Sony DVP-NS90V HDMI/SACD 1080i Upscaling DVD Player

See it at Amazon.com for $86.12

Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)

Amazon Customer Reviews

Most Helpful First | Newest First

---

A Top-Notch Universal DVD Player

There's no need to take anybody else's word for specs on this Sony DVD player when you can view or download, for free, the user's manual at http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=DVPNS90V&LOC=3. I've been running this Sony DVP-NS90V player through a Sony widescreen HDTV and a Pioneer amplifier/receiver for several days now, and I find almost none of the problems and limitations mentioned by previous reviewers. One, for example, states that there is "no bass management," yet you can (a) route more or less signal to the subwoofer by selecting "small" or "large" for the front speaker size (see page 76 of the user's manual), and also (b) increase or decrease the bass from -15 dB to +5 dB (see page 77 of the manual). Whether you prefer analog to digital audio, or you think SACD's are tops, is a matter of opinion, taste and choice and not an objective evaluation of a playback unit. I, for one, prefer DVD-Audio, and I mention this for an important reason: Some product ads and the user's manual clearly warn that this unit "will NOT play DVD-Audio discs." Happy surprize: it most certainly will! For my DVD-A's that have optional Dolby 5.1 and/or DTS tracks, the player simply ignores the primary DVD-A format (normally output via the 6 analog cable connectors) but still plays the Dolby or the DTS via the digital audio (optical or coaxial) connectors. For "pure" DVD-A's (without Dolby 5.1 or DTS tracks), it conveniently outputs the audio BOTH via the 6 analog AND the digital connectors. And in all cases above, the audio is full multi-channel surround, and not downmixed to 2-channel PCM, nor Prologic pseudo-surround. The only DVD-A function it lacks is the video slideshow often included on DVD-A's, and so displays only the "jacket image" onscreen. The Quick Setup allows any DVD newbie to be up and running in a short time. And the Custom Setup is so detailed with so many fine tweaks and trouble-shooters that it's bound to please even the high-end audio-video geek-freaks. In short, you'll find this to be a superior universal player, provided you read the user's manual (all 84 pages of it!), follow it, and connect equally high-quality, compatible equipment capable of exploiting its many fine features.

---

If you're looking for great picture and sound look no further

First off, lets look at the good things about this player.
It does a wonderful job upscaling to 720p and is also great at 1080i and 480p. It doesn't suffer the "macroblocking" of the competitors DCDI processing. It is built well and looks good. You can change the front display to auto dark or off. Picture controls such as sharpness (which you don't need)picture (contrast)brightness and color. It also remembers these settings when you power down. It also has a 6 disc memory which is nice.
The Cons,
Well there are only two things that bother me, one of which is hopefully going to to fixed by a firmware update (who knows with Sony)What it does is shift the image down and squeeze the image slightly on 720p and even more so on 1080i. At 480p it doesn't do this, but you loose some detail at that setting. This problem bothers me, but not to the point where I want to return it. The pic quality is outstanding!
The other thing that bothers me is that it's silver and doesn't have menu navigation controls on the front panel....thats it! Anyway, if you are not really bothered by the "vertical shift" issue when upscaling, then GO FOR IT! I'm sorta a video geek and I'm keeping it, so that says somthing. And just as a side note, the lower model, the 70h, does the same thing.

---

this upconversion dvd player is all u need

I have tried out several upconversion dvd player( pan.s77,opp,toshiba 5980) in my opinion this is a better player as far as picture quality and sound. I now hear noises on dvds that i didn`t hear before, I find myself looking around behind me as if someone is there, as far picture quality, my plasma is showing as if i am looking at a high definition channel.Only problem is they should have made this earlier.

---

Great DVD Player

I decided to buy this yesterday from Fry's since the prices were the same (199); of course it's 40 dollars cheaper today but...

It was well worth it. I went through my DVD collection watching portions of about 5 different movies I watch often. I see details in these DVDs I've never seen before and the sound is also a lot clearer using the HDMI connection. I don't notice the shift other people are talking about but I don't consider myself an expert in such things. Unless there's a glaring defect I usually don't notice.

I'm glad I bought it and can't wait to watch some more DVDs.

---

Fine DVD and CD player with SACD capability for best sound

This terrific Sony unit is worth its price just as a fine progressive scan DVD player with upconverting capability. But it has an additional feature which makes it much more valuable than most good DVD players: in addition to DVDs and regular CDs, it plays the new Super Audio CDs -- which are the finest sounding recordings currently available.

When conventional CDs became available they displaced LPs in the marketplace because of their small size and the fact that their sound did not degrade with the ticks and pops that even the best-maintained LPs eventually acquire. But, despite these advantages -- as well as significant improvements in CD sound over time, with technological advances such as oversampling -- many connoisseurs maintained that CDs never achieved the warmth and high-frequency sweetness characteristic of top-grade audiophile LPs. Now that has changed. Super Audio CDs are superior in sound to the finest audiophile-quality LPs I've ever heard. Furthermore, even conventional CDs played on a SACD player sound better than they do on typical CD players. In fact, the best conventional CDs in my collection equal audiophile-quality LPs in sound when played on my Sony SACD player and the new SACDs sound even better. If you're going to buy a DVD player why not get one, like this Sony, which plays not only regular CDs but the new terrific-sounding SACDs -- especially, when the price is so reasonable?

---