Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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303 of 307 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another stellar player from Sony, March 28, 2006
I must say this player is a marvel to see. The picture to me is just as outstanding as its' predecessors but without any of the NS70H's warts. Everything that was good with the previous model is intact on the this one. It seems to be a tad faster than the than the older one, it's not blindingly fast mind you but it does seem to respond to commands and load the disk a bit quicker.
I hope folks who buy this unit to integrate with their home audio system take the time to go through the book and menus to set the audio portion correctly. It comes dumbed down in the box with Dolby Digital and DTS turned off. Additionally it's set to 48khz instead of 96khz. Once those three items have been activated this baby produces some of the most outstanding sounds I've heard. I fear most folks will simply buy it, plug it in and hit play never knowing what they are missing. I did confirm that it will pass the 6.1 DD-EX and DTS-ES audio streams also.
The only real errors Sony keeps making is not providing an HDMI cable (umm why?) and not allowing "on the fly" resolution changes. You still have to stop the DVD that's playing and migrate through several menu screens to get to the one that allows resolution changes. I suppose you'll most likely only do this once though. You'll put it where you like it and then leave it alone.
The only other minor issue I have is the super bright blue "HDMI" light that's on all the time when hooked up to a HDMI display. Sure it can be dealt with with a small piece of duct tape but it would have been better if Sony chose not to put a Xenon bulb in there!
Having been through several upscaling players (Oppo, Samsung, Zenith, RCA) I can honestly say this is best player to date that I've seen. The picture sparkles and the sound is to die for. If you've been on the fence wondering if this is the one to get it's time to get off because you won't find a better player for the money. It's that good.
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123 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As good as they come, June 5, 2006
I had to replace my old DVD player because it simply couldn't handle the DVD-Rs that I have been collecting. You know the problems: freezing, gross pixilations, hanging - VERY annoying. I tried the worst disc I had, and this player played it flawlessly - you would never have known it wasn't "perfect". Another great but understated Sony feature is the player "remembers" where you left off on up to six discs. If you stop or eject a disc, the player will begin play at that point the next time you load it, with up to six different discs in between. The remote has better human factors than previous Sony models, too, so it's much easier to work in lower light levels. A superior value in every respect. If you are into DVD-R or RW, give this player a try.
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy this DVD player!, July 13, 2006
Reasonably priced DVD player with excellent video and audio quality. It plays all the discs I threw at it, including the DVD-Rs I burnt on my Mac. I tested this player with my best DVDs - Spider-man 2 (Superbit), Lawrence of Arabia (Superbit) and Ben-Hur. The picture and sound quality blew me away. I could see details like the wrinkles on the actors' faces and stray hair on their foreheads. Unbelievable! Outdoor scenes had rich color and excellent clarity. This DVD player is an excellent choice until the HiDef DVD format wars end.
I am stepping up from a 2 yr old Sony NC665P DVD player connected to a 51" Hitachi rear-projection HDTV. The improvement in picture quality is significant through both the HDMI and Component video connections. When I switch between the HDMI and Component connections I see a slight difference in picture quality - the HDMI picture is sharper, with more detail, while the Component picture is softer. In any case, you will see a significant improvement in picture quality if your current DVD player is more than 2 years old. The only quirk I noticed is that some discs take up to 30 seconds to load.
You will see the greatest improvement in picture quality from this up-convert DVD player if you have a CRT-based rear projection HDTV or an older Plasma/LCD. You will not see any improvement in picture quality if you connect this DVD player to one of the newer, top-of-the-line HDTVs. These TVs contain better up-convert circuitry than you would find in any DVD player in this price-range. They do a much better job of up-converting the incoming signal to pseudo-HiDef than this DVD player. This is why some reviewers with older TVs rate this product highly, while those with newer TVs do not see any improvement in picture quality. As other reviewers have noted, you need to change the settings on this DVD player to get the most out of it. The default settings do not make the most of this player's capability. Read the manual and change the settings. It is worth the effort.
One word of caution: Do not waste your money on the outrageously priced HDMI cables from companies like Monster. There is absolutely no reason to pay more for the cable than you did for the DVD player itself! Since HDMI passes a purely digital signal any cable that gets the signal to the TV will produce the same quality picture. There is no basis in reality for Monster's claim that their exotic cables yield a better picture than any other quality cable. I bought a $10 HDMI cable on the internet and it performs as well my friend's $140 Monster cable. Save your money and buy your wife some nice gifts. She just might forgive you for spending all that money on home theater gear!
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