The Sony DVP-S7000 a solid player.
Jan 26 '00
The first thing everyone notices about the Sony DVP-S7000 DVD Player is the front panel. Sony seems to like motorized front panels, at least in the higher end ES line of products that this player (though not specifically ES branded) fits into in terms of quality and styling.
The DVP-S7000 is the fourth DVD player I've owned, and certainly nicest of them. I got it at a steal of a price when I decided that the DVP-S530D was not doing it for me. While it lacks the bells and whistles of more recent models, it boasts a quality of construction and audio capabilities that are still unmatched by any player in its price range (other than its direct successor, the DVP-S7700).
And, of course, there's the door.
The first thing you'll notice is that this player is heavy. This is the sturdiest-feeling DVD player I've ever had the pleasure to hold in my hands (probably the closest is the Denon THX-approved player). In comparison, the Pioneer Elite models and the new, high-end Toshiba progressive scan players feel rather flimsy. The case is metal, and quite solid in appearance; the faceplate and retracting door feature an attractive brushed-steel look which is clearly based on Sony's ES design philosophy.
Opening the sliding door will reveal the disc tray and a set of navigation controls (Play, pause and stop are all on the front of the panel for easy access). One thing I've always liked about Sony is that they don't force you to use the remote; should the need arise you can do most anything from the unit itself.
The remote control is probably the item you'll have most direct contact with in daily use. Most awkward are the menu navigation controls; the directional buttons are awkwardly placed and the enter key is set apart from them, rather than in the center. I still haven't gotten used to this layout. The key marked "Menu" and prominently colored is not actually for the DVD menu; rather, it takes you to the player setup menu. This is not very intuitive for the user, and most of the people I've shown the player take a while before they understand that it's the wrong button. On the plus side, the remote does have separate "Subtitle On/Off" and "Subtitle Change" buttons; later Sony remotes try to combine these two features into one button, causing problems with sophisticated subtitle tracks like those on "Ronin."
The picture quality is wonderful; this player was one of the first on the market with a 10-bit video DAC, a feature that has become standard in all new players. The video subsystems are all of high-quality; badly-compressed DVD titles look clearer on the Sony (especially noticeable on the line-doubled television I use). Also notable is the unit's ability to do smooth anamorphic downconversion; however, the resulting picture, while more accurate, is noticeably softer in detail. This can sometimes be distracting on a larger screen. While the image in no way rivals the sharpness of detail from a newer, progressive-scan unit, I'm convinced that this is the equal or better of any non-progressive model available. There is an additional video noise reduction circuit that subtly improves the picture on grainier films, but it's not noticeable enough for me to keep it activated.
The audio functions are all of high quality, but where this unit really shines is in playing CDs; while it's true that most, if not all DVD players can also play audio CDs, Sony makes the only models that can rival high-quality standalone CD players. The key to this is two separate lasers, one for DVD and the other for CD. In this way, the error from using a laser of the wrong wavelength and focus is eliminated, resulting in a PCM bitstream of greater integrity. A notable side-effect of this system is the fact that this player can read from CD-R media, which a DVD laser would just pass through (and possibly damage).
It should be noted that this unit does not contain a built-in Dolby Digital decoder, so you'll need a receiver or preamp with a decoder to enjoy discrete multi-channel audio. Also, as with most first- and second-generation DVD players, this unit will not pass a DTS bistream from a DTS-encoded DVD-video title. This may or may not become important as more DTS titles appear on the market.
If you're in the market for this player, you should make sure it has the latest firmware -- older models are known to have problems with discs with DVD-ROM content or dual layers.
This is a high-quality player with impeccable performance. Given that it's two years old, it has aged remarkably well. Hopefully its age means that it should be easier to find this model on clearance or used, so if you do, and don't need DTS, go for it.
After all, it's got the door.
Highly Recommended.
Michael's 5-point rating: 4.5/5 (lower because it lacks some modern features)
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Epinions.com ID:
virelai
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Member: Michael Kim
Location: Seattle, WA
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 12 members
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