Among it’s best feature resides a digital noise reduction not found in any of the players built before or since in the $1,500 price category. Underneath the 9000ES, lies two of the most sophisticated noise reduction algorithms chips that where once reserved only for high-end video based scalers and processors costing over several thousands dollars. The picture enhancements modes are called Motion-Adaptive Field Noise Reduction, and Motion-Adaptive Block Noise Reduction. Essentially in Motion-Adaptive Field NR, a still image is divided into two sets of pixel blocks, one is meant to detect movement while performing basic noise reduction, while another slightly larger block detects motion vectors (movement in the picture) and complex noise reduction is applied. To help maximize the affect of this, the processing is independently applied to the luma(y) and chroma (Pb and Pr) signals. This processing helps to reduce both MPEG artifacts and noise that inherently appear in the film or video source. MPEG noise sometimes appears as annoying color or brightness sparkling, especially in those parts of the picture that contain finely detailed areas in motion. Motion Adaptive Black NR reduc

Chroma Up-Sampling bug Slower layer transition than some on the dual-layered DVD''s

The Sony DVP-S9000ES is the worthy successor to the first DVD flagship, the Sony DVP-S7000, which was introduced in 1997, as the reference standard. When it was released in late 2000, the 9000ES became the first Sony DVD player to offer progressive scan capabilities. Not also is it the first Sony video product to offer the Elevated Standard designation, it is the first player DVD player to also include the highly regarded Super Audio CD playback. Featured on the front panel is a combination of nicely brushed black-anodized aluminum, and a distinctive elongated cube carved in the top center of the front panel lighting up whenever a disc is inserted. A clear acrylic strip runs across the width of the panel, which provides illumination for chrome colored transport buttons and various indications. Weighing in at 27 pounds, the 9000ES features a copper-plated chassis with Frame and Beam construction, twin R-core power transformers, 12-bit/ 54Mhz progressive scan video D/A converter, and a Variable Co-efficient digital filter. While in the progressive scan mode the player performs inverse-telecine processing in order to convert the 3:2 pattern of interlaced fields stored on the DVD to progressive frames matching the original film frames. Sony has chosen to use a two-chip de-interlacer set from Genesis Microchip, the VLX1A/AFMC, which is the same chip that can be found in the Panasonic DVD-D1000, as well as the Toshiba SD-9100. With the list of it''s endless features, the DVP-S9000ES is a player that is aimed towards the audiophiles for excellent SACD/CD playback as well as towards those looking for a high performance progressive scan DVD player, and in my opinion it is without a doubt the clear winner in it’s price category.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-S7000

SOUND

Widescreen compatibility.

WOW, what a great DVD player! Fantastic picture and sound quality on movies. My only complaint would be that is does fill up the screen on some movies when viewing on a widescreen TV. SACD performance is identical to my friend''s SCD333ES, as is the REDBOOK audio performance which is to say they both sound VERY VERY good. BTW, I just purchased a set of cables on ebay by a guy (mattjk) Cableplex, best sounding cables I''ve heard for the Money!!! Sold my Nordost interconnects and ZU cable powercords after getting Cableplex... give them a look see. System: Sonic Frontiers Line 3 Sonic Frontiers Power 2 Sonus Faber Grand Pianos Cableplex Connect 1 Interconnets Cableplex Nirvana Interconnects Cableplex Power 1 Power cords

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MANY

Build quality. Removable IEC cord. Very well made/solid RCA''s. Great remote with lighted buttons for the important functions. The Transport is superb, smooth and very quiet. It is hermetically sealed in an aluminum enclosure. The drawer is made of thin aluminum alloy that is very solid. The unit play all your CD''s, DVD Video if you wish is also state of the art and SACD which as previously stated is the next step in shortening the difference between analog and digital.

Really none at this price point and up to $3000.

I use this machine strictly for 2-channel audio. The build quality is as good as any "audiophile" machine out there. The SACD section of this machine is superb. Very detailed, great low level resolution. I compared a regular (24 bit remastered - Carol King Tapestry) CD to the SACD version and found the SACD version to be smoother with a wider soundstage and increased depth. I also heard things on the SACD version that was not apparent on the CD. The CD section is also very good and competes with any player in the under $2500 price class. Well recorded CD''s sound very good and retain all the strengths of the recording.

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Arcam, Metronome, Rega, EAD, Classe.

Build quality. Great picture and sound!

No headphone jack.

I purchased this dvd player from J and R in December as a gift to myself. What a gift! For one I was surprised how heavy it was. It felt like I was carrying a amplifier home. I have been smiling ever since.Get it while you can. Picture is superb.SACD sound is jaw dropping. You can"t go wrong!

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Technics DVD A10

I like this DVD player. This review deals strickly with the CDR issue. There are many reviews and questions about this player''''s ability to play CDR''''s. I found the only reliable way is the following: 1) buy CD-R Audio quality such as the one made by Sony. (note on the cover: "This Disc conforms to the standards of the Orange Book Part 2." 2) record in 1X or 2X speed. It seems to break with anything higher speed. Note: I have a generic CD burner capable of 6X recording speed. Due to the recording speed, it is a longer process to copy CD''''s. I have tried other CDR Audio, but the Sony was most reliable (how strange? :-)

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Pioneer S10, AX10, Panasonic, Sony S7700

Simple interface, robust build quality, wonderful versatility.

Ergonomic glitches in the simple interface -- always a design challenge.

You might, repeat might, remember me from the review of the Meridian 505 a few years back. I wrote a review of the KEF Reference that was too long to fit, so I''m summarizing here. My complete "review" can be found at the following unlinked web page: www.bright-crayon.com/9k.html One of the few advantages of being the Managing Director of the partnership is that if you want to create a web page for a piece of audio equipment, you can do it without too many objections. And I stress to you that I''m not in the audio business, and my company has nothing (that I know of) to do with audio equipment. There are plenty of reviews here of the DVD features. As an audio junkie, I''m focusing on the sound, particularly the sound of SACD. And, I''ll probably update the web review in a couple of weeks as I have had more time to listen. The 9000ES is a great machine, especially at the street price of $1000-$1200. SACD is absolutely wonderful, although I have concluded that it takes a system and room with low background noise and fairly high resolution equipment to appreciate it fully. Bottom line: I will be buying lots of SACDs, and for anything that is available on SACD and CD, I will be spending the extra $3-5 to get it on the better medium. Buying the 9000ES appears to have been the cheap part of the equation. Once again, it''s the software costs that will kill you.

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None, this is my first SACD player.

Solid Quiet Excellent picture Good value at the price I paid ($800 closeout at Ovation) Enclosed Avia DVD, Men in Black DVD, & SACD sampler.

None so far

I have only used this product for a week, so this is just my first impression. I have my Sony 9000ES hooked up to a Sony KP-53HS10 RPTV using a quality component video cable. The first thing I did was fine tune my picture with the enclosed Avia dvd. After completing the calibration, I popped in my "Dinosaur" dvd and was quite impressed with the finely detailed picture. I had just watched this movie with my old dvd player, a Pioneer DV-434, and my eyes were catching things that just didn''t stand out before, like certain textures and colors in the landscape during the "Egg''s Journey" chapter. I''m not sure if this was a result of the 9000ES, or the fact that I was watching the movie so soon again for a second time, but I think the video quality is noticably better on the Sony. I have veiwed other movies, mostly anamorphic widescreen, and have not noticed any artifacts or abnormalities in the picture. This unit is heavy and seems very well built. It is also very quiet compared to my old player. This player also looks nice with my other components. The front panel buttons are small and difficult to read, but this is not important to me since I use the remote. I''m waiting for my new speakers before I comment on the CD or SACD sound quality. Overall first impression is that this is a first-rate player.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV-434

Picture, Picture, Picture ... Picture adjustments, CD sound, it also is an SACD player, and did I mention the Picture?

Some remote menues could be easier accessible

Sony DVPS9000ES

Quite often, when Sony releases a new product, they are not the first to market, but when the product finally arrives then it's one very well engineered device that sets a new standard. This was the case when Sony released the still famous DVP S7000, and it also applies to Sony's first progressive Scan DVD player the DVPS9000ES, which arrives in the market more than a year after the competition's first models.

To summarize a potentially lengthy review, this player is not only an outstanding DVD player, but also a high-end CD player and it plays SACDs, which do sound awesome. My overall evaluation for this player of 5 stars takes into account only its capacity as a DVD player, but one also gets a 4 star CD player as well as an SACD player. The latter I cannot evaluate against any other product, but I think that for the sheer capability to render magnificent sound a good step up from anything that a good CD player can provide it deserves another 5 stars. My value rating should mainly apply to the DVD player too, and it would be 4.5 stars, but taking into account the other features it is clearly at 5 stars despite a list price ($1500) that is out of reach for many value oriented shoppers.

Prelude

I went to the store one Friday, and entering it I saw someone leave with a DVP9000ES - "Fine", I thought, "it has finally arrived, may be I'll pick one up if I like the demo." Well - no demo, on account of the fact that they (a medium sized store in central NJ) had only received one, which this customer just had picked up #:o(. The manager told me that they would get another shippment next week, and I asked him to notify me when they did. Well, the phone rang on Wednesday afternoon - "we have two...do you want one?" "Sure", I said, "just hold it until tonight." I got to the store just before closing. Obviously still no demo, and both players were reserved - one for me...

First impression

18kg (that's about 40lb) says the box. That is heavier than many receivers, and immediately makes a solid impression, certainly on my back, as I lugged this puppy to my car, and later down the stairs into my HT. Unpacking it and putting it on the shelf this impression of solidity was even more emphazised as I saw the beautiful copper rear.

Lots of outputs, most of them double (audio, s-vhs and composite), one component video out, which is ok, but only two digital audio outs (one coax and one toslink) I would have liked two (see below why). Also I would have liked a component video input with switch. Like many other HT fans I purchased a decent TV, which only has one input and I also do own a receiver, which was designed before the manufacturers discovered that one household actually CAN have an HDTV receiver AND a progressive scan DVD player (and possibly also an HDTV satellite receiver). Well, but then did I ever mention that I am an engineer myself?

Because of an number of obligations, the initial demo had to wait until the next afternoon. I watched parts of T2 LE, and was a bit disappointed that, compared to my trusty Panasonic and the Pioneer 434, which I had briefly owned, the colors appeared somewhat washed out, when I had to rush out the door to perform another task.

Patriot et al.

Later that evening the wife and I were watching "Patriot" - cool movie btw. - and my initial disppointed changed into stunning. The picture was as fine as I have ever seen one from a DVD player - and I had not even played with the color adjustments. The colors all just seemed so right, in particular fleshtones were neither reddish not pale, but seemed to be "just right". I later tried a number of other movies, and all of them looked quite a bit better than I had ever seem them.

The reason for my initial disappointment must have been that too much afternnon light that penetrated my room and threw off the color balance.

For movies that have been filmed or copied somewhat dark or are off in the colors the Sony offers adjustments in about a dozen paramters including brightness, color, Y,C,R and hue. These changes can be stored into four video memory stores,and later be recalled or associated witht he film (kind of like a favorite sound and track function from some CD players). This is very helpful, since on does not have to fool around with the TV's settings, which may then be off balance for other sources. Moreover in cases where the aspect ration is smaller than the screen's aspect ratio (e.g. 1:2.35 on a 1:1.78 screen) changing the TV's color and brightness also may change the color and brightness of the black bar, which in some cases may actually become grey. Changing the settings from within the DVD players prevents that experience, making for a much nicer watching experience.

Well to summ it up an awqesome DVD player. My only, minor qualm with this one was that some of the on-screen menues were somewhat hard to get to with the remote.

Music too...

Now briefly on the CD player quality. I do own the renowned CAL CL-15 CD player, which is a $1800 dual mono 20 bit CD only player, that beats some models that are about double that price. So listening to CDs from my other DVD players used to be a disappointment. Not so with the Sony. When I started listening to CDs, I was very surprised. This player provides a level of resolution that is incredible. every detail on the disk can be heard. The tonal balance is a little dry and analyticl, but this could potentially make a great match with a tube amplifier.

The CAL has a digital coax input, which allows to use it's DAC from another source. This is the reason why I want two coax outputs on the Sony - one into the receiver, and one into the CDP DAC.

I connected the Sony's digital out to the CAL's digital input, which gives me a reasonable set-up to compare the DACs. I have to report that the Sony in this set-up is not quite as good as the CAL, but it is very close indeed. The CAL operates off a very dark base, which provides a lot of body to voices and instruments. While offering at least the same resolution as the CAL, the Sony's DACs are just a bit more on the bright side, and listening through a solid state amp, I found it to be very analytical, but it did not create the same soundstage as the CAL. Still I would compare this player's CD playback quality with many CD players in the $1000 to 1500 range.

... and then there is SACD

On SACD I have no reference, however the sampler disc sounded awesome, significantly better than even the CAL-15. What got me was how easily the information seemed to be retrieved and processed. It sounded very natural, with may tracks making me believe instantly that the artist was in fact in the room. The resolution is so high, that nothing is ever screetchy. A lot of tracks on the disk that contain violin, and other instruments that easily distort, but they all sounded clean ad clear.

This format is awesome, and I will definitely get more SACDs...

As I summarized above 5 stars for overall is not easily achieved, but in the DVD department I am not aware of anything - except may be an exotic high-end product like the Faroujda that could beat this player.

In the value area 5 stars ususally means that a product is too cheap for what it offers. While $1500 is not cheap, even for an excellent DVD player, considering that good prog scan players can be had for about half that. However I would venture to say that this player is better than those $750 players,a nd adding in the wonderful CD playback, and the SACD capability makes it well worth the money as a combo product.

Test set-up

Snell CVs - biwired
Sony STR DA 777ES
CAL CL-15
good interconnects

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Panasonic DVD A110, Panasonic DVD A120, Pioneer 434

Superb CD SACD musicality, topnotch video. Clear staging, warm tonality, etc.

None in that price range.

I got this product almost a month now, was thinking of putting my review the first one here, but wait till now. All the good reviews so far confirm my assessment -- excellent music and video player. I used it with my Cary SLI-80 and Triangle Antal xs, and I could not tell the difference when I switch to the Arcam DVD player in terms of musicality. Arcam does not play SACD, but Sony does. So I am keeping this excellent sony product. Cutting the video and digital circuitary does make a difference on this Sony, thus a great CD player. If you want to spend more than $1200 for a CD player, it probably sounds a bit better, but hardly a good pair of CD transport and DAC will cost less than $1200. Sony DVP S9000 ES is a great buy, indeed! 5 year warranty.

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Arcam

Build quality, picture and of course sound. Oh by the way, the included MIB dvd is one great reference dvd.

None so far

This player does it all. The picture quality on my Mitsubishi WS46807 just blows you away and I haven't had the RPTV profesionally calabrate as yet. Sound is great with both CD and SACD. I've been waiting for this unit because, I felt Sony would step up to the plate with another fine reference machine with progressive scan and I have not been disappointed. This machine is for anyone who wants film like picture quality that will mesmerize you.

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DVP-S7000, DVP-S7700