Sony DVP-NS700H DVD Player

From the moment you turn the DVD player on and the brilliant blue LED lights up, you will know this is something special. The real joy is watching standard DVD's in 1080p up scaling. Yes, they really do look better and sound fantastic. I had another Sony DVD player with component video and progressive scan but the difference in quality on the same television is at least 25% in modern DVD movies. Additionally, the remote works flawlessly with my coworker's Sony Bravia W-Series KDL-52W4100 so you could expect similar results with your Sony television too. While the rest of this review is technical, read on and see why this cheap DVD player upgrade gets my enthusiastic two thumbs up rating!

I own a Sony NS77H HDMI dvd player and have told several friends and coworkers about its performance.  To my surprise my boss, found the other DVD player review and purchased this model for himself.  He then asked me to help him pick out a television and we settled on a Sony 52" LCD with 120Hz refresh rate.  When the products came in, we drove over to his house and setup the new equipment.  I was very nervous the entire time because my technical knowledge was on the line.  Any wrong choice of product or cable would have meant a lengthy delay.  Luckily, I ordered two extra HDMI cables and a fiber optic link cable in case we had any issues.  I encourage you to do the same; the minimal investment will ensure a fast setup.

You need to know that any device sending an HDMI signal must have a compatible television in order to get the best video and sound quality.  While using a standard analog television could give you a small increase in visual effects, only a true 1080p display can showcase the features discussed in this review.  Several retailers are offering specials on high definition televisions for the 2008 holiday shopping season.  If you do not have yet, I encourage you to get one so you will be ready for the HD transition in the year 2009.

Packaging And Setup
My coworker's DVP-NS700H/B came in a large rugged cardboard box. Foam padding protected the hardware inside from damage so you should have little worry about receiving a mistreated product. Out of the cardboard box came a utilitarian looking, black plastic and metal box measuring 17"W x 8.2"D x 2"H with a rounded dark blue faceplate on the front to give a modern look to the unit. I plugged in the unit to Monster brand 3,000 joule power strip and the player powered right up.

Next, I connected a male to male HDMI cable to the back of the DVD player and connected the other end to a HDMI jack on the back of his Sony STR-DG800 unit in the DVD in slot.  The STR-DG800 has an HDMI output jack labeled display and this was used to make the link to his new Sony Bravia W-Series KDL-52W4100. All you would have to do now is switch inputs on the supplied remote until you find the blue Sony welcome screen. While purchasing this product from Amazon, we also picked up two 3ft HDMI cables for $6 a piece which was a great deal when compared to the same length Monster Cable sold at the local Sears for $100! 

The only problem with the configuration was that the DVD audio was not coming through the HDMI cable for some reason.  We had to use a set of stereo male to male RCA cables to transfer the sound between the DVD player and the STS-DG800 receiver.

Configuration
The DVD menu accessible through the DISPLAY button on the remote has a wide range of custom settings to tune your viewing experience. The Language setup section features the selection of OSD, menu, audio and subtitle settings in over 4 languages. Additionally, the menu language option will allow the selection of 16 languages. More importantly the DVD player has a built in parental control feature with a 4 digit password to help control who uses the DVD player. My favorite feature in the HDMI DVD player menu is the audio setup menu. Within the audio menu, you can adjust Audio AH, Audio DRC, Down Mix and Digital Out. For example you can set the PCM output between 96Khz/24bit and 48Khz/16 bit. For owners of high definition surround sound systems you should become familiar with this setting to get the most out your DVD experience.

Remote Control
The RMT-D175A, Sony DVD remote control is a powerful integrated unit. The remote is made of grey colored plastic and is 8 1/2"L x 2"W x 1"D. Using two AA batteries, you can expect at least one year of use from NiMH batteries. I was very lucky to find that the Sony Bravia W-Series KDL-52W4100 television can be controlled from this remote with no need for time consuming programming.  The remote however was not able to control his home theater receiver, the Sony STR-DG800.  We decided to put the remote away for storage and instead use the powerful Sony RM-AAP008 which controls the DVD player, TV and receiver without the need for reprogramming!  If you can find the remote it will let you control all the features of this DVD player.

Video and Sound Quality
First, when comparing the video quality of any digital television signal you will hear people mention the term digital artifacts.  Digital artifacts are visible defects in a video picture with are specifically caused by the digital encoding process.  Several factors come into play in the setup discussed as part of this review:  DVD itself, DVD output, HDMI cable quality and the televisions ability to display the signal real-time.  Here in late 2008, the setup my coworker has is arguably the best available for standard DVD playback. 
To test out the video performance of the newly configured entertainment system we decided to watch a few scenes of the animated movie Over The Hedge.  The quality was so impressive on the 52 inch LCD television that we had to get to within a foot of the screen to see digital artifacts around the corners of the animated characters in the movie.  My eyes still have near 20 20 vision without glasses, so you have to believe me that the picture is good.
The audio quality was very good over the Sony home theatre system and gave me the impression of surround sound even though I had to use the RCA outputs on the DVD player. 

What is HDMI?
The High-Definition Multimedia Interface is a compact video/audio interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. HDMI supports on a single cable the transmission of high-definition video along with up to 8 channels of digital audio for a total of up to 10.2 Gbit/s at 340Mhz. Audio can be sent uncompressed at 192Khz sample rate with 24 bits/sample as well as compressed audio streams such as Dolby Digital and DTS. The Sony DVP-NS700H/B player allows you to adjust these transmission settings in the setup menu.

The official HDMI specification does not detail a maximum cable length at this time. As with all video and audio cable, keep it clear of neon or fluorescent light sources and make sure it has at least 24 AWG conductors if you desire the optimal signal. In fact, with 24 AWG conductors an HDMI cable can reach lengths of 49 ft.

For those who just want it to work, HDMI means much more than just plugging in a single cable. The advanced signal technology means your television or sound system can produce at least 25% more sound at the same volume level RCA cabling could provide. The gain translates into thundering bass and crisp highs that make movies like Serenity and Transformers more enjoyable the second time on DVD.

Power Consumption
Using a Kill-A-Watt power consumption meter, I analyzed the NS77H for two hours with the following results:
10 watts in HDMI mode with DVD playing
4 watts in HDMI mode with DVD paused
0 watts when power is switched off

The DVD player pulled a total of .012 Kwh for two hours of use! .012 Kwh is the second lowest recorded energy consumption total for any appliance I have ever seen.  The Sony NS77H was the lowest with an actual reading of .01Kwh.  I believe that the power consumption comparison at these extremely low levels is trivial and we should just be happy that these products are so energy efficient.

Features
720p/1080i/1080p Up scaling Video Output through HDMI
Fast and slow playback with sound
High Resolution JPEG output
Precision Cinema Progressive Technology
Precision Drive 3 System for flaws in DVD Discs
BRAVIA Theatre Sync
Multi-Disc Resume for 6 discs
RCA Audio Output
S-Video Output
Composite Video Output
Component Video (Y/Pb/Pr) Output
Optical Audio Output
ASIN: B0015VW3BM

Product Website
You can visit the following website, http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=DVP-NS700H®ion_id=1 for support from Sony. The website has marketing specifications and a limited warranty card.  A hot topics section covers the following issues:  Hookup Recommendation Guide, Unable to eject a disc, the picture skips or freezes during playback and error no disc, disc error or insert disc.  Finally, the best news coming to us from the website is that at the time of this review, there are no support alerts for this DVD player.

Summary
Loaded down with output connections, the Sony DVP-NS700H/B is a wonderful bargain in this world of overpriced home video equipment. The best part of all is the minimal power consumption which results in a significant utility bill savings every month!