lip sync

Wow. I've had the lip sync problems, but I have not had all the other problems spoken of here. I recently rented several DVDs that skipped in many places, and because of these reviews, I initially suspected the player. However, after cleaning off the nasty fingerprints and smudges from the disc (are rental DVDs really a good idea?), no more problems. For those of you who ended up with units that have a real problem, I feel for you. Really. Good luck on your "class action lawsuit". For me, I'll live with the infrequent lip-sync problems, and buy a new unit for 1/5 the price I paid for this one new if I have any serious problems. As far as I'm concerned, you might as well sue the entire electronics & computer industry if you're upset about bugs in a new product/technology. (If only I had a nickel for each one...) early adopter blues.

I know of a NJ lawfirm that filed a class action for the problems with this model. If you are interested, contact me. s,800@aol.com

Optical audio out, DTS decoding, jog

It's a pain to operate.

Do I need to echo the 300 others who have come here to try to prevent Sony from ripping off anyone else? I have the S530d as well and am having the same C 13:00 and NO DISC errors as well as the system refusing to power on, random skipping, etc. Out of the box it had problems and they are gradually getting worse. If you go to C|Net you will find the same reviews, a few good ones and tons of bad ones. I did notice a site that might help: http://www.bigclassaction.com/. I am sure that Sony would fix the problems if they had a tort case on their hands.

I recieved this DVD player as a present from my wife in December of 1999. Over the last few weeks it has refused to stay powered on. Sometimes it will not come on at all and sometimes it will poweer off in the middle of a DVD. This is VERY frustrating. Sony stuff is crap. I will never buy another Sony product. Customer support has been thoughly unhelpful.

Reading a bunch of reviews I''ve noticed a pattern: we all have the same problems, we all contacted Sony, we all were told Sony had never ever heard of our problem not even once (I offered to send them review links but they declined), and we all were told it would cost $159-$179 to fix their defective product. I wont make the mistake of buying a Sony product ever again, and will do my best to make sure no one else does, either.

Good picture, when it works.

Hardly ever works.

Worked great for about a year. Then it started shutting off during movies. Then it wouldn''t turn on the first 20 or 30 times I pressed power. Then it wouldn''t turn on at all. Eventually I beat the $%#! out of it and now it seems to work again. Sony insists it''s not defective. My Sony reciever also lasted about one year before it started crashing. Sometimes it just mutes itself and has to be rebooted. Other times it blasts extremely loud noise. Does this on all sources. Sony insists it''s not defective. Oh, and my Sony CD player stopped playing CDs, but Sony did fix that even though it was just out of warantee (owned it a year, too...)

I have successfully modified my DVP-S530 I added a 80mm ball bearing computer case fan to the top right side of the DVP. The fan sits directly above the poorly designed heat sink that is used to cool 2 processors on the Processor board. The Processor board houses some memory on the back side of it and several SONY processors on the top side. The modified unit does not warm up at all. It remains cool at all times and the CD & DVD discs run through it remain cool to the touch so the unit is no longer building up heat inside which is why I think the units randomly experience Lip Synch problems. I have yet to do extensive testing but it seems like the unit cant even get beyond room temperature now. I also have noticed no change in functionality or operation. So basically the fan is all that the unit needed to become reliable. Email me if you want to know more about this modification which is very easy and is quite safe.

Audio & Video quality are excellent

I have successfully modified a DVP-S530D! The unit is now actively cooled by a 80mm ball bearing fan. The fan is mounted to the case and a large circular hole was cut to allow air flow. The DVP no longer operates at high temperatures which I believe caused the lip-sync problems. I have been using the unit for several hours now for audio playback and I have had no problems yet and the unit is operating much much cooler now. Email me for more info on the modification procedure and for tips. This is a very easy modification and As soon as I recieve my new projector I will test for the presence of Lip Synch. My hypothesis suggests that it will no longer occur because the heat buildup that once hindered this unit is now gone.

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Poorly designed cooling system which is basically a crappy heat sink.

Machine is very good when it''s working.

The "NO DISC" is inevitable and when this happens it''ll cost $50. to $200. This is because Sony forbids you to clean the machine yourself.

The infamous "NO DISC" message may be more common than we like. If you call Sony 800-222 7669 and follow the maze to DVD repairs/problems, the first message you get is; does your machine display this message ? . If you are interested in any Sony DVD player, I recommend extended service plans. Sony has a $176.00 repair charge. Don''t gamble. Sony isterrible with their customer concern. I suggested to Sony to let people know on their we bsite to purchase the extended service. I find it disgraceful to charge $200.00 ($176.00 + $15.00 + Tax ) to repair a machine that cost $400.00 new.

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None. But I would reccomend not paying for the Sony name and try another less expensive product.

Video quality is superb, DTS&DD EQ setup which takes into consideration speaker size and lets the user change volume levels of each of the 5.1 channels.

Duhhh Lip-synch & C13 as if you didnt know already, oh and a lack of processor cooling might be causing both.

Ok so I think I am writing a seccond review on this unit but who cares. Regardless it is a fabulous DVD player, that is when it wants to be. I personally am very sensitive to any misalignment between voice and picture. So yes I have noticed lip-synch problems. It would seem that it never happens early on in the movie from my memory. So I am starting to think that it might actually be a heat related problem due to a lack of cooling. I am going to modify my unit and incorporate a couple of heat sinks and a fan possibly a couple of peltier chips to pull the heat away from the processors. Being a computer geek this does not frighten me. I will just buy a 120vac fan from mpja.com or partsexpress.com and solder it to the power cable so it runs all the time. I will pickup a couple of heat sinks too from the same place and thermal grease them onto the chips along with using some double sided foam tape stacked up to hold the sinks to the PCB. By eliminating the heat I am pretty sure the unit will behave properly if that was ever the problem. They still go for $100+ on ebay and they are well worth it if they want to work as they are intended to. The problem is that the processors let the voice/audio slow down slightly and the video keeps on going or vice versa. This sounds like jitter to me and I think that heat could cause the processor to slow down which could cause the problem we are all having. Desktop PCs use heat sinks and fans to keep their processors cool so why not try the same thing on the DVP-S530D? After all a processor is a processor what it does doesnt matter they all generate heat. From my experience heat causes processors to operate less eficently and increases errors and decreases longevity! So as long as our dvd player''s processor lasts 1 year sony doesnt care.

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Toshiba SD-4700

Virtually bullet-proof. It''s a Sony.

Lip-Synch issues!

As most people - I have had a few lip-synch issues. I can''t seem to find a pattern - just pops up whenever it feels. I bought this player just before the "craze", and Ihave used it for 3 solid years now, and other than the lip-synch, it has been flawless. It will play anything, anytime, anywhere! I would recommend this player to anyone who asks... just get the firmware updated!

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