DVD playback

None that this baby is advertized to do.

Excellent dvd playback. The picture is filmlike in progressive mode. I highly recommend this player for it
being a DVD player and you'll also have a welcomed surprise,
it also plays CD and SACD!.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP560, Pioneers and Toshibas

picture(color, definition, depth, focus) sound for both 5.1 and stereo, build, basically everthing that matters

F.P. buttons, no audio direct access on remote, long break-in period, tray

this is my seventh dvd player in four years and finally i can stop obsessing on the picture and just enjoy the movie. for the longest time i thought that i had a defective TV (toshiba tw41x81) but after using the 9000 i can't imagine the set looking any better.

video: the best thing about the 9000 is that it makes average tranfers look great and great transfers look cartoonish in a good way. i have over four hundred dvds and each one is like a new experience now. the amount of color detail you can see in neck ties, jacket patterns, wallpaper, trees etc. is scary(the dvd Half Baked is a great test disc for color). the color saturation is so rich and deep that you will need to use the avia disc to calibrate your set. i used the toshiba 5109 for almost a year and thought it was great until i bought the 6200. the 6200 was much better but only had it for a month before i read about the 9000. the second i saw the sony in good guys i knew it was a quality piece. the sony is so much better in every way than the toshibas. i'm not knocking toshiba but it's outclassed hands down. for instance on the toshiba the slow scan worked well in one direction only. on the sony the slow scan in either direction is as smooth as silk. and the remote is well laid out and makes sense. like i said i thought i had a bad set in that most of the dvds seemed soft and out of focus. i had a few things replaced on the TV(crt, lens, convergence chip ect.) but it never helped. the 9000 cleared everything up(oops sorry toshiba). the focus is as sharp as it should be w/o turning it up on the set. a great picture.

sound: when i played my first dvd with the 9000, the thing i remember noticing right off was the improvment in sound. spacial realism, detail, and an overall refinment in quality immediately came through. i never gave much thought to the 'quality' of the sound in 5.1 because i reserved that for critical two channel listening. but wow what a nice suprise to know that you acheive a delicate quality to movie sound tracks. this player is by far the best sounding i have ever owned. now as far as cd and sacd playback i think i know what people are talking about when they say the sound is metallic. yes, before the break-in it is painful, especially if you are using a receiver with bright speakers. i use NHT speakers with a pioneer Elite receiver and my sound was very metallic. after a few hundred hours or so the sound mellows and opens up. the soundstage grew, image grew, detail grew, and overall a much more engaging sound. sacd playback is good, and is better in most ways to cd playback in that it softens extreme freq. w/o losing detail. but it still kills me that there's only a token amount of software out there and is mostly aimed at the 'mature' crowd. come on sony!

if you're like me and use your home theater rig for two channel music playback too, then this is a perfect addition. is it the best cd player? no. is it the best sacd player? no. is it the best progressive scan dvd player? well probably. is it the best combination of the three?
#$@% yes! this is the product of the year.

side note: ONE CALL is the best on-line store i have delt with. i have been buying electronics on-line for more than four years(three complete home theaters), and without a doubt they are the most informed, fastest, competively priced, and accommodating.

Similar Products Used:

toshiba 5109, 6200.

Incredible picture, sound

None for the purpose

I've had this player for a few months now and have been greatly pleased with it. It replaced the Sony DVP S7700 that I had previously and is certainly worth the extra price over the older model - in fact, at the price, it must be one of the best value DVD player around in terms of cost vs. performance. I must say that, having read some of the other reviews, marking this player with only four stars surprised me - until I noticed that they were comparing it with the Sony XA7ES or the Meridian 508.20. Come on, guys, they cost 2 - 3 times as much, that's hardly a fair reason to mark the S9000ES down!! Please give in mind that the Sony XA7ES was a class A cd player back in 1996 (and still is when comes to regular cd); the S9000ES is a DVD player. Personally, having the Sony CDP XA7ES at my figure tip, I do not find the need to use the S9000ES for my cd collections.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP S7700, Sony CDP XA7ES

Everything from build quality (I love the heft it has to it) to signal transfer.

The front panel buttons..but how many of us actually get up to use them?!?!?

Nothing to be praised that hasn't all ready been praised. Nothing to detract either. SACD, CD, and DVD play back are phenomenol. I've made 2 connections, one through directly to my TV (61" hi-Scan) and the other switched through my receiver (Integra DTR 9.1). Directly to the TV made for an incredible picture. Through the Integra a slight loss in brightness, but it took considerable amount of staring and time to find it, so no one will notice and no one will care, it looks amazing either way. What I did notice, but then again this goes for just about any other product (not just DVD players) you have to use good cable. I used average to crappy cable and got average to crappy pictures.
I then switched and waaalaaa!! If you're in the market for a high-end DVD player this is it. Integra makes a good one, too. The DSP 9.1 I think, I saw it at the store as well and it was very good; on par I would say, but much more expensive and not a good value as compared to this one. Buy the Sony and use the difference to get some extra DVDs. Oh and mine came with MIB special edition DVD as well as AVIA guide to home theater DVD. Pretty cool.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 9200 the new one, Sony DVP -560 an old one, Onkyo s939

This is directed towards Rick. I do not wish to spam on this board, but obviously, he is misinformed; either by a salesperson or perhaps by sony literature. First off, the broadline pioneer progressive scan player is the dv434. Yes, that dvd player sucks. It has a basic line doubler, it takes one line and makes two. 480i to 480p, very simple and very easy much like most hd-ready tvs.

Next, I am using a hd-ready tv. I own a Mitsubishi ws55857. I am using component video cables. I do have the player in 480p mode. What I was refering to when I stated that the player was not a "true" progressive player is that it does not extract the 480p signal directly from the dvd. Yes, it is a progressive player (with inverse 3-2 pulldown) because it puts out 480 progressively, but it still uses a "line doubler" even if it is called a genesis chip.

Most dvds are written in 480p/24fps because it saves space as opposed to 480i/60fps. This player takes 480p converts to 480i and then back to 480p. I did not feel the need to explain this because I thought everyone here was smart enough to realize this, or if they weren't, they wouldn't be so stupid as to post three identical messages showing their ignorance. Obviously, I was wrong.

Rick, I don't want to get into a pi$$ing contest with you. Please, don't be so obnoxious.

3:2 pulldown, SACD

weaknesses of Genesis chip

To John below, you are actually incorrect, not Rick. The Sony is a true progressive player. DVDs are not inherently progressive. Please check out the following article at http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-part-5-progressive-10-2000.

Misinformed people should not get on rating forums and insult products and other reviewers.

This product is better than most but suffers from most of the same problems as other players using the Genesis chip. The only player in this price range using the far better Silicon Image chip is the Denon 2800, which has had several large quality control problems. When these are resolved, the Denon will be the best player in this price range. Until then the Sony is the best in this price range.

3:2 pulldown, SACD playback

weaknesses of Genesis chip

To John below, you are actually incorrect, not Rick. The Sony is a true progressive player. DVDs are not inherently progressive. Please check out the following article at http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-part-5-progressive-10-2000.

Misinformed people should not get on rating forums and insult products and other reviewers.

This product is better than most but suffers from most of the same problems as other players using the Genesis chip. The only player in this price range using the far better Silicon Image chip is the Denon 2800, which has had several large quality control problems. This leaves the Sony as the best player in its price range, with SACD ability thrown in to boot.

I'm sorry to see that I have insulted some people with my review. I was under the assumption that this board was to give personal reviews on products that we own. I own a 9000es. I don't like it. You do. Great. I don't care. The insults do nothing. I use the term "line doubler" very loosely. Is the term "de-interlacer" better?

Most dvds are written in 480p at a frame rate of 24 frames per second (the same frame rate as film). Some are not, that's why the flags are there. When this dvd player reads a 480p disc, it performs an mpeg decoding that converts it to 480i and a frame rate of 60fps so that it meets the standard NTSC frequency of 60Hz. It then de-interlaces it and puts out 480p. I don't know of a dvd player that extracts the video before it goes through the mpeg decoder and keeps it at 480p.

The picture from this dvd player looks great. It does a better job of "de-interlacing" than my tv does, but I don't like the player. That's my opinion. Two stars in the value rating because I thinks it's a "Little Expensive" (just like the pulldown choices say) and two stars in the overall rating because I'm "Not Completely Happy".

Bash me all you want. I'm not going to reply anymore. And remember, just because you read it in a magazine or on the internet doesn't make it true.

progressive and sacd

no dvd-audio, but i don't care; no cd-r playback

I am a salesman at a local high end audio/video shop. I got this player for free as a bonus. I didn't really care for it at first but since it was free, I gladly took it.

I've been reading some reviews on this site and have noticed that some people take reviews by themselves and others very personally. I have no predisposition for this player. Why should I, it's made me a lot of money.

First off, I don't care about all this progressive scan-progressive scam nonsense. The progressive output looks better than the interlaced output when viewed on a hd capable tv. I don't care how the picture is processed, so long as it looks good. The line doubler in this dvd player is much better than the one in my set, or any on my showroom floor.

I would recommend this dvd player to anyone if it fits their budget. Otherwise, if you are looking for a cheaper alternative, buy the pioneer dv-37. The only thing you lose is sacd, which by the way, sounds great.

Similar Products Used:

sony dvps360, pioneer dv37 and 38a

SACD/CD performance, bang-for-the-buck

none

I've had this player for a couple months now, and everything's pretty much burnt in. SACD playback is awesome, and CD on this machine is no slouch either. Even paired with considerably more expensive components (BAT vk-40, vk-200, egglestonworks fontaine, rel sub) the Sony doesn't make me want to run out and purchase another source component. Loving it more and more each day I use it