none

C-13s all the time, No discs the rest of the time

Total waste of time and money. Had machine 3 months and it began to give us trouble with either not playing movies at all (giving c-13s and "no discs"), or stopping mid-movie and refusing to play again. Only reason we are giving it a one star rating is because there is no "0" star selection.

Similar Products Used:

none

Great frame by frame advance/rewind. Been a solid machine...way better than the DIVX Panasonic I had before.

Occasional distortion when screen changes from dark to light colors with quiet to loud simulataneous volume change.

All in all, I like this player. I have had none of the problems mentioned in prior reviews and should maybe count myself lucky. I bought this player when there were only about 200 DVD's on the market. The remote is programmable and easy to use with the TV and my ONKYO receiver.

I gave it a 3 for Value since I paid an arm and a leg to be on the cutting edge of this one...now you can get decent players for half of what I paid.

I would give it 5 stars if the picture didn't disort occassionally as described above.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DIVX player (I gave the sales clerks the DIVX movies ok). This was junk - died in less than 30 days of use.

Great frame by frame advance/rewind. Been a solid machine...way better than the DIVX Panasonic I had before.

Occasional distortion when screen changes from dark to light colors with quiet to loud simulataneous volume change.

All in all, I like this player. I have had none of the problems mentioned in prior reviews and should maybe count myself lucky. I bought this player when there were only about 200 DVD's on the market. The remote is programmable and easy to use with the TV and my ONKYO receiver.

I gave it a 3 for Value since I paid an arm and a leg to be on the cutting edge of this one...now you can get decent players for half of what I paid.

I would give it 5 stars if the picture didn't disort occassionally as described above.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DIVX player (I gave the sales clerks the DIVX movies ok). This was junk - died in less than 30 days of use.

Super picture. Well built. Excellent remote. Lots of features.

None.

I've lived with this machine for over two years now and it's working great. I did have the firmware replaced by Sony after they figured out a solution to the lip-sync problem. It was repaired and returned to me free of charge in less than one week! It has worked fine since. The firmware version I received a year ago is v.2.4. The original version I believe was v.1.1.

I agree that there is really no excuse for some of the problems that have cropped up in DVD players including Sony, but if you are persistant and contact the manfacturer especially under warranty, you should get satisfaction.

I had a very pleasant experience with Sony service and repair. They even called me after the unit was delivered to see if everything was ok!

Similar Products Used:

None.

LipSync & C:13:00

I had this player for over a year now and paid around $400. Things started out pretty good. Was playing all dvd's without any problems. 6 months later I started to see the LipSync problem and now the C:13:00 error. This error causes the DVD player to lose all its functionality. Can't turn the power off or eject the dvd. I have to disconnect the power cord and plug it back again. I can't even say that this error is occuring with the same dvd's. Sometime the DVD will play and other times I'll receive the error. So I don't even know if this is related to dual layer disk or not. Anyway I called the Sony support and they suggest to fix the lipsync problem but coudn't do anything with the C:13:00 error. I sent the player to Dallas service center and received it back within 1 week but they didn't repair anything. I checked the software version which is still at 1.8 and the lipSync problem can only be fixed by upgrading to v2.1. When called the support again, they coundn't tell if any repairs were made. They suggested to send the player back to service center again. I'm so frustrated with Sony. I can't believe a company like this has such poor product and Support. I don't suggest anyone to buy this crappy product.

I think that this unit has been bad-mouthed more than it should have been in these reviews.

At the same time though, I do side with those that have had problems with Sony quality management from time to time. I have owned a great Sony VCR in the past, it went belly up. My parents owned a Sony receiver... it's rear channel amps are shot. I bought a new Sony CD Carousel last summer, and the first version I got was a dud! What the hell? Yes, I feel all your pain. Luckily, they replaced the CD player and I'm groovin along just fine with it.

Onto the real review.....

This units best features are not skin deep... but in the true image customization that even some of the newest Sonys, and other Manufactures, don't cover.

What I absolutely love is the way I can control each disk's Contrast, Brightness, Picture and Sharpness. Because manufacture's Disks seem to differ greatly in image quality and balance,this feature is a godsend. I don't want to constantly be adjusting my TV for television and then for DVD. So this is perfect. It also has Dolby Noise reduction for smoothing out crappy grainy film transfers. Thanks alot, Warner!

My second favorite thing is the remote. for some, it might be too big... but Im a big guy, who likes big movies, on my big screen tv... and I have big hands. The remote fits mine perfectly and the control and layout of this jem simply isnt found on other models. It's almost identical to Sonys flagship version used on the DVD 7700.

My Third favorite thing is the DVD drives quick loading mechanisim. The disk is sucked in very fast. No 4 or 5 second delays in loading and unloading like some manufacturers.

My Fourth favorite thing about the player is that it's loaded with all the outputs you need, the face is easy to use, and the display is clear and easy to read.

Here's a few things I don't like about the product, and why it gets only 4 starts for value:

- No CDR playback

... not a big deal, as I prefer to use a Sony Carousel for CD Playback. A CD player is more full featured anyways for playing any kind of CD and is a better CD shuffle/multi player than most DVD combo players are. I had the 650 D, a great Sony Combo player... but it just didnt offer the same full set of CD control. So I took it back, got the standard Sony CD combo player and the 550 D DVD single player.

- Slight visual glitches

... I do not blame the player... there are lots of shotty single sided disks released from 97 to mid 99. My latest
disks all work flawlessly.... NO issues... really.


I compared this product with Sonys newest top of the line Siver colored single Disk jobby... and this older model blows it away. Although the silver model does offer similar picture control, it lacks a sharpness feature... which on the 550 D just helped in bringing out EVERY detail. I'm satisfied!!!

I first purchased the panasonic x410 which played the divx format. I DID NOT LIKE THIS MACHINE OR THE DIVX PLATFORM! The machine had trouble with pixilization and I returned it to the store I purchased it from and bought the Sony S550D. I knew instantly that this piece of equipment was superior. The remote alone was a delight compared to the Panasonic. The on screen menu is much, much easier to use. My wife can breeze through this one, and I could never have said that about the panasonic. I have played many movies on the Sony and have absolutely no regrets! It is worth every penny. The sound and picture quality on my BIG SCREEN look better than the panasonic on a tube t.v. I highly recommend this product. Congratulations Sony, you've convinced a die hard panasonic fan that there is a difference! ( A big difference!! )

I've had this player for about 2 weeks and have watched about 4 movies on it.It is connected via a coax cable to a Sony STR-DE925 and an S-Video to the TV.

I am really impressed with this player, but I must note that I did see a lip synch problem with the movie "Rounders". This was really annoying, and I hope that it doesn't happen too often. You'd think that since I am using all Sony equipment and a simple coax cable, that this would not happen.

Otherwise, the sound, picture and menu features are all top notch.

I got the player from onecall.com for $399 and they throw in a coupon for 5 free movies, a digital cable, and 10 rentals from netflix.com. Couldn't pass this deal up.

On a side note: Don't post in these forums unless you *actually* own the model listed. Asking a question and lowering the overall rating when you score a 1 is lame.

Since I DO own this unit, I give it a 4.5 because of the lip synch problem.

I previously posted rave review for 550D. Now that I watched Lost in Space as well as Fugitive I noticed the lip synch problem. I wanted to blame the DVD and not the Sony. To my regret it was the Sony. I returned it to Best Buy and even though I was 8 days past the 30 day cut off they allowed an exchange for the Toshiba 3109. All the 550D's they had in stock were not from the new "fixed" batch.
Now that I played the Toshiba, my left and right channel sound for Pro Logic (can't afford DD/DTS right now) came to life. I didn't realize the Sony was dropping the R/L channels so much in Pro Logic. I had the setting for the Sony set correctly for Prologic 2 channel out as well. Go figure.

Is anyone else getting the impression that DVD is a technology that isn't quite ready for the consumer market?

Jim Middleton
middlton@starlink.com

Sony has admitted to the problem. See email following:
Dear Sony Customer:

Thank you for contacting SONY.

The units that have shipped in the last two weeks will have the
upgrade in them. You may want to check with your dealer on return
policy, most will not go beyond a certain time frame.

I hope this information was helpful.

If you would like further assistance, please contact us.

The SONY Response Center, Internet Group.

lnb




______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: WWW comment,Sony 550D lip-sync and audio drop-out problems.
Author: SOS at sel-sos-fl
Date: 5/20/99 10:34 AM


felbaumjw@christypark.com (John Felbaum) sent the following
To: Sony Electronics Computer Products
Regarding: Ask a specific question regarding a Sony product or service

----------------------------------------------------------
name: John Felbaum
email: felbaumjw@christypark.com
subject: Sony 550D lip-sync and audio drop-out problems.
I was informed by a Home Theater forum visiter that you now have a fix in place
for this problem. Please advise when the "New and Improved" models are going to
be available at the dealers. I plan to return mine for a new and improved
model. I don't want to have my 550 repaired! Will this fix also address the
audio drop-outs that I have observed as well as the lip sync problems?
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