Great picture, easy setup, good connections

It failed after only one week of use

I loved my new Sony DVP-NS300 when I brought it home, had nice picture, easy setup and great audio. The problem for me was that it failed to play ANY DVD after only one week of use...would not buy a Sony DVD player after this experience.

Similar Products Used:

None

looks nice on the shelf

doesn't work - shuts down after 15 minutes of play

Purchased new in box from Circuit City. After playing a DVD for around 15 minutes the unit shuts down.

Sony: You can do better. I'll think twice before paying a premium for a product with your name on it.

Clean, Artifact free image

Soft image, Flat lifeless color, suspect build quality

First thing about this Sony I noticed upon inserting a DVD was that it makes a "clunky" sound when reading the disc and moving between menus and chapters - it is silent while playing but this "clunky" sound and the players light weight and build quality leaves me wondering just how long the player will last. I actually purshased a cheaper Sanyo unit first, the DWM-370, and was a little suspicious of that units in-player letterboxing(digital artifacts) on my Sony Non-Progressive 4:3 TV so I ended up buying this Sony to compare it with. My review of that Sanyo is here for the moment: http://www.audioreview.com/message/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&omm=0&om=6659&forum=DCForumID5
The Sonys are known for very good in-player Letterboxing on 4:3 sets with little or no motion artifacts
or stairsteping on straight lines and even on this entry level player, this was the case indeed. Playing specific scenes on the Sanyo which give artifacts showed very little artifacts on the Sony. On further inspection though, it appears to me that the way Sony does this is by softening the picture. Compared to the much more inexpensive Sanyo, the Sony image lacked a certain depth of color and was much softer. Overall, I think the
Sony is Way overpriced and underperforms compared to cheaper alternatives. In particular, I would suggest considering the Sanyo DWM-370 for a more film like picuture and a savings of $60!

Similar Products Used:

Sanyo DWM-370, Pioneer DV-C302, Toshiba

2 RCA, Coax, optical outputs. Easy setup.

It wouldn't play some dual layer DVDs that I had without freezing for 1-2 seconds through out.

I don't know much about DVD players except that they shouldn't freeze when playing. I watched about 7 DVDs so far on this player and one froze for 1-2 seconds occaisionly. It was enough to make watching the DVD irritating. This same DVD worked fine on my PC-DVD Rom and a friends DVD (Panasonic RV31).

Otherwise, there is no problems with this player.

I returned the DVD player and bought the Panasonic RV31 which has been getting great reviews. I used it for about 5 mins and it never froze (I went to the spots where they froze on the Sony). I am off to try it some more, but so far, I am impressed with the RV31.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba PC DVD drive

After having my sony 360 for only 14 months, and not knowing about this site, i foolishly bought the 300. After only 11 days i got the dreaded "NO DISC" message on the display. It only happened once, but why wait for it to be another $200 paperweight. Once i read the 360 reviews , i took my sony 300 back to circuit city and purchased the Panasonic RV31 for the same price . Anyone reading this who is considering buying a sony please read the reviews under the 360 model.

Similar Products Used:

sony 360

Great value. Excellent Anamorphic Downconversion for 4:3 TV

No CD-R Playback

This is an excellent no-frills DVD Player.

I bought this unit to supplement a top of the line Toshiba SD9200. The Toshiba is probably unsurpassed if you have a 16:9 HDTV, but I was very unhappy with the downconversion artifacts produced by the Toshiba when playing anamorphic or "widescreen enhanced" DVDs on my 61" Toshiba 4:3 HDTV. (A DVD Player reproducing an anamorphic DVD for display on a 4:3 TV (assuming that TV does not perform "anamorphic squeeze") must perform a "downconversion" of the signal which results in a reduction of the number of lines of horizontal resolution in the displayed signal.) Most manufacturers of DVD Players, including Toshiba, "downconvert" anamorphic DVDs by simply dropping 1 line of resolution out of every 4. This preserves picture sharpness but also introduces artifacts, such as shimmering or line twitter, which become more noticeable and annoying as the display increases in size. Sony (alone, so far as I am aware) takes a different approach to downconversion in that it uses an interpolation process to "combine" these lines. The result is a picture which is slightly softer, but largely free of these artifacts. This consideration is obviously only relevant for those of us with 4:3 TVs, but since those models probably represent over 90% of installed sets, it's pretty important.

In addition to its excellent downconversion performance, which was worth the price of admission from my standpoint, the DVP-NS300 offers good performance for the price. The only real shortcoming of this Sony that I'm aware of is its incompatibility with CD-R, and many CD-RW, disks. However, that capability, as well as onboard Dolby Digital processing, can be had for another $50 or so with the DVP-NS400. As I already have a DVD Player which can handle CD-Rs and a receiver with an onboard DD 5.1 decoder, I was really happy to have the option of an inexpensive player without a lot of bells and whistles apart from features, such as an optical digital-out and component video-out terminals, necessary to provide me with excellent video and audio performance.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, Toshiba

Coaxial and Optical outputs
Easy-to-use remote
Easy-to-use setup menu

Instruction and set-up manual is hard to follow, especially for someone without a ton of experience in setting up stereo equipment and experience with terminology

For an introductory DVD player, it has some really nice features and excellent picture quality, enhanced by adjustable features like BNR. The dual coaxial and optical outputs are a big plus. The on screen set-up makes it very easy to use and the remote is pretty easy to use although the buttons are close together and do not glow so if you are watching a movie in the dark, it is hard to actually use some of the remote features (i.e. instant replay) without turning the lights on. Navigation through the set up menu is quite easy on the whole. For a single play DVD, I do not think you could get a better player. And the "silver casing" option is nice to have!

Similar Products Used:

N/A

auto-selects audio track, build quality (hopefully)

chroma bug! No numbers on remote. Won't play cdr.

I gotta admit, I had high hopes for this unit. I was really looking for an excellent picture. I have an Apex unit that will play about anything, but the picture quality is mediocre at best. I was looking for a unit that would playback dvds strikingly on my 56" Theaterwide.

At first glance, this dvd player does have a good picture, but it has the Chroma bug. This bug is in their mpeg decoder and makes strong reds and blues look out of focus and unsharp. This bug is actually found in most dvd players.

The fact that this unit wont play cdrs makes the vcd portion worthless to me. This really limits what this player can play back.

The remote is laid out ok. Kinda wish there was a 10 digit keypad so I can dial in directly where i want to go.....

The fact that this unit has both optical and coxial digital outputs is nice.

Also, this unit will automatically switch to the 5.1 track upon loading a disc. This saves a step on those Columbia and Paramount discs.

Bottom line... Why would anyone want this player when there are other players that have an excellent picture AND more usable features (Panasonic) for the same money?

Overall I give this unit 4 Stars because after all, it is a DVD player. It does that alot better than the Apexs, Samsungs, Goldstars, and such. I would have given it a 5 if it didn't have the Chroma bug. Value only gets 2 stars for the reasons above in bottom line.

Here are some links on the Chroma bug....

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_2/dvd-benchmark-special-report-chroma-bug-4-2001.html

and a little more

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-progressive-shootout-12-2000.html


Look like the Sony marketing machine strikes again!

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic, Apex.

Works as advertized. Fast upload. Very clear picture. Easy set-up.

BNR,parental discretion, etc. (didn't really need)

My Sharp DV600U just barely outlasted the warranty before it went feet up. Probably in the DTS/digital 5.1 line out. Couldn't really decide between the Sony and a comparably-priced Pioneer. My amp (VSE D808) and CD player are Pioneer so I was biased in that direction. No way to compare on the shelf at Costco. I liked the Sony specs and took a chance because I've had good luck with Sony VHS in the past and it was $10 cheaper. Also I have a 53" Sony rear projection TV. Wow! Early returns are it's way better than the cranky old Sharp. Great TV picture clarity on DVDs and DTS/5.1 sound input to my amp. Great user-friendly remote (this was a huge aggravation on the Sharp). So, I appear to be batting .500 and my first couple of years of DVD viewing weigh in at about $15 per month plus video rentals. Still beats listening to crying babies in the movie theaters.

Similar Products Used:

Sharp DV600U

Great Picture - plays every disk you throw at it - great audio playback with cd's.

haven't found one yet

Took my Toshiba back to Best Buy as it was locking up with rentals, new movies, whatever. It was annoying. Replaced it with the sony and have been happy ever since. The precision drive 2 - It may be a gimmick but it plays every dvd so far, rentals, my movies, brand new store bought..everything. The Toshiba would choke. Great black levels, great color (using svhs connection) - a fantastic solid unit. Using it as a cd player it sounds better than the samsung or the toshiba. Have not tried cdr's yet, but will eventually. Has coax and toslink for digital audio so my next buy is the toslink cable to hear the difference. I have nothing bad to say about this unit - way to go sony

Similar Products Used:

Samsung 709, Toshiba sd1700