Rating: 
Summary: TERRIBLE!!
Review: -My wife bought this unit for me as a Christmas gift. The shipment arrived about mid-November 2003. She wrapped it and put it in a closet for a month. After Christmas I set it up and watched a movie. The surround sound was unimpressive. After about 2 movies the unit stopped working (would not play or eject from the CD/DVD trays). I called J&R Music. They disowned responsibility for repair since their obligation ended after 30 days (even though it was purchased as a gift and had been wrapped and sitting in a closet for that month). I called Sony (and I actually thought the automated phone support was terrific and very helpful), and they worked hard to make it right but there was some confusion about getting it serviced locally versus sending it them, and I ended having to call them back several times. Finally, it turned out that none of the local service providers were authorized to work on THIS model and I ended up having to send the receiver part to Sony (with a $40 shipping cost). Including transit time both ways, the unit was gone for about 6 weeks. When it came back, I found out that Sony had used some "peel the back off" stickers to attach service paperwork to the brushed metal surface, essentially defacing the unit. I ejected the DVD that had been stuck in the unit, and hooked it back up into my system. Within an hour or two of use it stopped working again, so I called Sony again (save all the info they give you!). It was a weekend, so they probably had a second tier staff at the help desk, but the lady I spoke with actually wanted me to check speaker connections to troubleshoot an eject-DVD problem. I was not impressed. The good news: Sony called me back a couple of days later and sent a shipping label to return the unit the second time (important: since it was the same problem), and I was able to repack it into the box they had used when they returned the unit to me just a week or so earlier. I also wrote a letter of complaint to Sony, J&R Music and Amazon.com (neither Amazon or J&R responded, although I sent the letters certified-return-receipt and did get the signed USPS return receipt cards back). About a week later a compleltely NEW DAV-FC7 system arrived from Sony. I was extremely impressed that they decided to replace the unit instead of trying to repair it again. And I was amazed to get a complete system rather than just the receiver piece (which is all I had sent in for servicing). The bad news is that the surround sound is still not all that great. But we have watched four movies on it now, which is more than we were able to watch with the first unit over nearly four months. I would still call this a terrible experience and an awful investment, even though Sony certainly impressed me in sending a new unit. Still, it was late April before this all got worked out and there were two times when I had to install and then uninstall the new system (and hook up the old DVD player that this unit replaced). Also, I have yet to hear anything from either Amazon or J&R Music. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: A piece of junk, and Sony support is horrible. RUN AWAY!!
Review: Do not buy this unit or any complicated electronics from SONY. Had problems from the day I got the unit. It would completely freeze, had to unplug (and keep unplugged for a while) to get it back to normal. Sony wanetd me to pay to ship it for repair. Finally some mgr noticed "Oh, there's a repair shop right down the street from you." Took it in, they couldn't reproduce (Ma and Pa shop). Finally wrote them the steps to reproduce, take it in again. They call me back and say "Sony just changed policy, you have to mail it to them." Call Sony, they make me pay to ship. I explain that it has never worked, I've brought it in twice on my own, and now... The guy rudely interrupts me "Mr. Vaughn, life is full of inconveniences". Seriously, he told me this. I still don't have a working unit. For fun, before you buy this product call Sony support at 1-800-222-7669 and just see how long it takes you to get all mad. You get an automated voice-recognition system that doesn't work. You literally spend a 1/2 hour saying "No" and "Go Back". Eventually the fake computer person says "OK, you have a Sony TV not under warranty, let me help you with that" (which of course I don't have) and now you are HOSED. Seriously, call it for fun, its a riot, we do it at work. The fake guy says "Hmmm, I didn't quite hear that, can you repeat it?" and "There seems to be something wrong with my computer." What you eventually have to do is just say "BLAHBLAHBLAH" enough where he says "I can't understand you, I'm going to hand you off." Their support is horrible and rude. I have lots of electronics with no problems, I'm not a whiner - I have just never had a product this bad and then have it serviced so poorly. The unit was purchased through J&R, and they were worse than Sony. Typical "I don't care" NY firm. The first lady said "We've got them in stock, we can just swap." Then the "I have a New-Jersey accent so thick you can't understand me" lady came on and basically told me "Tough. Call Sony" Seriously don't get this unit. I just bought a new ultra-portable laptop this weekend. Guess which vendor used to be in the running, and got pulled from the list???
Rating:
Summary: BAD
Review: I am giving up on this system.
The CD changer takes too long to change discs, and the system crashed in one unit in 4 weeks- I exchanged it and it broke again after 2 weeks.
Luckily I paid for an extended warranty that allows immediate exchange as well as replacement for dissatisfaction (Local retailer).
Rating:
Summary: AVOID THIS PRODUCT!
Review: I am on the second system after my first system was replaced. This product has caused constant problems. The system takes DVDs and CDs and does not eject them.
Rating:
Summary: There are better products
Review: I am rather dissappointed in this product. It takes too long to load and unload each disc, so changing all 5 in one sitting is plain torture, especially since there is no way to tell which disks are inside. As if it's not enough, this process is accompanied by annoying mechanical noises as if the player is about to give birth. Once the discs are in, the movies actually do play and sound great. My only complaint here is that you have only 2 fast-forward options: 1X and 2X. My old, cheaper player had 4. After I had this system for 2 months, the DVD/CD player stopped working. I couldn't load or unload discs, and display would just turn off in DVD mode. Fortunately, I didn't have to call customer service because this problem disappeared after I left the unit off for about one day. I believe another reviewer had the same problem. Also when you play audio CDs, the quality is very poor. That's strange because, as I said, DVD movies sound excellent. Overall, the system does look sharp, but I don't recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: DVD player is unstable
Review: I bought my unit back in March 2004. A month later, it would no longer play DVDs. I shipped the unit back to Sony at my expense, and about three weeks later I received the repaired unit back. The shipping label mentioned some IC (chip?) repairs done. The unit has played fine for over two months (we dared not attempt playing multiple DVDs). Now the unit is acting up again. This is one of the worst Sony products I have ever purchased. Please stay away from this system.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Sound and Picture - Terrible usability
Review: I bought this system for it's size and it's all-in-one nature. It fits in nicely in my living room and is small enough to fit on my tv stand. The set up was easy except for the rear speaker wire not being long enough. Everything works the way it should right out of the box. CD Sound quality is nice and loud and the DVD looks and sounds great. The good qualities end there. Let's start with the slot loading changer. It takes about 45 to change a cd or dvd, which is ridiculous in my opinion. If you are watching your cable or satellite through the system and you want to put in a dvd or cd to listen to, it changes the function to the dvd player! That wouldn't be so bad if you planned on watching the dvd right then but when you want to load 5 cd's to listen to it is horrible. Even worse is that when you push eject to get out your rented dvd to take back to the store, it changes the function then too! Changing between cd's in shuffle mode atkes about 30 seconds between each song. You cannot split the audio and video so don't expect to play video games and listen to cd's or watch tv with the radio on. The diplay on this unit is so small that you can hardly read it from 5 feet away. Also, I had a cheap dvd player and even it showed the movie title on the display. This player gives you no information about any of the discs inside. So even finding out what discs are in the machine takes another 5 to 6 minutes.
This would be a good single disc system, but as a changer, it sucks. I'm returning it to get a tray style system.
Rating:
Summary: What the???
Review: I just bought this system after two years of major searching. Unfortunately, I should have waited another two years. PROS Can play almost any type of audio/video disk
Easy setup
The main player looks impressive CONS Cannot perform the most basic operations of my older, lesser Sony model; including: can't change one disk while playing another, and NO shuffle mode! (note to self...never throw a party) The sound is shallow, tinny, and weak. The listener is reminded of an alarm clock radio. When in "surround sound mode" the listener is reminded of several alarm clock radios. The speakers are, in my opinion, very outlandish looking. You'll have difficulty incorporating them into any decor; unless of course you live in a laboratory or industrial facility. BOTTOM-LINE I would hold out on home theater for now. Wait another two years for the high-end ($600-$1000) models to come down in price. Also, powered satellite speakers will be available within two years for a good price. That means no more wires in your living room, so even the most unnatractive speakers can stay relatively hidden.
Rating:
Summary: remote control
Review: i just got thism system dav-fc7. set up was easy but the store didnt tell what other cables i needed. easy to use but i have one problem. i didn't investihgate or was told by the store that thee remote commaner is not universal, so it will only run the system and the tv. i also have a satellite box and a vcr so i have to use 2 remotes. i don't like that and contacting sony by email and phone were horrible if they even answerd my quesstion. i evem purcjased another sony universal remote that is supossed to work any sony component right out of the box. it din't and the original renmote will not let anyotheer remote learn from it. this is a consciprary on sony part and this syystem is going back to the store..final quote don't buy sony their customer service has a lot to be desired.
Rating:
Summary: It is really zero stars
Review: I wrote a review below, where the unit freezes up and I have to unplug it overnight to make it work. Just an update: Sony has had my unit for a month, can't fix it, and can't send me a new one back because "We don't have any DVD players" according to Eric." And by the way, we can't tell you when you'll get one. I have literally had a broken unit since January, and no estimate when I'll get one. I pay Netflix $20/month for... nothing. Why would you want one of these in your home, when Sony doesn't even have any? Just look at all the reviews below, this is a piece of junk, and the service is beyond horrible. As one Sony customer support person explained to me: "Mr. Vaughn, life is full of inconveniences"
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