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| Brand: Sony
Category: CE
List Price: $149.99
Buy Refurbished: $69.99
You Save: $80.00 (53%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  78 reviews
Color: Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 9.7
Dimensions (in): 16.1 x 17 x 3
MPN: DVPNC85H/B
Model: DVPNC85H/B
UPC: 027242689961
EAN: 0027242689961
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New Sony Warranty---No shipping to PO Boxes/APO/FPO/HI/AK/PR---Shipped in Sony box with Owner's Manual, Sony accessories, and New Sony Warranty. Buy with confidence-Authorized Sony Dealer since 1990.
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| Customer Reviews:
Couldn't ask for more from a DVD player December 12, 2006
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I was shopping for a HiDef player, but couldn't afford one so I read about some DVD players that upconverts conventional DVDs on HiDef televisions.
Found this one and I sure wasn't disappointed at all. The picture quality on my LCD was very clear and clean. Almost comparable to a HiDef player. On close-ups, you can see the imperfections on skin and the strands of hair. The 5 disc changer also didn't hurt either.
I'm glad that I went ahead with this player. I'll probably stick with this until one of those HD players go down in price. Then again, why spend more money when this works just as well?
 Super DVD Player June 19, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am one of those lazy people that dont like to get up and constantly change the DVD's and this player is perfect for me. I love this baby. It operates perfectly, it is very quite and it plays every make of DVD or CD you can find. Would recommend to everyone.
Reliable, easy May 30, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Bought this to replace an older Sony model. Install was easy, just moved the cords from the old player to the new player and plugged it in. The remote is slightly different from the older model, but easy enough to figure out.
We wanted a player to reliably play DVDs with the ease of the 5 disc changer. This does it.
 Time for an HONEST review. Pull no punches. March 21, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
OK.
First, I bought this from CCity, not Amazon. Didn't feel like waiting for it to be shipped.
Second, I got this primarily for the upconversion, but I wanted to have a changer as well, due to my increased interest in box sets (now that the prices aren't insane like they used to be, especially the Star Trek series). Even if this doesn't work out, I've got:
- 360 DVD drive
- 360 HD-DVD drive (which I could attach to my laptop and then output to the TV via my docking station)
- Personal Laptop DVD drive
- Work laptop DVD drive
- Media Server DVD drive
- PS3 Blu-ray player/DVD drive
- PS2 DVD drive
As you can see, I'll always be able to play DVDs ;)
So anyway, I'm going to review the critical areas I was most interested in. That way, if one or more is the reason you're even here, it hopefully will be of value for you as you make your assessment. So you know, for reference, I used my Star Trek: Deep Space Nine box set as my movie to measure by. I'm sure I could have used something more "fair" - like Back To The Future or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - but I wanted to watch it anyway, so why not?
-Upconversion/Video Quality-
This DVD changer purports to upconvert to 720p or 1080i. You need to know two things when attempting to use this feature. First, you MUST use the HDMI connection in order to upconvert commercial DVDs. Component will clean a little bit, but not much. Mine is hooked up through HDMI, passed through my STR-DG910 upconverting receiver. After viewing the picture, I can say that it's not much improved over what my PS3 can do on a regular day. The color depth is a little better and dark areas seem more pronounced, but other than that, it's not that impressive. I give it credit for one thing - black levels. They're excellent on this player. For movies where it's all outdoors or primarily "whitish" movies like Day After Tomorrow, you probably won't see that much in the quality.
The other thing you need to know about upconversion: the player will default to 1080i. For some, this isn't an issue, but it's a little known fact that some TVs just don't like 1080i and look much, much better in 720p. 1080p is NOT supported.
*** EDIT: Be careful. The menu will show you 1920x1080i, which should be true 1080i, but if you're using the HDMI cable, progressive can't be disabled, making you think it's going to 1080p. This is misleading, since 1080i is not a progressive format; it's interlaced.
- Changer -
Some people just want a DVD changer and don't really care too much about snazzy features, so this area is for you. I'm not new to carousel-type changers; I used to have a 3-disc CD changer when I was a kid that I went and bought with a Robinsons-May credit card (which I never did pay off, and I ended up pawning the changer...stupid move, they never make them like that anymore). For those who are new, the changer has a large tray with a large round tray, containing 5 smaller CD trays, number 1 through 5. You place DVDs in each smaller tray, and then can switch DVDs at will using the "Disc Skip" button, either on the machine or the remote. You can also use the "Exchange" button to swap discs that aren't in play while you're playing one of the discs.
There's one problem with this approach, and it's a personal nitpick of mine: you can't just press the number corresponding to the tray and jump to that disc, at least not that I can see and I've tried.
- Audio -
There are two things I can say here, which I won't yet. First, let me break down that I don't care about music at all for this player. My entire music collection is electronic, playable through Media Center PC or my 360, with no dead air between, so I can't speak to that side of the feature of this device. What I can do, is speak to the DVD audio. Dolby Digital (up to 5.1) and DTS are both supported through coaxial digital, optical digital, and HDMI. 7.1 is supported (which is rather stupid, since no DVD is encoded for true 7.1, but you can "fake" it with some receivers using ProLogic IIx), but only through HDMI. If none of what I just said means anything to you, just know that the audio quality IS good, but for the two things I'm about to tell you.
First, the unit is configured from the factory with the assumption that you're NOT using an audio receiver, or that your receiver is low-end. See, most receivers have the built-in ability to decode the majority of quality audio signals: DTS, Dolby Digital, etc. Newer TVs also have this ability, at least name brand ones. So it's really odd that this player makes the default assumption that you don't have the sufficient hardware; to me, it seems silly to have a lowbrow TV and/or no or low quality receiver, yet spend money on an HDMI upconverting DVD changer. Anyway, if you want the true quality, you must go into the menu and turn all of the advanced stuff on. I'd rather have it default to assuming I've got the whole world, then let me downgrade as I need to, but whatever.
That said (the second thing), the audio quality when set correctly IS excellent. No complaints whatsoever here - it's just the principle that you have to force the machine to output the sound correctly.
- Build Quality -
I really have no complaints here. The machine seems to be very well built, even the CD tray itself. It doesn't rattle or anything and it's very quiet when shifting discs. You'll want to make sure that your entertainment unit has sufficient room on all four sides; it's not super huge on the left and right, but it's a perfect square and it's pretty long in the front-to-back; it's even slightly too big for my unit and mine is an open glass unit!
I'm not going to waste your time explaining the remote. It's a remote, it's not complicated or anything. I'm also not going to tell you that this is the greatest DVD player I've used, because it isn't. Nor will I completely bash the poor thing. I just want you to know the facts: It's not great. It's functional. If you're looking for a simple changer that happens to support HDMI upconversion, and assuming you've got the hardware for it, you'll be happy with the output, but make sure you're not running in expecting an equivalent experience to HD-DVD or Blu-ray.
P.S. - if anyone figures out how to free this lil sucker from its region prison, please do let me know. It's the only thing it's missing...I really need to watch Moonwalker DVD...
Good Experience with DVD Player January 18, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought the Sony 5 Disc DVD player for the convenience of using the five disc capacity as a CD player for music, and the easy of connecting the player to my receiver through HDMI connection.
I have not been dissapointed. The HDMI connection works great, is simple and allows immediate enjoyment of the player. The DVD play is flawless.
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