audio capabilities

none

after reading some reviews, i was concerned because the negative reviews of the chapter skipping sounded awfully similar to what i was experiencing on a particular dvd. far be it from me to actually clean rented dvd before inserting.
so i removed it, cleaned it. and have not re-experienced skipping.

Similar Products Used:

none

Good audio/video.

I guess none.

This is an update. My last review was filled with anger, but this one is intended to balance it out, and to provide updated information. The problem I had before was that my Disturbed CD sounded really bad on this DVD player. I was pumping the audio out of the audio outs at the time. I did check this against another CD player, and it sounded fine.
Now I have come to discover (since I have a new receiver), that the sound seems a lot better. I thought this may have been due to the digital out, but when I tested it against the analog out, it seems fine now. So, I'm sorry, I don't understand why, but it got better. My only guess is that maybe the audio outs carry a relatively high current, and my Denon amp handles that better than my Aiwa PoS?? I did notice that the sound is slightly louder from the analog outs than from the digital (optical) out. So that's my theory anyway, please correct me if I'm FoS. And use the Disturbed Sickness CD to check this stuff out because songs 1 & 3 are really difficult to reproduce. Hope this helps. Late.

PS, I give it 5s to balance out my earlier rating.

Similar Products Used:

none

Lot's of outputs, easy setup, great sound and picture, looks nice, well laid out menus.

Goes to stand-by as soon as you turn it on, wont play mp3's

This box works good and has a lot of nice features for the cost. The Digital decoder on board is great. If you pricing them out, this one is worth the 2 bills

Similar Products Used:

Realmagic decoder card and remote, toshiba dvd drive, in computer

Same as my earlier posts

Still haven't found any.

I don't want to turn this review into a message board. But, in fairness to people who turn to this site when making a decision on purchasing a product such as a DVD player, I feel I must provide another opinion on this product. I'm sorry that Ron had such bad luck with his DVPNS400D. Perhaps he just got one of the few lemons in the Sony bunch. I wish him luck with his next purchase. I know how frustrating having problems with electronics can be. For me, the DVPNS400D has been terrific. I've played nearly 100 DVDs, and it hasn't skipped one single beat. I played four this weekend and they performed flawlessly. All I can say is I would highly recommend this product.

Here are the specs, if you all havn't ssen them on Sony's site.

- Dolby Digital 5.1-channel decoder with full adjustments Dolby Digital decoding built-in
- Precision Drive 2 system Providing an improved mechanism for reading DVD discs that are in less than perfect condition, Precision Drive 2 improves over last years Precision Drive to further eliminate errors in playback due to imperfect, scratched or warped DVD discs
- Plays CD-R/RW discs Now you can enjoy the versatility of listening to recorded material from CD-R/RW discs, as well as standard CD's and DVD movies.
- Block Noise Reduction This features helps reduce and remove unwanted "blocks" of information which occur as a result of fast motion and small detail in an image.
- SmoothScan and SmoothSlow modes Give you the cleanest playback of DVD in slow motion and scan speeds.
- 10 bit Video DAC with 27Mhz processing Assures accurate recreation of video with smooth gradations of color and contrast, making a more lifelike picture.
- Component Video Output Spearates the vital color components of a video signal, combining them again only when the signal has reached the television. For clear, sharp, and colorful playback of DVD movies.
- Digital Video Enhancer Improves crisp contrast and picture detail, while controlling unwanted artifacts.
*****************************************************
- Dolby Digital and DTS digital output Connects to a receiver with Dolby Digital and/or DTS built-in
*****************************************************
- 96Khz,24 bit linear PCM decoding Extracts the full performance of all the linear PCM audio formats in the DVD Video standard.
- Digital Cinema Sound DSP system that reproduces the precise acoustics of acclaimed Hollywood mastering stages.
- TV Virtual Surround System that generates the effect of surround sound speakers, even when you're limited to the stereo speakers inside your TV.
- CD Text and DVD Text Compatible CD's will display song titles, artist name and disc titles. DVD text equipped discs will display titles, a jacket picture and other information.
- Picture Navigation includes Bookmark, Picture Memory, and Strobe playback features
- Custom Parental Control "Locks" mature-content discs with a four digit code, even if the discs don't carry and MPAA rating.
- Instant Replay Goes back ten seconds and commences play. Great for those times when you miss a line of movie dialogue.
- Quick Set-up Steps you through the initial menu set-up choices, to optimize the DVD player for your particular system set-up.
- Sound Feedback
- Engraved Terminal Indication
- Multi-brand remote control In addition to Sony televisions, these remote controlsalso operate other brands of television and the volume control for 8 brands of A/V Receiver.
- Precision Drive System Yes (2)
- Video Horizontal Resolution, DVD 500 TV lines
- Audio Frequency Response (DVD, 96 kHz PCM) 2-44,000Hz, ±1.0dB
- Audio Signal-to-Noise Ratio (DVD, 96 kHz PCM) 110dB
- Audio Dynamic Range (DVD) 100dB
- Harmonic Distortion 0.003%
- Weight: 17 x 2 3/4 x 10" 430 x 69 x 252mm
- Weight: 6lbs, 3oz 2.8kg

Excellent quality, plenty of outputs(hey i can finally use my xtra subwoofer!)good remote lots of goodies(and after tampering with the thing i found mine does decode dts.. go fig)

none so far

well i literally bought the dvd player about 12 hours ago and have been playign with it non-stop. i had purchsed this one after finding one too many dvds crashed on my creative dvd player. after shelling out well over a hundred bucks in dvds i couldnt watch i broke down and figured i'd save the creative one just for copying dvds to vhs... i had borrowed my friend go video combo system and found it to be rather on the low end of dvd palyers with low quality and little features. finally i decided to pick up ns-400d after passing over the sony dvp-560 which was being phased out.. after a lot of research and watching i snagged this player when best buy did one of those valued customer weekends so i nabbed the discount and put the extended warrenty on it(figure i'll make sure it blows up or something after 2 yrs to get the latest model LOL). so far i couldn't have made a better decision. i needed the built in decoder for my stereo as its built to be dolby and dts capable but needed the decoder, this limited my options to a few players, by far the sony ns400d is the highest quality of all of them. the ability to play both cdr/cdrw was another big seller as i have made my own vcds and would like to watch them on the stand alone player. i have watched all of them and have not had a problem as of yet. all my dvds play flawlessly(side note- 95% of my dvds are anime... so if you are an anime collector or into off brand dvds the sony works with all of mine so far... including past the dreaded bandai navigation errors). also it goes without saying the the picture quality and such is superb as its dvd and not one of the super cheap dvd players on the market. i also am happy with the sound.. as i noted before somehow i did manage to get it decoding DTS, though i really couldn't say how but hey... it works so i'm gonna shut my mouth and run with it... in closing i think i will follow the trend and post an updated message after i play with this thing even more and let everyone know if it holds up beyond a month or so and if all the features and such are worth the purchase price... which as of know i feel they are and i would steer anyone looking for a middle road dvd player this way...

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creative encore 12x, govideo dvd vcr combo

Easy setup, great picture, terrific sound. Plays every DVD I throw at it. Didn't cost me an arm and a leg, yet I got a quality player. Sony name and reputation.

None so far.

I did about two months' worth of research before purchasing my DVD player. I compared, read, asked tons of questions and covered just about every base there is to cover when studying DVD players. After the dust settled, I finally purchased the Sony DVPNS400D. And I couldn't be happier with my choice.

The setup was remarkably easy. The picture is unbelievable. Clear as can be. And the sound is supurb.

If you are looking for a solid, quality middle-of-the-road DVD player, this is the one for you.

See previous review

Does NOT decode DTS, only decodes DD.
See previous review

This is a follow up to my original review 2 posts down, done a few weeks ago.

Overall, this turned out to be a very nice unit that handled every DVD I threw at it; owned or rented. If you're looking for a DVD player with a built-in 5.1 decoder and DTS does not matter to you, then this is a player for you.

Unfortunately, this player does NOT decode DTS. You will need a separate receiver that decodes DTS to hear it with this unit. (Which really defeats the purpose of this unit, since most receivers out there decode both DD and DTS nowadays).

If you're looking for a Sony DVD player that has a built-in DTS decoder, you have 2 options:

1) Pick up last year's DVP-570D. It won't play most CDRs, but you can get it at a great price, as every store is phasing them out.

2) Wait until September for the new line of Sony DVD players: 1) DVP-NS500V, 2) DVP-NC650V, or 3) DVP-NS900V. All three of these players decode DD and DTS, play CDRs, and as a big plus will play SACDs. The 500 is a single-deck, the 650 is a 5-disc changer, and the 900 is a progressive scan single-deck. You can go to the link http://64.35.93.160/pressrelease/872 for more details.

I ended up returning my NS400D in favour of waiting until the fall for these great new players.

Regards,
Ryan

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVP-560D (Last year's model)

Built in decoder. This is a follow-up post

The player skips

This is a follow-up to my last post. I returned the Sony player last night to Best Buy for a Panasonic RV-31U. I played the same DVD in the Panasonic that was giving me problems in the Sony and it played right through on the Panasonic. The Sony player was stopping at the same point and jumping to a random chapter.

The Panasonic has a weak remote and no coax digital out but I can use the optical out to connect to my reciever.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic RV-31U

Nice Audio

The player skips

I'm very angry about the player skipping. There is nothing like staying up until 1:00 am in the morning just to have the player skip on one of the final chapters of a movie you've been watching for 2 hours. This unit is going back to Best Buy ASAP.