Customer Reviews

Sony DVP-NS90V HDMI/SACD 1080i Upscaling DVD Player

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There's no need to take anybody else's word for specs on this Sony DVD player when you can view or download, for free, the user's manual at http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=DVPNS90V&LOC=3. I've been running this Sony DVP-NS90V player through a Sony widescreen HDTV and a Pioneer amplifier/receiver for several days now, and I find almost none of the problems and limitations mentioned by previous reviewers. One, for example, states that there is "no bass management," yet you can (a) route more or less signal to the subwoofer by selecting "small" or "large" for the front speaker size (see page 76 of the user's manual), and also (b) increase or decrease the bass from -15 dB to +5 dB (see page 77 of the manual). Whether you prefer analog to digital audio, or you think SACD's are tops, is a matter of opinion, taste and choice and not an objective evaluation of a playback unit. I, for one, prefer DVD-Audio, and I mention this for an important reason: Some product ads and the user's manual clearly warn that this unit "will NOT play DVD-Audio discs." Happy surprize: it most certainly will! For my DVD-A's that have optional Dolby 5.1 and/or DTS tracks, the player simply ignores the primary DVD-A format (normally output via the 6 analog cable connectors) but still plays the Dolby or the DTS via the digital audio (optical or coaxial) connectors. For "pure" DVD-A's (without Dolby 5.1 or DTS tracks), it conveniently outputs the audio BOTH via the 6 analog AND the digital connectors. And in all cases above, the audio is full multi-channel surround, and not downmixed to 2-channel PCM, nor Prologic pseudo-surround. The only DVD-A function it lacks is the video slideshow often included on DVD-A's, and so displays only the "jacket image" onscreen. The Quick Setup allows any DVD newbie to be up and running in a short time. And the Custom Setup is so detailed with so many fine tweaks and trouble-shooters that it's bound to please even the high-end audio-video geek-freaks. In short, you'll find this to be a superior universal player, provided you read the user's manual (all 84 pages of it!), follow it, and connect equally high-quality, compatible equipment capable of exploiting its many fine features.

First off, lets look at the good things about this player.
It does a wonderful job upscaling to 720p and is also great at 1080i and 480p. It doesn't suffer the "macroblocking" of the competitors DCDI processing. It is built well and looks good. You can change the front display to auto dark or off. Picture controls such as sharpness (which you don't need)picture (contrast)brightness and color. It also remembers these settings when you power down. It also has a 6 disc memory which is nice.
The Cons,
Well there are only two things that bother me, one of which is hopefully going to to fixed by a firmware update (who knows with Sony)What it does is shift the image down and squeeze the image slightly on 720p and even more so on 1080i. At 480p it doesn't do this, but you loose some detail at that setting. This problem bothers me, but not to the point where I want to return it. The pic quality is outstanding!
The other thing that bothers me is that it's silver and doesn't have menu navigation controls on the front panel....thats it! Anyway, if you are not really bothered by the "vertical shift" issue when upscaling, then GO FOR IT! I'm sorta a video geek and I'm keeping it, so that says somthing. And just as a side note, the lower model, the 70h, does the same thing.

I decided to buy this yesterday from Fry's since the prices were the same (199); of course it's 40 dollars cheaper today but...

It was well worth it. I went through my DVD collection watching portions of about 5 different movies I watch often. I see details in these DVDs I've never seen before and the sound is also a lot clearer using the HDMI connection. I don't notice the shift other people are talking about but I don't consider myself an expert in such things. Unless there's a glaring defect I usually don't notice.

I'm glad I bought it and can't wait to watch some more DVDs.

I have tried out several upconversion dvd player( pan.s77,opp,toshiba 5980) in my opinion this is a better player as far as picture quality and sound. I now hear noises on dvds that i didn`t hear before, I find myself looking around behind me as if someone is there, as far picture quality, my plasma is showing as if i am looking at a high definition channel.Only problem is they should have made this earlier.

I was happy with the picture my old dvd player produced over the KDFE50A10 TV, but after the cable card was installed, the HDMI slot became available and now had the chance or excuse to install this Sony HDMI DVD player, which Amazon promptly sent w/o damaged to me. The unit fits perfectly beneath the center speaker shelf (of the Sony custom stand) and the economy priced HDMI to HDMI cable transports excellent picture and sound. There is absolutely no deterioration in digital signal with the economy HDMI cable, so don't get caught sucker overspending $100+ more on the super premium HDMI cable. The money saved is best spent on more DVD's or SACD's, for it is just crazy to spend almost as much or more on HDMI cable as this player cost. With this set selling for under $200, why bother waiting around for the $1000 Blu Ray sets to become available? This set just might be the forerunner to them at a bargain price? A real sleeper - no wonder the price has increased! Go snap em up before they are gone.

I just picked one of these up yesterday. So far, I'm ABSOLUTELY satisfied with what comes in the package. Right out of the box, I noticed how well this thing is built. More metal than plastic like the other DVD players.

Setup took me less than 20 minutes. I used a HDMI connection to my Pioneer plasma 4350HD and used the optical connection to my Sony AV Receiver for the 5.1 sound. I popped in several new (e.g. Constant Gardner) and older DVDs (e.g., Jurassic Park) and was truly impressed by the upscaling. Unlike other reviews, I didn't notice the "shifting" that they mentioned but again I'm just a casual DVD movie watcher. Picture quality was astounding. You can REALLY see the difference when going from 480 to 720/1080.

Listening to SACD on this unit was magic to my ears!!! What a bonus.

Although the unit doesn't come with an HDMI cable (like the Panasonic), I'd personally rather purchase a separate (better quality) HDMI cable rather than a "cheapy" that most manufacturers would have provided.

Unlike the other reviewers, I personally like the silver color and so does my wife.

I have played a few DVD's in this player and it is as a quality image on my Sony HDTV. I purchased this machine as a comparison for my older high-end player and as a backup device. A comparison between the two yielded excellent picture quality on par with my more expensive player. I wanted a SACD player and one with HDMI connector to go to my TV. Overall I'm very pleased with my purchase.

This product is very well worth the extra expense after going through all the problems of the previous DVD player with similar features. I've used this item for a year now and still works flawlessly.

I bought this player exclusively to be able to listen to SACD music. Hookup is easy, I connected it with two 3-prong RCA cables to my 5.1 inputs on a Harman Kardon receiver. Sound is fantastic and SACD is a wonderful experience. Hearing the cash register of Pink Floyd's "Money" alternating in the rear left and right speakers is great, but what blew me away was hearing Bach's Toccata and Fuge played by E. Power Biggs on the 4 simultaneously played Freiburg Münster organs. Fully immersive sound!

I don't have much to compare to but would assume that sound is equally good on pretty much any decent SACD player. I don't have an HDTV set yet, hence no comments on picture quality.

What I find very annoying is that the player takes ages to do anything. You need to depress every key for about half a second before the player reacts and then it takes up to 20 seconds (!) to read the CD content and start playing. Likewise, even ejecting a disk or shutting down takes about 5 seconds. It's like the player is on dope and needs to comprehend every request before reacting. Sony should be able to do better than that.

I've owned this player for a little more than a month and am very pleased with its performance. I use the player in conjuction with a 7.1 channel HDMI switching AV Receiver and 73" DLP hi-def tv. I mention this because the Sony is very well-behaved relative to the HDMI interface. I wish the same were true of my other video components.

As for the Sony's picture and audio performance both are exemplary. Standard definition DVD reproduction is excellent on the widescreen no doubt due to the superior upscaling circuity of this unit. SACD's as well as regular CD's sound terrific using the DVD's optical output as the audio feed to my receiver.

Nothing special about the remote control device. It works just fine but it's not backlighted. The DVD player uses standard remote encoding so it's easy to program third party remotes to work with the player.

Highly recommended.