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Onkyo DVSP504 Single Disc DVD Player
See it at Amazon.com for $199.00Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
much better than the previous 502 model
(5 out of 5) by it on Jun 26, 2007 (Sunnyvale, CA USA)I have no complaints about this mode. It is very important to read the manual several times before making the settings. Some settings that are default prevent other settings from working. For instance, HDMI is the default which sets a limit on the quality of the component analog output in both resolution and progressive scanning. Another example is that if you only have stereo speakers you have to turn off the other three in order to have good audio on program material set up for five audio channels.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Great picture quality!!
(5 out of 5) by M. Crawford on Jan 2, 2007 (Spokane, WA United States)Definitely a great crisp picture from this DVD player. I'm running this HDMI through a HLS-5687W Samsung DLP and it looks great. Startup is a little slow but everything else I've seen makes this a great upconverting DVD player. Soon to test a Blu-ray player against this, and will update further if needed.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Finicky
(3 out of 5) by E. Rose on Mar 25, 2007 (Newport Coast, CA United States)I ended up replacing the first one I ordered because of several issues. It turns out the player is very finicky about what it can play as the replacement has the same issues.
Update: I've now had the player for about 6 months. The player has a knack for freezing up ocassionally, requiring me to unplug the unit to reset. Turning off the unit when this happens is impossilbe since all the controls are locked. I'd like to reduce the number of stars I gave to 2, maybe even 1 but Amazon will only allow be to edit the text. I would not buy this player again. I've contacted customer service at Onkyo and the service tech tells me if I don't like it, to buy something else. Nice huh?
DVD - Not all disks play.
I hooked up the DVD player using a single HDMI cable. This cable carries both video and audio 5.1. The HDMI cable is not included. The player worked great for the first 6 movies I tried, but did not play the 7th. We ended up watching the movie on the old Sony the Onkyo was supposed to replace.
SACD - Not all disks play
I purchased three SACD's so I could enjoy 5.1 surround sound music. 5.1 can only be achieved using the 6 analog outs, not any of the digital outputs including the HDMI, coax, or optical. My reciever is new enough to have 6 inputs for "multi channel" sources, but it adds 6 cables, one for each audio channel. These 6 cables are not included.
I bought Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", and Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" on SACD format. The later two played in both 5.1 surround and normal stereo (if selected), but the Dark Side gave the player a "CD Error". I could play the disk on a standard player stereo so I'm not sure if the disk is bad or the same disk problem I had for DVD's is persistent with SACD's.
MP3 disks - not all mp3's are created equal.
The player will only work on "virgin" mp3's. I made several mp3 disks using iTunes from CD's I have in my collection. I then used a volume leveling program since my collection has greatly varying sound levels which can jar the listener. I used mp3gain which works great for all my other players (Alpine Car stereo and Yamaha portable DVD)but not the Onkyo. mp3gain adds extra information to the tag which appears to cause errors. The Onkyo can only read non-volume adjusted mp3's.
DivX - Not in North America
While the product description states the player is DivX playable, it is not in North America. This feature is disabled for anyone buying the US model. This is stated in the manual. The Amazon description is for the European version, which is not shipped to you.
Summary
Not sure it's worth the money frankly. I'd like to be able to put in a disk and have it play. I don't want to worry about whether it will or won't play a disk depending upon how it was made. My other players work without issues so why can't Onkyo make a unit that works all the time.
Update: I've now had the player for about 6 months. The player has a knack for freezing up ocassionally, requiring me to unplug the unit to reset. Turning off the unit when this happens is impossilbe since all the controls are locked. I'd like to reduce the number of stars I gave to 2, maybe even 1 but Amazon will only allow be to edit the text. I would not buy this player again. I've contacted customer service at Onkyo and the service tech tells me if I don't like it, to buy something else. Nice huh?
DVD - Not all disks play.
I hooked up the DVD player using a single HDMI cable. This cable carries both video and audio 5.1. The HDMI cable is not included. The player worked great for the first 6 movies I tried, but did not play the 7th. We ended up watching the movie on the old Sony the Onkyo was supposed to replace.
SACD - Not all disks play
I purchased three SACD's so I could enjoy 5.1 surround sound music. 5.1 can only be achieved using the 6 analog outs, not any of the digital outputs including the HDMI, coax, or optical. My reciever is new enough to have 6 inputs for "multi channel" sources, but it adds 6 cables, one for each audio channel. These 6 cables are not included.
I bought Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", and Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" on SACD format. The later two played in both 5.1 surround and normal stereo (if selected), but the Dark Side gave the player a "CD Error". I could play the disk on a standard player stereo so I'm not sure if the disk is bad or the same disk problem I had for DVD's is persistent with SACD's.
MP3 disks - not all mp3's are created equal.
The player will only work on "virgin" mp3's. I made several mp3 disks using iTunes from CD's I have in my collection. I then used a volume leveling program since my collection has greatly varying sound levels which can jar the listener. I used mp3gain which works great for all my other players (Alpine Car stereo and Yamaha portable DVD)but not the Onkyo. mp3gain adds extra information to the tag which appears to cause errors. The Onkyo can only read non-volume adjusted mp3's.
DivX - Not in North America
While the product description states the player is DivX playable, it is not in North America. This feature is disabled for anyone buying the US model. This is stated in the manual. The Amazon description is for the European version, which is not shipped to you.
Summary
Not sure it's worth the money frankly. I'd like to be able to put in a disk and have it play. I don't want to worry about whether it will or won't play a disk depending upon how it was made. My other players work without issues so why can't Onkyo make a unit that works all the time.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Disappointing
(2 out of 5) by Joe Audio on Dec 7, 2008 (New York, NY)I had high hopes for this player as I have had multiple components from Onkyo in the past (including DVD players) and they have all been really solid.
This unit, however, has been nothing but a dud. For a unit of its price and supposed pedigree, it is extremely finicky when it comes to reading DVDs. Too often I insert a disc, wait 30 seconds, and get "Bad Disc" on the menu. But when I take that same DVD to my Mac, it works just fine. Error correction is extremely poor - discs that read just fine on other players either stop or skip on this player.
Just last night, my wife and I were watching a movie on this unit. Our daughter woke up, so we stopped the movie. 10 minutes later when I tried to restart the movie, the Onkyo told me it was now a "bad disc".
Forget it. I'm finding another player.
This unit, however, has been nothing but a dud. For a unit of its price and supposed pedigree, it is extremely finicky when it comes to reading DVDs. Too often I insert a disc, wait 30 seconds, and get "Bad Disc" on the menu. But when I take that same DVD to my Mac, it works just fine. Error correction is extremely poor - discs that read just fine on other players either stop or skip on this player.
Just last night, my wife and I were watching a movie on this unit. Our daughter woke up, so we stopped the movie. 10 minutes later when I tried to restart the movie, the Onkyo told me it was now a "bad disc".
Forget it. I'm finding another player.