Sony DVPNS725P Progressive-Scan DVD/CD Player
Great DVD Player
Two years ago, I got a DVD Player. One of the super cheap ones that you used to read about people being trampled whenever put on sale. I loved it, primarily because it was not a VCR. Soon after that, I invested in a DVD ROM for my computer. The quality of the DVD on a computer was drastically better both in audio and video. But a 21&quot; monitor just doesn't compare to a television - plus, after watching a movie at night and just wanting to get to sleep, turning off a computer is just too much. Might sound silly but actually try it a couple times. You'll agree.<br />Each had their benifits, but this Sony DVD player bests both. <br />It's sharpness and color was as good as the computer out of the box. However, there are four settings to tweak the color - so all of the sudden, the movie has the same tints, brightness, etc, as in a theatre. Furthermore, there is a setting to improve image quality: it's off by default, but can be adjusted to smooth the picture or increase sharpness, just like the gausian blur or edge enhance filters in photo editing software.  <br />I have not noticed a delay during layer switching - something that was painful on the old settop player.<br />The audio out of the box is equivalant to the old settop box, and inferior to the computer just because of the computer's better speakers. However, this Sony player offers a number of virtual atmosphers. It features the normal 2 channel unedited mode as well as type Sony calls &quot;TVS Wide&quot;, which simulates multiple channels just like at a theatre. It still lacks huge bass (I don't have a subwoofer connected so your results may vary) but it is better. Also, there is a nighttime version of each method - it keeps things like dialoug at normal volume, but reduces the volume of loud events, like explosions. TVSWide Night is a delight to use.<br />This Sony player actually lets you go frame-by-frame. This is possible with nearly every player, but with both the computer and the old DVD player, it was too difficult. WinDVD (software I used on my computer) didn't have a button I could find to do it, and the old player did, but it showed the distracting interlacing lines. Because of this player's picture smoothing, they disappear.<br />Also, if you eject or turn off this player whilest playing, it automatically saves the position in the movie. It saves up to 6 movies, if I remember correctly. EG, put on a movie, eject it part way through, watch 6 more, the original movie's position is forgotten. But watch part of it, 4 more, and then return, it remembers. This was possible with the computer but wasn't automatic - and didn't exist on the old player at all.<br />Even the extraneous details of the player as a player have settings. For instance, the front panel lights and display - the brightness of them is settable. So at night, you can have the movie playing with no LEDs at all.<br />The remote is fairly nice. The most commonly used buttons - play, pause and stop, lie directly under your thumb.  The navigation buttons are below, so you can simply roll your thumb down. The chapter controls, fast forward and reverse, and frame-by-frame controls are all an upward twist of the thumb away. But the subtitle, audio, angle buttons are all out of reach without repostioning your hand, as are are the menu buttons and the player's setting buttons. Its usable, and better than most remotes, but isn't going to win any awards.<br />I don't have a Dolby stereo so I can't speak towards the multi-channel quality of sound.<br />The one negative I've found is that I tried playing a video CD and it wasn't recognized. The manual does say it will play Video CDs.<br />Overall, I'm very pleased with this player. It has replaced DVD player and relieved my computer of DVD playing responsibilities. It's not the cheapest DVD player (nor the most expensive by a _long_ shot) but it's very feature-filled, and the fine-tuned picture and audio settings alone make this worthwhile.