Sony DVP-NS 30

...I was drawn to the Sony DVP-NS30 on Amazon. It just...stood out, amongst the abundance of silver. A coal mine amongst the thousands of magpies nests, shall we say.

----- MAKING THE DECISION. -----

I was a little bit reluctant to take the plunge and buy a new DVD player, after all I'd only had my current Philips model for a few months, however due to the fact I was using it as a cd player/dvd player through a seperate ...
...to see how long the Sony model lasts) Anyway, after a great deal of thinking, and noticing Amazon were selling this at the great price of £56.90 (Ok so its a bit more expensive than the Silver model, which costs £49.18 but it will look much nicer with my stack system which is predominantly black) and also as a multi region model, I hit the button and awaited delivery.

----- OPENING THE BOX. -----

When this player finally ... more

Firstly, this review is for the black version of this player. Although the photograph shows a silver model. It is EXACTLY the same other than the colour so I feel no need to request a new category.

----- FIRST IMPRESSIONS. -----

The first thing that attracted me to this DVD player, was that unlike the competition today, it is available in BLACK! which for me is a huge blessing. I'm only 24, yet I remember the days when TV's, video players, even stereo's never strayed from the generic black design (Now I sound like a grandad!). How things have changed. I have memories of a day out to The Big W, where I was shocked beyond belief to see a silver television! It was unbelievable that these things were now available in metallics! (Now I sound like a great grandad!!) However...What has happened now is that black electronic items have been almost completely abandoned in favour of the more 'modern and sleek' silver and grey approach. I have to say, when electronic items first became available in these flashy new paint jobs, I was impressed, but because almost everything looks the same now, I was drawn to the Sony DVP-NS30 on Amazon. It just...stood out, amongst the abundance of silver. A coal mine amongst the thousands of magpies nests, shall we say.

----- MAKING THE DECISION. -----

I was a little bit reluctant to take the plunge and buy a new DVD player, after all I'd only had my current Philips model for a few months, however due to the fact I was using it as a cd player/dvd player through a seperate amp, and the sound quality was awful, I did feel it would be worth it in the long run! (Maybe I was wrong....I'm yet to see how long the Sony model lasts) Anyway, after a great deal of thinking, and noticing Amazon were selling this at the great price of £56.90 (Ok so its a bit more expensive than the Silver model, which costs £49.18 but it will look much nicer with my stack system which is predominantly black) and also as a multi region model, I hit the button and awaited delivery.

----- OPENING THE BOX. -----

When this player finally arrived (about 4 days later) The first thing that hit me upon taking the box from the postman was the weight... Had I been sent an empty box?...Well, no was the answer, but it certainly felt like it! The box was easily held in one hand (and i'm no bodybuilder!) Although this might be seen by some as a plus side, it did make me wonder about the build quality of what was inside the case of the dvd player and also the casing itself.

Well, I could easily have sat on my bed all day wondering if the dvd player was made of balsa wood, or aluminium cans, but I did eventually decide that the best way to put my mind at rest would be to OPEN THE BOX (Well, there we go, not exactly brain surgery but it took me a while)

The box contains the following:

DVD Player. packed quite nicely in plastic (Can't have any evil scratches occuring before it's even been used)
Remote control.
Batteries for the remote.
A/V cable.
Plug.
More packing materials.
Instruction Booklet.
Guarantee cards etc.

Note, this player does not come with a scart lead, so if you want to make the most of the picture, you'll have to buy one (bundled scarts aren't usually very good anyway, go for a gold connection if possible)

It's all presented really nicely, and I was very pleased with the look and feel of the DVD player on first look, and also quite shocked at the unusually high quality remote control (though note, the remote is fairly huge!)

All that aside, i.e. In on the floor (packaging that is) It is time to have a proper look at the Sony DVP-NS30.

----- THE DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY. -----

The body of the casing as expected is made of metal (as you'd expect) and not balsa wood as the weight suggested. the front of the player is finished off with plastic, which holds the disc tray, Sony logo, buttons, and a few details on the features, in this case these being: DTS & Dolby Digital, plus the model number DVP-NS30.

I am also quite impressed at this point by the buttons on the front of the player, which I knew were silver but are actually closer to chrome, with a gorgeous shine to them (other than the power button, which is black, and the Forward/Back buttons, also black)

The whole thing feels very sturdy, and the only hint of it's budget price being the quality of the plastic on the front of the player, which although not poor, you can just somehow tell that it didn't cost a fortune although only on close inspection (as it's black it hides flaws extremely well)

I have added some photographs to show the item in more detail.

----- TECH SPECS/FEATURES -----

Ok so this bit probably wont mean a great deal to most people (me included) but I realise to some it might be invaluable advice, so here it is! (Feel free to skip it!)

FEATURES:

DVD Video Playback
Audio CD Playback
VCD Playback
Super VCD Playback
DVD-R/RW (Video Format) Playback
DVD-RW (VR Format) Playback
DVD+R Playback
DVD+RW Playback
CD-R/RW Playback
JPEG Playback
MP3 Playback
CD Disc Text
DVD Disc Text
Precision Drive 3
Twin Laser Pick Up
Dynamic Tilt Compensation

SPECS:

Signal Format System:
PAL / NTSC

Frequency Response: DVD (PCM 96kHz):
2 Hz to 44kHz(±1ｄB)

Frequency Response: DVD (PCM 48kHz):
2 Hz to 22kHz(±0.5ｄB)

Frequency Response: CD:
2 Hz to 20kHz(±0.5ｄB)

Audio Signal to Noise Ratio:
115dB

Audio Dynamic Range: DVD Video:
103dB

Audio Dynamic Range: CD:
99dB

Power Requirements:
AC220-240V, 50/60Hz

Power Consumption (in Operation);
11W

Power Consumption (in Standby):
0.1W

Operating Temperature:
5～35°C

Operating Humidity:
25～80%

----- DIMENSIONS. -----

Dimensions (WxHxD):
430 x 43 x 237.7 (mm)

Mass:
1.95kg

OK OK STOP SKIPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The review continues....

----- AUDIO QUALITY. -----

As I said earlier, one of the main reasons for wanting a fairly decent DVD player is because I will be using this as a CD player as well as for watching films, so the sound quality is of an equal importance to me. (ok ok i'm a cheapskate who doesn't want to buy both!) Actually I don't have a great deal of room so a 2 in 1 is the perfect solution for me.

As the player does state CD/DVD player, that did somewhat lead me to believe this is an equally good CD player as it is a DVD player, I don't think my assumption was wrong really, the sound is pretty fantastic, especially in comparison to my previous player which was cheaper, but still a reputable brand. The bass is full and warm, the treble stands out, I was actually able to hear my cd collection differently as some of the background was brought forward slightly to a great effect.

The only thing I would probably fault about the sound is the treble, it is SLIGHTLY, and only very slightly, too obtrusive. It can sound tinny at times, and I have on occasion had to turn down the treble on my amp which has always been left in it's default position before. Having said that, the DVD player has extensive menu options to alter sound settings and the like, unfortunately not to the level where the option to alter Bass/Treble is available. However there are options for Virtual surround mode, and a range of settings to replicate a surround sound system, which in my opinion sound quite nice and are a welcome addition to the huge range of features this player offers.

As far as DVD audio goes, my opinion is the same as for CD playback, though the Treble is less noticeable, there is also a connector on the reverse of the player for digital output, though this is NOT optical.

----- PICTURE QUALITY. -----

I have to admit, I was a little worried the quality wouldn't be up to much, as it was quite a cheap DVD player, I was wrong, I use this through a Gold connection scart lead and the quality is fantastic. One thing has to be said, and that is, that you may have to change the video output mode to RGB on the initial set-up menu's. As when I first used it, the reds were very fuzzy (Aren't they always? Damn those reds!) This was fixed by changing the default video mode though, which is simple enough.

There are options to set the playback colours, an amazing feature I thought, allowing you to change the hue, colour, brightness etc, of the picture, as well as options to adjust the sharpness of the displayed video. The playback is extremely smooth (Though not progressive scan, which many of the more expensive players have but not all TV's support) with a VERY impressive clarity, this totally took me by surprise...Come on, I paid under £60 for this, I expected it to be junk!

It's not.

----- FEATURES/MENU'S/REMOTE -----

The menu's are probably one of the players few downfalls.

The range of menu options are absolutely huge, with options to change sound settings, picture settings, TV display settings, even down to displaying artwork on the startup screen when you insert a dvd or cd with artwork included on the disc.

The player also has the very unusual feature of cd/dvd text, which displays the track title across the dvd player display as the tracks/chapters play.

I knew of none of this when I bought it and the more I play with the features the more I wonder why this was so cheap!

This all sounds good, but here's the down side..... There are too many options! It is so easy to get lost fiddling around with the features, trying to find certain features etc. That in all the menu's are probably even best left well alone. They are almost maze like in their complexity.

Or maybe that's just me.

The remote control is very bulky, yet functional, it has LOADS of buttons and does it's job pretty well. It also looks quite nice and has a hole so you have the option of adding a wrist strap or something to it, which is a bit...erm...sad, but it's a feature nonetheless!

The remote however is grey, it doesn't come in black, so doesn't realy match the player. Still nice quality though.

One other thing worth noting is that this DVD player DOES support photo cd's and will quite happily play back your digital photo's as a nice slideshow, It also plays mp3's without faulter, and due to its precision drive (whatever that is) it is a lot more likely to play slightly scratched or warped discs. Which is a big plus!

----- OVERALL OPINION. -----

** One thing I would ask you to take note of if you are considering this DVD player is that, although Amazon sell this as a multi region DVD player, it is actually NOT manufactured as a multi region, therefore the manufacturers warranty is void (The sellers warranty remains valid though) This is due to the fact that the players have to be 'tampered' with to allow multi-region playback, this is however done in a very professional manner, and it is well worth taking the risk for if any (Just don't expect Sony to be too impressed) **

It is also worth noting, that although the remote is large, it does control both TV & DVD player, allowing you to turn up/down the TV volume, along with putting your TV on standby, I'm not sure if this fully accounts for the extra size but It's quite a nifty and unusual feature.

Another fault I have recently found is that the buttons on the front of the player are a bt weird... It takes two presses to make them function, almost like it has a built in 'ARE YOU SURE??' feature, it can be annoying if you press a button once then expect it to function then realising you need to press the button again, but it prevents them being pushed accidentally I suppose.

The lcd display on the front of the player is nice too, slick yet retro looking, and a nice shade of white, maybe REALLY light blue, looks nice though. Although being black it shows up dust pretty badly, this does look really nice on my shelf, although that's not really what matters, it is a factor, and coupled with this being a brilliant DVD player....It's a must have.

Anyway, onto my final thoughts....

I am really happy I went ahead and bought the Sony dvd player, I've been using it for about 3 weeks now and although it has it's faults (the buttons) They are outweighed by far, by it's fantastic quality. For the price you really can't go wrong!

----- UPDATES. -----

Still going strong, the player has not yet shown any signs of error. I'm still absolutely delighted with it and thoroughly recommend it. Especially as it's now on offer at Richer Sounds for £39.99! Bargain!

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