Wolf Husky

I recently purchased this new DVD player for a little over $400 (shipped) to replace a perfectly good Sony DVD-C660 I have. I wanted to upgrade to progressive, and with my DVD collection well over 700, I thought it would be nice to be able to store a few hundred discs in the player, ready for viewing.

 

The Sony DVP-CX875P

 

 

The Remote

The remote control is slimmer, thinner, and longer than my previous Sony DVD remote.  There are a lot more buttons on this one!!

EZ Play?  300 + 1?

I didn't know why it was 300 + 1 discs when I bought it, but it was smart thinking to have the "+1."  You can store your favorite 300 DVDs/VCDs/CDs and don't need to remove one when you rent a DVD, buy a new one, or play one of your "non-favorites."  There is a slot for EZ Play, which allows you to easily insert and play a disc that you wouldn't keep in the 300-disc collection.  The slot is "roomier" than the other slots, allowing for quick and easy insertion and removal of this 301st disc.

Save Your Own Jacket Cover Images

As we all know, few DVDs have "jacket cover" images stored on the DVDs, yet so many DVD changers can display them while browsing the discs in the changer.  This DVD player allows you to capture and save any screen shot on a DVD and use it as the jacket cover image.  With the push of just one button, you can save your favorite image or the movie title screen during playback.  No worries about hitting it on accident.  You need to have a selector switch in the right mode.

Volume Control for Stereo

I didn't expect to find this feature, but I love it.  On the DVD remote control, you can control the volume of your TV, or if you have an amplifier (such as an HT system), you can program the DVD player's remote to control the volume on your stereo receiver/amplifier.  This is a fantastic addition to a DVD remote.  Maybe this is standard now, but I didn't have it on the DVD player I bought 2 years ago.  There is no mute button, but of course this can be accomplished by pausing the DVD.

Storing Start/Stop Points of a DVD/VCD

I haven't used this feature yet, but the player will store start/stop points on up to 6 DVDs/VCDs.  After you have stored a stop point on a DVD, the next time you insert that disc (into the EZ Play slot only), the DVD will automatically start playing at the spot you stopped it at earlier.  It will store the start/stop points even in event of power outage.  I imagine this could be convenient if you had a DVD you played a lot, and you didn't always need to go through the menus to get to the movie.  For me, this would be Gladiator.  If I stored a stop point on Gladiator  at the start of the movie, every time I insert the movie, it would begin playing for me automatically.  I wouldn't need to see the intro or go through the menus.  I would still need to select the DTS 6.1 audio, as 5.1 is the default on that DVD, but selecting it would be as easy as hitting the "audio" button on the remote to get to the appropriate audio setup.

MP3 Playback

I am thrilled to have this feature.  I can fit about 9 one-hour CD albums of MP3s encoded in 192kbps (44.1 kHz) on one 800-MB CDR(W).  This would give the 300-disc change the potential to house as many as 2,700 CD albums for me.  Of course, most albums avg 45 minutes in length, so even more can fit on a CDR(W).  It's nice being able to play 9 hours of music on a mix CD, and I will probably end up buying something with this capability for my car.  For those of you not familiar, you can save all of your albums in separate folders named appropriately with the album's title.  I haven't played around with this enough to have an opinion on the menu system.

Disc Sorting

If you are a nut like me, you wouldn't want to search through 300 discs (using the explorer menus) if the discs weren't alphabetized.  You can sort the catalog of discs in three ways - by slot number, alphabetically, or by genre.  Each disc (audio or video) can be labeled in a specific genre.  The alphabetical listing helps remove any planning needed in storing 300 DVDs in the player.  You don't need to start with A and work your way through your collection to Z.  I started with my favorite 25 so that they would all be together, since I watch them most.  I didn't worry about putting them in an order after that.  I can still find the disc easily since they are alphabetized.  There are six subsort lists you can choose from as well -- All DVD, All CD, 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D.'  You can add any discs to the A, B, C, D folders, making it easier to find your discs quickly.  For instance, Maybe the 'A' folder has your discs that start with 0 (zero) through E, the 'B' folder has discs starting with F through M, etc.  The A/B/C/D folders can be custom-named with up to 3 characters.

Strobe Playback

I haven't played with this feature yet, and honestly can't imagine I will.  You can play (moving) 9 different consecutive chapters on a DVD simultaneously on the screen.  I have no idea how this looks or if the 1st chapter would have audio or not.  You can also watch 9 different angles at the same time, if you had a multi-angle DVD.  Hmm, this could actually be worth something, but I don't have any multi-angle DVDs --- yet! 

System Lock

Along with being able to lock specific discs (any parents with little kids out there?), you can lock the entire system with the remote so that no one can open the changer and remove/change the order of the discs.  If you are having a large party or will be out of town for a few days and don't trust the roommates, this feature could come in handy.  This feature would also come in handy during a party to keep a continuous loop DVD (such as StarGaze, a fireplace, aquarium, etc) playing without someone accidentally hitting a button on the front panel.  (The system lock will disable front panel functions also.

And So Much More !!!

Of course, there are many more features to this DVD player.  I only listed the features that caught my eye or noticed weren't on any spec and info sheets on the player.

 

Overall, I rate this at 4.5 stars. I wish it had SACD or DVD-A capability, but it is just about impossible to find a DVD player that does everything.

Tsar Chasm

Unless Explorer changed dramatically with the 875, I wouldn't recommend it. When you have more than 300 DVDs, it is near impossible to find the disc you want and the menu system takes an eternity. I own the 860 and it lives in my storage closet now.

I hope the 875 works out for you.

das Monkey

Hey, thanks for all the information. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do, but it helps to have as much data as I can. Thanks!

das

Wolf Husky

It will be at least 6 months before I can consider a 2nd unit to daisy chain, so I won't be able to let you know how it handles with more than 300 discs.

Do you have them daisy chained? Is that what the SysLink is for? This is my 2nd Sony DVD player, and the instruction manuals have never explained what it's for except "connecting to another Sony device that uses it." Ummm, huh? hehehe.

Are you talking about the load time, such as putting 300 discs in the unit, then waiting for it to process them all? The instructions say that can take a long time. I will be inserting and labeling about 10 per day, so I won't experience what I think you are talking about. Or, are you talking about the explorer finding a disc? It seems pretty quick about searching and finding them in explorer, but I only have about 40 DVDs in it right now. Ultimately, I will be using the ABCD folders to break up the collection into A-E, F-L, M-Q, R-Z titles, and that should be a faster way to find them.... or, I may just create a simple MS Access database that alphabetizes my collection and tells me what disc its on, so I can go to it directly. I can easily get it to print a "report" using the front/back of 1 sheet of paper.

We'll see. I paid so much less than retail, that if I'm not satisfied with it, I know I can sell it (for profit) on eBay or Half.com. There have been a couple on eBay over the last few weeks. The first sold at $525 + $35 shipping, and the 2nd sold at $455 + shipping. I'm sure I could get my $400 back.

Thanks for the info, Tsar. I'll speed up my disc loading and see how it fares with 300 in there.

GMLSKIS

Thank you for all the information Wolf Husky. I have been thinking about this player since I first heard about it last summer. Crutchfield keeps pushing the items release date back every month to the next month. I will wait until more people like you give feedback on their experiences with it. Thanks.

Wolf Husky

I would even suggest getting one now, even if you are unsure about it. With the supply so low, and the demand so high, you can make about $30-50 buying, trying, then selling it. That's the only reason I went ahead with the purchase. Otherwise, I would have waited too. I feel like I am the only one in the country with one of these.

It took me about 5 hours to find someone who actually had one in stock and who would give me a great price. Crutchfield wants $500 (+ shipping??). I paid under $410 for mine, shipped.

LtlPhysics

Wolf Husky, how about the picture? Is it sharp, can you tweak things?

Wolf Husky

This is my first progressive player, so I really don't have anything to go by. But, I'd say that the picture is as sharp as I can ever expect with my HDTV (in 480p) and AR component cables.

I actually noticed more of a difference in the sound, as it seems much sharper, but that could be due to the fact that I just turned a bedroom into a theatre.

I have no idea if you can fine tune the picture from the DVD player. I have actually never understood this feature people drool over since all the controls I need (and that are mentioned on the Avia DVD) can be adjusted through my TV. Part of me wants to say you can adjust the picture, but I'm too lazy to grab the instructions and verify.

Would you be interested in explaining why some people are so crazy about such a redundant feature? Thanks.

LtlPhysics

The more redundancy the better.

I already have my television set up as well as can be expected, which means that I found it necessary to back off on brightness, picture, color and sharpness, sharpness being rolled all of the way back.

Sharpness (noise to some), and digital noise reduction circuits have proven to be effective, at least on my old JVC 701. They call it a video fine processor and the new JVC 902, which has a major incompatibility issue, has seven different circuits, some of which are not dupes of the TV's settings.

Wolf Husky

I'll get back to you and let ya know.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the player. I'll outline two cons and a pro I have about it.

Con #1

I have found it nearly impossible to segregate 250+ DVDs from my collection and call them favorites, giving them permanent spots in the player. It was easy to do with about 50 discs, but after that...

Con #2

For $400 ($500+ retail), it should be able to play DVD-A or SACD. But, there are no 300+ changers out there that will play them, and I didn't expect it to. I don't have any of the mentioned formats, and don't think I'd run out and buy any if I had the ability to play them.

Pro

I really do love the MP3 feature. I hadn't had a MP3 player (exception to WinAmp on the PC), and this is a fantastic feature. The audio is absolutely outstanding, when playing a 192kbps MP3 on a CDR. I'm truely impressed. Being able to put my entire U2 collection (or any other artist) on one CD is awesome. One of these days, I will create a "favorites" CD with 9 hours of my favorite songs. Maybe then I'd be motivated to clean this place!

beebs

I personally love my Sony 860, the older 1 sided 200 disc box. I ignore the Explorer which is slow, but useful at times, and mainly use a list I made out of Excel sorted by alpha, genre, and disc number (printed on one letter sized page, two-sided).

Here's some things I think make these cool:

Program your own movie station. I program 8-10 movies and let them run, it's like a station where I'm the director of programming. Pause, step back to the beginning of the movie, skip to the next one easily.

Also great for x-files, st:tng, or any big series sets. (In fact, I considered picking up one cheap just for all the TV stuff.) Program all your favorite series episodes spanning 20-30 discs -- so easy. I recently did an x-files conspiracy series and recently did a st:tng Q day followed by Borg day at a friend's place.

-Beebs

Wolf Husky

BEEBS --

Are you talking about programming it to play certain tracks? I guess my brain isn't very creative anymore, because I never thought about using that feature for DVDs, and it's a tad useless (for me) on CDs, since I burn my favorites on CDs already.

But sweet! I never thought about that.

How do you get it to automatically run in the best audio mode (DD5.1 for X-Files sets)?? I know the instructions say that it can automatically select PCM, then DTS, then 5.1, etc, etc... but I haven't got that to work yet. It seems to select 5.1 just fine, but not DTS.

I think I'm going to ignore the Explorer as well, as soon as I figure out how to punch in a specific disc number on the remote and play it. Right now, I'm selecting the disc with the knob on the player, and hitting play.

Thanks for any help, beebs.

WH