The Sony DVP-NS300B is Sony's new entry level DVD player for 2001. The model it's replacing, the DVP-S360, is still on the market, and selling for the same price, $200. The NS300B is black. You can get the same model in silver to match Sony's Wega TV's. That model is called the DVP-S300S.

Sony has been fairly successful in selling their silver-colored Wega TV's, so naturally they are making video peripherals, such as DVD players and VCR's, in a matching silver. As black has been the case color of about 99.99% of video gear for the last ten years, it will be interesting to see if Sony's silver-colored TV's, VCR's, and DVD players catch on or if, someday, we'll take one look at these TV's and think they look very late 90's (early 00's?). It looks like silver might catch on an as alternative, judging by the companies, such as Panasonic and Philips, which have joined Sony in selling silver TV sets.

The NS300B plays DVD-Videos and CD's. Some people have succeeded in playing certain CD-RW discs with it. If you want that feature you might as well go with a player that can handle CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3 playback, as well as DVD-Video and CD's, such as the Samsung DVD-M301, the JVC XV-65GD, or the Panasonic DVD-RV31 (reviewed at the following URL):

http://www.epinions.com/content_16158723716


The NS300B is a standard, interlaced-output DVD player with 480-interlaced resolution, meaning each of its video frames is projected as two consecutive 1/60th-of-a-second fields, the first containing the even-numbered scan lines, the second the odd-numbered scan lines. The 480i output is compatible with analog, NTSC-standard televisions, though you can also use it with most of the H/DTV-ready sets as they have internal line doublers which will bring the player's output up to 480p.

On the other hand, as progressive-scan DVD players (480p output) are now starting at about $50 more than this player, a prog-scan player would be an attractive alternative if you an H/DTV-ready set or are thinking of buying one in the next few years. There are certain advantages to progressive-scan DVD players, as opposed to line-doubling the output from an interlaced-scan DVD player. These issues are discussed in depth in my review of the Pioneer DV-434:

http://www.epinions.com/content_8202784388


Like all interlaced-output DVD players, this one has a 27mHz/10-bit video digital-to-analog converter. The audio DAC is 96kHz/24-bit.

Outputs on the NS300B include coaxial digital audio, optical digital audio, two audio L/R, two composite video, one S-Video and one set of component (Y-Pb-Pr) outputs.

The RMT-D126A remote will control not just this DVD player, but also some TV's.

The NS300B is covered by a 90-day labor, one-year parts warranty.



Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 200.00