Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DVP-CX860 301-Disc DVD Player

Contrary to what others have said, my experience with this DVD mega-changer has been excelent.

I think some of the problems mentioned stem from the user not understanding how the machine works. For example, a person in one of the previous reviews said,

"It also likes to drop the one you had in the easy slot (the 'plus one' slot) into other available slots, and I have to go looking for it"

This only happens if you turn the player off physically at the machine (also, if there is a power failure during,say, a thunder storm) instead of a power down with the remote. Powering down with the remote allows the disk to be removed from the dvd drive and placed back on the carosel.

Picture and sound are excellent on my 53" Sony rear prujection tv.

The only complaint i have is with the disk explorer feature. But then i bought a good number of my dvd's years ago before title info was included on dvd's, anyway.

I also cannot understand why this machine insists on loading a disc when you start it up. It also likes to drop the one you had in the easy slot (the 'plus one' slot) into other available slots, and I have to go looking for it. Also, as far as a CD mega changer, it is a joke. It does not do what a Sony mega-changer was meant to. All it can do, is 'control' another mega changer (meaning play what is on the other changer), but not cross fade, no-delay play, etc. It is missing ALL of these features. It took about 2+ hours on the phone before I had the Sony tech's admitting that it does not do this. It cannot be changed to CD2 or 3, the other cd changer must be changed, and it is only CD1 that is capable of full featured 'mega-control' in Sony's scheme. Since this must be CD1, and it is not capable, there is no way to hook another mega-changer up with this together and play back and forth between the changers, with no delay, or cross fade. Also, its menu system for storing, listing, and finding titles, is tediously slow.
However, as far as a DVD player, it does VERY well. I have a 9ft diag (Sony) HD front projection screen, which shows small defects in reproduction like a small screen just can not. This player gives excellent results, and gives plenty of room to store your DVD's as well. The capability of 'flipping' a disc and playing the other side is an added bonus.
My recommendation, buy this for a DVD changer, not a combo DVD/CD megachanger.

... but I hate to admit it. Today, I removed all my disks from the player for the 5th time in the year I owned the sony. I had it in the authorized service center 3 times and sony even replaced my unit once and was about to again for the same problem, putting the disks back wherever it felt like instead of where they belong. Not just the EZ play disk, but anything I watched. One of the times I had it repaired, the service guy told me he had 7 other units currently in for the same thing.

Trouble is my unit is hooked up to my whole system and when the movie was over, we turned the whole system off. With all those repairs and replacements no one ever asked how we were turning the unit off! It might have been in the manual -- which I did read, but I don't think I realized the difference between powering off from the remote and via the a/v system. After reading Jeffreys post I tried it a few times and it did put it back correctly when I powered off from the remote and did put it somewhere else when I did it the other way. Thanks Jeffery!

Other than that I loved the unit, it plays great, quality is great. It does spin around back and forth a lot when it first goes on and as Jeffreyp14 said, disk explorer isn't what it's cracked up to be. It was easy to add the titles with a keyboard, but I lost that info when I first had it repaired (ha!) and didn't bother to do it again. I think disk explorer had found 5 titles. It also does begin to play when you turn it on, but I believe there was something in the manual about that being the default and it could be changed. If I remember correctly, doing that, did work. Lately though, I've been too busy trying to find my disks to care about that.

The putting dvd's back wrong was my only complaint and it appears that's been resolved. I'm going to hold off on returning it (again) and make sure that was the problem. Assuming I get the same results in the future -- I'd recommend the unit. I'd even give it 5 stars except for the fact that no one ever told me about powering off in any of the numerous and lengthy phone conversations with Sony. You'd think someone besides Jeffery would know!

I think the guy that wrote the review before me got a store defect! My sony works fantastic. I've had it for almost a month now and i've had no problems. I enjoy the simplistic style of the menus. They keep me from getting headaches after long days at work.

I am so aggravated with this machine, I hardly know where to begin.
When I first brought it home, at least it didn't fail mechanically, so I'll start with my initial impressions. The programming of this machine is really amateurish. The disc management software is slow. The device insists on loading a disc when you first turn it on, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Anytime you make any selection, the carousel spins, seemingly pointlessly, in both directions before finally homing in on the disc you want.
Since I brought this machine home, it has had worsening mechanical problems. It has trouble picking discs up out of the carousel, and trouble putting them back. The machine jams, then turns itself off, and every time it does this, it takes at least five minutes to get it going again.
In summary, this is a badly designed product and is flimsily constructed. I will be wary of buying Sony again.