Price Paid:  $500.00 from DVD World

Summary:
Great picture, features and sound quality as well as great looks

Strengths:
as above

Weaknesses:
Now displays the "C 13 00" Error or "No Disc" when disc inserted. Discs can also freeze and can jump chapters on playback. There seems to be many cases of this problem with Sony DVD players.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from jan 2000

Summary:
I think my equipment is a modified one, it can read DVDs from 1st,2nd and 6th regions. One of my friends has bought lots of DVD from China ( 0.75 USD for each ) however his DVD player could not read half of those DVDs and he gave them to me. And this babe can read those troublesome DVDs. I havent encountered any lipsync, grains, skipping etc. as long the media is OK. (only the DVDs from China) This product does not read all the CD-ROMs. (reads only the ones with bright-white surface, rejects gold,cyan,green,etc.). Due to the difference in DVD and old CD technologies, you shoulnt expect the same stereo performance from this player as your old Stereo CD player. ( I think this is natural because 48/96khz 24bit DA converter is used in DVD technology might not be as suitable to the old 44khz/16bit signal from old CDs as the old stereo players ) However, who cares, eventually this is not a CD player, this is a DVD player.

Strengths:
Very good sound and picture quality. All the analog audio/video outputs are available (including composite video) Both optical coaxial digital outputs are available. Big and well laid out remote, i love joggin'

Weaknesses:
Lacks 96khz digital output.

Price Paid:  $550.00 from Staffhorst, Utrecht

Summary:
After purchasing the unit I was very pleased with it, probably because it was the first I could play DVD's at home and my old CD-player (Harman-Kardon HD7500) was worn out. After a while I started listening to CD's again and I grew too be very disappointed about the CD quality. I choose the DVP-S725 mainly because of the excellent ratings in What Hifi? magazine, the silent mechanism and it's looks. I really forgot to audition it carefully. The bottom-line: great player for DVD's with fine DD and DTS decoding; CD playing 's on the other hand is REAL CRAPPY! I thought I better share this with you, beacuse I never read about this. Now I've even bought myself a MSB Link DACIII and although this is a great replacement, I'm still not satisfied.

Strengths:
Great looks DVD-playback: picture and sound, internal DD & DTS decoding. CD-playback: digital out

Weaknesses:
DVD-playback: lip sync, pause when changing layers, no 24/96 digital output CD-playback: no definition, baaaad soundstage, bad transients, sounds cheap

Similar Products Used:
Harman Kardon HD7500 (way back)

Price Paid:  $390.00 from RAF Bijenkorf

Summary:
There I was, sitting up till late in the night surfing all the hifi review-sites for the best player for the money. After a week of intensive searching I came to the conclusion that it didn''t get much better than the S725. It even looks good on any conceivable oscilloscope test. I had my model chipped right away which added $120 to the purchase price, totalling $510. Without this I wouldn''t have bought the unit. There''s no other way to view your "other region" disks. Some reviewers mention the lipsync problem. I still have to come across a DVD that gives me this problem and I''ve viewed at least 130 movies. My value rating has to do with the bargain price I payed. My advice: Review every DVD player in this pricerange *first*.

Strengths:
Gorgeous picture, very good blacklevel, ample settings and tweaks. Two scarts of which one has RGB signal out. Goldplated cinch input. Video settings memory that holds 300 DVD''s.(nice)

Weaknesses:
The player is not region free. Ridiculous remote; could you possibly imagine a remote this large? Also, the button that sits centered in the jog ring is wobbly, making you "misfire" at times.

Similar Products Used:
Sony CDP7-ESD.

Price Paid:  $500.00 from SONY Center

Summary:
Hi, I can say the DVD plays CD-RW but no CD-R. It looks amazing (sits top of my STR-DB 830), picture and sound quality is amazing. Lot of built-in features and connectors on back. I like the remote, the JOG button rulez! The player is a qulity, top range product.

Strengths:
Design, sound quality with CD-A, brilliant picture with DVD.

Weaknesses:
Display brightness only can be changed within SETUP. To do this, you must stop playing the disc.

Similar Products Used:
First DVD player.