Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DAV-FC7 Dream Home Theater System with 5-Disc DVD Player

The machine exhibits substantial mechanical problems after less than 1 year of minimal use; unable to eject DVD's, the machine stays in "Standy Mode" until I manually unplug it. I strongly recommend that you don't purchase this. It seems very unlike SONY to produce such a piece of trash.

In the past I have been a very loyal Sony customer; however, this DVD Dream System was by far the worst Sony product I've ever purchased. I purchased the system less than two years ago. The DVD player started acting up (not playing) about two months ago despite limited use. I attempted multiple times to clean the unit using a DVD cleaning disk and even took the unit apart to blow out excess dust. The unit will still not play DVD's... In the past month, the unit has started not powering off unless it is physically unplugged from the wall. I'm forced to keep the unit powered at all times in order to use the home theater speakers. My response from Sony was less than satisfactory. My recommendation is for anyone looking to buy a home theater/DVD combo unit to stay away from Sony products.

I've had a Sony DAV-FC7 for about 1 1/2 years. I knew when I bought it that there were a few bad reviews, but like anything, it's expected that not everyone will be happy with it and there will be a bad experience here or there. Plus it wasn't a top of the line device anyway. However, the odds of having a bad experience with this unit are unrealistically high as noted by the other 28 reviews posted just on Amazon. I primarily use mine for the home theater aspect. It's only had a couple dozen dvd's played probably. Recently while trying to watch a dvd, it locked up 3-4 times just like a computer lock's up - but computer lock ups are generally due to configuration or software issues, not hardware. I had to cycle the power each time to get anything to respond, then find my place again in the movie. Now just two days ago, I notice that it has the 'standby' message flashing continuously, the same as many others have noted. I can unplug it to 'reset' it, however, now I can hear audio, but have no picture coming though it. The DVD part doesn't work at all, I think there is a stuck dvd in it. The 'reset' appears to have only short term effects as well. I have to unplug it each time I turn it off - otherwise the 'standby' message takes over.

Of my last 3 Sony purchases (vcr, dvd, camera), 2 of the 3 have been flawed. Shortly after I purchased a Sony vcr, the front panel display went out. Everything else seems to work okay -- you just can't tell by looking at it what it is doing or even if it is on/off. Nice craftsmanship/design - Sony.

I'm hoping my camera fairs better over the long term - which should be considered longer than a few months or 1 1/2.

I can guarantee, Sony won't get any more of my dollars for a long time.

This product has been complete junk. I had this system in for repair 4 times within the first year before it was fixed correctly. Now, it is a year and a half later, the warranty up, and it is broken again, with 5 dvd in it. There is no way I will pay to fix it, so I'm looking for something new.

When it was working, the system was EXTREMELY slow changing disks. I was unhappy with it even when it was working.

There is no way that I would consider a Sony again.

Sure it looks awesome, but this system is junk. THREE days after I bought it, there was a horrible grinding noise and it stopped working (also, trapping 3 dvds inside that I couldn't eject.) I had to call Sony, pack it up and ship it off ($30 bucks at my own expense) and then wait two weeks for it to come back. When it did, from what I can gather from the cryptic description on the packing slip, it appears that the entire drive had to be hanked and replaced. So, now I'm out $30 and instead of sending me a new one, I'm stuck with the damaged goods.