Rating: 
Summary: Poor quality; a blemish on the Sony name
Review: I have owned this player for approximately 3 years and have learned all (or at least most) of its foibles. There are several major problems you should be aware of with this unit:(1) Lip synch problems. The audio and video streams will unpredictably go out of synch from time to time, requiring you to stop the dics and restart to get the streams back in synch. (2) Noticeable video artifacting (jaggies, combing, moire, etc.) on ordinary DVD discs that have scenes with "difficult" MPEG encoding. (3) Poor handling of many discs with extremely subtle scratches. One disc we rented (Talented Mr. Ripley) was so bad that the Sony S530D would not play an entire chapter of the movie. However, the el cheapo DVD player in my dinosaur laptop computer playerd it without incident. (4) Most of the time, the player spontaneously turns itself "off" about ten seconds after you turn it "on". When I turn it "on" a second time it stays "on" properly. It doesn't matter if there is a DVD in the tray or not, or if you turn it "on" from the front panel or with the remote (5) Slow transition from one DVD layer to the next. In short, buying this machine was a bad idea when it was first introduced. Today, there must be literally scores of better models out there. Buy one of them instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful Player
Review: When I bought this DVD player, I was happy with the video from my VCR. Now, I can barely watch a movie on video tape, there literally is no comparison. There are several reasons I chose this DVD player over the popular Toshibas and the Sony 330. The biggest reason was the component video out. For those people who think S-video is the be all end all, component video is a 10 fold improvement. I eventually matched this DVD player with the 36" Sony Wega, and movies have never looked better. The multi-function remote is more than adequate, with the functions laid out in a very convenient fashion, but I ended up dumping it for the tv's multi-function remote which just felt better. I didn't notice the CD audio to be any better than my component CD player, but if you have a DTS encoded CD it'll probably sound better in the DVD. I haven't found any music, that I would listen to, with DTS sound. The onscreen menus range from just right, to way to much information. I mean, do I really need to see the bit rate history? It's cool, but a little unnecessary. If you have a mid to high-end Sony TV and amplifier, just popping a disc into the DVD will turn on the TV, turn on the amp and tune them both to the right inputs. All in all, I have had no problems with this DVD player and am very happy with the quality of the video and sound. If you get this, consider upgrading your current TV to a Sony Wega to really improve your movie watching experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch the Warranty with Sony!!
Review: I purchased a sony DVD player (DVP) one year and two months ago. This week it just stopped playing (would not recognize the disk) After doing the standard cleaning, air blowing,powerdowns and etc., recommended by Sony. It still would not work. I payed $129 for this player and Sony wants $132 plus postage to fix it after one year and two months. Go to their service web site and put in the information pertaining to the DVD unit you are looking at. Then tell them you have owned it for one year and one day and see what repair is. Last Sony product I purchase. Buyer beware.
Rating:
Summary: Piece of Junk
Review: I replaced the CD Drive on my old pc with a DVD Drive, and played a DVD. Works fine. Then I put the DVD in my Sony DVD player and it skips every other minute. All these days (3 years), I thought it was problem with the DVDs, but I just realised it is the Sony problem. I've had this problem after since 6 months of purchase. I stopped Netflix stating that their DVD's skipped a lot. Sorry Netflix, it is my piece of junk called Sony. Sony, I feel cheated, I am never going to buy any thing Sony again. Is there a 0 star rating ??
Rating:
Summary: Defective Product
Review: OK this particular model is defective and there is a pending class action suit against Sony. It can rarely get through a DVD without having some sort of audio or video problem. I would not reccomend this player to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: No problems. I love it.
Review: I bought a Sony 530 in 08/1999, and have had no lip-sync problems at all. The only problem I have noticed is that a disc is supposed to resume from the point you stopped when you push "stop" and the display says "resume." Mine does not do this consistently, and never seems to do it with CD, but perhaps this feature does not work with CD. Aside from that one baffling inconsistency, I love my 530. I have it hooked into a Yamaha Dolby Digital "ready" receiver, and find that the bass management controls in the Sony 530 are excellent for setting up my system. I have a full surround system using all Paradigm Monitor series speakers, and the sound from the 530 when used as a CD player is so clear that you can hear individual string plucks on guitar, and other details you don't often hear. The picture quality is so superior to VHS, that I can scarcely stand to watch VHS anymore. When it comes to video products, and particularly digital video, you can't beat Sony. Don't waste your money trying any other brands. You'll just wish you had bought Sony to begin with.
Rating: 
Summary: Dying after 3.5 years
Review: Back in the summer of 1999, the Sony S530D managed to wiggle it's way into my home (without extended warranty). The lip sync problems began, I went to the forums, and was told that Sony had acknowledged the problem and that a firmware upgrade would fix it. Three months later I couldn't ignore the lip sync problem any longer and took it back to the fine people at Circuit City who had it fixed for me 2 weeks later. It has worked flawlessly ever since...until a few months ago. Some rented DVDs no longer played right. My wife and I would have to constantly rewind and fast forward through to try to finish the movie. The discs would be cleaned, but nothing. The player would be cleaned, performance seemed to improve, but nothing. New discs still worked fine. Then it happened. A few weeks ago, it rejected my son's brand new Winnie the Pooh DVD which worked in my DVD-Rom and my in-law's Sony player and "CYBER HOME!!!" player. Last night a movie was playing fine and then all of a sudden C 13 shows up. Multiple reinserting finally got it to work. This had happened a couple of times before. Cleaning the lens never worked. So I'm buying the Sony NS 315 from BB. There is a $... rebate on the BB web site. $... for hopefully another 3 years isn't bad.
Rating:
Summary: Sony is not the answer for your DVD player needs.
Review: Do not buy this Sony DVD product, or any other. The DVP-S560D problem is STILL unresolved, and this player seems to share most of that players problems. The hardware is defective - but worse, is the after-sale customer service and concern from Sony. They refuse to recognize the problems with these players - now numbering in the tens of thousands. Please do some research and find the petitions and class-action lawsuits online before you buy this, or any other, Sony product. Sony is a name that will no longer haunt my electronics cabinets.
Rating:
Summary: Great picture, lasting quality
Review: I felt compelled to write this review after reading reviews stating that the product would probably fail after a year or a year and a half. I bought this player in May of 1999. It's been working like a champ ever since. Picture quality on my original tv (Sony 27 inch) was very good. On the new tv (sony kp43ht20 HDTV monitor), it's outstanding. Has never had a problem reading any disk I've put in it. Has built in dolby digital, dts decoders, optical and coaxial digital outs for whichever you prefer, 5.1 channel outputs. I'm very pleased with this player for the money and the time I've used it - and it still works flawlessly - 3.5 years after purchase. I'm sure there were some problem units out there, and I feel bad for those folks, but return it for another (like you would with any brand). I've been nothing but happy with this machine for a long while. We don't have a need for an MP3 player or playing cd-r disks, so this will be our primary player for a long while.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY this tripe. Just go ahead and flush your $$$
Review: ...you'd be better off to just flush the $$$ down the toilet. At first this was a good DVD player...good but not exceptional. After about a year it started skipping like crazy and now, at a year and half, it will not even play most of my brand new DVDs. I have cleaned it- this machine is a malfunctioning piece of junk. NOW I find out that 1,000,000 other people have the same problem with Sony. I am on my way to buy a Panasonic or something. But anyway, be forewarned.....this product malfunctions..I promise you, it will happen. What a load of junk! I would recommend that you shop around and read reviews and stay away from Sony DVD players! I myself am going for Panasonic. To me,a Sony DVD player is what a strumpet is to a princess!!!!!!! The exact opposite of good.
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