Customer Reviews

Sony DVP-NS425P Progressive Scan DVD Player, Silver

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

 

 

I was running through the many DVD players that would support all the formats I needed. Typically I was thinking of staying in the 80 dollar range. Then I saw this Sony on sale for 99.99. I thought, Great a DVD player that plays ALL the formats, and Im getting a Sony.

Much like the other user, I have stalling issues through out any DVD I put in. It is NOT issues with the disk. But even worse is the terrible problems it has with darker transitions. For instance:

When its a black screen and you have credits that pop up....you see a darker patch of black across the screen fully -------Directed By Ridley Scott----------. Like that. It also has similar problems during movie play. One scene, A guy was in a darkened closet, and clearly your meant to see him vaguely. Instead, I got negative (like a negative from a picture) effect over his face. It did this same thing with several other movies.

Lastly, the ease of use is just horrific. I dare any of you to buy this product and think this Unit is convenient. Lack of FF, or RW speeds, Menu options that are poorly put together. Skipping through scenes is a horrific battle.

On the plus sides, the picture, when not affected by this units darker places problems, is pretty dag gone crisp.

Has lots of nice picture quality setups, and sound setups.

Plays all the formats for those of you who needs a guaranteed play em all unit.

Was the best looking unit I saw in many online and retail markets.

Overall, the studdering, and the picture quality issues makes this unit a big ol negative. I suggest finding something better.

This was my first DVD player, because my kids were getting sick and tired of playing DVDs on my computer.

The first one (DVP-NS425P)I got had what I considered to be serious playback problems.

While playing various DVD disks, it did not play the video smoothly, but would stop for a fraction of a second at random places during the film, before continuing smoothly. This happened several times while playing the same disk. When I scanned back past the spot where this happened, and then replayed the same section again, it did not happen again. But it would happen again at a different spot, and when I scanned back and replay again, the same thing happened; it played fine.

Another way to describe the problem is, that the disc seems to "stutter" at random spots. These are never the same spot on the individual disks. It happened with almost every disk I played. I have only played movie disks, that I own or rent. I have not played any DVD -R, -RW, +R or +RW disks.

The last time this happened was with a brand new DVD disk, fresh out of the box.

Thinking that I just had a faulty player, I went back to the store to exchange it for a new one. Unfortunately the new one does exactly the same thing. Except it does it worse. The random stops are now much longer. The player is being returned of a refund. I will not get a new one.

As far as I am concerned, this is a bad DVD player. On top of that, SONY tech support has been unhelpful and outright incompetent.

My goal was to purchase a cheap DVD player to drive a DLP projector and avoid going to the "high-end" DVD/CD units until later. The unit is a DVD player first and marginally a CD/MP3 player next.

VIDEO QUALITY:
After returning 2 different DVD players, I settled on this unit. DVD playback is very good and component video (480p to be specific) is clearly better than the NS725 and matches the video output of the Panasonic F85S. This quality approaches that of my computer's output. I don't have that many DVDs, nor do I rent very often but my friends who rent often say they have not had any problems playing discs....yet.

AUDIO QUALITY:
All forms of audio that's supported sounded as expected on my mid-high end system. Keep in mind that there is no fiber optic connector for digital audio (only coaxial). I don't have a subwoofer yet but the remaining channels sounded fine.

ERGONOMICS & USE:
The remote control is typical Sony. The button layout needs improvement but I didn't purchase this unit expecting or wanting every feature under the sun. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) is what I was looking for and basically what I got.

ANNOYANCE:
I've tested 4 of these players (via friends and 1 that I returned due to the problem described) and when playing CD's, the CD mechanism makes an annoying sound averaging at least once a second. When playing a DVD, this sound is not produced due to the rotational speed difference between playing a CD and playing a DVD. I ultimately accepted this problem as I will probably purchase a separate, higher quality CD player. Remember, I just wanted a cheap DVD player that had very good progressive component video.

BOTTOM LINE: It's a solid DVD player, but don't I don't recommend it if you think you'll be annoyed by mechanical noises when playing CDs.

I've been using my PS2 as a DVD player for about 2 years and figured using the stupid controller as the remote is so 2001. I decided to find a DVD player that could suit my needs. I needed one that would have Progressive scan for HDTV, one that would play burned DVD's (Legally of course, one with 5.1 audio support, and one that would look stylish. I got that and more with this Sony player. At 100 bucks, it's a little more than the standard $40 players you can pick up, but it does have great features. DVD+ and -RW reading, MP3 CD player, 5.1 Coaxial output, progressive scan, pan and scan, a beautiful exterior and a great remote. Also, the thing is almost silent. Only when the dvd loads does it make a peep. I'm docking it one star because Pan and Scan only works with certain dvd's and the fact that Sony left out a Digital Optical output in the back. Also, you have to stop the movie to adjust sound and picture options. I do like how it picks up where you first stopped the video. For the price, it's hard to beat this fully loaded DVD player.

This is my second sony dvd player. The first lasted about a year and was hardly used. Out of no where the Drive on it stopped functioning. So now I go out and buy another sony dvd player, the DVP-NS425P, to replace it. No longer than a month later the drive dies the exact same way. What I can conclude from this is either Sony is using recycled drives or they are using faulty drives in their dvd players. From now on I'm not paying $100+ for dvd players. Sony has caused me to lose faith in their products and I will no longer pay for their name. Maybe you will or do have better luck with Sony but I will stick to something cheaper. Then maybe I will feel like I've gotten my moneys worth.

This is the second sony dvd player i've had in 2 years - totally unacceptable for the player to just STOP working. Tried to be loyal to sony - don't bother.

my player of this model broke down after a few months of light usage - only used it to watch 5 or 6 dvds a month. i did all the checking and cleaning that sony tech support asked me to do. finally they told me that i just had to replace the player
as the warranty is only for 90 days (!!), sony won't repair
out of warranty model, but offers to replace your broken model with a refurbished player of the same model...
how nice, except sony will charge you $63+tax for replacing their faulty machine!!!
Sony is taking advantage of its customers by selling bad merchandise and making $$$ off their customer "support" program
I will not be buying any sony products ever again.

I have used this DVD player for at least 5 years. I have gone thru 3 dvd players on another tv, but this is our main dvd player and has never let us down. I am not a Sony fan but received this player as a gift. This player is hooked up to a 56" HD tv and the progressive scan does such a good job we haven't looked into a blueray yet. It plays EVERYTHING, never have I had a problem. Watch out for some of the reviews that claim picture problems, a dvd players job is to read the dvd and it is the tv's job to display it. Any display problems are the result of the tv not the dvd player.

I really don't understand the reviews that report breakdowns etc after a miniumum amount of use unless they just got a "lemon". I have used mine for 5 years, running continuously 5 of the 7 days of the week, about 6 of the 8 hour work day with no problem at all. Great machine. We run it constantly to show Baby Einstein DVD's to my grandchildren. If it broke tommorow I would buy another.

I ordered this dvd player then cancelled within in hour once i saw i was being charged $63.98! It was supposed to be $16.99 plus $19.50 shipping.
I then received a remote control for the dvd player and it was in nasty condition! Gross! I havent checked my credit card yet, i think i was charged for the remote.