Pros: It holds up to 200 DVD and or CD Dics!
Cons: It is a large unit!
With this unit you do not need a CD player and a DVD player because it is both built in one with a library storage of 200 discs. I know all DVD players will play a CD but this one is especially made for both so you don?t need two units.
Epinions list this beauty for $899, which is an old price, Sony lists it now for $599. Even better click on Check Latest Prices on the Epinions page and find it for as low as $385.
This is a pretty big and heavy unit weighing 21 pounds and 13 ounces. In dimensions it is 17 inches by 19 7/8 inches by 7 7/8 inches.
This DVD player will play your DVD, CD and Video CD discs.
The Sony DVPCX850D has a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound decoder built in. What this means is you don?t need a receiver to get the 5.1 digital sounds. You will need front and rear speakers plus a center speaker and a subwoofer that connects directly in back of the player. I still prefer running it through a receiver that is Dolby 5.1 ready because of more power and control over the sound.
The Sony DVPCX850D also can play DTS (Digital Theater Sound) surround sound through a receiver that is DTS ready.
The player lets you read your Discs and label them through text display and disc memo.
Text Display
With Text Display it will show the name of the disc, the artist name, the name of the tracks or songs and the lyrics. This is really a nice feature, just by glancing at the player you can tell what DVD or CD you have ready to play.
It will also read on prerecorded and recordable Mini discs.
For long text, it will scroll for you so you can see it all.
Disc Memo
There is a disc memo to help you remember up to 400 DVD and or CD discs. This is a nice added feature if you fill it up with 200 discs, now it will remember another 200 even if they are removed.
The text display will show the names of what you assign them. There is a PC Keyboard input to make it easy to name your discs.
The hookups!
This DVD player has all the hookups needed for any type of audio or video connection.
Audio connections
First of all there are the direct hookups for the 5 speakers and the subwoofer if you do not want to go through a receiver with Dolby 5.1.
Then you have a two speaker connection if you wish to connect it directly to your TV and get the sound from your TV.
Then you have a coaxial digital output for connection to a receiver.
The best audio connection will be to the optical output, which is a connection of a fiber optic cable from the DVD player to your Dolby 5.1 or DTS receiver.
Video connections
For your video it has the newest connection, one Component video output, this is found on your newer TV models. This is the best video connection possible.
The second best connection that is found on most TV models is S-video and there are two outputs.
The third connection is the standard Composite video output and there are two of these. The Composite consists of your standard RCA type plugs.
Yes you could connect it to a second TV set if you wished.
The Remote!
Nice, does a lot, but the buttons are so small!
Overall!
I could go into more detail like it has a 10-bit Video DAC with 27 MHz processor but, most people don?t understand it, so I will give you my final thoughts.
This is a good all in one unit DVD and CD player. It has all the connections possible for any type of hookup, it stores 200 discs and does take some time to get use to all the controls on the remote.
Video quality is as good as any I have seen on a DVD player. Sound was also excellent running through a Dolby 5.1 receiver. The CD music sounds great through a five-speaker system.
The text display is easy to read but, you will probably have to get off that sofa to read it.
Overall for a price of less than $400 now, it is a nice buy, I highly recommend the DVPCX850D 200 Disc DVD/CD Changer.