Sony DVP-NS500V DVD SACD player for $52

On E-Bay a Sony DVP-NS500V DVD SACD palyer for $52 - At least for a little while !

Sony DVP-NS500V DVD SACD

 

Well worth it at that price.

 

Definitely worth $52.00 (if it only stayed that low). But I think a lot of people are holding out for the DVP-NS755V.

 

I have the DVP-NC650V. Got a floor model at Best buy for $50.00, so I bought the extended warranty too!

I'm very happy with it, although I often have to push the buttons twice before they work (the guts are good, but the workmanship as a whole leaves much to be desired). The sound on CD's beats my Marantz CD-63SE. SACD's sound great!

L.

 

I bought a little Sony NS500V CD/SACD/DVD for 150 bucks to put together a second stereo to listen to in the living room...

I know what you mean about having to push the buttons twice! I don't have these hooked up to a tv, so I don't know if I'm supposed to be seeing instructions for doing stuff. Stuff happens (like when I press the audio button) but there's no display on the panel. Maybe I shouldn't have thrown out the box with the instructions.

But, great sound for cheap price. The SACD is so nice, and the CD's sound great.

I bought a sony 5 disc CD/SACD/DVD around thanksgiving, also great sounding (200 bucks).

 

I have the 500V and you do need to hook it up to a TV to calibrate it. Just press display and go through the menu items. One turns on the display on the unit itself. You need to set the multi-channel SACD levels, etc. A great sounding unit for the price. A good way to tread water until HDMI interconect units hit the street next year.

 

Spooky - I replaced my Marantz with the 500 V - I was extremely surprised that the Sony's cd playback was more musical - anybody need a low mileage Marantz???

 

I may be looking to unload my Marantz, too. I was very surprised by how much better the Sony sounded. I may keep it, however, for use in another room. The Marantz has several virtues, not the least of which is the fact that the bottons work all the time. I'm a bit frustrated, also, the fact that with the Sony, programming has to be done on the TV and it's a complicated process.

In addition, I never got the right remote with the Sony, and apparently the only way to switch between the redbook and SACD layers on hybrid disks is a button on the remote. At least I couldn't find any other way to do it. The unit defalts to SACD when it senses the presence of an SACD layer. The guys at my local Best Buy have been very good about digging around in their boxes of discared remotes for me, but so far none of the right ones has shown up.

L.

 

Call 1800 222Sony and order a remote. They are not too expensive. They need the model no. off the remote.

Richard.

 

I guess i'm gonna have to find a tv with RCA video inputs to see if I have this thing set up right. I don't have a button on my remote that switches to redbook and SACD, either.

 

Very frustrating if you want to compare versions. My Marantz has a very different sound and so I can't really tell what's the player and what's the mastering when I A/B the two layers on two separate players. As I said, all of my CD's sound better on the Sony (wider soundstage, tighter bass, more detailed). The Marantz has a punchiness that I sometimes miss (the sound is a bit more focused and agressive, but also a little harsher on the highs). In general, I'm happier with the new unit.

L.

 

Well the price is now over $100 with a day of bidding left. I had it on my 'watch' list but now it makes more sense just to buy one new with no risk.

Dan C

 

I have the Sony 905V, which is fairly new in Australia, but I think has much the same electronics as the 500V and 700V - apart froma higher spec video DAC. I too have noticed the thing with having to push front panel buttons twice - but not on every occasion, and mainly with the open/close button. The remote buttons don't have this problem.

The sound on both SACD and CD I find to be very enjoyable. I have been pleasantly surprised by the CD playback on this machine - it thrashes the sound on my old Sony CD-only machine. The 905V has a depth of bass that I have never heard from a CD player before.

It's true that you can only switch between CD and SACD layer using the remote (and the disc has to have stopped playing). And a TV is needed to allow changing most of the options (mainly video-related). I guess these model have been designed for combined video-audio playback systems.

Also, the DVD playback on the 905V is stunning - best I've seen on a non-progressive scan PAL player - and I'm just using composite video cable, not component.

 

I'm glad someone else mentioned the business about having to push buttons twice, as I was beginning to wonder if mine was defective.

If you listen to multichannel disks in stereo mode it is absolutely essential that you go through the menues and change the default thing (I'm sorry, I forget exactly what it is) that tries to turn it into a Dolby-surround formatted signal. THAT sounds horrible - phasey, with dynamic pumping. ONce you find it and turn it off the two-channel down mix is just a straight front/back (+center/bass) sum, and sounds good.

 

Mmm, I'm not sure that's exactly it, Steve. Multichannel SACDs have a separate stereo mix (not a down mix) that's located in a different physical area of the disc. The trick is to get the player to select the 2-channel area, not the multichannel area, and to do that on last year's DVD/SACD combo players you need the remote.

I believe you're talking about the defaults that get set in the menus that tell the player whether to play the 2-channel mix or the multichannel mix by default. This actually might be a workaround for the missing remote, if the menu can be accessed with the substitute remote. It's a kludge, but by changing the default and re-initializing the disc one would in essence tell the player to play a different mix.

Won't help for the redbook-SACD hybrids though; those are different layers and I don't think the player can be set to default to one or the other.

I speak under correction, of course.

 

And a wee postscript: I have to push the open/close button twice on my NS500V more often than not. I never have that problem on the audio-only player.

The 500V switch *feels* solid enough; I wonder if it's a logic problem?

 

Hey, Gardo!

I'd really like to know what the hell it is with the buttons. I never have trouble when I use the remote, so I assume it's something to do with something physical in the buttons.

My unit was a display unit for quite some time, so I assume it got a fair amount of button pushing before I got it. This may explain why the problem is common with many of the buttons on the unit (especially the open/close button, but also the stop and play buttons, the echange and disk skip buttons).

L.

 

nah, mine is like that too, a design flaw I guess. I dont use the remote with it. I notice, that a SACD will start up right away, but a regular CD, it's quite a while before it starts playing. I've never used the DVD on it.

Anybody know if there's a way to hook an older tv up to a DVD? I mean, one that doesnt have RCA video jacks.

 

Hello Louis! Greetings from the arctic north (of Virginia).

Y'know, all of us problem-button folk ought to write Sony and say "what's the deal here?" Maybe they'd replace the logic board under warranty, or put new buttons on, or give us new players (yeah, right). Might be worth a try.

 

Yep: you'll have to buy an RF modulator (sounds like a trick from a Warner Brothers cartoon) from Best Buy or Radio Shack or Circuit City. This gadget converts your composite video/audio signal into something like the TV signal you'd get from your cable; in fact, you plug it in the same way, to your antenna jacks or your F-connection cable jack.

Alas, you cannot put the signal through a VCR and use *its* modulator, because the Macrovision encoding will keep the DVD signal from passing through the VCR unharmed.

 

here's what they'd probably say:

"whadda ya want for a hunnert an' fifty dollahs......rrrrrrrrubber biscuit?"

 

I have the Sony 650 and it has the same problem. I thought it was caused by the screen saver. Hit a button once to awaken the machine and turn off the screen saver, then hit whichever button to give it a new command.

Now I will have to play around with it to see if it's a random thing, or what.

 

The problem with the panel buttons must be a logic board thing - it seems to occur on a number of models which share the same operational characteristics, even though the physical buttons differ. It's a minor annoyance, but i would happily accept a replacement if they offered one - I'm not holding my breath on it though.

 

Actually Strabo, you could have a point there - I will check mine too. The screensaver is a handy thing - perhaps when the machine is being used for audio only (and you don't have the TV switched on the view the signal from the video out), it still goes into a hibernation mode whereby functions are reactivated by hitting a key. I know the machine switches inself off after a while when not in use - on mine the light on the power button goes from green to red - but I'm not sure how that relates to the screensaver mode.

 

I have the Sony 650 and I have also noticed this "delayed reaction" button anomaly. However, I agree with Strabo - I've always noticed that the first button click seems to wake the machine from screen saver mode, and then subsequent button presses work normally. I never notice this problem when the screen saver is not active...

I do think there is a menu option to disable the screen saver; perhaps that would stop the problem permanently. Interesting how we've all been living with the same annoyance...