Sony DVP-NS700P (1 Viewer)

[Rick S_Jr]

I'm interested in purchasing the Sony DVP-NS700P. Does anybody have any comments about it that could help me in deciding on whether or not to get it. Thanks.

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Thanks for joining, Rick!
How much can you get it for?
For around $480 on-line (shipped) you could get the Panasonic DVD-RP91 K (black) or N (champagne). A very popular item around these parts.
More features, better picture quality (more detailed and has no chroma bug problem), great DVD-Audio quality, it's ready for non-anamorphic widescreen movies on HDTVs that lock into full mode (the non-anamorphic scaling is better than the Zoom modes on most HDTVs too), etc.
Dan
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Stop HDCP and 5C-- Your rights are at risk!

 

[Lee Bailey]

Best Buy has them on clearance already for $331.00!
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The Bailey's Web Page and Home Theatre
The Bailey's DVD Collection

 

[Dan Hitchman]

If they truly are now on clearance when they just came out not too long ago... doesn't that tell you something?
I'd go with the Panny.
Dan
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Stop HDCP and 5C-- Your rights are at risk!

 

[John B. Holbrook]

Just because Best Buy has the 700P on sale, doesn't mean it's a "clearance item."
The Panasonic is a fine player, no question. However, as a 700P owner, I highly recommend it. You'll be able to find it for nearly $200.00 less than the Panny, and has the essential functions you need - progressive player with DD and DTS decoding capability. The chroma bug is badly, badly over rated in terms of being a significant problem. I've never noted any artifacting of any kind with my 700P matched to my Sony 61" HS10. The picture quality is outstanding on this player. I feel it produces a very film-like image.
Do audition the 700P - great player.
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John Holbrook
MY DVD Collection

 

[James D S]

Rick, Do yourself a great favor, even a cheap favor that will pay huge dividends, and save a little bit more for the RP91. Then you can strut knowing you did not compromise with the second most important component in your HT stack/rack.
It is just not worth the possibility, and a fairly good possibility at that, that you'll see the chroma bug, want DVD-Audio, upgrade to a widescreen TV and want inplayer scaling, and the best damn MPEG decoder ever to grace our great hobby.
You will thank us later.

 

[Nicholas A. Gallegos]

Best Buy has them on clearance already for $331.00!

That is a local market reaction price (i.e. a district of stores matching a local competitor's price), my friend. 99% of all closeout prices at Best Buy end with a 50 cents at the end of the price (like $21.50, for example). I should know, I work there (unfortunately).
I agree with the others. Splurge for the RP91 if you can. It is more expensive, but it's FAR superior to Sony's consumer-level offering.
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[Brian Shannon]

Best ("Worst") Buy having something on clearance is irrelevant.
I got my 700 for a lot less than that price and I happen to think it is a great player. Perhaps not up to the near cult following of the Panasonic but I am very happy. Since I will be upgrading again in two or three years, the 700 will work just fine for me.
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[RANDY FISHER]

Not to start another p*&%ing contest but I too have the 700p and really like it. Pairs up nice with my XBR400. I bought it to hold me over until some of the Faroudja based players (like the Philips Q50) hit the market. None of the great things I have heard about the RP91 are going to get me to by a Panasonic player...I am not a big fan of their stuff.
I know their are some other satisfied 700p owners out there....chime in guy's.
Randy

 

[Andrew P]

I think the Panasonic produces a better picture and I think thats what we are all after. Sony might make a better looking dvd player, more user-friendly, etc. etc.
Ultimately it is the picture that counts. Some people are video-philes and some are not. To each their own.
Andy

 

[Carlo_M]

I have to chime in as a long time Sony fan:
27" TV
32" TV
DVP-S300
DVP-S560D
STR-DA555ES DD/DTS receiver
plus countless discmans, PS1 + games, etc.
I currently have the RP91 and 700P in my house. I'm replacing my old S560D with a progressive player to complement my new HDTV. I've been exhaustively testing them for 2 weeks now. Here is my quick review:
Video
Yes, I too do not notice the chroma bug. I guess I'm not sensitive to it. That said, the video quality of the RP91 is, to me, superior. I know their supposed to use the same deinterlacing chip but the RP91 just looks better to my eye. Less motion artifacts and less prone to combing (which my eye is more sensitive to). Not that the 700P combs a lot, it does not, but the RP91 handles some improperly flagged discs better than the 700P.
Non-anamorphic scaling is SUPERIOR to any HDTV zoom I've seen. The 700P doesn't do this function at all. If you've got any non-anamorphic discs that you care to watch (Abyss SE, Titanic, Stargate SE, Six Days Seven Nights, Top Gun, and others for me), you will want this feature if you plan on getting a 16x9 TV. Not only does it automatically scale non-anamorphic discs, but also for Extras on anamorphic DVDs that AREN'T anamorphic! So no more of that watching an anamorphic film, and the watching the extras either stretched too fat or having to switch your TV to zoom (if it doesn't lock in FULL like most HD sets do). The RP91 takes care of that for you. And if the disc is improperly coded, you can just hit the Progressive button on the front panel and change to interlaced, easy as pie.
Audio
I am now using the 6 channel outs on the RP91 because its DD/DTS decoding is superior sounding (again to my ears) than the 700P using the 6 channel outs or my Sony STR-DA555ES receiver.
Plus, the RP91 lets me play the MLP track on DVD-Audio (Glen Phillips: Abulum ROCKS!

) so the clear choice here for me, for all audio formats, is the RP91.
Build Quality
The RP91 wins. It's heavier, and the disc tray is nicer. The 700P continues the trend Sony started with the 360/560 line of weighing like 7 lbs. I know this ain't important to everyone, but it makes me feel better at night.

Bells & Whistles
They have very similar sets of bells & whistles so I'll only cover the differences that mean something to me. i.e. that I use.
700P has superior smoothscan fast search. The frame stepping is equal to the RP91 but the fast scans are just better with the Sony.
RP91 has bookmarks, and I don't think the 700P does that. Plus it has an A/B repeat button on the remote while you have to go to the menu to have the 700P do that (or you can hit instant replay but you can't control how far back the player jumps, it's factory pre-set to like 7 seconds or something).
700P has DVD time remaining, layer info & audio bit rate indicator. The RP91 does not. They both have video bit rate displays.
As a longtime fan of Sony remotes, the joystick on the RP91 is a WINNER! This is the first piece of non-Sony equipment I own that I actually LIKE THE REMOTE! Who'da thunk it?
Layer changes seemed to be handled a little better on the RP91, but you can still notice it. It's a difference of like 0.25 seconds, max.
BTW, there's all sorts of "picture enhancement" settings for both players, but I don't use them. I "flatline" everything to my calibrated HDTV. So someone else may chime in here if there's a compelling reason to go with one over the other for picture enhancements.
Overall Impressions/Recommendation
The 700P is going back to The Good Guys before the 30 days is up. If you can get the RP91 for less than $500 (it's real easy to find it online for around $460), to me this player is worth saving up $130.
I'll miss some of the Sony bells & whistles, but I'll miss the superior audio/video quality more if I return the RP91.
As a long-time, and still, Sony fan, I cannot recommend the 700p if you can afford to spend a little more for the RP91.
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My dealer of choice (especially if you live in So-Cal, I highly recommend them): www.yawaonline.com

Link Removed for their Link Removed reviews

 

[Carlo_M]

I should also say this:
I know about brand loyalty (as evidenced by my Sony stuff in my earlier post).
If you absolutely have to have the Sony product, you will be happy with your 700P. If you never put it up against the RP91, you will never know what a machine the RP91 is, so you won't have that "what if" feeling.
The 700P is a good machine. I just feel there is one other that's better, and not that much more expensive. If you think that switching brands, and having to learn the new quirks of a new manufacturer (and yes, Sony has quirks too, you're just used to them), then by all means go with the 700P. I think one of the major chains (BB/GG/CC) just discounted it to $299 in this Sunday's L.A. times.
But if you're looking for the best picture & sound, I still hold by my original assessment of going with the RP91.
And I can't overemphasize how cool and useful that joystick remote on the RP91 is.

 

[Shawn Sefranek]

I know most people here seem to have a major HARD ON for the RP-91, but I have a Sony 700p and I love it.
I don’t have a display capable of utilizing the progressive output yet, but I have taken the player over to two different friends houses with HD sets and it looked fantastic.
NO CHROMA BUG WAS SEEN !!!!!!
One of them even went out and bought his own 700p after that little DEMO.
This place seems to get fixated on one product at times and everyone has to go jump on the bandwagon and agree with the reviews.
SVS warrants this respect, but I don’t think the Panny does.
Shawn S
[Edited last by Shawn Sefranek on August 06, 2001 at 11:57 AM]

 

[Carlo_M]

Shawn,

This place seems to get fixated on one product at times and everyone has to go jump on the bandwagon and agree with the reviews.

That's borderline rude and insulting. The same could be said that people "try to justify their purchases by posting positive reviews and not seeing bugs that are identified in a scientific manner." (see hometheaterhifi's explanation of the bug and its evidence that the new-post 7000 players have it).
But let's not get into that. I too did not see the Chroma Bug (read my review). And I'm a long-time Sony fan. But there are some things the RP91 does that the Sony does not (again, read my review)--irrespective of the Chroma Bug.
At least I have both units and A/B'd them. I have 30 days to return either one for a full refund. I have no reason or desire to spend the extra $130 if I don't need to. I'm a self-admitted bargain-hunter. If someone only owned the RP91 and totally trashed the 700P without owning it, I wouldn't put too much stock in that review. Same with the reverse, of someone owning only the 700P without testing out the RP91.
Re: following the crowd. I do not own an SVS, nor an Outlaw. So I like to think that I don't "follow the crowd" here at HTF otherwise I would own these. I try to post what I feel are honest reviews that hopefully will help other people make good purchasing decisions for themselves.
Honestly, if you have a good local dealer who will accept returns, I would counsel to buy both the RP91 and 700P and take back whichever one you do not like.

 

[William Anthony]

I just hope the RP 91 will last, unlike Panny's other players. I know thier A110 & A120 series players were awful, I had them both. Very crappy build quality, always breaking down. Maybe Panny finally got thier act together. I will wait till this fall to see what other players are out, than make a decision.

 

[Shawn Sefranek]

That's borderline rude and insulting.

Carlo,
My comment wasn’t directed at YOUR specific review, but the other (500) or so comments that seem to come up whenever someone asks “What’s the best xxxxxx DVD player right now”.
Shawn S

 

[Carlo_M]

Okay, Shawn, I see your point. The timing was just bad (your post immediately followed mine) so I thought it was a straight reaction to my post.
And I will echo William's comments above. I've owned and loved Sony DVD players all my DVD life (1997-) and when my friend bought a Panny A110 I was like "What a piece of sh!t this is!"
But the RP91 represents a new leap for Panny DVD players, and despite not following on the other bandwagon purchases (not saying they were bad, just that I didn't follow for one reason or another) I can honestly say that this player is currently the price/performace leader as of right now.
Of course with the host of new players coming out, lead by the Philips Q50/Sage combo and the region-free Malata, that may not be the case much longer. But I still stand by my original assertion that if you're going to bust $330 for a 700P and can afford an $460 RP91, I would go with the RP91.
[EDIT]
And if you don't trust my review, I think Obi did one a long time ago on the RP91 and Sony--he also had both in house and is way more thorough with his reviews than I could ever be--do a search for his thread.
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My dealer of choice (especially if you live in So-Cal, I highly recommend them): www.yawaonline.com

Link Removed for their Link Removed reviews
[Edited last by Carlo Medina on August 06, 2001 at 12:22 PM]

 

[RANDY FISHER]

Guy's please let all just get along. The original post asked for opinions on the 700P. But as always someone has to jump in and suggest another piece...so it becomes a "my player is better than yours" post. Can't we just stick to providing the information aked for?
As for giving information not asked for, if someone was to ask me what the perfect DVD player was, I would say it's not on the market yet...hint...hint.
Randy

 

[Carlo_M]

Randy,
Shawn and I have straightened out the misunderstanding, so we're getting along.
As for the original post, the person asked for:

Does anybody have any comments about it that could help me in deciding on whether or not to get it.

I don't know about you, but before I put down $330 of my hard-earned dollars, not only do I want to know about the specific player that I'm interested in, but I want to know about my alternatives. I've read the above posts and haven't seen a "my player is better than yours" attitude. More like a "the 700P is a good player and if your heart and pocketbook are set on it, fine, but if you can afford $130 more then you should consider the RP91 for these (listed) reasons"
To me that's not a pissing contest, but rather, trying to keep the original poster's options open.
We're all trying to get through this addiction together.

 

[Ted Lee]

We're all trying to get through this addiction together.

"Hi, my name is Ted..."
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