Picture Quality, Component Video outputs, Freatures, Slimline Design

Sound volume is a little low. Have to use a higher setting on my preamp than for other sources

I actually own two DVP-S360 players. The first I bought in November of 2000 and the second I bought in March of 2001. The second player was actually $200 due to a Sony $50 rebate. I have not experienced the loud spinning noise on either player. I can only hear the disc spinning if I get closer than 2 feet to the players.

I also have not been bothered by a "soft" picture as others have complained about. The first player is used with a Toshiba 32" tv (model CE-32E15) connected by S-video inputs and the second player is used with a Sony 27" tv (model KV-27V42)connected by S-video inputs. On both sets the picture is clear and sharp.

I used to have one of the S360s connected to my Sony 61" KP-61V85 projection tv until it was replaced by a Sony DVP-S7700 DVD player. Even on my 61" set, the picture was still sharp using the S-video inputs and even sharper using the component video inputs. I did notice some softness in detail using the normal RCA video outputs, but of course, I am not using these.

Component video cable is Monster Cable Video 2. S-video cables are from Radio Shack.

These players are soon to be discontinued by Sony and replaced with the NS series players which have the CD-R capability. Therefore, a lot of closeout bargains are available in the $200 range. With the $50 rebate this brings the price down to around $150

I wish more reviewers would state the types of televisions, video connnections, and cables they are using when describing picture quality.

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Panasonic DVD-A120U

I purchased it a year and a week ago and it suddenly
stopped working. It does not recognize the dics -- I
tried DVD, VCD and music CDs. As I read the reviews
from this site, there are quite a few people have problems
like this. The warranty is "90 days labor and 1 yr parts"
and even though I have extended warranties that doubles
the original one, the labor coverage is only 180 days.
So, I am very unhappy with this sony DVD player. I have
not gone through the trouble dealing with repairment yet.
But, from the review I read on this site, the repariment
cost is quite expensive and the labor is not covered
even with my extended waranty. So, I would suggest every
one to stay away from this model.

No Zoom feature, who needs it anyway?

Got rid of new Toshiba SD-2200 which wouldn't handle component video. The DVP-S360 using the component video is excellent.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD-2200

manual is kind of confusing in my opinion

thank you to the folks on this board and audioreview! I really feel like I got a great deal on this player with Sears price matching and Sony $50 rebate! I would highly recommend this player for any first time buyer. I checked into those "cost effective" units and the reviews were terrible. You get what you pay for but how can you go wrong with this for a first time buyer? Picture is excellent and sound is awesome. I am not brand loyal but I feel Sony is a good name and so far this player has done everything I need it to.

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first DVD I ever bought

none as of yet

Sears matched an internet price of 204.99 + shipping cost =
213.99. With 50.00 sony rebate, that's $163.99. I felt that was a pretty good value. The S360 is a nice player for the money. This is my first DVD player, so I had nothing to compare it to. The picture quality is not too soft, but what I would call "film like". Sound quality is nice, a bit cleaner than my VCR. I expected a more dramatic improvement sound-wise, but my 5 year-old Onkyo TX-SV525 pro-logic receiver was always a great performer with my Panasonic hifi VHS VCR - NEVER any hiss and very dynamic - even with video tape. The plus side to dvd is the consistancy of sound disk to disk. I have never watched a widescreen movie until I bought this player. I love widescreen! I will never go back to pan and scan. I quickly got used to the black bars on top and bottom of screen. I have a Sony Trinitron 27" in a small room, and it is a great picture. For CDs, the sound of the Sony is much less impressive than my Sherwood C980 CD player with it's Burr-Brown DACs. All in all, I really like the player, and suits me fine as my first dvd player.

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none

Price, value

Features..but at the low end, what do you expect

Went to Sears with an internet advertisement for $179. They matched it without question. Came to $190 with tax. Mail in rebate of $50 will reduce final cost to $140. Great Value. This is less than the JVC VCR I bought 12 months ago.

I hooked this into my Sony Trinitron (8 or 9 years old) TV w/o any trouble and was impressed with the difference from VHS tape. Very crisp...great stills. The sound coming from my Sony Pro-Logic receiver and speakers was not only much better better than VHS...no hissing but delivered CD quality sound, as expected. Was going to invest in a new Sony A/V receiver and subwoofer but after hearing it decided that I will just invest in stands for my rear speakers. I know, I know.....now you have to discount my opinion.

I have not messed with the "virtual surround modes" yet but will. I like the Sony built in "simulated" and "hall" modes when listening/watching "Jurassic Park" better than the center channel Pro-Logic mode. Great listening experience with DBFB turned all the way up.

I am interested in why past reviewers mention sound quality. Let me explain....laser-reading technology has been in use for 20 years in consumer electronics virtually unchanged since its inception. Digital music sounds great, so it follows that the laser will read the music as good as any other brand. Also, unless you listen side by side with other players on the same system, perhaps sound quality, or lack thereof is due to speakers, amp, or receiver.

Great entry level price/value. Not a feature-rich player but at this price...... I bet that it would be a good enough player for even non-entry level audio/video enthusiasts.

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none

Absolutely fantastic sound; plays imperfect discs without error; features for the price; easy programming; two digital outs AND two analog outs; universal remote

Can't play CD-R (see comments below)

I got to this unit after trying both the Pioneer and the Philips, both of which had unacceptable defects. Boy, am I ever glad that I tried the Sony. The sound is simply outstanding. Don't believe those who say audio discs sound harsh -- Anyone who thinks that must be a serious audiophile capable of hearing more than I can and, if so, should pass up this killer bargain for something more expensive. The sound is great great great.

I played several rented discs which were scratched and smudged. All played perfectly, which is more than I can say for the other players I tried. Also, the layer shift is very brief (again, much better than others) and does not draw a lot of attention.

Several other reviewers made me paranoid about tray noise. Believe me, there is NO significant tray noise -- only when loading or unloading a disc, which can hardly be considered a weakness. If you put your ear right up to it you can make something out -- but that's it -- and my ears are fine according to my doctor.

The only weakness is that it can't play CD-R discs, however, it CAN play CD-RWs. I wanted it to be able to play CD-Rs so that I could make second-generation copies for personal use (one in each car, etc.) but then found out that my Philips recorder will not allow that anyway. No big deal. The dual-laser units that I tried could play any kind of disc but seemed to sacrifice DVD quality to accomplish this. I would rather have an excellent player for my movies and that's just what I finally got.

The remote is universal and you can use it for basic operation of either a TV or a receiver (not both). This has been a handy feature and I think the remote is well layed out.

ALSO, unlike other units, it is easy to create song programs using the display on the player. The Philips unit that I had required turning on the TV to do that.

I can't comment on the picture quality, as I don't have a decent TV yet. From other reviews, it sounds like it's great as long as you set up correctly.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DVD-333, Philips 711

Pretty cheap, not sensitive to dirty discs etc, same video & audio quality as on my pc-dvd

Bloody noisy! Not only the loud spinning during the entire movie but also when opening/closing the disctray

I bought this unit because i was getting tired of my pc-dvd having problems with dirty rental/used discs plus i was hoping for a bit better video/sound quality with a 'real' dvd player...

But when comparing picture/sound between the two i didn't notice any difference. Jagged edges that i have seen in some movies and was a bit irritated about on the pc-dvd was still there on the sony dvp-360...

The real problem with this player is that it is very noisy! There is a loud noise when you open and close the disc tray and a loud highpitched spinning noise & ticking sound when playing dvd discs, and I was certain that i must have gotten a bad unit. The strange thing is that it didn't sound that bad at all when playing normal music CD's!
I returned it to the store hoping to get a working unit, but they said that the noise is normal for this player, so I returned it instead. My old PC-DVD drive doesn't sound anything except for the normal pc sound, so I'll hang on to that one until something better shows up.

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Creative pc-dvd encore dxr-3

Pretty cheap, not sensitive to dirty discs etc, same video & audio quality as on my pc-dvd

Bloody noisy! Not only the loud spinning during the entire movie but also when opening/closing the disctray

I bought this unit because i was getting tired of my pc-dvd having problems with dirty rental/used discs plus i was hoping for a bit better video/sound quality with a 'real' dvd player...

But when comparing picture/sound between the two i didn't notice any difference. Jagged edges that i have seen in some movies and was a bit irritated about on the pc-dvd was still there on the sony dvp-360...

The real problem with this player is that it is very noisy! There is a loud noise when you open and close the disc tray and a loud highpitched spinning noise & ticking sound when playing dvd discs, and I was certain that i must have gotten a bad unit. The strange thing is that it didn't sound that bad at all when playing normal music CD's!
I returned it to the store hoping to get a working unit, but they said that the noise is normal for this player, so I returned it instead. My old PC-DVD drive doesn't sound anything except for the normal pc sound, so I'll hang on to that one until something better shows up.

Similar Products Used:

Creative pc-dvd encore dxr-3

Good features and picture quality

Product died in 8 months.

I bought this unit in July 2000 and in about 8 months, it has died. It cannot recognize any DVD/CD disk. I called Sony and they charge flat $128 which is absolutely not worth it. I called Good Guys from where I bought this unit and they say that this could be Laser allignment problem. It's very common one.

I am very disappointed with the quality of Sony on these DVD players.