievable for such a cheap unit. Only downfall is the fact that it doesnt support CD text or ID3 tags from MP3's. This to me is more of a frill than a necessity. Also the display is a little lack-luster. The video output is also noticably cleaner. I like the option menu to tweak the picture to ones liking. You can also tweak the audio by selecting size of speakers, distance, and gain. Friendly remote as well. All in all for a $130 this DVD player packs a good punch.

This terrific Sony unit is worth its price just as a fine progressive scan DVD player. But it has an additional feature which makes it much more valuable than most good DVD players: in addition to DVDs and regular CDs, it plays the new SACDs -- which are the finest sounding recordings currently available.

When conventional CDs became available they displaced LPs in the marketplace because of their small size and the fact that their sound did not degrade with the ticks and pops that even the best-maintained LPs eventually acquire. But, despite these advantages -- as well as significant improvements in CD sound over time, with technological advances such as oversampling -- many connoisseurs maintained that CDs never achieved the warmth and high-frequency sweetness characteristic of top-grade audiophile LPs. Now that has changed. Super Audio CDs are superior in sound to the finest audiophile-quality LPs I've ever heard. Furthermore, even conventional CDs played on a SACD player sound better than they do on typical CD players. In fact, the best conventional CDs in my collection equal audiophile-quality LPs in sound when played on my Sony SACD player and the new SACDs sound even better. If you're going to buy a DVD player why not get one, like this Sony, which plays not only regular CDs but the new terrific-sounding SACDs -- especially, when the price is so reasonable?

I brought the player home for no other reason than to listen to, and see for myself, what a good SACD could sound like. I was impressed no end. Let me recommend Roxy Music's AVALON SACD. A previous reviewer writes "It features hi-fi. multichannel SACD - though unfortunately only playable through the analog 5.1 outputs, would be MUCH better if it was playable through the superior digital outs instead.(Running one wire is also a much cleaner install than having to run 6 for audio to the machine's rear) I hope they someday get this right."

This is true, but is also true for every single SACD player out there, and will not change unless the music industry relaxes its mandatory requirements that all high quality multi-channel digital music be transmitted from the player in analogue form only! This has nothing directly to do with Sony (other than they agreed to the terms) or any other SACD player's manufacturer for that matter.

The test tones did not produce a base signal to the subwoofer but I am still yet unsure if it is the player or my receiver's sub input. I largely suspect the player as that input was used previously - but a long time ago. Setting all speakers to `large', and having my receiver do the base management worked very well.

There are some really stupid things on the player like the ultra bight leds that are used on the front panel that will blind a cave dwelling salamander (without eyes) from across the other side of the house. Yes you can dim them, and no, it does not really help. Sony could have saved 15c if they chose regular leds. I had to cover them to tone them down a bit. I guess something like nail polish (really dark) would also work. The alternative is to hide the player behind a cabinet door or something, and use some IR relay.

The very first DVD played hung up at the layer change - Bourne Supremacy. The player had to be shutdown to reset it. I have not tried another since I already have a decent DVD player that is working fine right now. Menu changes seemed very quick relative to what I am used to. Video quality (component but NOT progressive) seemed average. I did not try any video output modes.

It is noisy when changing disks - big deal. Since you cannot shuffle across multiple discs, it is not going to be changing discs all that often. You CAN change a CD/DVD while one is playing.

Plays MP3 CDs well enough, and far better than most MP3 players that I have used. Have not tried other formats, nor intend to.

Setup was clear, simple and intuitive. Had no trouble getting it setup without the manual - a good litmus test.

At this point I am considering sending it back and looking else where for an SACD solution, but for the price and the fact that I am not sure I can live without SACD for a couple of days, I might just keep it.

I have owned a couple different brands of DVD players, Pioneer, Apex, and this one is by far the best. This player allows you to tweak several settings which the others never had.
If you are in the market for a very good multi-disk DVD player, then this is one to consider.
One more thing, I purchased a Sony DVP-NC665P as my first choice and was quite disappointed. It has a few more bells and whistles, but it has a few glitches that are noticable during playback. I cheked on the web and this is an on going problem with that DVD player. I found this model, the Sony DVP-NC875V/B and tested it out and it has none of the anomolies of the DVP-NC665P.
Multi disk DVD players seem to be getting rare as DVD recordable and DVD/VCR combos become very popular.
This player also plays CDs with very high accuracy. Neither my Pioneer or Apex played music CDs nearly as well. I don't have any SA-CDs (Super Audio CDs) so I have none of the complaints about extra cabling, etc.

For those who want multi-disc programming in a disc changer and may still be confused after reading the above reviews, simply go to the Sony USA site, find their NC-875V page, and open that machine's manual offered there. On P. 43 it will tell you that you can ONLY PROGRAM ONE DISC AT A TIME, period! This of course is a sad departure from all previous Sony disc changers, and why they opted to drop this obvious feature for a changer is beyond me, though as one reviewer suggests it may have been due to some sort of rush to get the product out. Again, when you access the programming feature of both of Sony's current changers, you are not given the option of selecting tracks from more than one disc - there is no disc choice indicator at the top of the programming page, as for example exists in Sony's previous disc changers such as the great NC685V machine, which is sadly no longer on the market. Although this of course is far more subjective, I also found that the sound, especially in the SACD format, was not quite up to the earlier 685, though it is certainly acceptable at the much lower price. Still, why Sony continues to offer a changer but has dropped one of the prime programming features such a machine should exist for, is beyond me. Hopefully this drawback will be addressed in the near future!

The last person said this did not have the multi-disc shuffle or program mode. If he read through the manual once, he would have found it.

One small issue is the SA-CD does not play through the digital optical output. You need to connect the full 5.1 audio set. This means I am doing double cabling just to make it work that the digital output could do by itself.

I am very happy with it!

I was very disappointed to discover, after setting up the player and loading it with 5 CDs, that it did not have multi-disc shuffle.

I purchased this based on one of the earlier reviewer's comments that "The last [reviewer] said this did not have multi-disc shuffle... If he read through the manual once, he would have found it."

I read through the manual once and found instead "You can only shuffle the contents of the current disc."

Although everything else about the player seems fine (although I haven't had it very long) I'm returning mine. The main reason I was replacing my previous (Toshiba) DVD changer was that it was missing this feature. Not sure why this feature is so frequently absent. All the old *CD* changers always had this (at least the Sony ones anyway), seems pretty basic to me.

Anyway if you're not interested in this feature, then it's probably a good buy, but otherwise be aware that multi-disc shuffle ain't there no matter how many times you read the manual!

A couple of reviews have noted/complained that the high res audio on this player is available only through the multi-channel analog outputs rather than the digital out. This is true for ALL high resolution audio players, whether DVD-Audio or SACD. It's not a matter of Sony "getting it right", it's a matter of the licensing of high resolution audio players. Blame the RIAA who believe that making the high res, uncompressed audio signal available digitally would increase piracy.