Sony DVP-CX985V 400 Disc Progressive DVD / SACD Player
By: Sony Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 46
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 On: 2008-02-19
This player is great! I bought mine years ago and I have been extremely happy with it.
The Remote: it has a lot of buttons. Most of them you dont use. has 4 sets of Forward/backward buttons that have different uses (Next/previous chapter, Fast-forward/Rewind (hold-down), fast-forward/rewind (toggle), Skip forward/replay). The folder button brings the list of DvDs in your player, plus the normal expected buttons (play, pause, stop, language, etc) are the only buttons I really use.
The System: One nifty feature is that most (if not all) of the buttons you need on the remote, is on the front of the player!
The DvD Menu: Yes it takes time to load each picture... But you dont need pictures if you dont want them... And you can page up/down in (skipping the load time) by holding down the up/down button.
The nitpicks..
The BIG problem I have (lost a star for this) is... it sometimes Forgets DvDs you put in it. If I go to a DvD that is fully labeled and has a thumbnail... there is a chance it will think its a new disc and delete the title and thumbnail! This was a much bigger problem before moved my old wireless keyboard to the DvD player (Having a Keyboard plugged in is GREAT! Typing titles in with the remote is a pain.)
My other Nit-pick is: It sometimes has trouble playing recordable DvDs. I have some TV shows recorded on DvDs and the player sometimes has trouble playing the last episode I record on the disc (but it works fine on my computer and other DvD player). This is a bit of a rare problem tho.
 On: 2007-04-04
This player is perfect for taking that stack of DVDs & CDs (neat or otherwise) and putting them in one place, away from fingerprints and dust, and makes them easy to view and/or listen to. If you read other reviews of this product youll hear all about how hard it is to enter title and track info, or how the cover art isnt always there, or whatever.
The bottom line is that most of the complaints are rooted in the fact that the discs very often dont have the info engrained into them, making manual entry a necessity. Not the players fault.
My solution? Create a simple spreadsheet on the computer and enter in the basic info (title, genre, format, slot location number) and put it in a plastic sleeve inside a thin binder or presentation folder and leave it next to the TV or the remotes. Scan the list, pick your title, enter the number, press play...done!
Worrying about all the things that this unit supposedly "cant" do is like being upset that the remote for your car audio deck doesnt work. Burn off a half a calorie and just lean forward and press the button for petes sake.
Maybe my only complaint (and Im not alone in this regard) is that the remote control stinks. Theres no flow or sense of order with it. You basically have to memorize the buttons (and only if you live and breathe learning the remote). And my word of caution is to make sure you measure the space where this unit is to be placed BEFORE you purchase it. Its very large (depth, especially) and just barely fits into my entertainment cabinet. I paid around $225 for it last year. So Im sure it has dropped some, or had more features and improvements added for the same price. If you can find a used one for less than $200, buy it. You wont be disappointed.
 On: 2007-03-09
After reading all the complaints about this unit scratching their discs, I went home and pulled out the disc I have played the most. I found very lite circular scratches near the center of the disc. This disc was brand new and in pristine condition when I installed it. I then pulled out many more discs and could not find any other damage. I will discontinue using this unit if I see any more damage. Other than that, I really like the unit. I dont know why others are having a problem with explorer. I think its great. The two things I dont like is the fact that you cant view explorer without stopping play and that it doesnt display song titles. Even if I had to type them in myself, would be better than nothing.
On: 2006-12-25
Contrary to the info here, and also what it states in the Sony manual, this unit DOES play DVD-Audio disks. I have the unit, have had it for several years, have 7 or 8 DVD-Audio disks and the ALL play perfectly. Other than that, most of what the reviewers here say is true. It is slow, and the disk labeling and sorting is VERY cumbersome. Its too bad Sony didnt take some of the great sorting and labeling features from its earlier 300 disk CD models and bring them here. It is also annoying that most menus and features are only accessible by using a TV screen.
 On: 2006-11-14
First and most importantly, if youre not willing to have your entire DVD collection seriously scratched/gouged (for which you will never be compensated unless you take Sony to small claims and win), skip this line of Sony DVD players (985 & 995 series at a minimum) and buy something else. I dont own any electronics that arent Sony so this isnt coming from a Sony basher, its simply a fact. If youre willing to risk destroying $4,000 to $8,000 worth of DVDs then continue reading. Unfortunately I only recently became aware of this when I discovered a problem with one of my DVDs, looked at it, then went online to do some research. after spending countless hours loading DVDs and entering the text descriptions, Ive yet to pull all my DVDs out to inspect them all, but Im definitely going to be purchasing a different DVD changer in the immediate future. $300-$500 isnt worth sacrificing thousands of dollars worth of DVDs to a player that has a flaw which will unquestionably destroy your DVDs given enough time.
I really cant believe how many incredibly stupid mistakes were made when designing this player. With a minimal amount of testing/QC, by a handful of individuals with some common sense, this player could have gone from being rather annoying but functional, to the best DVD changer on the market. Below are a list of my complaints, virtually all of which could easily be corrected or have been avoided, but apparently they didnt have anybody who actually watches DVDs QC this unit before mass producing and shipping them (also evidenced by the horrible scratching problem that went undetected through the QC process):
1) Loading DVDs into the DVD Changer - The DVDs are so closely packed together that its extremely difficult to tell which slot is which. When you scroll to a particular slot using the dial on the front of the DVD changer with the intent of loading a DVD into the slot, you really cant tell which slot is the one in the center. They have a very small black arrow on the front that points to the slot youve selected, but its so small, dark and difficult to tell which slot its pointing at (because theyre so small and close together) that its practically worthless. The very simple solution would have been to have that outer arrow lit by an LED, and more importantly, an LED underneath the edge of the carousel in the corresponding center slot to match up with. This would easily enable you to see which slot you were looking for to load a DVD into or remove one from. The problem is seriously compounded at night or if youre in a poor lighting situation. Youre pretty well screwed if you dont have a flashlight. Even then youll occasionally pull the wrong DVD out or put one in the wrong slot. Its also more difficult as your DVD changer gets filled up, the problem wasnt nearly as bad in the beginning when half or more of the slots were open and there were spaces between most of the DVDs. On that note, be sure to leave spaces between your DVDs when you put your collection into it if you have 300 DVDs or less and want to try to keep things alphabetical. Once you get over 300 DVDS in the changer it will become a never ending battles of shifting DVDs around and having to re-enter the text (which as youll find out below is a nightmare).
2) Loading DVDs into the DVD changer cont. - I should also mention that if your power was turned off on your DVD changer before you went to load a new DVD into it, it will automatically load and play a DVD with no way to stop it as soon as you turn the power on. This is an extremly annoying problem anytime you turn on the DVD changer, not just when you want to load a new DVD. I think I might have seen someone else post that theres a way to turn this off, but Im not sure and its certainly on by default.
3) Detecting/Entering DVD titles - Only a small percentage (about 25-30% average for me) of the DVDs Ive loaded have the text auto detected and loaded into the DVD players disc explorer. Even fewer of those have a thumbnail image. This means youre going to have to enter the titles manually for the majority of your DVD collection. This really sucks because of the following problem.
4) Detecting/Entering DVD titles cont. - The process they designed for entering the titles of your DVDs into the disc explorer using the DVD remote has to be the absolute worst imaginable. I swear it would take a think tank to create a process this bad. Heck the method that cell phones have been using for nearly a decade would work 2-3 times faster than the process they invented. They laid out the alphabet horizontally across the screen in layers, uppercase text, lowercase text, and numbers/symbols. That might not be the worst design were it not for the fact that the cursor scrolls very slowly and every time you enter a symbol, the cursor returns all the way back to the upper left corner (capital A). You then have to press the enter button or a direction on the remote twice before you can start scrolling again (IE you have to press it to the right twice just to get to capital B). This takes about 2 seconds each time, every time, you enter a letter. Compounded with the incredibly slow scroll time, and having to start all the way back at the upper left corner each time, it takes on average about 2 minutes to enter a title (and it can take longer). The only upside to this is that if youre willing to sit down in front of your DVD changer you can plug in a PS2 keyboard and type the DVD titles in rather than using the Hellishly designed DVD remote process. If you know how to type this will slash the time it takes to enter DVD text by about 80%. However most people dont have a chair plopped down right in front of their DVD changer so you either have to sit on the floor or go grab a chair and a keyboard (unless you keep a dedicated one plugged into the unit which looks lame) every time you add a new movie.
5) Detecting/Entering DVD titles cont. - Unfortunately you CANNOT enter the text for a DVD until youve played it. So when you buy a few DVDs and load them into your DVD player, you have to navigate the painfully slow disc explorer (which Ill get to later) to load and play each of your new DVDs (which you typically cannot interrupt until after the FBI warning and sometimes other misc slates), before you can then go back to the disc explorer, navigate to the desired title, and enter the text. I cant imagine why Sony should require that it knows exactly whats in the slot before youre allowed to enter a text description for it, but those are the rules you must play by.
6) Detecting/Entering DVD titles cont. - The steps you take to edit/enter DVD text require that you A) Load the Disc(s) into the carousel B) Flip the switch on the DVD remote to "Disc Explorer" C) Press the Folder button on the DVD remote which is nearly invisible because the text is in dark blue on a black remote, and located in an obscure location in the middle of the roughly 40 buttons on the remote D) SLLLOOOOWWWWLLLYYY navigate to find the DVD(s) you loaded E) Press Enter to play the DVD F) Wait for the movie to get all to the way to the main menu which is usually the first place you can interact with the DVD due to the way store bought DVDs are typically authored to force you to watch the slates G) Stop the DVD and/or or press the invisible "Folder" button on the remote to access the Disc Explorer H) Navigate to the desired title if its not already on it I) Prss the EDIT button on the remote which is also dark blue and located nowhere near the Folder button J) press ENTER (which of course is the button that also launches DVDs when using the Disc Explorer). K) SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWWLLLLYYYY enter the description of the DVD L) Press the invisible EDIT button on the remote M) Press the ENTER button on the remote. VOILA, youre done!!! Isnt that a snap! Now here the problem, I guarantee you will frequently accidentally forget to press the EDIT button BEFORE pressing the ENTER button when youve navigated and found the movie you want to edit, because it just seems natural to press the ENTER button to access the title and start editing it. Unfortunately when you do it will launch and play the DVD and you will once more have to wait a couple minutes while it plays the FBI warning etc. etc. before you can stop the DVD. The same thing happens when using a keyboard instead of the remote, if you scroll up/down the Disc Explorer and then press Enter on the KB without going into edit mode first, you will again launch a DVD and be forced to wait a couple minutes to get back to where you were. Unfortunately there is yet another problem that commonly occurs when youre using the keyboard. As I mentioned, you press ENTER on the keyboard (once youre in edit mode of course) to take you to the screen where you can enter or edit the text of a movie. You also press ENTER on a keyboard throughout your entire life whenever youve finished typing something (including IMs etc.), so it seems perfectly logical you should press the ENTER key when youre done typing the text for a DVD/CD right? WRONG!!!! If you press ENTER on the keyboard when youve typed in the desired text, it CANCELS what youve done and returns you to the previous screen! You have to hit the EDIT button on the remote when youve typed in the text you want (I dont even know how to stop editing with the keyboard but theres probably a key). Like I said before, it would literally take a think tank dedicated to figuring out how to make something as UNintuitive as possible, to design something this backwards. If you dont own this changer it may be hard to visualize what Im talking about, but fellow owners will surely empathize.
7) Detecting/Entering DVD titles cont. - So do you own one of those cool SONY DVD recorders to go along with your 400 disc Sony DVD changer? They work really good and the quality is great (depending on the model of course). They work great right up to the point that you want to use your home recorded DVDs with your Sony DVD changer. Sony in all their wisdom decided that their should be certain pre-requisites before allowing you to enter text for one of your DVDs or CDs. We came across this earlier when I said you cannot enter the text for your DVD until youve played it and it recognizes that its actually a DVD. I can think of no good reason why I shouldnt be able to enter text for any disc, whether the DVD changers knows what kind of disc it is or not. Getting back to the point, it just so happens that the Sony DVD changer will not allow me to enter text for any DVDs recorded with my top of the line (at the time) SONY DVD recorder. Isnt that lovely? Did I mention that the DVD changer WOULD allow me to enter text for DVDs that are recorded with OTHER manufacturers DVD recorders?!? I know, this sounds like a joke but its anything but. DVDs I recorded with a crappy GoVideo DVD recorder prior to purchasing my Sony DVD recorder worked just fine in my Sony DVD changer. So, all of the DVDs Ive recorded with my Sony DVD recorder have to sit in my DVD changer with no text description whatsoever. That means of course that I have to maintain a completely separate spreadsheet or database for my Sony DVD changer, completely negating the necessity for the pathetically designed and extremely cumbersome Disc Explorer (which Ill get to). I should mention that if you author your own DVDs using programs such as Scenarist, the DVD changer will allow you to enter text for them. So far, the only DVDs that I have not been able to enter text for are ones recorded with SONY DVD recorders. Of course I have not tested all DVD recorders and all DVD authoring programs, so its very possible that DVDs created with certain recorders, burned with certain burners, or authored with certain programs, will not meet the criteria set by the player for allowing you to enter a text description.
8) Disc Explorer - Dozens of people have already commented on how pathetic the Disc Explorer is so this is redundant, but to be complete Ill put in my 2 cents. You can only see 5 titles at a time using the Disc Explorer that Sony designed, thats problem number 1. This means a LOT of scrolling when youre talking about a 400 disc DVD changer. This could have easily been designed such that you could see 10 or more titles at once by dispensing with the pointless thumbnails, using a slightly smaller font (the current font is overly large), and some reorgnization.
8) Disc Explorer cont. - Because of the font size/layout/poor design, you can only enter and see a very limited amount of text for each DVD. Its not like you can even enter the full description and it just limits how much of the description you can see when navigating, they simply limited the field that stores the text to 20 characters. That means that most DVD titles are either truncated (if auto detected by the DVD changer and the title is too long), or you have to be creative when entering your DVD titles so that they make sense when the title doesnt fit. At least half if not more of my DVD collection has truncated or abbreviated titles. This is really annoying and for some movies (especially when they have a bonus disc) its extremely difficult coming up with an abbreviated name AND tacking on the text to let you know this is the bonus disc that may or may not also have a movie on it. I should also point out that if the DVD changer auto detects text for a movie, you CANNOT edit or change that text, youre stuck with whatever description it imports.
9) Disc Explorer cont. - Speed and Efficiency. These two words cannot be used in the same sentence with this DVD changer. Whether its loading a DVD into the carousel, detecting and/or entering the text for a movie youve just added, or navigating the Disc Explorer to find a movie you want, be prepared to spend a lot of unnecessary time doing it. The Disc Explorer has this nifty feature of displaying thumbnails for each movie. Sounds like a great idea, but only a small percentage of movies actually have a thumbnail, even current movies. More importantly, when you navigate the Disc Explorer it takes about 1 second to load each thumbnail, so if your movie isnt one of the mere 5 that you can see on the screen at one time and you want to scroll a little, be prepared to wait 1 second every time you press down or up on your DVD remote (again keeping in mind were talking about 400 discs here). If you hold the up or down button for a few seconds it will stop displaying the thumbnails AND text and start to scroll faster. That would have been fine if it would have just stopped displaying the thumbnails, but it turns off the text descriptions too so you have no clue when to stop scrolling unless you already know exactly where the desired DVD is. If you do, dont waste your time navigating, just type in the numbers of the DVD you want (this is the ONLY positive thing about the Disc Explorer, but of course you have to already know the slot your DVD is in). Of course when youre scrolling rapidly and blindly through the slots using the Disc Explorer, you often have to stop to let the text display so you can see where the heck you are in relation to what youre trying to find. Unfortunately, every time you stop scrolling it has to load ALL the thumbnails for the 5 titles on that page, so you have to wait about 5 seconds just to get a glimpse of where you are. You wont grasp how slow and painful this is until you actually use this thing, words alone cannot do it justice.
10) Reliability - Ive had this DVD changer for around a year I guess, perhaps a little longer. So far it has been pretty reliable with fairly minimal problems reading discs. However I should point out that I have owned 3 other Sony DVD changers, all of which have lasted less than 2 years with VERY minimal usage (the last one I used less than 10 times) and all of which have had repeated problems reading discs that were perfectly fine. Own a Sony DVD player any length of time and youll become intimately familiar with the C13 error. Thats what it throws out anytime it cant read the disc, the problem is that it happens all too often with discs that are perfectly fine with no scratches, smudges, or anything else, or scratches so minimal that it would play fine on any other player. They especially had a lot of problems with DVD -/+Rs in earlier generations, but that has gotten better over time. What hasnt gotten better is the longevity. Perhaps the unique design of the DVD changer versus their typical players will have some effect on the life span, but Im wholly confident this player will not last. Its irrelevant since Im already looking for another DVD changer, having discovered the unacceptable problem this player has of scratching and gouging your DVDs and CDs.
On: 2006-10-25
Lets start with the fact that I am not an Audiphile. I just like movies. I bought this to hold all my movies and to get rid of the extra shelves I had for the movies. I have read the reviews and so far have had none of the scratching. I was annoyed at some of the complaints as they relate to the DVDs not the player. The player can can only pick up info from the disk if the disk is recorded so it can. I have no problems entering the info into the disk explorer. I used the Load feature first then plugged in a keyboard and entered the ones that needed it. Simple. Yes it takes a little time but what things in life dont? Over all I am very pleased.
 On: 2006-09-13
I CANNOT BELIEVE NOBODY IS WRITING TO COMFIRM THAT THIS PLAYER WILL LEAVE GOUGES IN SOME OF YOUR DVD DISCS MAKING THEM UNPLAYABLE AND UNABLE TO COPY. IVE OWNED THIS PLAYER FOR 2 YEARS AN ONLY RECENTLY SAW A REVIEW WARNING THIS MIGHT HAPPEN AND IT HAS. THE PLAYER WILL SAY DISC IS DIRTY AND AFTER CLEANING THE PLAYER STILL SAYS DISC DIRTY THEN ON INSPECTION YOULL SEE THESE HALF MOON SCRATCHES AROUND THE EDGE. PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR HOME MOVIES IN WITHOUT A BACK-UP COPY STORED!!!
On: 2006-07-10
Out of the 400 DVDs, it scratched about 100 of them.
Bad player, bad.
On: 2006-05-31
We just got ours yesterday at Circuit City. We paid $399 plus tax (35.00) and and an extended warranty (85.00) for three years. So far I like it more than I thought I would after reading the reviews.
My first suggestion to someone would be, load all of your discs that you have before you go to bed and press the load button and leave it go until you wake in the morning. That is the part that takes the longest! There are some titles that it reads and puts the name in for you but you are UNABLE to edit the name that automatically fills in. That is one part that I hate...because they are not all uniform, some are in all caps while others are not. Also it will abbreviate some (ex: txchnswmass) for Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I dont want it abbreviated but dont know any way around it. If anyone does please let me know!! It will load a picture from some movies to display when viewing the details, there is no rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes it will do the title, others the picture and at times both! But if it doesnt load the picture there is a neat function where you can select a freeze frame from the movie to have set as your picture!
I have read alot about scratching, I dont know if that is a problem as of yet. If it becomes a problem in the future I will deffinately write another review letting everyone know.
Over for the price and keeping all your discs in one place, dust free and clearing off A TON of shelves its a great idea!! We will probably have this one full when we are done loading the movies we currently have and will have to go and purchase a second one to start on.
On: 2006-05-24
I just pulled this player from my system. I finally got fed up with the semi-circular damage caused by the transport to many of my DVDs. I seems that the player allows the spinning disc loaded in the player to grind against the disc in the adjacent slot to the right in some cases. Not sure what the variables are but the damage can vary from light scratches to VERY deep gouges completely destroying some DVDs.
I may experiment with the screw adjuustment mentioned in another review on this forum, but until I can trust the device I wont be using it or any others of the same model in my system again.
On: 2006-02-10
bought one, filled it, bought another... the remote takes some getting use to but now that I know where the buttons are that I need, its fine... The disk explorer is useless. I use a spreadsheet, and just put them in by the number.
On: 2005-12-22
I really like this player BUT it can, at least on some units, develop a problem that scratches your DVDs. Not saying you should not buy one... just beware and current owners, be vigilant. I like SONY and they have a boatload of my money and I am being honest in this review.
SYMPTOM:
Some DVDs may sound a little out-of-balance (mechanical rotation sound). Intermittent play of certain DVDs, remove DVD to clean/inspect it and you see one or more half-moon shaped scratches... deep with curled plastic and "DVD dust" that has been gouged out of your DVD.
I entered a service call with Sony about this scratch issue and they asked me to unplug it for two minutes... oddly enough, this did not solve the problem :) So I opened the player and after viewing about 50 DVD changes... it all became clear.
BACKGROUND:
To get so many DVDs in the unit and minimize the player depth dimension, Sony designed it to NOT totally move the playing DVD into the player section unlike their 300+1 disk changer that I also have. They leave the edge of the spinning disk inside your storage tray. To keep the two DVDs on either side from getting in the way, a forked-bracket comes out that is supposed to separate/move them away from the spinning disk.
PROBLEM:
Sometimes the forked bracket that is supposed to move the side disks apart either doesnt or FORCES the DVD to the right of the spinning disk into your spinning DVD which, like a saw, grinds away during the entire time you are watching the playing DVD. Heck, if you are watching Titanic it may actually saw the poor thing in half. If I wasnt serious that may have been a joke.
(Note: Original review written in December, as of February, NO MORE SCRACHES since my "screw" mod.. See "MY RESOLUTION" BELOW)
MY RESOLUTION: (Try at your own risk)
SONY was of no help and did not admit that anyone had ever reported this (evidence in chat forums tells me this is less than honest) So... I made a slight mod to the back screw of the laser assembly (has a small blue rubber boot over the screw) Added a thin washer so it points the leading edge of the spinning disk a little to the left and away from the exposed play side of the next DVD. So far (viewed about 200 disk changes) so good. BTW, my unit is level, the disk tray is in alignment so that is not it and the forked bracket is tight. I think this is just a poor design with enough variables in the mechanism that it works "most of the time". Some players may never see the issue but mine, and others obviously have.
You could send your player to SONY and perhaps they have a solution they are not making public, perhaps not.
SONY, shame on you for this design (would rather have a few less DVDs and no chance of damage) and also for not being honest with customers who have reported this.
Good luck fellow DVD lovers!
On: 2005-12-03
Just bought my second Sony 400 disc player because the first one is nearing capacity. Works great no problems. Other reviewers have not liked the disc explorer. It works very well for me. Plug in a computer keyboard and enter titles and a still picture from the movie, use the up and down buttons on the remote to scroll quickly through index. I like it.
On: 2005-09-14
I am writing this review because nobody else seemed to discuss the features I really like. It reduced my premium cable channels lug of nearly $40.00 bucks a month! How many good movies can you own for $40 bucks a month. You can turn on the random shuttle and play all or a part of your movies continuously(no FBI warnings). I did not have a problem with the disc explorer as others have. I disconnected my keyboard from my computer(PS2)and plugged it into the front of the unit and it was ready to input titles! Another feature no one has discussed.
One warning: If you have 150+ DVDs you will want to spread them out over the full 400 slots, makes it easy to add movies you havent aquired yet if you like keeping them in alphabetical order.
On: 2005-07-06
I have purchased the earlier model which holds 300 discs from Amazon. I had picked this model as it can play both sides of the DVD. I burn my own DVDs and buy double sided DVDs. This player plays any type of media DVD,VCD,CD,MP3. Picture is good and this can be easliy upgraded to All Region player by buying a kit from internet. Disc selection is slow and I have made an Excel file for the quick review. THis way I do not have to go to the menu to look a t the disc. Overall not a bad player for the money. This upgraded model should have similar performance.
On: 2005-06-10
I liked the thing so much I bought two. Hate the remote, cant figure out the Disc Explorer feature, but it swallows up the discs. Until you have emptied the shelves of hundreds of jewel boxes and DVD cases you just cant fully appreciate the miracle of this machine. Forget all the features--it plays just about everything and if there is a sound quality difference from my old one disc Denon player, Im incapable of hearing it. The DVDs play perfectly and Im much more comfortable if the kids merely press buttons than if they are handling the DVDs.
Sure, in a few years everything will probably be kept on harddrive, but it is important to me to have my collection instantly accessible. DO NOT attempt to use the features--I spent hours entering title information and somehow it all got erased. I keep a log on the computer and a recent printout right next to the machine--it is so easy to dial up the disc you want that you find yourself re-discovering your music collection--not to mention the instant access to all your movies. This machine is worth twice its price.
On: 2005-06-02
Thanks to the dire warnings in reviews like these, I purchased this item with low expectations. I chose a local retailer instead of an online one because I knew I might want to return it. Got a floor model for $345, so I was satisfied with the price.
One reviewer mentioned that he avoided the Disc Explorer entirely by typing up a list and accessing discs by disc number only. I took his advice, and after a cursory look at the Disc Explorer I havent used it since. Sony screwed up here, but the rest of the player is great.
(Its inexplicable why Sony designed the Disc Explorer the way they did. It shows only 5 titles at a time, you cant page down and it doesnt load titles automatically from most discs. Its really terrible. WTF, Sony?)
If the remote had a jog dial so I could dial up a disc number, Id be in heaven. As it is, I use the
+/- keys or press "Folder", then type in the disc number, enter, enter. This works fine. Im happy with the disc-loading speed.
What Im most thrilled with is that it plays all my DVD+R home movies perfectly. Whew. Didnt know whether theyd play when I bought it. Having 20 years of my life on deck changes everything. I can go to my kids birthdays, Christmas of any year or specific vacation memories in seconds. Without a player like this, most home video lies unwatched and even if you pop a tape in, you cant locate anything quickly. With everything transferred to DVD and loaded in a jukebox, I can finally really use my home movies. Same with my complete Monty Python and Seinfeld sets. If you want to put on The Argument Sketch or The Contest, you can go right to it. Oh, and children are incapable of putting DVDs back in their cases. Problem solved.
One nightmare I read about but didnt have was scratched discs. My player is fine in this regard.
My wife asked my why I bought it if it had so many annoying problems. Heres the deal:
1. This player costs $200 less than the Pioneer.
2. This player is progressive scan.
3. The Pioneer is much older.
4. It does what its supposed to do.
I cant comment on the picture or audio quality since Im not a videophile or audiophile anymore. I have the thing plugged directly into a 27" tv, not even stereo. But Im sure if I get a plasma tv and hook it into a surround system itll be awesome.
My wife is happy it plays CDs. She rarely listened to CDs before because it was too much trouble to find them and put them on the player. Now, she can just dial up (on the player) what she wants and press Play.
Buy one and work around the shortcomings. Itll change your life.
Pros
1. This player costs $200 less than the Pioneer.
2. This player is progressive scan.
3. The Pioneer is much older.
4. It does what its supposed to do.
5. Plays DVD+Rs.
Cons
1. Disc access interface. Just avoid Sonys Disc Explorer and youll be fine.
2. Huge, but thats not a big problem for me.
On: 2005-05-13
First what this is: its a great device to easily store and retrieve your DVDs. When reading the reviews here before I bought it I was concerned about the access speed. This is not an issue if you simply maintain a list of the DVDs you have in the player. The progressive scan picture is good and if you enter the slot number of a disc it quickly plays it. This is what I wanted out of this player and it delivers.
I also have a Sony 300 CD player and was concerned that the DVD remote control signals would interfere with the CD player (so that if I turned on the DVD player and wanted to play disc 4 that the CD player would also turn on and play disc 4). This concern is unfounded and theres no overlap in the remote control signals (and if there were, the DVD remote has three settings that enable it to effectively use one of three different sets of commands to avoid this problem - a nice feature).
I have had no problem with the 300 disc CD player so I am confident in the quality of Sonys DVD mega changer.
One negative: when you stop watching a move, the DVD player only remembers the location where you stopped it for a single DVD and only if you dont turn off the DVD player. In contrast, a 5 disc Sony player that I also have is great in that it remembers the location of where you last stopped 50 different DVDs - which enabled you to avoid having to watch the FBI warning and other nonesense everytime you put in a disc.
I have not even tried to use the menu system to retrieve a disc (because of all of the negative comments that Ive read), nor have I tried to enter data about the DVDs into the unit (I used a keyboard to enter data into my CD player and it was a pain, but the data was not lost even when power was lost for over an hour). As mentioned above, the menu system can be avoided if you create a simple table with the slot number and DVD title.
Overall, this does what Im looking for and the price is great for what you get!
On: 2005-03-28
Ive seen so many negative reviews of this machine that I feel the need to comment myself. The user interface is definitely its biggest flaw. I, too, have resorted to using secondary lists to know where my discs are. At first I used a paper list, and now I have a file on my laptop for my CDs and use my IMDB account for my DVDs. (Just type the slot number in the URL section of your movie notes) Anyhow, it is a big area Sony can improve on. What I would ultimately like to see is an ethernet connection to get the info off CDDB, etc. I was one of the folks who bought this for CDs, opting for the DVD version because of the small price gap between the two. What I absolutely LOVE about this machine is having all (or most) of my CDs able to be played though randomly. Granted, a few minutes are spent setting up with the akward menu system, but once set, this thing will play forever until I stop it. I have to wonder why I have to scroll though a menu for such a common function as shuffle, though? Here is the exact procedure for starting the process. Turn on machine. Default folder is "ALL". Hit folder button once to show the "ALL" folder, again to move to "DVD" folder, and once again to move to "CD" folder. Now, you cannot access the menu that contains the shuffle function unless a disc is playing, so hit play. After disc loads, hit "display" button twice to get to correct menu. Scroll down 6 items, then hit right arrow to enter shuffle menu, then down once for random disc, or down twice for random tracks across all discs [my preferred]. So yes, there is definitely truth in the poor menu design complaints. But, after doing this daily, I basically can do it with my eyes closed, and dont even need the TV on. As far as performance, I have had this nearly two years now and never had a single problem other. I often leave it playing CDs at random for hours, if not days at a time. Playback is flawless (I use the optical output). DVD,s too (via component)all play perfectly. I too wish more DVD manufacturers would include pictures and title info. One last thing that bothers me...I had dreams of burning comp discs of MP3s to load and play randomly, but after trying the few I already had, the machine really doesnt like them much. It pretty much ignores MP3 discs in random mode. Also, MP3 discs cannot be put into folders. Additionally, VCDs are auto grouped with CDs which can get annoying on random. I stopped storing VCDs in my machine for this reason. Well, Im not sure my review will come across much better than the others. It is harder to expand upon the reasons I love this machine, and easy to draw out the negatives with detailed descriptions of the problems. All in all, I think most people with a sizeable collection would appreciate all that this unit has to offer, and like myself, overlook even its glaring flaws.
On: 2005-03-23
I have had this player for a few months now and have been very satisfied with it. The price through Amazon was the best that I found, even compared to military exchange shopping. From my perspective, the best thing was eliminating the DVD mess around the TV. I have four small kids (8,6,3,2). Discs were constantly getting scratched and ruined. Not now. And they are able to navigate their movie selections easily. I printed up a numerical title list based on categories, "animated, little kids, children, action, drama, comedy, etc" and left room inbetween to add more movies as they come.
I read a previous review about the complaint about not having a single slot for rentals, etc. I was slightly worried about this when buying, but it really isnt a problem. You open the carasol and put it in any empty slot. Dial in the slot and the movie plays. No big deal! I recommend leaving slot 1 open for this purpose. Granted there are some things that could use improvement, but for what is out there now, I am very happy with it. I give it a four just because I know that faster and easier electronic/remote searching will be available in the future. But I dont think that it is any slower than finding the DVD in a box, unloading it, putting it in the DVD player and waiting for it to load. If you have kids, then this is a buy in my book. One other thing... you can childlock certain movies or even specific scenes on movies. Another plus with kids.
jfw.
On: 2005-03-22
I have been using this machine for about 2 months now. I have loaded about 210 dvds and 150 cds, all play quite nicely. I have not noticed any scratching of any of these disks. I recommend checking for this, in case your machine has a manufacturing defect, as has been (questionably) reported. Also, read the instructions of your equipment thoroughly, before hooking up all the connections to all of your equipment--this may help to ensure that quality signals are tranfered from your player. I have a nice home theater system set up with this player--it performs quite well, with very good picture and sound. I have backed up copies of some of my DVDs and CDs (not always easy to do with todays copy protection schemes), and these also play nicely in this player. I have even added jacket picture, and text information to my copies, which show up perfectly in this players folder system (you can find info on how to do this on the internet). If some of you are trying to play poorly copied disks, the player will have problems playing those disks. If you try to play disks that the player was not designed to play, it may not play them. This is a realitively inexpensive machine, and still could use some improvements: the speed of changing disks is somewhat slow (to be expected with a 400-disk changer?), the display and management of disk information, and searching abilities, could be vastly improved upon, although the present design does work in a very limited, and minimal, way. I do keep a list of my disks handy beside me when I am already playing something, and do not wish to stop the player, to access the folder mode. I have had no problems shuffling, randomly, in order, all disks, disks in a special folder, or only a certain set of disks. I think some reviewers did not read through the instruction manual before writing their reviews. I feel the player is a fine value for the money. 4 stars.
On: 2005-03-12
Ive had this player since August and have had nothing but pleasure from it. It comes close to being as essential as my Tivo for me, and it wasnt even my idea to get it -- it was my husband who wanted this gadget. One caveat -- I almost never use the Sony menu system. We have a Harmony 688 remote so we use the Media button there to store and select our titles. Love it!
On: 2005-02-25
I really have no idea why some people think this unit is difficult to use. I have not had any problems whatsoever with operating it and feel the menus are quite easy to follow and navigate. As far as the disc skipping and gauges.....havent encountered a problem there either. My suggestion would be to purchase a CD cleaner/repair kit and use it on DVDs prior to loading them.
The picture quality is very good and the sound is crisp. I am using the optical digital output which IMO makes a huge difference.
For the price of this player and the ability to catalogue 400 DVDs, I say go for it.
On: 2005-02-17
Have had this unit for a couple of weeks now. It is loaded with some nice features, but it is REALLY pathetic when it comes to playing less than 100% perfect disks. I mean, Cmon, cant Sony get ANYTHING right??? For the money, its a nice unit. Holds 400 disks, plays DVD and CD, has all the audio and video features you would want, but its REALLY pathetic when half the disks you play, that have NO problem playing on any other machine, skip or dont play at all because of the slightest dust speck or fingerprint. How long has Sony been making CD players now??? There always seems to be problems with anything Sony. They just will never be anything more than a mid-grade manufacturer. Also not thrilled that most of the menus and screens are only visible on the TV, so you cant set many of the CD features without using your television. Also, unlike their 300 CD changer, the Text only displays the Disk Title, not the tracks.
On: 2005-02-11
Its true. Its ALL true. Then menu is too slow like veryone says, but I decided to live with it do to the amount of discs it holds. But the unacceptable part is that this player has a defect that destroys discs! I have over 300 DVDs in mine and Ive lost at least 1/3 of them to deep scratchs that occur INSIDE the player during use. When I say deep, I mean they came out with curled plastic hanging off the end of the grooved that was cut by the Sony demon. My advice is suffer with a changer that holds fewer discs. This one will only destroy your property!
On: 2005-02-05
I will agree that the user interface leaves little to be desired, you will get very upset if you try and use this machine to catalog your collection. I would recomend that you get a software package to catalog your collection and print off an index, then use that index to find your movie, dial it in on the machine and enjoy. I use Movie collector and it not only keeps track of what slot the movie is in, it also tells me everything about that movie including front and back cover art. Now to the machine, the purpose to buy one of these is that it will hold 400 DVDs and you dont have to have racks and racks of boxes. I might add that the machine plays the movies great. JUST BUY IT, Use something else to catalog where the movies are and you will be happy. $310 you can not go wrong.
On: 2005-01-21
Originally posted January 21,2005
Ive had the product for about 10 months. Sound and picture quality are fine but using the damn thing distroys much of its value. The ease-of-use issues have been well documented by other disappointed users so I will only say the issues they raised are right on. Hard to use is an understatement. My review is to share my experience with a failure mode and Sony repair. I have a lot of CDs and DVDs but am not a heavy user. Maybe watch a move once a week and play a few CDs now and then. Noticed some of the DVDs were making noise and not playing properly. Discovered fairly deep circular gouges that made several disks unplayable. At first, though they were damaged at purchase but then realized perfect DVDs were being distroyed. Appeared to be only disks around 350 that were damaged and probably when I used the auto LOAD function to read disk titles. May not be the cause but it is always after this operation that damaged disks have been discovered. Would like to know if anyone else has had this problem. Now for Sony service. After making it through the voice recognition phone menu system and providing name address phone model etc I was finaly placed in Q for a live agent -- 45 minutes later I was connected to a very nice woman who arranged for an exchange, not new, but a refurbished product. Thats OK with me, a refurbished product is probably just as good as new. The rub is that it cost me over $40 to return ship the product to Sony. They provide a work order that you take to a "UPS Store" but you pay for shipping and handling. And then wait for Sony to send the replacement. I just returned mine last week so dont know how long the process will take. I do know that good customer care will ship you a new or refurbished product and have you use that packaging to return the original product. The best companies even pay for shipping, all shipping. If I get the refurbished unit back within two weeks and if it looks and works like new, I probably will be satisfied but Sony could, and should, have done better both in the design of the product and in its customer care.
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Im Back! It took about four weeks for repair. So far so good. Seems to work like new, but too soon to know if the disks are now safe. If the problem returns, Ill let you know!
On: 2005-01-14
I purchased Sony DVP-CX985V 400 Disc Progressive DVD / SACD Player with only one thing in mind, ORGANIZATION. I have over 300 DVD movies and it has become a head ache to keep them all in their own boxes, more often than not I would have to go through my entire collection to find the DVD I was looking for. That was not only time consuming but bad for the DVDs themselves, since they get scratched more often that way. I know there are a lot of people out there who are taking much better care for their DVDs and would not have the same problem that I had but you would still have to handle your DVDs every time you want to watch it. That still increases your chances of scratching the disc. I also discovered an unexpected benefit of having the 400 DVD changer. How many times a close friend of yours asked you to borrow one of your DVDs with a promise to return it the very next day and never to see the movie again? It is not like they are trying to steal it from you but simply they forget about it ... including you. Now I do not let them borrow my DVDs without making myself looking like a jerk. I simply tell them that if I take out any of my DVDs from the machine I have to re-catalog all my DVDs and it takes hours to do that, so once a movie is in ... it stays in. :) It is not the case of course but gives me such a good excuse, they feel ashamed to insist on it knowing that borrowing a DVD would cause me a lot of work. If they dont care about it, you dont care in return. I have not lost a single DVD to "I will bring it back tomorrow" friends since I purchased the unit. That by itself paid for DVP-CX985V. The unit is easy to operate and has good picture and sound quality, it takes full advantage of the TV and sound system I have. It plays burned cds like mp3s, svcds. Mechanically it does everything I would like it to do. However DVP-CX985V is not perfect BUT I can be. The processor they used to display your DVDs on the screen is slow and out dated. It displays 5 titles at a time and scrolling up or down is pretty slow considering you can store up to 400 DVDs in there. It might take you 15-20 minutes to go through all the movies. It forces you to make a decision before going through them all, since you really do not want to repeat the process. You can separate your listing in to 4 different categories like comedy, action, drama, and else. This would narrow your options and speed up your search, but you have to enter each title manually into those categories, it is not automatic. It is not hard to do that but I long since forgot how to do it. The manual is somewhere in the house which I am usually too lazy to look for it. The folder can get the DVD information from the DVD and put the name and picture of the DVD automatically, BUT it happens only if you are lucky, Id say 25% of the time I get the DVD information automatically, the rest of the time I plug the keyboard (you can do without the keyboard by using the remote but you have to have the patience of the god to do that)enter the title manually , then I have to start the movie sit through the legal announcements, find a good scene in the movie and pick that frame as the jacket so I would have something besides the name on the screen when I browse through the catalog. This is all too time consuming but you would do it anyways because it feels and looks cool when you show it to your friends :)
The title of my review is "It could be perfect" because I dream about a DVP-CX985V that has internet connection where it retrieves the movie information directly from the movie database. It catalogs movies to your preference "alphabetical or by genre or by year or by actor or by director" Displays more information besides the name of the movie (actors-director-year-awards even perhaps link to reviews) ability turn off the jackets so the screen would refresh faster or a faster processor which wouldnt lag. I wish for a search engine that can look up titles by actor or director or any relevant information using only your remote (a remote that has a mini keyboard built in)You might be a collector but you might not know all the facts about the movie you are collecting. I dream about a DVP-CX985V that would know all that and let you know if you want to know them as well.
I really enjoy having this unit and ready for more.
On: 2004-12-09
The Sony DVP-CX985V disk player is pretty darn good for the price. There are a couple of things that bug me. 1st is the user menu. It needs to be more user intuitive. 2nd is the changing speed, if it was slightly faster and quieter it would be nicer. 3rd and most importantly, is that I wished it can upscale DVD video to 1080i component video output like the Zenith DVB318 DVD player. This feature alone would make this DVD player one of the most awesome DVD jukebox ever built. Can you hear me Sony?
On: 2004-11-05
I purchased this unit about 6 months ago. It was simple enough to hook up. I then filled the unit with 100+ DVDs and the rest with CDs. I allowed the unit to scan all the DVDs and CDs. I was not impressed that out of 100 DVDs it only recognized about 4, yes only 4.
I began programming the titles however was limited to just a few characters per title that could not handle most of the movie titles. After about 2 hours of painful work, I decided to go to my computer and type out an excel spreadsheet. I alphabetized the entire list. I now just have to pull out the spreadsheet to determine which CD or DVD I want to watch.
This brings me to the next issue. Lets say you are on the couch and just decided to play the DVD in position 102. On the remote there is no way to just type in position 102 and have the unit advance to that position. You have to hold a tiny button down and allow it to advance step by step.
Another issue is the remote has so many tiny buttons. The worst positioning is for the volume control and the disk change buttons which are set up one over the other. If you accidentally hit the + sign instead of lowering the volume in the dark, you have just ruined the entire viewing experience for the audience as you have just stopped your movie and went to the next DVD.
Another issue is although I have this feature turned off in the software, each time I turn the unit on or change to a new disk location the unit automatically begins to play the DVD or CD in that position.
It is nice that I get to store all my CDs and DVDs in a place where they are readily available. However, there is computer software out there that Sony should take a look at before it releases a new model.
I could not recommend purchasing this unit unless you are not interested in the software portion.
On: 2004-10-18
I got caught up in the television series box sets, to the point of needing one of these. I need another one now. Although a bit slow and time consuming to finish typing in the titles that the dvd player didnt recognize, still a good deal. And a great deal for the amount of dvds it holds. Enough that I now turned of my satellite dish subscription. The tiny buttons on the remote seem neccessary for the amount of things it needs to do. The folder button could be more comfortably located. Would love to find a 1000 disc dvd player now.. :D
On: 2004-10-17
I got caught up in the television series box sets, to the point of needing one of these. I need another one now. Although a bit slow and time consuming to finish typing in the titles that the dvd player didnt recognize, still a good deal. And a great deal for the amount of dvds it holds. Enough that I now turned of my satellite dish subscription. The tiny buttons on the remote seem neccessary for the amount of things it needs to do. The folder button could be more comfortably located. Would love to find a 1000 disc dvd player now.. :D
On: 2004-09-12
I have been using this player for the last 6 months. I agree that the remote lag is noticable but eventually you get used to it. The pay off is accesing your entire collection without leaving your seat. The picture is incredible and the sound is the same. If you are in a hurry dont buy this unit. If you want to keep your DVDs in one place and veiw on demand then this is for you.
On: 2004-08-16
OK, where to begin with this thing...
Many people have complained about the menu. Yes, it really is as bad as everyone says. Its more or less useless. I use a computer program called DVD Profiler to catalog my movies... it even allows a catalog number which I correspond to the disc number in my player, and then I print the list and voila, not only a convenient list of your movies but you can even make it into an attractive coffee table book, lol.
Now onto my biggest gripe of all. This thing, after 6 months of use, is skipping on MOST of my DVDs. Now Ill admit I have some copied DVDs thanks to my DVD burner, and they skip the worst, so I cant hold it against Sony if my copying skills are substandard. The fact that the player is beginning to skip on COMMERCIAL DVDs, though? Dust and scratch free DVDs? Unacceptable. Its always right around the 30-60 minute mark, too. Its definitely a problem with the player. Ive always tried to be a big Sony fan, but their standards just keep sinking lower and lower. Even my new Sony laptop is already having problems with the touchpad mouse. If some other company offers a DVD player like this one, go for it. Sony really dropped the ball on this one.
On: 2004-08-14
First the fundamentals: this unit works--it stores and plays 400 DVDs with very good picture and sound quality; but there are so many little things that make it hard to use that the only reason to recommend this over another mega-changer is the price.
The biggest problem is the amount of your time this unit wastes.
As other reviewers have noted, with the cover art installed, it takes over 1.5 seconds to display the next item when scrolling up or down. That really adds up in a 400-disc player. You can cut down on this by alpha-sorting the folders and scrolling rapidly without having the unit display the titles as you go, but even with this it still can take over a minute to find the disc you want. Definitely longer than when I had my DVDs on the shelf.
It is also very annoying that the player locks-out the stop button during the FBI warning, so if you start playing a disc unintentionally, you have to wait until the warning is done before you can go back. That can easily add a minute or two.
Which leads to another big frustration: an extremely bad remote control. There are lots of little buttons that are very difficult to tell apart. Some of the buttons can kill a viewing experience if hit by accident (eg., if you hit disc skip you need to sit through the entire FBI warning for the DVD you are moving to, and then again through the one you are watching, and then you have to find your place again. A potential 5-minute delay because your finger slipped in the dark).
There is also a strange bug that causes the unit to sometimes start playing the current disc when you hit the power button. (There is a feature to do this, but I have it turned off). To continue the ongoing theme of this review, when this happens, you need to sit through the entire FBI warning before you can go select the disc you want to view.
Two features that Ive seen mentioned about this unit (though not by Sony) are not present at all. First, some places refer to this as a 400+1 disc changer. There is no 401st slot; you need to remove a disc to put the 401st in. Second, I saw one site say that this unit could play both sides of a DVD. This is not true.
I have ended up printing out a paper list of the installed DVDs and their slot numbers, and I navigate using the dial on the base unit. I control the unit during play using a universal remote that doesnt include any changer functions.
Not an ideal solution, but not bad for around $350 delivered.
On: 2004-07-19
Expectations are everything. My experience with the incompetence of the consumer A/V industry must lower mine. Ive heard the complaints about the speed and clumsiness of this unit but I have no major complaints about it. I must admit that I place a higher priority on picture and audio quality, and this unit is awesome on both counts. In addition, the transport is well designed, quiet and well balanced. For those of you shopping for one of these, make sure you read the dimensions. This sucker is HUGE. Its much deeper than any of my other equipment, including my Sony ES receiver. I had to cut the back out of my A/V cabinet in order for it to fit. Again, no biggie. Id have bought a new piece of furniture for it. The time required to set up this unit is nothing when compared with the nightmare of displaying, storing, and handling 350 DVDs. My wife and I spent about three hours inserting the discs and entering the titles, using a keyboard and a spreadsheet of our movies. It took me another hour to divide the DVDs into the four included groups in the Disc Explorer. I divided them into Family, Action, CDM (Comedy Drama Musical) and Other (special features, yoga, documentaries). Seems to work so far for me. Is the Disc Explorer the greatest thing in the world? Nope, but it works fine if you are too lazy to have a printout of your movies nearby. The best part is that its not required in order to use the unit, which gives you lots of flexibility. If you are serious about your video system, use DVDlobby and youll never use Disk Explorer again. Ive heard complaints about the speed of the transport on this unit. Again, expectations are everything. How long does it take to look through the movies in your media cabinet, decide which one you want, open the sometimes bizzarre packaging, load the disc into your player, take the old one out, and put it away? With this unit, it takes 18 seconds to load and play a disk on the opposite side of the platter. It takes 9 seconds to go from viewing a movie to viewing the Disk Explorer. It takes about 4 minutes to navigate through all 400 disks with the Disk Explorer. Its faster if you dont add pictures to the disc names, and some of the names from the disk manufacturers are just wrong, so you might be better off not letting the unit detect your disks. The only movie I had a real problem creating a title for was Confessions of a Dangerous Mind since there was only room for "Conf/Dangerous M". I settled for "Dangerous Mind". I know my movies well enough that I dont require an entire paragraph to remind me. If you are interested in using this unit for SACD, remember that you must have a 5.1 channel input on your receiver. If you have more CDs than DVDs, dont expect this thing to be a good CD player. It isnt, but Ive never seen a DVD player that was. Buy a megaCD changer and save yourself the trouble.
On: 2004-07-18
Expectations are everything. My experience with the incompetence of the consumer A/V industry must lower mine. Ive heard the complaints about the speed and clumsiness of this unit but I have no major complaints about it. I must admit that I place a higher priority on picture and audio quality, and this unit is awesome on both counts. In addition, the transport is well designed, quiet and well balanced. For those of you shopping for one of these, make sure you read the dimensions. This sucker is HUGE. Its much deeper than any of my other equipment, including my Sony ES receiver. I had to cut the back out of my A/V cabinet in order for it to fit. Again, no biggie. Id have bought a new piece of furniture for it. The time required to set up this unit is nothing when compared with the nightmare of displaying, storing, and handling 350 DVDs. My wife and I spent about three hours inserting the discs and entering the titles, using a keyboard and a spreadsheet of our movies. It took me another hour to divide the DVDs into the four included groups in the Disc Explorer. I divided them into Family, Action, CDM (Comedy Drama Musical) and Other (special features, yoga, documentaries). Seems to work so far for me. Is the Disc Explorer the greatest thing in the world? Nope, but it works fine if you are too lazy to have a printout of your movies nearby. The best part is that its not required in order to use the unit, which gives you lots of flexibility. If you are serious about your video system, use DVDlobby and youll never use Disk Explorer again. Ive heard complaints about the speed of the transport on this unit. Again, expectations are everything. How long does it take to look through the movies in your media cabinet, decide which one you want, open the sometimes bizzarre packaging, load the disc into your player, take the old one out, and put it away? With this unit, it takes 18 seconds to load and play a disk on the opposite side of the platter. It takes 9 seconds to go from viewing a movie to viewing the Disk Explorer. It takes about 4 minutes to navigate through all 400 disks with the Disk Explorer. Its faster if you dont add pictures to the disc names, and some of the names from the disk manufacturers are just wrong, so you might be better off not letting the unit detect your disks. The only movie I had a real problem creating a title for was Confessions of a Dangerous Mind since there was only room for "Conf/Dangerous M". I settled for "Dangerous Mind". I know my movies well enough that I dont require an entire paragraph to remind me. If you are interested in using this unit for SACD, remember that you must have a 5.1 channel input on your receiver. If you have more CDs than DVDs, dont expect this thing to be a good CD player. It isnt, but Ive never seen a DVD player that was. Buy a megaCD changer and save yourself the trouble.
On: 2004-07-16
I liked this player so much I bought another one. This player plays DVDs that were unplayable on my other players (Panasonic, Sony, RCA). I have never tried the disc explorer because other reviewers complain about it and I lose power occasionally. I use a spreadsheet as my DVD guide so I can sort by Title and have a great custom "TV Guide" including episode names on the TV show DVDs. I bought my first CX985V 6 months ago and I have had no problems so far.
On: 2004-07-02
I bought this unit to replace 2 Sony 200 cd only disc players. This model was only $125 more than the 400 cd player, so i went with it. The menu funtions are terrible!!!! They are way over complicated and irritating. And if you just wanna play cds you have to enter th cd# and then wait for the player to recognize the cd before you can select a track. It is a time consuming annoyance. If you want to use the shuffle or program features you have to use the menu on you TV. You cant just push a button and go. This player is a huge disapointment, but im too lazy to remove all my cds and take it back.
On: 2004-06-21
Excellent quality picture and sound..but as echoed in other reviews...do a list (paper)...loaded about 240 dvds recognized 31..one of which, the store bought movie(not a copy) "Glory" showed up as "Full Tilt Boogie" and because no overwrite capabilities we forever be know as such...no offence to any civil war vets out there...
On: 2004-06-18
I bought one of these players, upgrading from a Sony 300+1 disk player that had been filled and because I also wanted the progressive scan my older unit had lacked. The slowness of the Disk Exployer has always been a problem that I was use to, so that was nothing new to me. A wireless keyboard makes a GREAT difference when putting in movie names, howerver it still took me about two weekends to program 320 DVD titles (about 5% of which had been pre-programmed with DVD-Text).
The first problem showed up as I was loading the movies from the old player. Slot number 141 would not load a disk into the drive, no matter what disk I put into the slot. This was a minor problem as I had 399 working slots.
The bigger problem showed up after I had put in about 380 DVDs (about seven months into ownership). The unit started acting up. Sometimes the power would turn itself off for no reason, sometimes programmed disks would be lost from Disk Exployer and more then once the player would simply lock up while playing a disk - the picture would freeze and no responce from either the remote or front-panel buttons. I would have to unplug the unit to reset it.
And on the 8th month, the power supply failed. I was on 383 DVDs, all programmed, with picture jackets ... I nearly cryed thinking of all the time it had taken to program the player. It has been in the shop now for two months. Luckly, I had not yet sold my old 300 disk changer, which is still working.
For those that dont like programming in all those DVD titles, I have recently purchased the Kenwood DV5900, it links to your home computer and gets titles off the internet. It is a much better, though much more expensive unit ... and still supports changer linking (up to three), which the newer Sony units seem to lack.
On: 2004-04-27
perfect for holding and repeated viewing of various dvds.. no more swapping in and out... what a pain it is!
great features... i love the search feature... fast forward and then release the button to continue playing....
On: 2004-02-20
After reading numerous reviews regarding the Sony DVP-CX985V, it became obvious that Sonys interface needed to be avoided altogether. Since I also happened to be looking for a way to avoid another remote in the living room (Im embarrassed to say Ive collected over a dozen somehow) I found the Harmony SST-659 universal remote can catalog all 400 slots and display them on the backlit LCD. In short, you look at the remote to choose the movie, not the painfully slow and inaccurate Sony "Explorer" mode... which does a great job at making you feel as if you are truly exploring some vast, unknown and mostly empty wasteland. You might not like the idea of buying a new DVD player and a fairly pricy remote just to make it all work. But if youre like me, and were ready to get rid of some remotes anyway... its a winning combo. Whats the catch? The remote itself requires patience and an internet connection to program it... remember, it can control all of your systems. The silver lining? I shopped around and bought both for a little more than the retail price of the DVD player alone. So I actually love the DVD player now. The quality of the picture is superb. The sound decoding is faultless. It plays every rewritable disc Ive thrown at it, and finally, its just too cool. Watching the blue backlit carousel spin your library around gives my 3 year-old the giggles every time. And I LOVE the door locking feature. We can keep his DVDs out of his hands and locked in the carousel. This has actually saved us money, since hes been able to find several of his discs in the past and frisbee them to death. Bad kid. Good player.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-02-15
Have to echo the other reviews. I had myself convinced this would be a great unit, only to find that Sony really missed the boat. User interface is terrible. Not enough characters to label disks without using somekind of shorthand. Got so disgusted I sent it back.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-22
While I agree with the other folks, the interface is a klunky and manually entering a large number of discs is a pain, the biggest beef with this unit is the customer service.After having my unit for only 2 months, I turned it on, [CLICK], [BANG], [CLICK] ... not good sounds! After unloading all the discs, I find a part of the transport had physically broken. All I did was turn the unit on. I sent the unit back to Sony to be repaired. After a month(!), they figure out that they cant repair it and have to replace it, fine....another month later and Im still waiting for the replacement. How can it take 2+ months to replace a unit? So much for watching movies with the kids over the holidays. I used to say Sony was the best ... now ... if it works, its good. If not, youre in trouble.
On: 2003-12-29
I just purchased this unit yesterday, and have almost completed the loading of my media into the player. First let me mention the things that I do like about it. I like that it holds 400 disks, and how the motor transport transitions from disk to disk. I am pleased with the audio quality from either the Digital Fiber connection or the 6-channel direct connection. I like that it plays so many media formats, and Im glad it has a keyboard interface. It would take even longer to program without it. This brings me to one of the worst designed menu systems, and disk recognition systems that I have seen. Only twenty of my sixty two DVDs were automatically recognized and populated in the menu, the rest I had to manually enter into the 16 character space, even though there is another blank line below, you cannot select it to edit the contents to have one line for the Artist and the other for the title. The ratio of recognized CD titles is even worse. It recognized five out of one hundred and seventy eight CDs, one of which was the SACD demo CD of Bob Dylan that comes with the player. It would be better if there were a couple of customizable genre categories as well. Although the menu system stinks, I am still glad that I made the purchase. It eliminates the need for a media rack in my living room, and I have re-discovered some of my forgotten about CDs while loading them into the player.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-11-11
I anxiously awaited the sweet promise of having all of my DVDs online (like a movie-TIVO), so I wouldnt even have to move to watch 8 hours of movies. Unfortunately, this like so many other dreams of mine, has been dashed on the rocks of despair. Now I cant find my movies, because the titles do not auto-load, nor do the pictures, and the titles wont sort correctly. And as an added bonus, in Progressive scan mode, the picture randomly blanks out for 3-10 seconds at the most interesting parts of movies. I am sending this back and settling for getting up off the couch.
On: 2003-11-07
The user interface blows chunks. Finding a disc is difficult. There are no page up/down capabilities and only 5 titles are displayed at a time... try scrolling one at a time though hundreds of titles or typing the slot number to get around. The whole point of this player is to manage a large number of DVDs; they missed the boat. You cannot override the title of movies so if you want to sort them alphabetically, you are stuck with the title that was supplied on the disc (some are all upper case, some titles start with "The" so they sort to the Ts, some are too long for the tiny space they provide). The software could never have been tested because some menu choices simply dont work at all, like the ability to turn off auto play when power is turned on. Finally, the thumbnail image capture is terrible. The thumbnails that are supplied on about 1 in 20 discs are good, but the ones you capture yourself are grainy and indistinguishable. I am sending mine back.
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