Sure, DVD players are a dime a dozen these days. And even at the cheapest of prices, you can expect perks that were reserved for high-end players just a couple of years ago, like a progressive-scan component-video output. Amazing. But what if you want to spin more than one disc? For example, you’re hunkering down to watch the first few seasons of The Sopranos, or maybe a Rocky marathon. Or maybe you like to mix it up, following Rocky with “best of” CD collections fromthe ’70s and ’80s. Then you need a DVD changer like the Sony DVP-NC685V.
In a world increasingly populated by thin, silver players, this one is black, substantial, and as traditional in appearance as it gets. Besides the expected transport and disc-selection controls, there’s a Progressive button to step through four modes designed to optimize progressive-scan video playback depending on whether the program originated as video or film. The king-size front drawer opens to reveal a carousel that can hold five discs on its platter. Besides DVDs and CDs, the changer can play high-resolution stereo or multichannel Super Audio CDs (SACDs), a nice audio bonus. Other buttons select SACD options, and a Surround button selects various spatial-processing modes, like TV Virtual Surround for two-speaker playback.
The supplied remote control is standard issue and not particularly easy to use. My biggest complaint is that the cursor controls are placed so close to the bottom of the handset that it’s tough to use them while holding the remote with the same hand. Try it, and you’ll see what I mean. Around back, the changer has the standard complement of inputs and outputs, including the six-channel analog audio output you’ll need for multichannel SACDs. Of course, the same output provides decoded Dolby Digital or DTS audio from DVDs and stereo audio from regular CDs. Rather than use one of the digital audio outputs for these and let my receiver do the heavy lifting of decoding and digital-to-analog conversion, I mainly used the analog output for this report, plus a component-video connection to my TV.
The onscreen setup menu was easy to use. I selected the correct “sizes” for my speakers and balanced the channel levels. You can set both of these independently for SACD and DVD playback, but — as usual — speaker-distance compensation doesn’t apply to SACD. There’s also a variety of picture controls, but you’re probably better off adjusting things like brightness, contrast, and hue on your TV, not the DVD player.
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Fast Facts
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| DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 17 x 3 3/4 x 16 inches PRICE $250 MANUFACTURER Sony Electronics, www.sonystyle.com, 800-222-7669 |
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Key Features
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| • 5-disc carousel • Plays DVD-Video, SACD, and other formats • Full Dolby Digital and DTS decoding • Bass management for DVD and SACD • outputs component-video (switchable interlaced or progressive-scan); 2 composite- and 2 S-video; coaxial and optical digital audio; six-channel and 2 stereo analog audio |
With all due respect to the venerable CD, I began my listening session by popping in the six-channel SACD version of Shania Twain’s Up! The catchy title tune features Twain’s honey-sweet vocals in the front left/right channels along with guitars, piano, synthesizer, drums, and bass guitar. Guitars, piano, and synthesizer also appear in the surround channels, with just a dash of reverberated vocals. The taut kick drum and bass guitar get the “subwoofer” channel all to themselves, which creates a rock-solid foundation. In the center channel there’s only a touch of reverberated vocals and the piano track, but the mix makes great use of spatial cues, adding to the song but not drawing attention to itself.
Overall sound quality on the Sony player was first-rate, with the kind of clarity that you’d expect from a pop recording on SACD. The synthesizer and guitars in particular really jumped out of the surround speakers with terrific punch and aggressive energy, without ever sounding harsh.
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Moving on to DVD, I loaded Confessions of a Dangerous Mind into the tray. A film based on the memoirs of game-show host Chuck Barris, who created such cultural beacons as The Dating Game and The Gong Show, might not seem inviting, but it explores the intriguing possibility that he moonlighted as a CIA assassin.
Toward the end of the film, as Barris laments that he has polluted TV — and also murdered 33 human beings — his mechanical typewriter pounds out his confession. Every detail of the crooked letters and the texture of his typing paper was visible. Beams of sunlight filter through the cigarette smoke in his room, and that hazy atmosphere looked real. The Dolby Digital soundtrack was also convincing and very clean. Check out the bell tolling as Barris flees from church with his new bride.
At $250, the Sony DVP-NC685V isn’t the cheapest player out there, but it’s still a bargain. It not only holds a handful of CDs or DVDs, but it offers the welcome wrinkle of SACD playback, too. So while it might look like your old CD changer, it plays an entirely new generation of discs. Sometimes things do change for the better.