Sony DVP-NS57P: Not bad for a low-priced player, but not problem-free, either.
Written: Apr 02 '08 (Updated Apr 03 '08)
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Pros: Easy to connect/set up, inexpensive, works with most TV brands
Cons: It's not really HD ready....and it has a few issues with playback.
The Bottom Line: While it's not as bad as a cheap player, the Sony DVP-NS57P is all right but not earthshakingly so. Best used as a secondary player on a standard TV.
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| alexdg1's Full Review: Sony DVP-NS575P DVD Player |
When I purchased my Samsung LN-T2643H high definition TV in mid-January of 2008, I was faced with two non-critical and somewhat related questions about the analog TV I was replacing and whether or not I should get a new DVD player or not.
At first, the issue of what to do with the old TV was a toughie. My mom's TV, a Magnavox made in the late 1980s, was still in good condition; it's only weak spot was that it wasn't DVD player-compatible, but the picture and audio quality were good and Mom, who owned and used it, had no complaints.
As for the second issue, the new LCD TV is from the same manufacturer as my Samsung DVD-C631P Multi-disc DVD Player, which makes it way easy to operate with just the TV's remote control. (If you stick to basic DVD functions, the only thing you need the DVD player's own remote is to open and close the disc-loading tray.) And although the player is now five years old, it still runs remarkably well, even though it's not going to ever give me 1080i or 720p Hi-Def playback.
So why on Earth did I purchase the Sony DVP-NS57P DVD Player if I already own a perfectly good Samsung one that can play five DVDs and is fully compatible in most respects with my new TV?
The main - nay, the only - reason is that for years, my elderly mom has never really been able to enjoy watching DVD movies with me. No, it's not that I'm bad company or that our tastes have a Generational Divide, but rather that where we have our main TV - mine - isn't exactly the nicest environment for her to watch long programs or feature films. The kitchen chairs we have are lightly padded folding metal ones, and even with extra cushions, they do become very uncomfortable.
And because we never could figure out how to hook up a DVD player to that older TV that she had....we sometimes had to watch a movie in "installments" - half on a Saturday afternoon, the other half the next day.
The solution I came up with was to see if anyone needed my mom's old TV, and if so, I'd simply ask a friend or two to lug my analog Samsung TV to Mom's room, buy a second DVD player, then either take the Samsung DVD-C631P Multi-disc DVD Player upstairs with the old-style TV and buy a new DVD player (but not a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player because the format war was still going on), or buy a new DVD player for the old TV and keep the Samsung DVD player hooked up.
In the end, I did a mixture of both. I went to Amazon one morning in February, looked at my budget (under $100), then settled on a low-priced single DVD player from Sony.
Major Features:
Precision Drive, 3 System For Flaws in DVD Discs
Progressive Output (480p)
Multi-Brand TV Remote Control
Dolby Digital Decoding Compatible
Tunerless
The Sony DVP-NS57P also comes with RCA cables to connect the player to TVs with the proper input jacks and, of course, a User's Manual.
To be honest, the only two criteria that affected my choice were the Sony brand and the Precision Drive feature; I knew that the progressive scan output at 480p wasn't going to give me earthshaking video quality, so when I say that the video images on my LCD TV are only so-so when I use (or rather, used) this player with it, it's something I expected and accepted.
Actually, there is one more factor that influenced my choice....the price. According to my Amazon account, I only paid $63.00 for it, including shipping.
What I was looking for, basically, was an inexpensive player that would play all my DVDs without any "first-generation" disc issues. I have not had issues with my Samsung DVD player - yet - when playing either older DVDs made in the late '90s or early 2000s, but some of my "used" DVDs have a few imperfections that could, someday, make themselves manifest.
That's why the Precision Drive appealed to me, and with most of my DVDs, the Sony DVP-NS57P player so far hasn't had any playback issues. That is, except for Disc 1 of The Civil War box set.
On that one, which contains the episode The Cause, there's a point at which the DVD "skips" a bit from one part of the episode to the other. Not just once or twice, or in random chapters, but constantly and always on the same scene. I ejected the disc, inspected it, saw it had tiny scratches and some dust...cleaned the DVD, popped it back in, and it still did that.
The odd thing about it was that when I played the same disc on the Samsung DVD players I own - the 5-disc one as well as my portable - the episode ran well and without skipping or any such hassles.
Other than that, the Sony player performs well. I can't say I've tried every possible function - I basically just put a DVD in, hit PLAY, watch the movie or TV episode, then stop and eject. I haven't tried, for instance, slow motion playback, which supposedly can be done with no sound distortion, nor have I played homemade DVDs, CDs with mp3 files, JPEG slideshows, or even slightly warped DVDs (in the physical sense of warped, not the content sense), all of which the Sony player is designed to do.
Because of the problem I had with that one Civil War DVD, I decided that I'd simply swap DVD players again; the Samsung player is back downstairs, and my mom's TV is hooked up to the Sony.
The one surprising physical feature of the Sony DVP-NS57P is that it doesn't seem to have too many buttons on the front panel. There's the power switch, play/pause, stop, and open-close tray...and that's about all. All the other control buttons are on the long-ish remote control.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, normally, but what if something happens to the remote control unit? The manual has a parts list and you can send away to Sony for a replacement if you need to, but until you get a new remote, you'll be Soldier Out of Luck if that is the only DVD player you own. In my view, any DVD player that relies primarily on a remote control for all the functions is something to be approached with great care.
The one thing to remember if you are running a non-Sony television (HD or analog) is that if you have the manual (you might not get one if you buy this in a yard sale), you can look up the codes for TV brands (say, Samsung) and use the remote control to set the controls so that the slightly oversized remote can issue commands to both the player and the TV. Personally, I don't do it; Mom isn't a big DVD collector - she only has five of her own - and doesn't watch them alone, so there's no big need for this option. If your TV is a Sony, then it's not even a necessity, since the remote is factory set for Sony products.
Update: Actually, I did end up setting it up so the remote will activate the TV as well as the DVD player. It's super-easy. Just hit the TV power on/off switch while tapping the Samsung code on the numeric pad. I tried one of the two code numbers and failed, but succeeded with the second code number.
Audio Performance:
I'm going to be brutally honest here - I am not an expert on audio quality issues, at least not when dealing with TVs and DVD players that aren't hooked up to a "home theater surround-sound system." This player is compatible with sound systems such as DTS and anything with Dolby Digital Decoding components, so I assume it will sound good on a five-speaker, 5.1 channel setup.
On both TV sets this player has been used with, the sound has been clear and sharp, which is basically all I'm interested in.
User's Thoughts:
Considering that this Sony DVP-NS57P is not one of those flashy players full of HD-ready goodness, it's about as good as anything that costs under $60 and from a reputable brand. Sure, there are cheaper brands from less-well-known companies, but usually those use low-end components and end up being worthless within a year or two.
On new and not-heavily-used DVDs and CDs, the Sony DVP-NS57P has no major playback issues; I have watched all the Season Three discs of 24 and had no hiccups, incidents with skips or pixel-drag, and the same can be said of the two major movie DVDs we've watched on my Mom's TV. With DVDs that were bought used and had a few imperfections, this wasn't the case...at least not with the Civil War one I mentioned earlier.
Oh, yes. I almost forgot: before you start watching a widescreen movie on a standard TV, make sure you switch the TV's Picture setting to Widescreen (if it has that option), otherwise the Sony DVP-NS57P will show the movie as though it were a fullscreen DVD.
Recommendation:
While this Sony DVP-NS57P player does pretty well as a plain vanilla, few-frills DVD player on either an analog or HD TV set, don't expect video miracles with something that only offers 480p images on a set that can display images at 720p or 10801. On such a TV, the image looks a bit grainy, so it's best to use this on an older TV until Blu-rays supercede DVDs as the dominant format.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 63.00
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alexdg1
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Member: Alex Diaz-Granados
Location: Miami, FL USA
Reviews written: 1286
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About Me:
Rest in Peace, Mrs. Barbara Axler Fields. I will miss you lots!
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