Update on previous post...
Went and returned the sony and opted for the Philips 825 (see review for details) I wanted to update people on the Sony lip-sync and what I've found out. The Sony service dept. says it's aware of the problem and that there is an update, but that the firmware update doesn't always work. Couldn't get any more details other than that.

Called a onecall rep about the problem and he said something about the signal being processed wrong by the receiver possibly because the audio and video signal go at different speeds. Could be the receiver/player or the combination. He seemed to not think I could handle a detailed explanation (I probably couldn't but don't treat me like I'm stupid!)

Went on the web and saw a dvd newsgroup post that said it could be a number of factors. (Bad dvd recording, bad receiver, bad player and/or a combination of all)

I returned the Philips because the picture sucked compared to the sony but now I don't know if I want to get something else within the entry-level players. I'm about to get the Panasonic 120 or the Toshiba 2109 but I don't know what else might go wrong. My wife wants me to get the Sony again and try to get it fixed by Sony (she really liked the picture and the sound)

this whole dvd thing is starting to get frustrating!

I first purchased the Panasonic 120 and the first movie I watched had pixelization problems so I exchanged it the same day for the 530
Well I've had the 530 for a little over a month now and I must say I'm very pleased with this unit. I've watched about 15 movies on this thing and have encountered no problems whatsoever. No lip-sync problems, no loading errors, no conversion problems, no problems playing rentals, nothing. The sound and picture are both fantastic and I find it difficult to even enjoy a movie in VHS any more.

as far as CD and CDR playback I have no idea because I don't have any CDR's and I have a CD player to play my CD's

Overall I love this thing and as long as it continues to perform flawlessly for me I have to give it 5 stars.

I have only had one lip sync problem, Romeo and Juliet. I have had the unity for two months and have had the player just stop in the middle of a chapter in a Civil Action. I could not get it to play chapter 23. I also had picture problems on At First, Site. The same problems where it just stops and skips back several chapters. My gut tells me this medium is not matured yet and we have a way to go. I should not have purchased a player yet. There is not denying when the player works correctly the picture and sound are superb. Consistency is the problem. VHS never had these problems.

I picked up this player last April and I have loved it. I haven't had any lip sync problems that some have complained about. I think those problems may be due to poor quality cables, but I don't know.
I have recently found a problem that I have reported to Sony. This player (I don’t know if it is just mine or all of them) pauses for a second or so when the player switches to the second layer in a duel layer disc. So far I have had this happen with only 2 DVDs, Patch Adams and Enemy of the state. At first I though that my player was hosed but after doing some research I found that Toshiba has the exact same problem. They have issues a firmware upgrade to resolve it.

Sony claims that they have not heard about this before. They have opened a case and are going to try to reproduce the problem. Shoot me an email (dsauter@wellsfargo.com) if you have the same problem, it may put some more gravity to the issue.

Other than that this player is great and performs better than most of the higher priced models.

after purchasing a panasonic A150 region 2 player and had it modifiedthen experiencing a samsung 709 also region 2. I decided that for less
money I could get a better deal from America. I purchased the Sony 530d
which has not been reviewed here. After two weeks I have noticed lip-sync
problems. First with Alien Resurrection, about half hour before the end of
the film. Then with Insurrection. To me it seems to happen after about three
hours of play. The picture quality is pretty good, but not as good as the
panasonic, but a hell of a lot better than the samsung. Reading through
the rest of the comments on this page, it seems like I have a completely
different player to the one everyone else has. Ok the sound is good, when
watching movies with a lot of music in them but I do not see how you can
justify the marks you give without critising the effects from the front
left and right channels. Maybe im deaf but I cannot get good seperation
from them except for music. It is a far better machine than the others,
but showing it to my friends I would be doubtful.

Well, I had the Pana 120u for about 30 days and I ran into one problem, it would sit still on a frame. So I took it back last weekend to try the 530d. I got home and the construction was better and the remote was better than the 120u. I popped in the Assignment and man was I surprised, the color wasn't as defined as the 120u. On the next movie, unforgiven I witnessed the lip-sync problem, and it was terrible. I told myself that I was taking it back the next day. I tried one more movie, Heat and the picture still wasn't as precise as the pana. The features are nice on the player but the lip-snyc problem is something that I can not live with. This one is going back tomorrow. Oh, and yes I saw all three movies on the pana. I might try the pioneer next. I'm giving this player a 3. minus 1 for the lip-sync problem and another for the color. I'm still a big sony fan, I just think that they missed on this one. One piece of advice, whatever player you get, get another to compare.

Owned unit for 3 weeks now and experienced the dreaded lip-sync problem last night on Storm of the Century.Seemed to get worse as the movie wore on. Hitting stop and play buttons seemed to correct the problem.
I have also noticed a short "freeze-frame" pause that others have mentioned on nearly every DVD watched.
Picture and sound quality are both very reasonable for an entry-level player.
Running through a Sony 53" XBR.

Back again...
Went to return the Philips and decided to give 530 one more try. Went to Good Guys and they suck. Went to Best Buy, out of stock (349.00). Finally, went to Circuit City and got it at 345.00 no haggling better service.

Played the same dvd's and experienced no lip-sync. Hopefully, this will be the last dvd player for a little while.

Still very happy with the picture and sound going into my Tannoys.

While at Good Guys I saw a JVC 501 and the picture was pretty decent. Toshiba were pretty good too but the sony seems to be better enough to risk the possible lip sync.

Last word: anyone trying to start into DVD, read everything and see if you can get a demostration at the store to see any differences. Go by price and features after performance.

peace

I am very pleased with my selection of sony's 530d (after auditioning manyother players in the same price range).The picture quality is outstanding and
sound on dvd's and audio cd's inpressed me. With the build quality and usefull features,I would highly recommend this unit.

I Got my 530d a couple of weeks ago and at first it worked great no problems it sounded flawless with my Klipsch Kcs C-1 and other Klipsch speakers
then yesterday on the Movie A civil action it started in with the Lip sync problem I dont know why it happened at first I thought that it was just a crappy dvd disc. I am still using the unit because I am at my university now in Rhode Island and I bought it in New Jersey. I am going to see what happens next and if anything goes wrong I am going to take it back. This is the first Cd md or dvd or vhs player by sony that I have ever had a problem with. I am guessing that they used a poor DAC and it is the result of severe Jitter.

if anyone knows why please email me.