Excellent DVD player

Author's Rating:

Pros: Great picture quality, ergonomic, aesthetically pleasing

Cons: More expensive with less features than competitor models

The Bottom Line: 
An above average DVD player - no MP3 or HDCD but the DVD picture quality is superior to competitor models in the same price range.

Author's Review
This is my 3rd DVD player and I've come to the conclusion that there is no point in spending over $300 on a DVD player as these players break down after a few years and with the technology constantly improving - it makes more sense to replace rather than fix.

For my 3rd DVD player, I wanted a unit with progressive scan for when I upgrade to an HD ready TV so I purchased the Toshiba 5700 - great player but with a 4:3 TV, the anamorphic downconversion jaggies were very noticable. I also tried the new RCA 6000P; now RCA is not a brand I would normally have considered but I read some decent reviews on this player and it looked really cool with the blue LCD display. Anyway, compared to the Toshiba, the picture was so dark details were lost. Furthermore, there was no picture adjustment of any kind. Also, certain DVD's played with the subtitles on even though all setting for subtitles were off - very strange.

Anyway, this brings me to the Sony NS700P - $300 with progressive scan but no MP3 or zoom which the RCA and Toshiba had. I knew I'd be paying a premium for a Sony but found the picture quality to be superior - blacks were black, anamorphic downconversion was noticeably better than the Toshiba. Furthermore, everything from color to sharpness can be adjusted with this player. Also, it matches my Wega. The remote is standard Sony - fairly ergonomic but no jogstick, but since I use a Marantz universal remote, this was not a big deal. One other plus is that all the controls you need to start or navigate throughout the disc is on the unit itself, so you will not be fishing for the remote to start every movie.

The NS700P is the player I kept. It doesn't play MP3s and it does not have an auto-shutoff feature, but in the end, the picture quality is slightly superior to the Toshiba. Hopefully the unit will last me for many years to come.