Sony DVP-NS50P/S Single DVD Player, Silver
Don't Let Its Size Fool You
Our first ever DVD player was the Sony DVP-S717D, bought almost 5 years ago for about $1,000.  It was just under their flagship model at the time and it was one heck of a player with all the bells and whistles.  Unfortunately, it just wouldn't play DVDR media. <br /> <br />After going through catalogues to find a player compatible with most DVDR media, we settled on the DVP-NS50P.  I was a bit hesitant at first because of its small size and the fact that Sony is known to have compatibility issues.  But I went to the store armed with all kinds of DVDR and it came through with flying colours! <br /> <br />It plays everything it says it will (DVD-R/+R, DVD-RW/+RW) AND it also plays DVD+RDL which many players fail to read.  This wasn't noted in the specifications.  I haven't tried DVD-RDL so I don't know if it plays this type of media but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.  But even if it didn't, I'm more than satisfied. <br /> <br />Another bonus which I accidently found out was that it plays DVDs with other region codes!  I live in Japan and our machine is rated for region 2.  It plays our region 1 movies without a hiccup.  It's a handy feature if you have a DVD collection with different region codes. <br /> <br />The picture quality is nothing short of superb.  This machine comes with component video outputs for both coaxial and digital.  Definitey use one of these outputs instead of the S-video.  You want to take advantage of what Sony calls Precision Cinema Progressive (PCP) Technology.  According to the blurb in the specs, most players pick up the images on the DVD at the scan line level, whereas the DVP-NS50P picks them up from the pixel level.  This means the images are more faithful to the original source whether it be video or film.  You'll notice this feature when watching images with fast motion like action scenes or sport scenes.  The background is very sharp and moving objects are free from motion artifacts. <br /> <br />Sony also implements something called Precision Drive 3 (looks like they like precision).  This allows slightly warped or scratched discs to be read.  You'll have to read the specifications to understand the mechanics behind this new drive but no more wiping or buffing of DVDs!  It reads everything in one go. <br /> <br />The sound is great too.  Obviously it has analog outputs but the optical digital output rated at 96KHz/24bit is what you want.  Just hook it up to an amp with a built in DTS/Dolby Digital Surround decoder and you're good to go. <br /> <br />I've concentrated this review mostly on its features concerning DVD playback but it also plays CDR, JPEG, MP3 (which most, if not all of the new players read also).  The menu screen when accessing images or mp3s is very easy to navigate.  The folders come in blue background and navigate to the one you want with the remote.  The files in each folder are highlighted in green.  Plus, the file names support both Roman alphabet and Japanese kanji characters.  All the other players I know of only read Roman alphabet. <br /> <br />The only negative comments I can leave to balance this review (and I'm strecthing here) is that the Video DAC is 108MHz/12 bit.  I would have preferred 216MHz/24 bit but I've only seen that in the flagship models.  Loading time seems to take a smidge longer than our previous player but I'm not losing any sleep over that extra second.  Also, it would have been a bonus if it played DivX files and SACDs.  But I'm not complaining here.  For the price and the featured functions, I don't think you can beat this great DVD player!