Why don't more people own 400 DVD changer? (1 Viewer)

[DustinLC]

Mike, those are good points and I would add that it makes sharing more difficult.

 

[Ernest Yee]

I would say the only truly effective way to utilize a Megachanger (at least for CDs - I personally wouldn't use one for DVDs) is to make a duplicate of your existing CD collection and implementing CD TEXT on them.

With that in mind -

you would immediately counteract points, 1,3, and 4 - because you would utilize your changer more often and because the CDs would autodetect and you wouldn't worry about taking them in and out.

For points 2 and 5, loading and unloading is incredibly quick for me - although I've never had to do a full unload. But regardless, you can take out a few at a time.

Point 6 - can't help you there

Point 7 - You can daisy chain most of the ES line variants. So if you somehow have more than that many DVDs (that is outrageous - not so much for CDs though hence why it's more useful for CDs and not DVDs)

---

But yeah - that being said, you do have to initially invest the time to duplicate.

 

[Josh Meier]

I actually just recently purchased one of these mega changers, and to combat all of the problems that were listed in this thread (minus theft) I did the following project:

(apparently I can't even post links to another thread here, so I will just copy and paste)



This project solved the limitations that I had about getting a 400 disc changer.

 

[Trevor_J]

1.) Buyer's regret pain: I have a 200 disc CD changer that I despise, never use, and to this day regret buying.
I never used my Changer as a CD Changer and I don't think that they are in the same class. By nature, navigation is easier since the DVD changer is hooked up TV which makes it more usuable as a DVD changer than a CD Changer.

2.) Major pain - loading all the discs.
Why? Don't you do this already with your SINGLE Player, except that you have to do it EVERY SINGLE TIME you want to watch the movie. With a Changer, you only have to do it ONCE.

3.) Major pain - labeling all the discs (as many don't autodetect).
Not a problem either. Most, if not all Changers have the ability to connect a keyboard so that you can manually enter the title. Also, the Kenwood models can connect to your PC and will automatically label your DVD's by connecting to the Internet and accessing a database. Again, you only have to do this once and it beats the hell out of trying to alphabetize your DVD cases.

4.) Major pain - having to eject a disc to watch it in another room and then have to put it back into changer when done. (From what I understand from a friend of mine, taking a disc out and reloading it then brings up point 3 again...)
With my Pioneer this was not a problem, you simple accessed the disc you wanted via the menu and opened the cover. The spindle would spin the disc to the front slot for easy access. You would pull the disc out and then close the cover door. When you closed the door, the changer would automatically spin the carousel around and would automatically detect what has changed. It would then update the index to remove the DVD from the list. When you re-insterted the DVD it would do the same thing and automatically update the added DVD if it was A) Already manually entered or B) if it was a new DVD that had DVD-text. If it was a totally new DVD it would leave it blank but let you know that a DVD and not a CD was in that slot.

5.) Major pain - if changer ever has to be moved (at least w/my CD changer), as the discs can tumble like dominoes inside the unit, causing near stroke like panic attack. Unloading the discs brings up points number 2 & 3 again.
Moving the Changer from floor to shelf and back while fully loaded wasn't a problem. When I did remove all the DVD's after moving, I just put them back in again and pressed the Auto update button. It didn't matter what order I put the discs in as the unit went and updated the list of 200+ DVDs in an hour or so.


6.) And also, at least w/the Sony 400 disc (the only one I've seen), the thing is immense and barely fits into the largest of A/V racks
You got me there. The new Sony is pretty big, bigger than my Pioneer, but I wouldn't have a problem fitting it in my rack, some might though.

7.) What do you do if you have more than 400 discs? Plus, any other points mentioned above.
Easily fixed by getting another unit and daisy chaining. The current lower end Sony cannot be daisy chained but the ES line can. The current Kenwoods can connect up to 3 changers while the Pioneer I had could handle a total of 2.


I hate to sound like a crusader of DVD megachangers but I feel that anyone interested in a megachanger deserves to hear both sides of the argument.

Now, why oh why did I sell my Pioneer?! :frowning: :frowning:

 

[Eric Cawood]

I own a SONY DVP-CX777ES 400 DVD Changer and I love it. Sure someone could steal it and with it all my CD's and DVD's but I agree the point is pretty weak. My main reasons for purchasing was storage....yes the component is big but now I don't have any CD or DVD jewel cases in shelves or storage units...they're in the attic. I spent a little bit of effort at first to categorize my collection by kind of music (e.g. Rock, Jazz, Blues, Foreign, Christmas, etc.) and left enough space between them for some growth. Within each categroy they are placed alphabetically. I then printed out the list and use this to pick what I want when I am not shuffling. If you think finding a CD to play in this is any harder than finding it on a CD rack your crazy.

Another thing that I didn't see here is that I or my 2 year old son with peanut butter and jelly fingers never has to touch the disc again! No scratches, no fingerprints, never thrown across the room, etc. Its very easy to eject when I want to take them in the car as I know exactly where they are. I update my list by writing on the printed sheets with a pen. Every other month or so I print out a new copy....no big deal. Sure the alphabetic order gets screwed up but big deal.

The keyboard attachment works great but the amount of information you can type in is very limited and you need to abbreviate if you are going to use it.

One downside I just found out is that this model does not play .jpg or photodiscs...I went with the ES model due to its 5 year warranty so that whole Sony build reason is taken care of.

And to another question I saw I can daisy chain this unit with another 400 changer if I ever run out of space...but I have a littel ways to go.

-EAC

 

[Steve_Corrick]

I have an "older" Marantz VC-8100 300+1xDVD-CD.
THX certified - What are the specs for a THX DVD . . .
Not sure if Marantz currently offers a mega changer of any kind. I bought mine on closeout for 800.oo vs 1600.oo new over 2 years back. I missed the last of these on closeout @ 450.oo about a year ago.

Pros - Very nice memory functions at several levels.

Per disk memory of preferred play back settings.
AUDIO soundtrack and VIDEO preset can be saved, this allows you to bypass menu soundtrack selection process and go directly to movie playback.
Specific sound track from disk is automatically selected
DTS - DTS-ES -v- DD - DD-EX -v- commentary - etc.
One of six video preset is selected.
These pre-set groups can also be altered and saved.
( brightness-chroma-sharpness-detail-noise reduction )
useful for day vs night lighting.

Nice on screen access to database of player contents.
accessible while stopped or playing.
Data entry can be done through the remote or use the supplied plug and attach a standard 101 key PS2 computer keyboard.
Some DVD's automatically fill in the title data.

Note that once disk title info has been entered, you could remove the entire contents of the changer wait a few months and put the disks back in to the unit in any order and the players database identifies and retrieves the title info you had previously entered and automatically updates the slot location info.

Two units can be chained for 600+1 disk capacity.
Single disk slot for rentals.
Very good redbook CD play back.

Cons - Not progressive - No sacd -or- dvda support.
A multiple disk resume at last stop point memory would be nice but is not included. (found on SONY DVD players)

Conclusion - If Marantz made this unit with progressive scan and SACD-DVDA support I would have to consider signing up for one.

 

[Grant B]

I use DVD profiler to keep track of mine.
Easier than typing them in.
I also had 3 cd changers that held 700 discs.
I recently got done making copies with text on them. When I started I couldn't get all my collection in them. I ended up selling a changer since I got them all in 500 spaces with room to boot

 

[Bryan]

Because 400 is not enough! I'd be swapping out DVD's anyways, therefore having to keep all the cases so I could store the ones not in there. That and the other arguments above. Besides, what would I do with the custom DVD Rack I built?

 

[Tony Kwong]

I like 5 DVD disc changers for watching TV shows in marathon sessions! That's they only reason I have one. The movies all go to the HTPC and single tray dvd player.

 

[HienD]

When it came time to replace my old 5 disc changer I replaced it with a single disc player for the slight increase in sound quality. Atleast that what people say anyways. I had a old sony 5 cd changer that jammed on me the very first day of use. That's why I would never get a mega changer.

 

[STLMIKE]

Trevor,

I guess for me, the answer to the original question of the thread is that any/all of the points I mentioned would be reasons for my not buying a megachanger.

Admittedly, the only DVD changer I have any experience w/is the new non-ES Sony 400 disc, but whether it is the slow user interface, labeling discs, loading all the discs (which took my friend a couple of days to do) -- all of which are more hassle for me than going to a media cabinet and picking out what to watch.

I read in one of the earlier posts about someone saying they liked changers because they didn't have to worry about kids getting discs dirty or scratched -- and that's a valid point for him -- but I don't have that issue to deal with.

If also forgot to add, that AFAIK, no mega changers do aspect ratio scaling (i.e. RP91), which for me would rule it out.

However, if it works for you, go for it.

Mike

 

[StephenB]

I have a Sony 5-disc DVD changer. It's progressive, with SACD capability too. Cost about $250. I'd recommend it, especially for anyone interested in SACD.

It's nice to have the 5-disc tray for multi-disc movies such as Lord of the Rings, and when it's not in use as a DVD player, it shuffles the SACDs, which is quite handy.
My old Yamaha 5-disc CD player is still hooked into the system for CD playback.

I'm the only one in the household who really uses the set. My wife is happy with the smaller TV and stereo, and my 1-year-old could care less about the tube.

 

[Trevor_J]

Apparently the Kenwoods do this as well so Sony isn't the only one that thinks this is a good idea. Personally, it's one of the reasons why I haven't bothered to go with this generation of players. The Pioneer changer keeps the last disc played in the play slot and it will only play when you direct it to do so. Just the way it should be.

 

[Darryl]

Even my single-disc DVD player does something similar. It's a feature I really dislike. If the DVD you put in the tray happens to be one of the last 10 DVDs you played, the player takes extra time loading to get back to where it was when that disc was last ejected. Then it makes you choose whether to resume or restart the disc (shouldn't it wait until you say you want to resume before it takes the extra loading time?). It's not worth an extra 15 seconds loading time plus an extra button click just to get to the main menu (which is usually where the disc was anyway).

Next time I'm in the market for a new player, I'm hoping there's a reasonably good universal changer available. The idea of loading the discs once and then never touching them again is appealing to me. My kids have ruined a few movies by breaking our rules and getting movies out on their own.

 

[STLMIKE]

I think you can turn the auto-resume off (at least on Sonys). It's in the setup menu.

 

[Steve_Corrick]

I believe pressing stop one time marks the auto resume point for the disk that was playing, just press stop a second time and it disables the auto resume point for that disk on a SONY DVD.
I have been using a SONY single disk unit for watching the old 1970's Dark Shadows TV series. It is a 4 disk set per season-year, 11 episodes per disk, at least 8 seasons. When you play a disk from these sets each disk has an intro movie that enters the menu system which can not be bypassed using the remote by pressing menu or chapter forward - It's about two min long. Auto resume goes directly back to the point where I hit stop, since each episode is a chapter I can go directly back to the next chapter by hitting play. These disks were loaded into the 300 disk unit at one time, since I now have 6 seasons (24 disks) I do not want to take up that many slots in my changer and I may not watch all of these again for a while, the single disk has the auto resume feature. However, the title data will automatically be restored should I put some or all of them back in the changer.

 

[Dave Milne]

Yup... this is the way my [single disc] Sony 9000ES works. I love it, by the way. Superb sound and picture quality. Nice programmability features. Worth every penny of the $1800 MSRP.

Why I don't like changers:

1. Lot's of mechanical claptrap to break
2. Lousy picture and sound quality
3. Can't easily move discs to any of the other three DVD players in the house.
4. Not real convenient for the NetFlix DVDs I get (and return) each week.

 

[Trevor_J]

Unless you've tested one in your home I don't think that the picture quality statement is fair. Also, single disc DVD players can break just as easily as a multi disc unit. In the 3 years that I owned my F727 I never had a problem and the person that I sold it to is enjoying it problem free as well. I've seen a lot of posts re: problems with single disc players so that shouldn't be a reason to stay away from a mega-changer. As for the Netflix rentals, the Kenwoods have a 3 slot 'Rental Zone' which makes it easy to insert and remove borrowed or rented DVD's. My Pioneer had 1 such slot and I'm not sure what Sony offers.

 

[Josh Meier]

Last years Sony 300 disc changer had a +1 slot... but this years 400 disc (which I own) does not.

Inserting and removing discs really isn't that big of a deal... relatively easy and only a bit slower than a single disc changer.

 

[Nathan J]

Because random play really sucks with dvd players.....especially when you watch the first 5 minutes of a movie, and then it switches to another one.