Customer Reviews

Sony DVP-NS55P/B Single Disc DVD Player, Black

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have coverted all of our VHF tapes (about 50 total) to DVD using our computer and a DVD writer to either DVD+R or DVD-R disks. It seems many DVD players won't always play these home made DVDs. We have had three other players that would freeze up while playing the home made disks and even some store bought disks. This Sony DVPNS55P not only plays the home made DVDs but the picture quality is noticably better.

The instruction book of this Sony says it will not play DVDs with a paper label. About 80% of my home burned DVDs have a paper label and this Sony has played them without any problems.

I thought about buying a second Cyberhome CH-DVD 3005 ($27.95 on Amazon) because we already have one of those and it was the best of our players, even though we only paid $24 for it two years ago. However when researching the Cyberhome on Amazon about a third of the user comments out of 410 said the units had a short life. So I poked around and saw this one. There is no question that this is a much better unit than the Cyberhome. If you are looking for a quality player for a low price this is the best I found.

We've had this unit for about 2 weeks. We've played about 20 DVDs (OK it's Christmas time and we are doing some serious relaxing), some store bought, some rental, and some +R and -R home burned DVDs. This unit also doubles as our CD music player and we've played hours of music as well.

Pros:
- Better remote design than some others I have.
- Great picture quality
- Plays home made +R and -R DVDs.
- Instant Replay feature
- Skip ahead feature (opposite of instant replay)
- Easy setup.
- Remote also operated my Sony TV out of the box without setup.
- Remembers the last position played on up to six disks.
- 2X and 4X zoom feature with pan
- Low price

Cons:
- Forgets the text mode that I want to display. Normally I want to see the movie remaining time but I have to select that every time I turn the Sony on.

What I like about the Sony DVPNS55P/B Single Disc DVD Player is Sony's Precision Cinema Progressive (PCP) system that eliminates many motion artifacts by detecting the actual pixel movement, from those pixels that remain static in many scenes, resulting in a sharper picture. The picture quality does looks significantly better than my other units. Also of note is the way that this unit plays DVDs with questionable looking scratched surfaces with reasonable flawlessness. The price is very affordable as well and the black color design is very welcome to most component audio video systems.

Received this unit about 2 weeks ago and connected it to the componet video inputs of my 56" DLP HDTV. Boy was I surpised of the resolution of the picture and was impressed with all the features Sony packed in this compact DVD player. I bought the black version because it matched my other componets, TV, and stand. I am also impressed with Sony's Precision Cinema Progressive (PCP)system which really brings out the picture quality to life. I also liked the compact size of this unit as well as the many functions on the remote control. This is a great DVD player at a low price. You won't be disappointed with this unit.

NOTE: This review is a copy&paste of my review for the previous generation SKU ... Sony DVPNS50P.

DECEMBER 2005: I have only had this item for about three weeks or so. I am hoping that it "holds up" over time, unlike a lot of other DVD players on the market that apparently fail so quickly they are practically disposable in nature.

The "pros" on this item (so far) are:

* sleek, slim, uncluttered look of the unit

* comes in either black or silver, so you can match it up to your other devices.

* easy set up. There's a electrical plug, trip-RCA jacks and an S-video jack. Hook-up is a snap. Hardware-wise, the device, then, is really uncluttered.

* seems to be a good deal for the price.

The "cons" (so far) are:

* as said elsewhere by other reviewers... it IS slow. Slow to boot a disc. Slow to re-start a disc that has been stopped. Just slow.

* the display readout on the front of the box. It scrolls words like "welcome," "open" "close" and "no text." The firmware engineer was apparently out to lunch on this one. There's not even a clock display. It will display the time the DVD has played, thank goodness.

*the on-screen menu is pretty lame. Must have been the same engineer. The menu choices are only displayed as cryptic graphics, and the choices for each graphic are brief and uninformative (as in "on, off, auto" or similar types of statements). You will absolutely have to work through the manual to figure it out. And you won't find a lot of useful functionality after you do. It is a pretty bare-bones box.

* The remote control could use a good bit of improvement. The text is large enough to read ... but the buttons barely protrude from the face. You have to grasp this thing firmly, get your finger right on the button and apply a good bit of pressure to score. And a lot of the buttons can't be pushed while the thing is sitting on the coffee table ... the back of the device is beveled at the top, so if you press on the buttons near the top -- common usage buttons like TV on/off, box on/off and open/close -- while it is sitting on a level surface, the thing just flips up in the air. And the range is horrid. It can't handle getting its signal over the edge of my coffee table three feet away from the box. You've got to pick it up and aim it directly at the device if you want the box to respond. There's no facilitation for using the remote at night (no glow in the dark, backlighting, light-through, etc.) AND the remote came in silver. Who at Sony thought that I would want a silver remote if I bought a black box? Was molding cases for the remote in two different colors too big a challenge for them ... or did it just make it easier for Sony to manage its inventory?

* The box has already told me "no disc" incorrectly a couple of times. Jogging it opened and closed resolved the issue. Either the tray is not designed to align the disc 100% when inserted ... or this is an indication the device is going to have read problems down the road. Time will tell.

Still, IF it is quality, IF it is durable, then it's worth what I paid for it.

UPDATE: September, 2006. After owning one for almost a year ... and buying two more this summer ... I can still recommend this unit. Every once in a great while, it gets confused enough so that I have to unplug it from the wall to "reboot it." It has tracked flawlessly on almost every DVD ... just a freeze here and there on some heavily used Netflix rentals. I do not see any evience of dual-layer freezing. This SKU is out of production, but the current SKU (Sony DVPNS55P)doesn't look much different and so it is probably just as reliable.

I just bought this DVD player with the hopes that something under $100 would be worth every penny. It loads quickly; has a nice, sleak look to it; easy to operate remote; great playback when you stop the movie and so worth the money. If you were to buy any DVD player this holiday season, get this one. I promise you'll love it.

Let's See! The price sure can't be beat. The Sony name brand is top notch. The device looks good, worked right out of the box, small footprint, stylish looking DVD player... What more can you ask for? You just hook up in seconds, plug in and pop in a DVD, seems to have a great picture and a lot of that is determined by your TV... This Sony is a good deal especially at this price. Clear display, nice solid remote control, smooth DVD door. I highly recommended it. If you are looking to pay DVD's on the TV this Sony is all you need. Don't spend a penny more than you have to... Plays CD's too but haven't tried that yet... I am sure it will work just fine.

Got this 6 months back n using regularly without any problems. Sleek nice design. Reads all DVDs I have used till now. Has all kinds of input/outputs required to hookup with any receiver.

Am very happy with this product.

If your looking for a DVD player with a great picture, this one is for you. Basic operation, simple to use, nothing complicated, not loaded with extras, just plays a great picture

This DVD player is all I need. The picture is great, the price is great and the operation is simple. I had read many good reviews of this product and I'm very pleased I chose it over more expensive models.

The Sony single disc DVD player lives up to the glowing reviews that were published in the Amazon website. It is simple to use and provides excellent quality pictures.