Price Paid:  $0.00 from test

Summary:
test

Strengths:
test

Weaknesses:
test

Similar Products Used:
test

Price Paid:  $599.00 from military retail store BX

Summary:
I purchased the S700 it was fine. I moved it was in storage in its original box. Now its freezing up everytime I use it. Can this be fixed? Well I called Yamaha and received the royal treatment, (right!) BOHICA

Bend Over Here It Comes Again

Anyway now I have to send it to Austin. Maybe they can help
me, says Yamaha. I own other Yamaha products (DSP-A1)
and I am completly satified. However, I am not pleased with
Yamaha's response to this matter.

Strengths:
style

Weaknesses:
This problem with freezing up

Similar Products Used:
sony

Price Paid:  $850.00 from a/v dealer

Summary:
contrary to all negative comments above, i have owned my yamaha 700 dvd player since november 1998 (yes ninety eight) and it has never had a problem. no artifacting, no digital smearing, no skipping, no freezing, no problems with rce encoding, no problems with seamless branching (e.g. abyss region 1), no pixellation, plays the matrix and all other 'problem' dvds perfectly, layer switching happens in an instant.
this model is based on a panasonic, also tweaked by denon. i chose the yamaha 'version' because of their a/v quality, as i was originally using the built in dolby digital decoder. note the s700 pre dates dts being used on dvd's, and so the decoder only supports DD 5.1.
i bought this dvd player when there were only fifteen region 2 dvd's available, and when the cheapest player available was £350. hence the £600 price tag. the star rating is therefore made in this context.

Strengths:
picture quality, build, sound

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $651.00

Summary:
I purchased this Yamaha DVD-S700 from my local audio/video dealer and do not wish to bring my local dealer into the issue I have with Yamaha. This was my first DVD player. I had previously purchased a Yamaha CD player and did not have any problem. The Yamaha DVD-S700 is not a piece of equipment that I could recommend for anyone. I had it for about six or seven months when it started digital freeze up. It would not play certain DVDs. Usually, the freeze up occurred around programs 20 to 21 or one and one-half hours into a DVD. It would not play. I returned many DVDs because I thought it was the DVD not the S700. I lived with the problem because it didn't have a problem with all of the DVDs. Also, it did play CDs including (DTS)without a problem. When it did play the picture and sound was good. However, it became so frustrating to have the thing freeze up that I finally went back to my dealer and told him about the problem. He contacted Yamaha. Here is the rub. I believe Yamaha knew it had a software problem from the beginning. Yamaha said they would give me a B model (one with the software fixed) but I found out they didn't have any B models. So I am out of luck. I fully admit that I did not figure out the problem until 18 months after I bought the product, six months out of warranty; however, I still believe that Yamaha knew about the problem and should have done something about their defective product. So here I sit with grave doubts about Yamaha products. It is my opinion that Yamaha simply does not have the right to sell a product and find out within the warranty period that it is defective and then refuse to do any thing about it. So, I have had a terrible time with Yamaha over this and simply cannot recommend this product or any other Yamaha product to anyone. I do not believe the S700 is any longer in production. P.S. I own a Yamaha RX-V1!!

Strengths:
Component video, good DTS sound from CDs, good picture quality when it worked

Weaknesses:
Yamaha warranty

Similar Products Used:
First DVD player

Summary:
Had for a year and a half and is wonderful. It has great picture quality and I have had no problems. My neighbors and friends think it sounds great. I have only one gripe about it and that is that it won't play cdr's but if you wont cds go buy a freakin' cd player.

Strengths:
Great picture quality, and kick ass sound.

Weaknesses:
None