Customer Reviews

Sony DVP-NS57P/S Progressive Scan DVD Player, Silver

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've had this DVD player a few weeks now and have watched a couple dozen DVDs. None have given me any problems, including scratched DVDs and DVDs burnt on cheap media which would freeze and skip on my old econo DVD player.

The pros: The user interface is excellent. It seems solid, quick to respond, and well made. I love the speed up/slow down feature, very cool. It's sleek and compact looking, excellent remote control response range.

The cons: The remote will not program for too many TVs, there's only about a dozen codes and none of them work for my older TV. I'm sure it's fine if you're TV is from the last 5 years or so, or a very common older one though.

This model is one of very few DVD players I looked at that wasn't made in China, definitely a plus in my book (although many other Sonys are).

I can't yet speak for long-term use, but overall, I'm very impressed.

I can't believe people are writing negative reviews on this player at all. I have seen some of them, and quite frankly some of them are just plain absurd. What do you want out of a sub $60 player?

It has played every dvd i have burned flawlessly. No pixelization as you might get with some older or cheaper players. It also played a random Mp3 disk i put together with no problem...and even listed the tracks.

The picture and audio are fantastic as well. Sure it doesn't have a ton of "bells and whistles" to it, but i was just looking for a basic player that would just play my dvd's flawlessly and this player does a great job of it. If you want a dvd player without the high price tag that will deliver great picture and sound, this is the one for you!

NOTE: This review is a copy&paste of my review for the 2005 SKU/model/version of this player ... Sony DVPNS50P. After that it became the "55" model before this year when it became the "57" model.

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 evidence of dual-layer freezing.

UPDATE December, 2007. All three units still working fine and still recommended.

UPDATE March, 2009. No problems! Recommended!!!

NOTE: The "57" does NOT have S-video input; the "50" does. I replaced the remote with a Sony RM-VL600 'trainable' remote. $20 and well worth it. Check it out.

I am the type of person who likes to get the most value for the money I spend. This Sony definitely gives you the most value for what you get!

We have a room for the kids and they love to watch Disney DVDs and can sit for hours entertained and immersed in a good video. Superb video and audio quality makes it more enjoyable for them.

I decided to get a good versatile DVD Player that would provide the best picture and audio quality for the children. I did not want to obtain the higher end dvd players with 780p, 1080i, or 1080p high definition because the television in the childrens play room is only capable of 480p at best. Therefore, if you are looking for a DVD player to use for your 1080i, or 1080p flat screen TV...then do not read any further...this DVD player is not for you. Always remember your high definition television is limited by what you connect it to. This progressive scan DVD player provides much better quality than standard television and is considered enhanced definition, but by no means high definition.

Now check this out! For less than $60, you get a player that can play MP3s, CD, DVD, CD-R, SVCD, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL, Video CD, JPEG photo playback and now combine that with Progressive scanning for an awesome 480p Enhanced Definition Picture! WOW!!!

I found this particular player could play the childrens scratched DVDs, while my other more expensive DVD player could not. I also found this player to have produced the best sound quality on the childrens television I have heard, coming from their tv set. The money I spent for this DVD player definitely is worth every penny. I am so happy with this DVD/CD player.

The remote is very easy to use. The functions for playback, resume and scrolling through chapter scenes is effortless. The only reason I don't switch out my other more expensive DVD player is because my living room TV is a 1080i flatscreen. Otherwise, I would exclusively have this DVD player on all of my televisions.

My experience with Sony products have always been good. This time it is more than good. The quality and performance--plus the cheap price for this type of DVD/CD player, makes it the most excellent Sony product I have encountered up to this date and time. It's great to find a quality product, but to have both quality and value...now that's something to be happy about!

I purchased this dvd player for a small hd tv. I have had good experience with other sony electronics products and this experience was also good. It only took about 5-10 minutes to hook the dvd to my tv and set it up. It plays old dvds that I recorded 3-4 years ago from old vhs tapes as well as my rentals with no glitch.CD capability is good.No complaints. I am pleased.

My DVD player was several years old, and wouldn't play scratched DVD's, and frequently choked on my home-burned DVD's. After reading all the reviews about how well this model handles less-than-perfect DVD's and DVD-R/DVD+R, I bought this model.

I'm happy to report that this player doesn't miss a beat. It has successfully read ALL my scratched DVD's and home-made DVD's that my old player didn't like, without a single hiccup. I also have another decent DVD player that would choke on only 4 of my DVD/R's, and all 4 of those work perfectly in the Sony also.

If you use NetFlix, this is a great player since many of their DVD's are scratched by previous renters.

This is a great value for the money - since it plays all the DVD's that other players have problems with, it would still be a good deal if it cost twice as much. It doesn't have an S-video output, but it does have component output, which is better video quality than S-video anyway. One correction to a prior review - someone said this unit is not made in China - maybe that was true last year, but the new ones are made in China. It's hard to find ANYTHING which isn't made in China any more; as long as the manufacturer maintains quality control over it's products, it really doesn't matter in what country they place their factory.

I was having some issues with my older Panasonic player when it came to playing DVDs I had burned on my computer. I did some research and read the positives about the ability of this unit to play burned discs. These reviews were spot on!

I've now tested numerous brands of burned discs, both + and -, and have yet to run into one that skipped/pixeled, let alone not play.

This is a no frills unit but if you're simply looking for a player to watch discs on a non HD TV, or if you're looking for a machine to play burned DVD's, you cannot go wrong...especially for the price.

Highly recommended.

dvd player is good and as discribed on internet...same price as walmart but no shipping charge and NO GAS...

We purchased 2 of these units. The first was dead out of the box. The second worked perfectly - even my mother-in-law was able to use it without a problem. This seems to match the other reviews that I read.

I bought this in early January 2008. For the first 3 months it has been fine, but over the last month it has progressed from freezing infrequently to not being able to play any disc at all. Now when I place a disc in the player disc it loads for about 10 minutes and then I get a message that the disc is dirty, even if the disc is brand new and absolutely pristine. It's going directly into the trash bin.