The creamiest film like picture I have seen to date on a DVD!

not much

I thought the Sony 7700 picture was awesome until I finally made the move to this progressive player. Folks let me say hands down...if you have a HDTV you absolutely must get a progressive player if you truly want the best looking picture. I never thought it would make this much of a difference but it has. I am going through my entire collection of nearly 200 DVD's and its like watching a whole new film on many of them. The level of detail is incredible. Things that were never revealed before have now opened up. Its like all my DVD's were suddenly remastered from the original master film itslef!

The movie "Alien" always looked a little grainy and dark to me. I played it on this sucker and WOW! There are no words to express the qualitative difference. The grain of this film and many others suddenly vanished! I could now readily see details in the alien ships interior that were just dark blobs before. My other reference DVD's also got dramatically better and I didn't think that was possible until the advent of HD-DVD and blue lasers. My reference disks are probably the same as most folks: 5th Element, X-Men, Gladitator, etc. These three (along with Alien) have to be seen on this player...period.

Equipment includes:

Sony 9000ES DVD player
Toshiba 56H80 HDTV (tweaked by Robert Busch of Busch Home Theater in Cailf.(ISF Tech)...including ISF installation of Black Velvet interior lining to cut down internal reflections)
Denon 5700 Receiver
Pioneer 804 Reference Laser Player
Martin Logan Electrostatic Speakers (front three array)
B&W 804's Rear Surrounds
B&W Matrix SCM8's Triangular Side Surrounds
Velodyne Subwoofer
Monster Cable "Sigma 2" Cables all around
Monster Cable HST 2000 Line Conditioner/Filter

Similar Products Used:

Sony 7700

picture,cd playback,sacd playback

none

This is in response to those half dozen or so reveiws of this product that give it a poor reveiew based on cdr playback ability.sony does not claim this player to play cdr's it is in the manual,the dealers no this,and last but not least this is a dvd player not a cdr player and if you let the sacd analog outs burn in and listen to the sacd playback,you would never again want to listen to a cdr.Minimum burn in is 200 hours on cd and on sacd,400 total minimum before saying my adcom cd is better than the sacd.I owned this particular adcom cd player and no way does it sound better than the sacd play back of any player. As a matter a fact i personnally think the 9000 with proper cabling and burn in sounds better than the adcom in cd mode.So people please reveiw this product on what it is supposed to do not what you think it should do.And please quit comparing the cd or sacd play back until after proper break in.

better picture than the 7000 and way better than the 7700 which was inferior to the 7000.great cd playback and awsome sacd playback.

none

I must note that although i have had no problems using the 9000es,it is a little more complicated to use than sonys previous reference dvd players but has worked flawlessly.My previous 7000 dvd player was up to this point the best picture from sony.The 7700 picture was a step back and this 9000s picture is a step forward even in the interlaced mode.My monitor tv is a two year old toshiba cinema series [rated best out of the box picture ever by stereophile guide and video magazine]i only mention this so people will realize that you need a quality tv sony xbr,toshiba cinema series or several others come to mind to see the better color saturations and overall clarity of picture this player has to offer.The sound on the dd,dts coming from the much improved coaxial digital output is amazing.So on dvd picture and audio alone this player is worth the money and should be considered a steal.Then there is the cd playback.The sound of this player on cd playback is as good as any 1200.00 cd only player i have ever heard which also makes the 9000 a steal.Now for the icing on the cake the sacd playback is fantastic and better than any cd playback i have heard regardless of price.Anyone who reveiws this player on cd/sacd be forewarned you have to burn it in at least 200 hours on both cd and sacd and you need analog direct from your preamp or receiver to even hear sacd's superior by far sound over cd.This player is the best deal i have ever had in audio or video and i suggest you run not walk to your phone or dealer to get one.

Similar Products Used:

7000 dvsp reference dvd player

Picture! SACD/CD playback

lack of good CD-R playback (generally), probably because Sony owns a record label

This is an update to my earlier review. Now that I'm watching this player on my 40" HD-ready Toshiba TW40X81(which I also recommend), I am amazed at the picture quality. One note, the more recent the DVD issued the better the transfer seems to be--but it also varies from studio to studio. I was tooling around audio/video dealers the other day w/one of my DVD's--A Room W/A View (This is a good movie to test since its transfer is good but far from perfect)--and was amazed how bad it looked on all their setups compared to mine, and these were HD-ready tvs w/brand name DVD players. I can barely stand to see DVDs on anyone else's player/tv setup and videos are almost impossible to watch; I am spoiled for sure. For other movies in progressive mode the picture on this player is as good if not better than what I see in the theater (given that most theatres don't focus the picture more than once an evening if at all). If you care at all what your picture looks like, this is the player. But that's not all. It's CD playback is very good and the SACDs I've bought sound fantastic. I don't have much to compare it to here, this being my first good CD player in years, but for the money this player (combining all the above) is a great buy.

Build quality, Sound quality, and of course the video quality!

Nothing really significant.

This "review" covers the 9000ES dvd player paired with the Sony Wega kv-36xbr400 tv.

I originally had the 36xbr250 tv which was pretty good, but when I saw how much better "digital" tv looks I traded up when the new version became available. Right off the bat I saw that the xbr400 was miles ahead of the xbr250. I was initially using a really cheap dvd player because I was waiting for a "good" one to come out. The picture quality wasn't too bad at all and my brother was not sure why I even wanted to spend more money on an expensive dvd player.

THE TV

I paid about $4600 canadian including taxes for the tv and a nice cherrywood stand from the Sony store. This is about as good of a deal as you can get in Canada. I had gotten the xbr250 with stand for $4050 taxes included and the salesman let me pay the difference in list prices which was an additional $500. This was a good deal because initially no other dealers were negotiating the price at all.

Out of the box, the image quality of the tv is not bad. There are some artifacts and minor geometry issues but basically it was okay. Just like other people wrote, the image quality with cable tv was nothing to get excited about but dvd quality was good. The esthetics of the tv make a visual statement which people will either love or hate. There is some minor peeling of the speaker grilles in the corners but it's not a big deal. I have experienced random "fluctuations" in a couple of the corners where you randomly see small colour "smudges". I don't know if this is related to magnetic fields in the apartment (as suggested by a tech) or if my speakers are too close (if I move the speakers closer the "smudges" become constant). I don't know why the "smudges" are intermittent but it isn't a huge problem. The speakers are very large and can't be moved much further away due to apartment factors.

THE PLAYER

I bought the player from the Sony store for $2300 Canadian including taxes. It lists for $2500 Canadian (plus taxes) and I can't believe the salesman agreed to my offer considering it is a new model. Other stores wouldn't even come close to this price.

The player feels solid and you can tell you've bought a quality unit just by the feel of the controls and the smoothness of the operation. It loads rapidly and is smooth and silent in operation - just what I expected and hoped for.

THE COMBINATION

Funnily enough, the first thing I noticed was how much better the movies SOUNDED! I guess I should have expected this with the better electronics but it was a HUGE difference compared to the cheap dvd player. With B&W 808 speakers you expect to hear the differences and you certainly do!

The nice thing about using the svhs connection is that there is automatic detection of anamorphic dvds and the "optimization" is automatically done by the tv. I bought a set of Monster Cable component cables (the reference 3 I believe) and hooked them up. Be advised that it looks a lot different from svhs, especially with respect to brightness etc... Also, when using progressive mode you must manually choose the 16:9 optimization every time you change from another source to dvd which is a bit of a pain but it is necessary because the detection signal is not present in component output but is present in svhs and coaxial.

I played a number of dvds and was reasonably happy with the picture quality without much tweaking. I noticed that The Matrix was actually too "black" in that a lot of detail was lost to "blackness". In other words, the brightness and contrast needed adjustment with component cables. At this point I bought the Video Essentials dvd. People, I cannot stress this enough: If you're going to spend any significant amount on a dvd/tv combo do yourself a favour and buy something similar to video essentials for a number of reasons: as outlined on the dvd, tvs are calibrated to be a bit sharper and brighter in the showroom than is really correct. As a result, you will see occasional anomalies and edge artifacts. I had originally assumed that it was a part of the technology of dvd/digital tv etc... and the fact that I was sitting closer to the tv than most people would (due to the apartment size).

MUST READ!

After quickly going through video essentials I made the appropriate adjustments (cutting back a fair bit on the sharpness and changing the brightness/contrast a bit). These may only be minor changes in terms of how much is changed in the settings but I'll tell you it is a world of difference when you are watching movies. I put The Matrix in again and WOW the colours are gorgeous and the detail is superb. Finally the relative brightness etc... is correct and everything is in excellent balance. There are virtually no anomalies/artifacts and good dvds look so "film-like" that it constantly amazes me. When friends are over they can't believe how good it looks. And don't forget that I'm sitting about 7 or 8 feet from the television! The resolution and fine detail is that good. With lesser tvs/dvd players you couldn't sit this close and see a great picture. This is most certainly due to the high quality of the tv.

Since making the adjustments I have noticed that cable tv looks a whole lot better too. I'm not suggesting that it looks like a dvd but it's more vibrant and has far fewer artifacts.

The only "drawback" to the adjustments is that the picture is ever so slightly softened. In my opinion it is far superior to having artifacts. I must emphasize that the softening is VERY slight and you'd be forgiven for not noticing (or caring) it. I haven't tweaked the sharpness control much because I find that I've gotten to the best compromise already. Believe me there is enough detail when you watch a good dvd or other source, the softening is just apparent compared to how the picture was prior to adjustment. It just looked a little sharper mainly because there was more edge enhancement which also resulted in a lot of aliasing and other artifacts.

I cannot emphasize enough how much better and more satisfying the viewing experience is after a single adjustment with video essentials. I'm not one for constantly tweaking the picture for each dvd. I've found a good setting which works well for cable, vcr and dvd and I'm going to stick with it. Subjectively, I'd say that out of the box you get about 80% of the quality of the tv and dvd player. After tweaking with video essentials you probably get about 95%. With further adjustment (there is a whole array of adjustments in the dvd player which I haven't played with) you could probably do a little better but it just goes to show you that with minimal effort and expense (70 canadian bucks for video essentials) you can get a fantastic picture which is what you should have if you are buying equipment of this calibre.

I hope to someday get a huge tv (60 to 100 inch range) with this kind of picture!

Damn this is a long review!

For those interested, this is the associated equipment:

9000ES dvd player and xbr400 tv with Monster Cable 3 component cables
Sony ES preamp
DBX BX1 power amp (400x2)
B&W 808 speakers with Monster Cable Sigma speaker cable (these speakers are the ultimate rock speakers!)
Sony 777ES cd player
Sony DAT player
Pioneer PDR-05 cd recorder

Feel free to email if you have any questions

The Bogg

Similar Products Used:

cheapass Memorex DVD player

cd playback as a dvd player, well built, overall value, 5 years warranty

tray, ergonomy

This is a great combo. It has very nice picture and great colors. Used as a cd player, the sound is amazingly rich, detailed, full bodied and refined. To get the best from it, silver inteconnects are indicated. The cd playback is comparable to a good $1000 cd player. For sure, you may find better cd playback on expensive cd players (like meridian, sonic frontier, mark levinson), or better sacd playback on standalone sacd player, but the individual cost of both machine will be probably higher than $1500. Condidering that you also get a very good dvd player and sacd player, this product is hard to resist. Add a 5 years warranty and you get a 5 stars value product. Recommended.

Similar Products Used:

Sony dvp-s7700

DVD Performance

SACD Playback, Standard CD Playback.

I purchased one recently in the UK primarily for DVD use. Slight improvement in picture quality over my Nakamichi DV10s. Playing back SACD's, it sounds very revealing but FAR to bright and Metallic. Playing back standard CD's via my Levinson 360S DAC, it gets a 6-7/10. In SACD mode I suspect that the flagship SA-1, 777 and others from MARANTZ are significantly better.
My search for the ultimate transport must therefore continue.
ps: Please no comments on the Linn CD12, Krell KPS25, Wadia etc....

My system consists of...

Well Tempered Reference / Dynavector DrT-XV1
Mark Levinson No.37
Mark Levinson No.360s
Mark Levinson No.32
Mark Levinson No.33h
Wilson Watt/Puppy 6
Transparent Reference XL (all the way through)
PS Audio Power Plant and Polycrystal Equipment stands and AMP supports.
Nakamichi CR7e, Naim 01.

Similar Products Used:

High end SACD in the UK are scarce with the exception of the SONY.

I called onecall.com and asked if they would sell the Sony for $1075 (several reviewers report paying this price from onecall). They said they never sold the unit for that price and the actual price is $1170. So I called oade.com and bought the unit for $1075 plus $35 for UPS ground. I haven't seen or heard the unit yet as I just got off the phone with oade.com. But you can save $95 by calling oade.com.

Excellent video playback

Trouble with audio output

Last evening, I set up a new Sony DVP-S9000ES DVD player and spent more than an hour and a half trying to obtain an audio signal when playing a DVD (The video was fine.). Under the player's Setup Menu, I had assigned the audio output to "Digital Out -On-Dolby Digital". I checked and rechecked everything, trying several different DVDs, always being sure that the DD audio track was selected. With one of the DVDs that I tried, on one of several attempted playings, apparently normal DD audio was present. However when I shut the player off and tried to repeat the previous playback, the audio was once again missing. At this point, I remembered that in a recent review of the DVP-S9000ES it was noted that the player sometimes failed to locate the DD track automatically on starting to play a DVD (this feature is presumably unique to Sony players). With this in mind I returned to the setup menu and selected "Digital Out-On-PCM". Each DVD that I tried now produced an audio output. I then went back to the setup menu and changed "PCM" back to "Dolby Digital". Now all of the disks that previously were silent had a normal DD output.
Today I called Sony, described the problem that I experienced, and the customer service person to please discuss it with a technical specialist. After a long wait she returned to the telephone and told me that the specialist said that this problem had never been mentioned by anyone before, but that sometimes with new players it is necessary to toggle some of the setup options back and forth a few times before they take effect, and that once this is done the problem described should not present itself again.
We shall see. The symptoms that I experienced seem more likely to reflect an erratic microprocessor than an errant resistance by the player's setup menu to accept requested settings during initial setup. Moreover, that the player put out no sound at all, neither a DD nor a PCM signal, until I switched from the former to the latter and then back again, also does not seem like a setup problem that should be experienced with a new player.
However, perhaps the DVP-S9000 has some unique quirks or perhaps it is like the early DVP-S7000 which was plagued with disk loading problems that Sony vigorously tried to deny for several months after the player was introduced introduced. If any other DVPS-9000ES owners have experienced a problem similar to mine or have any idea what might have caused mine and whether it is likely to recur, I would be very grateful to hear from you.
Thanks very much.
Ron Kalil

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-S7000

Great DVD playback,very good SACD and CD playback,well-built,reasonably priced if you shop around.

Cannot say for sure because I have not auditioned $5000+ players yet. For the price,none?

Just thought that Makin Fun-o-u below,as well as Edgar Marcano-III even farther below both have valid points. We have all heard about the Wadia CD-players,megabuck cables,etc..,and all that they can do for the Umpteenth- degree of precision and clarity. Very few of us can own those things. And,Edgar is right - if you have to ask,you should not bother to get into that much debt! But,I think that the truly "rich" listener is probably the one that has not forgotten how to use the imagination. This may be the one missing "component" in the audio chain for many as they progress along the increasingly anal road to,shall we say,"audiophiledom"? Even for me,the ever-present temptation says that because even this good soundstage I hear is quite two-dimensional compared to the real one,I must therefore do all I can to diminish the degree of falsehood presented. But with the best of the best speakers,amps,etc..,all exceeding $100,000,and with the level of improvements attained diminishing steadily after the "entry-level HIFI" category is reached (according to many),why not relearn how to just kick back and enjoy the music again? This is what products like this one are about - you have spent enough to get at least 90% of all that can be had and now it is time to fire up and enjoy! MY rating reflects the excellent value here and the fact that 4 stars must equal about an 80% grade out of 100%. I'll bet that what we have here is about 90% of the audio quality of even the best CD or SACD-playback,and even more of DVD playback -(I'll just bet)- and at a fraction of the quite unlimited cost.So...HURRAY! !

Similar Products Used:

None like this - only Onkyo and Phillips "CD-only" players.