SONY DVP-CX777ES 400 Disc DVD - SACD(TM) - CD Changer - Silver

Rating:
Summary: Questionable Quality but no other high end alternative
Review: 11/28/2K4 I upgraded from a DVP-875P player and am very pleased with my purchase. There is a large improvment in picture quality over a standard Sony DVD player. This unit is also much quiter in its operation than my 875. You can barely hear it when its changing disks. I have had none of the problems that have been mentioned by previous reviewers. In fact the only thing that does seem to have taken a bit of a back slide is the delay between layers.There is a small pause when the unit switches layers. But that is a minor price to pay the excellent picture and sound this unit delivers. I have it connected to a Denon AVR-3805 and Toshiba 65H82 with a complete Infinity Alpha 6.1 speaker system.With this setup there is no need to go to the movie theater any more !!!

1/13/2K5 An update to my review on 11/28/2K4. My unit started shutting off for no apparent reason in the middle of watching a movie. After troubleshooting it was decided to replace the unit. When the new one arrived the door would not close all the way. So now I'm waiting for my second replacement unit to arrive. Sony needs to check their QC method's. I'm putting up
with this because the 777's performance in the picture and audio department is outstanding, and I cannot find a comparable product
(except for re-conditioned Kenwood).

1/17/05 The second replacement arrived but when playing SACD it
has a loud hissing noise. I give up. !!! I'm keeping my first unit and I am going to put up with the random powering off problem. I would dump this thing if I could find a comparable
high end player !!

Rating:
Summary: Are there better choices out there?
Review: How many still make DVD Changers? The number that seem to be decreasing instead of increasing, inspite the fact that everyone is building DVD collection like crazy!

The main reason I wanted 400+ Disc changer is so, I don't mess my DVDs with scratches taking them out of DVD cases all the time. Especially, my precious home videos! Also, I own over 400 movies on DVDs and using changers kept all my DVDs in prestine condition and that makes it easy for me to sell them fast when i try to get rid of them from my collection for better movies.

I bought this ES line of Sony changer because it was the only one avialable with Silver Finish and goes well with my all silver Home Theater setup. I also had the DVI output DVD player from Samsung and I thought the color reproduction of this Sony unit is amazing compared to Samsung and other non-progressive DVD players I owned before.

There are some drawbacks with user interface and how it starts off playing your last played DVD everytime you turn on the power. But over use, you will figure work arounds and will enjoy this unit like I do with an year of use now. I have no complaints and I don't think I can manage my DVD collection without it.

Some big advantages of this unit:
1. DVD Jacket picture. It shows you a thumbnail image of the DVD title along with the movie name. Most studios like Columbia, MGM, iDreamDVD (Indian Telugu DVDs), etc have this feature on all their DVDs.
2. Excellent picture quality.
3. Plays SACDs
4. Very silent operation
5. You will learn to manage it better with experience
6. You can connect regular computer keyboard to keyboard input in the front panel and enter all DVD titles that don't have DVD-TEXT feature.

Drawbacks
1. Slow disc explorer loading
2. Plays previously played disc automatically when powered on (You will learn not to shut power after using it for a while).
3. The remote on older non-progressive model is much better with more buttons. This model has reduced number of buttons hence, requiring your to press several buttons before you can do simple operation. Then again, you will not find it as problem after some use.

Overall, the best DVD changer with Silver Finish! If you are looking for black finish look no further than Kenwood's high-end changer Sovereign DV-5050M. It is amazingly user-friendly and the price on this model dropped over 50% in last one year.


Rating:
Summary: Great Picture and Ease of Use
Review: I almost didn't buy this because of a stupid reveiw about the user interface being so bad. I is bad but not that bad and I don't even use it. I just keep a list of all my DVD's next to the player and dial to which slot I want and hit play. The fact that the unit always goes to the last DVD played when turned on has it's pluses. Say you didn't finish watching the movie and can't remember which one it was. Or you were interested in the knowing the movie your kids just watched. I started typing in all the titles but gave up as the studios don't put that info on most of the DVD's. If you don't want to get up you can just hit the folder button to search and start the DVD you want. I am very pleased with this unit and would highly recommend it. The fact that it has a serial port for future firmware upgrades is a big plus. Who knows maybe they will improve the user interface.

Rating:
Summary: What a piece of Junk!
Review: I have had this machine for several months now. The only thing that keeps me from throwing it out the window is the fact that it will play all my SACD's and, strangely enough, most of my DVD-Audio discs! It is slow, cumbersome, does what it feels like doing! When turned on, it may just sit there as it really should, but usually it will pick out a disc it likes and start playing. Unlike my Onkyo 300+1 changer, on this machine I have to go to FOLDER which stops the disc that started playing which takes more seconds than I can stand on a regular basis, and then I have to go through the list which appears on the screen five at a time, very slowly or no info will appear. I can input info on to the Onkyo while the picture is still on the screen, with the disc playing and/or scroll through five at a time very rapidly. Also, the Onkyo will let me disply them alphabetically making it easier to find a disc I'm looking for. Additionally, since most of the discs on the market do not have the info embedded in a menu, I have to manually input it, and then I consider myself lucky if it is still there next time I turn the Sony on. Until I find another megachanger (apparently Onkyo stopped making the terrific model I have), the movies on DVD which are stored in the Sony are just that, stored. Every time I try to watch one on this Sony, I keep adjusting to no avail for a satisfying picture, so I usually wind up taking the disc out--that takes a bit of time just retrieving it--and playing it in one of my other players. I have a JVC single disc player sitting on the Sony for just that reason. So, bottom line, if you have a collection of SACD's and/or DVD Audio discs, this machine will perform satisfactorily, but if you want to watch films, forget it!

Rating:
Summary: Compartively speaking
Review: The remote stinks, and I wish Sony had kept the mega-changer feature from the previous model. I have also had some problems with it not accepting keyboard input but otherwise the unit works well, rarely if ever skips, can play MP3 DVD collections and all formats of DVD's I've tried so far. Very convenient to have all my movies on tap all the time!

I wish the menu speed was faster, that the remote was laid out better and that it still had mega-control capability, otherwise I'd rate it a 5.