Sony DVP-F 250

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Good
Sound Level	Good
Range of Features	Above Average
Durability	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Great modern design, great performance
Disadvantages:	DVDs slip out .  Difficulty in reading on some disks

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

When we looked at jumping into the DVD revolution, we decided on 2 things.....
1) Buy one that is from a reputable brand when it comes to Audio/Visual equipment.
2)Try and get it to match our existing equipment.

With this in mind, it was soon apparent we were going down the Sony route. All of our HI FI equipment (at the time) was Sony and Sony is a reputable brand.

Walking around the shop, it soon hit me that the DVD players from Sony do not look like or stack like our existing HI FI system of 5 years ago. So, we decided to break the ties of normality and opt for this state of the art looking Sony DVD player.

The DVPF250 is an upright DVD player. However, it is now the size of a traditional one on its end! No No. Instead it is only a few cms higher than the actual DVD itsself!!!
Sitting about 20cms high, it is referred to as a "Bookshelf" design on account it would look quite at home sitting on one.

With this design in mind it looks superb. At just over an inch thick, it takes up very little width. This means the dimensions make it ideal where space and room is at a premium. It even matches the Home Cinema Kit that Sony supply.

The display is a small LCD screen. This tells you Name and position of the DVD and what it is actually doing (Pause/Play/etc). It is this gives you all set up options too. One complaint I would have is that the text is as small as the screen so reading it from a distance makes it very difficult. You may need a set of binoculars to read it from anything further away than 3 feet!

The DVDs load from the front and fit in Vertically. This can cause problems when ejecting as they sometimes get carried away and end up rolling across the carpet! Also, we have found a couple of DVDs have had a few problems being read. This is where I thought the Vertical player would fall down and I was not wrong. However, they were not very good quality recordable DVD media.
It does claim it can play DVD, DVDR and MP3 disks. We have tried MP3's on it and they work fine. The DVDRs have had a couple of problems but most work fine.

The visual playback is fantastic. Picture reproduction is second to none as you would expect with Sony. The signal is crisp and clear and this has a lot to do with its 10-Bit Video D/A converter. Just watching these DVDs makes it worthwhile.
If you do combine it with the Home Cinema system like we did, it gives you an unrivalled home cinema experience. Watching great DVD ready films such as Swordfish, The Matrix and Saving Private Ryan really hits home how surround sound can combine with great picture quality to put you in the centre of the action.

The Remote that comes with this device is simple to use and easy to understand. It also has a great range on it and can control the device from up to 30ft. Handy if you are some way from the DVD player in a big lounge.

Pricing comes in at £140 from the Sony Shop. Most High Street shops sell it as well and you can fine it on line for as little as £135.

I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good quality DVD player with modernistic looks.