Good picture quality
Precise transport
VERY nice looking

Puts physical gashes in discs
'80s-style interface
convoluted remote

***WARNING***

We bought 3 of these new, along with an Escient Fireball with the intent of using them to store TV-on-DVD discs, basically creating our own easy-access "home television network." We were really enjoying them, then trouble began...

I am the 3rd person here at Amazon to post a review citing this player putting gashes in discs. That said, since the Sony's regular and ES series share the same basic design, I would steer clear of ANY of Sony's changers. It is simply not worth risking damage to your DVD/CD collection...400 DVDs/CDs easily cost several times even the full retail price of one 777ES.

For those of you who have had these for a while, if you are noticing that a disc is skipping or freezing, pull the disc out and look on the playing surface for either a cresent-shaped gash somewhere toward the middle of the disc, or a straight gash toward the outer edge of the disc. At least that's what we experienced before we discontinued using them. If you'd like a picture of what to look for, feel free to contact me.

Per the 777's instruction manual, we were even meticulous about removing burrs from any discs before loading them. Not good enough. What I suspect is happening is that when for whatever reason the 777 is having trouble loading a disc, it isn't stopping itself from clamping down on the disc and trying to spin it while it is still trying to load it. I believe it is the actual motor spindle that is cutting the discs. At least the cresent-shaped gashes are consistent with the arc-like path in which the discs are loaded from the carousel to the transport and back. The horrible vibrating/scraping noise I've heard coming from one of these also suggests the same.

This is sad, as our 777s have otherwise behaved OK. Having been relieved of the 777's '80s-style interface and convoluted remote by using the Fireball, 2 major complaints about this unit vanished. The picture quality is great, and the forward and reverse functions are nice and precise. Cosmetically, these are quite easy on the eyes. But at the cost of hacking up our DVD collection? No thanks.

Customer Service

In progress...The repair shop has one of these now, and they are replacing the laser pickup. Somehow I don't think that's going to fix the gash problem.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV-414
Denon DVD-3800

Terrible piece of junk. Only a professional can properly set it up. I use it mainly for DVDs. The door keeps closing when you try to load the thing. Quality of playback stinks. Rest of my system looks great, but when this piece of junk plays the visuals are completey yellowed out. Had the thing checked and supposedly nothing wrong with it. Also won't read a number of older DVD's. Steer clear of this thing. I'm getting a refund frm my installer and getting rid of it!!

Good skip-ahead features for old CDs and rental DVDs that are in rough shape. 3 sets of ouputs (Primary digital/RGB or coax to amp, secondary S-Video/RCAs to amp on another floor, and RCAs to wireless speakers). On screen Disc Explorer can make it easier to navigate (especially in another room) but man is it clunky and time consuming to set up!

It will automatically start to play upon Power-Up and not stop until you get to the main DVD title menu. So I just leave it on most of the time. No "Hit List" from my previous 200 disc CD Jukebox. No Delete Song capability of my previous Cd Jukebox from Sony. I know with the CX777ES I can make MP3 mixes that omit all the excess baggage, but if I wanted to rip 400 CDs I would have bought the IPod.

I have had the Siny CX777ES for over 6 months now and I am giving it a 8 of 10 stars. Performance is great, video and audio are fantastic! The only complaints are in design and ease of use. All of the stories you have heard about the Disc Explorer being slow and difficult to program are true. There are add-on systems you can get like the Escient or some computer software, so it is able to be worked with depending on your budget. Overall I like the 400 disc capacity the best. 2-200 are music 201-400 are DVDs slot # 1 is what I use for rentals. I has read every DVD-R and CD-R that I have given to it, some are pretty beat up from years in the car. Whereas my previous CD Jukebox from Sony would hand indefinitely on a scratch, this will eventually jump ahead on the disc. This can be imporatant when you are pumping the sound through 2 amps to several parts of the house and you don't feel like walking back to it (where is the darn remote?) It will read CD-Rs of MP3s, but not DVDs of MP3s. No "Hit List" from my previous 200 disc CD Jukebox. No Delete Song capability of my previous Cd Jukebox from Sony. These were my favorite features of that old unit. It was superb for outdoor entertaining. I know with the CX777ES I can make MP3 mixes that omit all the excess baggage. Anyway the audio and video from the CX777ES outperform the rest of my gear - figures.

Customer Service

No customer service required.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 200 disc CD jukebox via Best Buy 1997 - died after 3000 hours of use (4-10 hours a day for 8 years) I loved the old CD Jukebox.