Everything. The picture, the sound, the nicely designed on-screen menus, the features, it's just a great player.

Remote is not backlit, no dual-laser capabilities

Wow, I'm very impressed, nice job Sony! This player has it all, the picture quality is absolutely crystal (much better than my old JVC, which was a terrible choice to begin with), the sound is sharp and clean (again, better than the JVC and the Pioneer), and perhaps best of all, it has that Sony "quality" to it that's indescribable, but its there.

Its a little hard to use the remote in the dark since its not backlit, but then, I don't *think* most DVD remotes are (none of the ones I looked at were), which is puzzling. The only real gripe I would have is the lack of dual-laser capabilities, so CDs don't sound as good as they could, but I doubt if my ears are good enough to hear a real difference anyway (I have a very nice Denon amp which, combined with my Infinity speakers, makes 99% of the difference anyway, not so much the quality of the player itself).

So hats off to Sony for yet another 5-star model.

Similar Products Used:

JVC XV-501, Pioneer DV-525

Picture,Sound

When playing music cd ,does,nt star auto play...

I love this unit , Movies play great and sound is good also.I don,t like that when playing music cd,s you have to hit play to play it, it does,nt start by itself like when playing dvd movies..Is this normal on this model????

Similar Products Used:

Philips DVD 825

I purchases a Sony 530 to possibly replace a Pioneer DV-414 that was exhibiting Lip Sync Error...
First off the sony's build is little under par...In fact when openening and closing the disc drawer it makes a squeaking noise....

The picture is great but does not seem as vibrant at the Pioneers...Plus this sony does not have the dual lasers that the 7700 Sony does ....The other review was in error on that point. Plus the sound from my DTS Cd's is nowhere what the Pioneers was (it is a little compresses and lifeless)..

Features, build quality, remote, picture

none, after buying the latest firmware

After having read about the serial numbers of the "bad" Sony 530's, I purchased a new 530 with a serial number well above the problem area. It has performed very well after running through a large number of disks, including "Ronin", which displayed the lip-synch problems with my previous 330.
I also tried the Panasonic 120 which had a very sharp picture, somewhat overly so. It also demonstrated some downconversion problems which were quite distracting,and a remote that I found lacking some of the features that the Sony has. The Sony 330 had a wonderful picture but its version 2.01 still suffered from the sync problems. My new 530 has version 2.201. Overall the best DVD player I have seen in this price range.

Similar Products Used:

Philips 440, Sony 330, Panasonic 120

Remote is similar to other Sony products ( I'm used to Sony remotes ). Plays CD-RW's with audio and VCD.

Does not play CD-R's (cheaper than CD-RW's). Does not play SVCD. Slight pause between layers.

Excellent unit. After going through 3 of the Hitachi units, all having different problems, it was a real treat to get this machine. Watched about 30 movies and no problems yet. Great sound and video. I really like the 5.1 setup. It's very flexible. I also like the on screen display for video and audio bit stream speeds. It is an easy way to see if you're on the right audio track (5.1 or 2.0 channels). I especially like the VCD playback on CD-RW's. I've capture home videos and made VCD's from them.

I was able to get into the setup screen once!!! It said I had ver 2.30. For some reason I haven't been able to get into it again.

Similar Products Used:

Hitachi 250 ( piece of sh#$ ).

Everything

None NOW

I had previosly posted a review, but as stated, I would be back. First of all this is known problem in the DVD industry, NOT just
with Sony, but also Toshiba and Panasonics. I own a Sony
DVD Player (530) and had the dreaded lip-synch problem with
about 2 out of 10 disks played. The first time I noticed it I
called Sony immediately! They said "This is a problem we are
aware of, and are trying to correct", they asked me for my name,
address and phone number, which disk(s) I had noticed it on, any
situational circumstances (ie: had it been playing for 12 hours
straight, that sort of thing), and said "We will contact you
when we have a fix." Okay, about a month passed, and last
Thursday I got a call. "We would like to schedule a day and
time to arrange for FedEx pick-up of your DVD unit for repair."
I said "tomorrow afternoon would be great." So Friday the 15th
FedEx was at my house at 2:30pm. Today, Thursday the 21st I got
it back. I've alredy watched every movie I own that I was
previosly able to recreate the lip-synch problem with and...
IT'S ALL GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh happy joyous day!!! I just
fell in love with DVD all over again. P.S. Sony stated that
all units going to market are now fixed, so do not hesitate to
pick one up, if you happen to get one the old bad batch-call
them, they will fix it. As far as other brands go, I don't know
the status of their progress on a fix. SONY RULES AGAIN!!!!!

Good picture and sound

Audio/Video out of synch

Yea, I know, this problem has been beat to death. BUT, I finally got fed up after my 6 month old player kept playing out of synch. The stop/start "fix" absolutely ruined the viewing experience. Took it to the Sony repair center (staff very courteous), was promised a firmware upgrade in 5-10 days (all techs out this week for News Years holiday). BTW, I had firmware version 1.80.

Its sad that Sony released an otherwise exemplary product on the market with such an OBVIOUS flaw in it. I no longer consider Sony to be the wuality product it was ten years ago (problem with a couple of other components as well). I'm also pissed that Sound and Vision gave this product a glowing review, not even once mentioning the out of sync problem. Shame on you guys!

Excellent playback, High Quality Picture and Sound, multi -component jacks.

A little noisy during play, but that's to be expected.

I currently own 2 DVD players, a Panasonic and now this Sony. I bought the Sony because of first the good reviews and second because the Panasonic was not working out for what I wanted. I feel the Sony gives the best picture and sound quality for price ($399). I have read many reviews and have been dealing directly with professional home theater and audio/visual designers and installers and most all would agree this is the best component for the low price. I am a firm believer that your system in it's entirety is only as good as your weakest component, so I did not want to settle for a mediocre DVD (this competes nicely with Onkyo, Harmon Kardon, etc). And finally, I do recommend this model if you are not equipt with DTS decoding in your receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD

Excellent playback, High Quality Picture and Sound, multi -component jacks.

A little noisy during play, but that's to be expected.

I currently own 2 DVD players, a Panasonic and now this Sony. I bought the Sony because of first the good reviews and second because the Panasonic was not working out for what I wanted. I feel the Sony gives the best picture and sound quality for price ($399). I have read many reviews and have been dealing directly with professional home theater and audio/visual designers and installers and most all would agree this is the best component for the low price. I am a firm believer that your system in it's entirety is only as good as your weakest component, so I did not want to settle for a mediocre DVD (this competes nicely with Onkyo, Harmon Kardon, etc). And finally, I do recommend this model if you are not equipt with DTS decoding in your receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD

Excellent playback, High Quality Picture and Sound, multi -component jacks.

A little noisy during play, but that's to be expected.

I currently own 2 DVD players, a Panasonic and now this Sony. I bought the Sony because of first the good reviews and second because the Panasonic was not working out for what I wanted. I feel the Sony gives the best picture and sound quality for price ($399). I have read many reviews and have been dealing directly with professional home theater and audio/visual designers and installers and most all would agree this is the best component for the low price. I am a firm believer that your system in it's entirety is only as good as your weakest component, so I did not want to settle for a mediocre DVD (this competes nicely with Onkyo, Harmon Kardon, etc). And finally, I do recommend this model if you are not equipt with DTS decoding in your receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD