Sony DVP-NS 29

...model for just £17.99 (again, I think that was a sale price), but it didn't look as neat as the Sony and as mentioned before, I'm a bit suspicious of the quality if it's too cheap. Fingers crossed, the extra £20 I paid will be worth it.
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Introduction
DVD players and I don't get on too well. They always seem to pack in just after the guarantee runs out. I usually try and get the cheapest possible, but this time, I decided to spend a little bit more in the hope that it will last a little bit longer than usual. I live in a house converted into flats and don't have an outside aerial. Needless to say, my indoor one isn't brilliant and the picture is particularly bad when planes fly overhead, which as I live beneath a flight path, means that I can rarely watch the television in peace. So a good DVD player is a necessity for me. I decided to try this particular model because a friend recently bought one and has been very happy with it.

Appearance
The player itself is silver-grey in colour and measures approximately 42cmx22cmx4cm. I'm quite happy with the measurements - it is slighter than my last player and sits fairly inconspicuously next to my TV. The front panel consists of a black front panel display and a black disc tray. The lettering and numbers of the display are blue in colour and can be adjusted to show the time left to play. The control buttons for play, still, stop, open/close and forward/backward are next to the display and are neat.

The jacks are, as expected, at the back of the machine, along with the plug for the scart lead. The whole machine rests on slightly raised legs.

Accessories
The machine comes with a remote control and batteries. There is no scart plug, but that seems to be fairly common these days. There is also a year's guarantee.

Discs that the machine can play
These include: DVD Video, DVD-RW/-R, DVD+RW/+R, Video and Music CDs and CD-RW/-R. This means that it can play CD-ROMs/CD-Rs/CD-RWs in music CD format, video CD format, MP3 audio tracks, JPEG image files and Kodak Picture CDs.

I have only tried DVDs and CDs on the machine, although from the instructions, it seems very straight-forward to view JPEG files and photos and listen to MP3 tracks from a CD-ROM. This isn't a function that I can ever imagine using because I have a laptop, but some may find it useful.

Setting up and using the DVD
I am not particularly technology-friendly, but all I had to do to get the machine ready and working was to plug it in, link the scart lead from the back of the player to the back of the TV and switch it on. Couldn't have been easier. For those that do need to use the instructions, they are perfectly clear. Basic controls of the unit are very straightforward to use, both on the control and on the unit itself.

Settings and adjustments
Various settings can be changed to suit tastes, including the obvious such as picture and sound and the subtitle language. Other features include a screen saver for the TV when the player has been in pause or stop mode for 15 minutes when playing a DVD.

Conclusion
All in all, I have been very happy with the player so far. It is simple to use, doesn't have any fancy bits that need time to work out, the picture and sound quality are great and it looks good. I managed to work out how to use everything without really referring to the instructions, but if needed, the instructions are clear enough to use, although they take a bit of wading through in order to find the relevant bits. I've only had my player for a couple of weeks now, so can't personally comment on its durability; however, my friend has used hers for over 6 months now and she has had no trouble at all.

The only thing that I didn't like about it was that a previous player I had would automatically tell you how long the disc was before playing. However, it is easy enough to find out how much time is left by pressing the time/text button on the control.

Price-wise, I paid £39.99 from Sainsbury's in a New Year sale. I think the original price was £49.99, which I thought was very reasonable for a Sony. I could have bought a cheaper one - Sainsbury's had a different make and model for just £17.99 (again, I think that was a sale price), but it didn't look as neat as the Sony and as mentioned before, I'm a bit suspicious of the quality if it's too cheap. Fingers crossed, the extra £20 I paid will be worth it.
 

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