Price Paid:  $140.00 from Sears

Summary:
This is my third DVD player. I also own an early model Panasonic and the highly-rated Toshiba 1600. Since then, I have also purchased a Pioneer for another room. But this Sony is my favorite. On my 57" widescreen TV, I can easily tell the difference in picture quality between players. I just thought the Toshiba was good. Of course, this one is progressive scan, but even the composite interlaced signal looks better than the others. This player has twin laser pickup with 4x oversampling, 108MHz 12 bit video DAC (most are 27MHZ 10 bit), and has reverse 3:2 pulldown. That means that you get the original 24FPS with film sources, and none of those junky half-and-half frames. With 30FPS sources, the framerate is doubled (this is all lesser players do, no matter the source). It plays VCDs just fine, either on CD-R or CD-RW. It plays MP3 CDs just fine too. I've heard that it plays SVCD too, but I haven't tried. It has all the outputs, 1 component (switchable progressive or interlaced), 2 S-video, 2 composite, 2 stereo audio, 1 optical digital, 1 coaxial digital. I have only ever had one glitch with it, and that was playing a homemade VCD in fast forward. Turning off and back on solved it, and I've never had that problem again. Sony has made the perfect DVD player for me, a high-end enthusiast with a huge HDTV and JBL Studio surround sound. If you have no desire for SACD or internal surround decoding (yuck!), but are interested in a nice-looking, dependable, affordable DVD/multi-disc player that has high-end video features; it is perfect for you too. Sound is overall equal to the other players I've owned, except that the Toshiba sounds a bit warmer with PCM stereo audio. But this one is for movies in my system. It is the enthusiast's dream. I want another, but they stopped making them(!).

Strengths:
*Superb picture quality with high-end features and reverse 3:2 pulldown (!) *Plays variety of formats/discs/etc. I haven't tried anything that it could not play. *Multiple outputs. *Nice looks. *Basically everything I want in a DVD player.

Weaknesses:
None. It was obviously Sony's intent to provide high-end video features at a reasonable price. If you want SACD or DVD-audio, buy something very expensive, and leave me alone.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic A105, Toshiba 1600, Pioneer 260

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Stereo Discount Cent

Summary:
I have to say that I am very happy with this product, the last Sony DVD player I had was DVP 650 I believe and it had the C:13:00 virus that started about three years after I bought it. Anyway, the 715 has all the same features 2 S-video outputs, One coaxial audio output, one optical, 2 video RCA outputs. Beautiful picture and wonderful sound. Veryu impressed with the player. I am glad I read the reviews from here first. Good for Sony because I almost gave up on them.

Strengths:
Progressive Scan Picture Plenty of outputs Load time is excellent Very thin Price I thought was good

Weaknesses:
Load drawer is slow No decoder built in No DVD-Audio

Similar Products Used:
Sony DVP-650 Zenith DVD

Price Paid:  $149.00 from Circuit city

Summary:
This an excellent dvd player regardless of its pricetag. I have extensively searched for aquality progressive scan dvd player and chose this one. I really wanted to purchase the denon 1600 but looking at the picture of both on my Hitachi 43 w/s their pictures were almost identical but prices werent. I see no drawback in the sony even though it is supposed to be plauged by the infamous chroma bug. I see no such artifact at all. I am thoroughly satisfied with this player no built in decoders at all thats what the yamaha 5280 a/v reciever is for so sound quality is biasd due to the reciever but it is beautiful especially in dts. I see no reason for a dvd player playing my music or dvd or sacd audio. A dvd player plays only movies at my home period. The disk tray is quiet but setting up the player is a little ackward but functional. Sony has always made a quality dvd player with a great picture and consider buying this player it is truly a diamond among its counterparts.

Strengths:
Picture quality despite supposed chroma bug which I dont see at all. Price is a plus why spend 500 on a player with the same quality picture and sound, a no brainer here. A panasonic rp82 is a step up but panny's dont have a coax digital out? How stupid optical cannot come close to coax.

Weaknesses:
None that I cant deal with. Maybe they should make a black one but it matches my tv so who cares

Similar Products Used:
Denon 1600 way overpriced JVC thats in the bedroom 75gd panasonic rp82 reurned immediately no coax out.

Price Paid:  $189.00 from local audio/video sh

Summary:
This review is for the Sony DVP-NS715P, progresive scan DVD player. This is my 4th DVD player, my first 'progressive' therefore I can't make any picture quality comparisons to my old (non-progressive) players. This progressive scan player definitely makes quite a difference on my HDTV - very smooth, crystal clear. I had to choose among JVC, Mitsubishi, Samsung, and Sony. Although, it's more expensive, I went with the Sony because of their reputation on picture quality - I'm convinced that I've made the right choice. Sound quality is excellent as well, better than my other players. It's very easy to setup and ergonomics on remote and on player is excellent.

Strengths:
sound and picture quality, ease of use, looks, extra controls (i.e. shuttle control, menu button, etc.) on player

Weaknesses:
no zoom, no jpg, no center dialog enhancement

Similar Products Used:
pioneer dv-333, samsung, zenith, apex

Price Paid:  $179.00 from Fry's

Summary:
This is a very good DVD player for the price. Excellent video quality (which I always like about Sony DVD players) and good audio quality. It also play CDR/RW, DVD R/RW and MP3s.

Strengths:
Looks Video quality Audio quality

Weaknesses:
None at this price