Hard to beat for the price!
Written: May 09 '01 (Updated May 10 '01)
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Pros: Price, Progressive Scan, SACD capability, Beautiful Styling, Solid Build
Cons: Flimsy loading drawer; Some features difficult to setup
The Bottom Line: This player is worth buying for the SACD feature alone. A real beauty!
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| hmcs's Full Review: Sony DVP-S9000 ES DVD Player |
I purchased the 9000ES approximately 5 months ago when it first came out. My old unit was the venerable Sony
S7000, which was such a solid product, that it may eventually go down as a classic. The S7000 was not a very pretty piece of equipment, but it was very solidly built, and produced a consistently outstanding picture from DVD
to DVD. It was also well known among the audiophile community as a top notch CD transport comparing favorably to models costing upwards of $5,000. As a CD player the S7000 was no slouch either. Anyway, my reason for upgrading to the 9000ES was threefold. First, I wanted to hear how good SACD sounded. I had read the glowing reports of how spectacular this format sounded, so I wanted to find out for myself (at a reasonable price). Second,
I wanted the progressive scan feature because it allegedly improves picture quality. This was not a major reason for buying the unit though. You see I have a Pioneer 510HD television which already contains an outstanding line doubler. Early reports of the use of progressive scan players with this model revealed only minor improvements to the picture, if any. This is not taking anything away from the progressive scan process. It just means the line doubler in the Pioneer is already doing an outstanding job on it's own right and may not need to be bypassed.
My third reason was the design. I have to admit, I am a sucker for a beautifully designed product and the new
9000ES looks like it should belong in a museum.
One word of caution. If you have any of the Pioneer Elite High Definition models (510HD or 610HD) the set will lock into full mode when fed a progressive signal. This is okay if you have an anormorphic or widscreen enhanced
DVD. However, many of the smaller production companies do no have this feature. What this means is that you cannot use the progressive feature because the shapes of people and objects are distorted. In order to correct this problem, you need to switch to interlace (non-progressive) within the 9000ES menu, and switch the Pioneer mode to Cinema wide. This is a real pain, however I am getting used to the routine.
Anyway, on to the review of the product. First off, if you purchase this unit for listening to music alone, this
product is an fantastic bargain. SACD sounds incredible! After listening to the sampler disc, especially the Willie Nelson track, I was stunned at the lifelike palpability and dynamics of the music. In my humble opinion, there is no other CD player in this price range ($1,200) that can come close to the 9000ES. In fact, I venture to guess this player would compete favorably against any CD player, at any price. This means that if you have a stereo buff friend who paid $15,000 for Wadia or Krell CD player, you can be comforted in knowing that your $1,200 DVD player sounds just as good - or maybe better?? Chances are that person already knows and is trying desperately to unload their player and switch to SACD. Okay, now on to the picture. This was a bit of a disappointment.
To cut to the chase, the progressive scan feature did not represent a significant improvement over the picture of my old Sony S7000. I would say the improvement in picture sharpness and color saturation is approximately 10%.
However, the 9000ES seems to produce more annoying motion artifacts. Overall, I am a bit lukewarm on the subject of picture quality on this machine. However, I would not let this dissuade potential buyers. The progressive scan feature may represent a more significant improvement for individuals who own sets with lesser quality line doublers such as Toshiba or Mitsubishi.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $1200
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Epinions.com ID:
hmcs
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Location: Skippack, PA, USA
Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 2 members
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