this dvd player kick the crap out of the othesr, east or west sony is the best

I just got a new Sony XBR WEGA (36") and needed to get a DVD player once I saw the awesome picture. Went to Best Buy and got the Sony DVPS550D. Like most everything about it except:1. Lip Synch - saw it last night on Good Will Hunting. Robin Williams looked like he was in an old Kung Fu movie.
2. The remote isn't backlit.

I can't live with these problems and based on what I see here, I won't trust another replacement unit. I'm off to Toshiba-land to get an SD3109.

By the way, www.onecall.com has awesome prices on A/V gear!

Well I just got my 550D back from the Sony service center in Niles, IL. Told them about the occasional lip-synch, freeze, and audio dropout problems I've experienced over the two months I've owned this unit.
I went into service mode and found that they changed a chip from version 1.5 to 2.21. They didn't mention this on the work order... Worked fine on the one DVD I played; but then, it has worked fine 98% of the time. Took about ten calendar days from when I took it in. They shipped it back, which was a nice touch; saving me another trip.

I still give this player 5 stars!

Hey Kevin A. this is a review board of the Sony 550D DVD player not a place for you to practice your soapbox writing skills. Stating the 550D is a lemon is a generalization without any specifics. While it is true that some people have experienced a problem does not imply all players have this problem.
Many reviewers state no problem at all, and I am one of them. I have watched many movies so far and I have had no AV sync problems. That is not to say I might not see one in the future. This is a rather new technology afterall. From my experience, talking to dealers, owners and reading boards on the internet it seems to be a limited problem.

Many manufacturers report the same type of problem not just Sony. And with them it is also very intermittent and not pervasive. With probably tens of thousands of units sold if the problem were pervasive it would be in the headlines somewhere, not just reported on message boards by a few unlucky consumers. I hope the unlucky ones get thier unit fixed soon.

No lemon, just sour grapes from someone who does not even state he owns the unit.

Um, like I bought a new car and it has engine problems. The secret is to stop the engine and start it again and it's fine. I've contacted Honda about the problem and they told me that it's probally the gas I'm using. They took down my name and number and will notify me if there is really a problem. Anyways, the car looks great, and it has the best finish. I like the ride of the car, well until it starts having problems and I'm with my date. I have stop the engine, get out the car, push it and restart the engine. It doesn't matter because she likes the color of the paint....don't kid yourselves folks...the Sony DVP-S550D is a lemon.

Hey Kenny D (and others considering buying a 550D),
On some level, I have to agree with Kevin A. Soap Box or not, The FACT is that many of these players do have Sound Sync. problems. Reportedly, some more than others, but something new consumers may want to consider. I bought this player thinking that like many other, I might have to occasionally stop and restart the movie, maybe once or twice out of one hundred. As it turned out, I had this problem with every DVD disc two or three times during playback.
I called Sony, and they told me they'd put me on a list, and like Kevin said, let me know if there really is a problem. I called back and drilled a regional manager until I got him to admit there was a problem. He said there would be a fix in about a month. (apparently many others have heard this same story for months). Anyhow, anyone considering buying the 550, 530, or 330 keep in mind that you might get a faulty player, sony might not ever fix it, and good luck selling it later.

On the other hand, like Kenny D, you may get lucky!

...and Kenny, do you represent Sony?



I don't really know where to rate this one. If these problems were not present, it would be a definate 5, but considering all the facts and Sony apparent lack of customer care, I give it a 2.

I just picked up the 550 yesterday. Great player - no lip sync problems yet (but I've only watched The Matrix). I really like the jog/shuttle wheel on the remote. There's certainly no lack of connectors on back... I'll be heading out in a few days to pick up a Toshiba 3109 to compare them side-by-side. May the best picture win!
Just before running to the store, I called Sony Tech Support to ask about the status of the lip-sync "bug." The guy I spoke with was more than eager to talk about it, and told me that at this point, there is no known cure, and no quoted timeframe for a fix. He mentioned some of the internal battles going on (the hardware guys are blaming the DVD software, while the software team keeps demonstrating that the same DVD software has lip-sync problems in different places during different viewings). He said all Sony DVD players exhibit some sort of lip-sync problem, with the 770 less so due to its dual-optic system.

Well, enough of that. I give this player 4 stars. Great picture quality, slightly oversized remote, easy-to-navigate menus. I would've preferred to have no television buttons cluttering the top of the remote.

Okay, I'd just like to add my review to those who have had a great experience with this unit. I bought mine back in June and have purposefully waited to post in case I found some glitches. Can I just tell you I have watched at at least fifty DVDs with ZERO glitches. That's right, no Milli Vanilli problems here. I even went out and rented all those DVDs which people seem to have problems in order to see what this lip sync thing was all about. Nothing. The picture and audio are great and the unit is loaded with features. My DTS audio discs and CDs sound great. This machine kicks some serious arse.

Other peoples BOGUS reviews

Where do I start!??

First, how can you give this product 4 or 5 stars when you had to send it back to sony for repair??? When I purchase a product that costs $400+ I want it to work. Yes I had the lip sync. problems and the video freezing problem, unfortunatly my 30 day money back was past, so I had to deal with "who cares about the little people" Sony.
After my "1st" repair, a week or two later that SMALL little sync problem showed up again, but hey!, Im a big fan of kung-fu movies so im used to this right?! WRONG!! So when I call Sony about the problem they tell me its those Darn double layer disks??!! Funny though, when I bring my dvd's to my local A/V dealer they play perfectly, but I guess the last straw occured, when trying to insert a disk, the drawer would open halfway and then close. I guess the machine trying to tell me something! At this time I thought it was time to retire this unit. So back to the phones, Sony told me to return the unit (at my cost) with a note stating the problem, and they will evaluate it and consider replacing it with a new one. No sooner than 5 days after I shipped it, it was back! and "repaired" again, I guess my letter didn't work (it was still in the box). Does any one want to buy a DVD player??

1 STAR
1 WORD
LEMON

Crisp picture, lots of functions, price, easy to setup, digital outs, composite vid out

None that I have seen yet.

After having the player for a couple days, I am more than impressed with it. I have it linked with some video composite Monster Cable and the picture is extremely crisp on my 32" Sony XBR. As with all digital compression right now, you still can see some banding in the gradiant colors. But I got that with my digital cable also. It is not as pronounced on newer DVD titles that are better encoded, it seems. All DVD players I have seen have this problem.

No audio skipping yet... I have firmware 2.4 so it looks like they kicked that. I have watched about 8 movies so far with it and have had no problems.

Best of all was the distributor I got it from, Victor's Electronics (http://www.victor-s.com). The people there set me up big time with a very low price and shipping. They had the order out quickly so I could have my new toy.

Anyway, all in all I wanted a better player overall, like the Denon, but I figured I would take a cut-back and wait for the writeable DVD players in the future... This will get me by just fine.

Similar Products Used:

Denon 2500 DVD