Mubarakh Ali

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1050.00 from Sony Style Malaysia

Summary:
I have had this machine for 7 years now. It has taken all the torture it can possibly take from my kids. And since then, it had never been to the workshop. The panel still slides up and down smoothly and the tray still works effortlessly. The design and tiny little buttons are still ahead of today's competition.

The picture and sound quality is amazing. The only issue (after 7 years) is that it was not prepared to play MP3. I hope, the S7700 with return someday with a vengence.

Strengths:
Solid build, amazing pictures, excellent sound reproduction and lasting design.

Weaknesses:
For a product born in the year 2000, non that I can think off.

Similar Products Used:
Cambridge, Yamaha, Sony, Pioneer,

Reinhart

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This is a very good-to-excellent DVD player. Video performance is actually a couple of notches lower than its predecessor: the DVP-S7000. this is primarily due to the fact that its LSI Logic MPEG2 decoder does have problems with chroma upsampling. Nowhere near as bad as the C-Cube ZiVA MPEG2 decoders found in players like the Samsung DVD-611, but it is there. However, there are still only a handful of players that properly upsamples the color anyway, such as the decoder found in the Panasonic DVD-RV30 (which remains one of the very best dvd players overall, even to this day).

For progressive scan video, you will have to mate this player with an external progressive scan processor, such as the DVDO iScan VP30. This is a better way to go, anyways, since internal progressive scan processors in most progressive capable DVD players are usually mediocre. There are only a precious handful of modern players that can actually manage progressive scan video decently, such as the Denon DVD-5910 or the Oppo Digital OPDV971H through the DVI output.

Build quality is actually quite good for this player and far superior compared to almost any other modern DVD player produced today. All-metal construction for the chassis along with vibration absorbing composites help to create a resonance-resistant machine, which does help with signal purity and mechanical integrity of the drive itself. The disc drive is of special note since it uses a good selection of parts, including a brushless spindle motor and robust tilt adjustment mechanism and kicker mechanism. Add to this the fact that the circuitry are all arranged in a sensibly logical and organized fashion, which helps further.

The disc drive employs Sony's KHS-180A dual lens optical pickup. In addition to two seperate lasers, one for CD and the other for DVD, there are two distinct optical paths with two seperate objective lenses. Although archaic compared to modern dual laser/single lens pickups used today, the KHS-180A does redeem itself by being a highly robust and durable pickup. It is not surprising to see sony players that use these pickups continue to operate even to this day, testament to this pickup's durability. Although not related to this specific model DVD player, an example I have is a DVP-S300 with this same pickup with over 1800 hours of DVD play according to the emergency history in the player's service menu, and it still works with nary a hiccup. And, since the pickup has a section specifically calibrated for CDs, the machine can properly read CD-R media.

Video quality, as noted above, is a couple of nothces below Sony's original reference standard player due to its inability to accurately upsample the chroma. But, unlike some players which is so bad about it that it's obvious, this model Sony is a bit harder to discern in regards to this problem. In other facets in regards to picture quality, this Sony is definitely up there as a reference standard because of what it doesn't do to the video: edge enhancement. There is very little ringing with the video on this player, which means that the player does not attempt to artificially enhance the picture sharpness, which is the case with players from Toshiba and Pioneer. Edge enhancement is contrary to simply displaying the video and showing its true resolution. Playing an anamorphically enhanced disc on the DVP-S7700 (which is the majority of widescreen dvds out there today) with no anamorphic downconversion on a television capable of properly displaying this kind of video will reveal a highly film-like quality full of as much detail as the people who made the DVD were capable of permitting, the level of detail available in the source material, and as much as DVD-Video itself is capable of. Edge enhancement only serves to exaggerate this detail, which can have the negative effect of obscuring finer details in the picture through haloing artifacts.

Now, for those who don't have a television that allows DVD to work to its fullest with anamorphic discs, there is a downconversion capability in the player that makes anamorphic video properly display on a regular television. Many different DVD players deal with this differently than others. Some players, such as Toshiba, deal with it by eliminating various scanlines in the video signal, which restores the proper geometry of the image and maintains some sharpness but causes the "jaggies" in diagonal lines, where this particular type of line would appear disjointed. This Sony player deals with downconversion by interpolating the scanlines, which reduces sharpness somewhat but eliminates the jaggies.

One positive trait of this DVD player is how well it can work as a CD player. More precisely, in the analogue section, its response is rock solid in terms of its neutrality and does not overemphasize or underemphasize any part of the audible spectrum. Most DVD players, and CD players for that matter, do not have a good analogue section, which allows underemphasis and overemphasis of portions of the spectrum, which can yield pleasantly warm or ear-splittingly grating responses as well as anything in between. Unfortunately, there are many who confuse a neutral response as something that is not reference grade and prefer qualities (warmth or "edginess") that are unacceptable in a true reference system.

As a CD transport, it is a very good deck for this purpose with redbook audio due to the quality of the disc drive, its support electronics, and the chassis they were all assembled into. The player will not pass a true 96 kHz signal through the SP/DIF output, however, so be weary of this when attempting to use an outboard D/A converter for playing material encoded with this sample rate.

This player does support DTS tracks in any DTS-featured DVD-Video, so it will pass a DTS track to a surround decoder unlike the DVP-S7000.

This player does not have support outside of the Compact Disc Digial Audio, Video CD (not to be confused with the short-lived analogue LaserVision-spec CD-Video format), and DVD-Video standards. this means that this player is not capable of playing MP3, Windows Media, DivX, or other standards.

Overall, there are players that do have video performance superior to that of this player. the Panasonic DV-RV30 is one such player as it combines the benefit of its excellent MPEG2 decoder and, finally for Panasonic DVD players, a truly reliable disc drive. However, if you like a player that has an asthetic flair that goes beyond more basic machines and do appreciate excellent build quality along with above-average durability, neutral audio with the capability of playing redbook-spec CD-Rs, DTS output capability for DTS DVDs, and excellent video, despite the chroma upsampling shortcoming, then this player is a decent choice.

Since this model is discontinued, make sure any prospective purchase is in proper operating order.

Strengths:
Excellent KHS-180A optical pickup.
Excellent build quality and overall durability.
Neutral sound qualiy.
No edge enhancement in the video.
Excellent asthetics.

Weaknesses:
Chroma upsampling error in video.
No support for MP3, WM, DivX, and other formats outside of the basics.
Downsamples 24-bit/96 kHz signals to 16-bit/48 kHz when output to SP/DIF.

ti97

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
1.57 of 5, 14.00 votes

Price Paid:  $250.00 from audiogon

Summary:
I bought this player based on rave reviews on this site, but atlas, I will never buy another piece of equipment without first doing a in home test (which means buying from brick and mortar stores). I already have a great DVD player, btw, the Panasonic RP82, so I did not buy this machine for the DVD but rather red book audio CD. It just plain sucks. The Panasonic RP91 is even better than it at this respect. I am going to pick up a CA70ES at a local good guy tomorrow to test. In the mean time, this thing is going on Ebay to recover cost.

Strengths:
can be turned off

Weaknesses:
turns on?

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from The Sony Store

Summary:
I bought the 7700 shortly after it was introduced in Canada, and at the time it was considered one of the best DVD players on the market. Almost 5 years and a lot of use later, I can still say this unit blows me away. Although it is not progressive scan, I am not convinced it needs to be. I have used many newer players that are progressive scan, and the picture quality is, at best, ALMOST as good as the 7700. I have had no mechanical problems. The flip down face still functions smoothly. I have never had any problems with sound or video related to the unit itself. If I have any complaint, it's that CD's don't sound as good as they do out of a high end optical CD player. I have no idea why. That aside, unless something really awful happens, I hope to have this player another 5 years. Sony really hit a home run with this one. Although I paid a lot of money, there is no doubt I got my money's worth.

Strengths:
Built like a tank, but still looks great. Picture quality is unmatched, even with today's progressive scan players. Quiet as a mouse. Quick disc access. Best remote I've ever used.

Weaknesses:
CD's don't sound as good as they do in my CA70ES

Similar Products Used:
Nothing close to this

Price Paid:  $200.00 from ebay

Summary:
I feel I was fortunate to aquire a nice, lightly used iteration of this player. Every bit, (no pun intended), as good as the 2nd, 3rd generation Sony's. The only thing I'm concerned about is the drawer seems to be a little sluggish withdrawing. Dual lasers, should have been ES,,, but you know how Sony is. I'll take it to my grave.

Strengths:
Build, style, performance, ..not necessarily in that order.

Weaknesses:
Getting a little long in tooth, but that can be a plus as long as nothing gives out. Hasn't yet!

Similar Products Used:
s500d samsung crap - NEVER BUY SAMSUNG!!!!