Sony DVP NS315 - DVD player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I just purchased this DVD player about a week ago, and I've been very pleased with the purchase. For those of you who just want to put a DVD in and play it, this is a perfect player for you. If you stop the DVD and turn off the player but don't remove the DVD, it'll start playing from the same spot when you turn it on again. S-Video, component and digital coax outputs, as well as RCA outputs, make this a DVD player with a future, as does the fact that it can play MP3's, CD-R and RW and DVD-R and RW discs. The surround sound feature is wonderful, particularly if you just want to use your regular stereo TV - the surround modes make it sound like you're surrounded by speakers, even though the player is using only the two speakers in your TV. (It also hooks up to a full stereo system, providing Dolby 5.1 sound if your receiver supports it.) As well, one of the surround options (Night Mode) plays everything at the expected level except for explosions, rumbles, and other neighbour-disturbing sounds, which it cuts the volume on. Great for late night viewing! The player also features video enhancement, with dynamic contrast and colour adjustment through five video options. The remote is somewhat disappointing, with the play, rewind, etc. buttons placed counter-intuitively above the menu navigation "disk" in the centre of the remote. It is, however, fine for most people. Note that the remote offered with the 315 doesn't control other TV's, etc. Only Sony ones. I understand the model 415 comes with a universal remote, if you need one. All in all, a very satisfactory player for the price, with crystal clear picture and audio. I should also mention that I'm using this player with standard RCA audio and video hook-ups, and the picture and sound is still great - much improved over my VCR, or even satellite. Highly recommended for the mid-range consumer.

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Make favorite movie moments come alive with Sony's slim-design DVP-NS315B DVD player. The player has high-quality component-video outputs and Sony's Precision Drive 2 system, which maintains quality audio/video performance even when discs are scratched or warped. The DVP-NS315B is compatible with just about every disc format out there, including DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW (video mode), CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3 CD. BNR (block-noise reduction) minimizes choppy image distortion during scenes where the whole image changes quickly. SmoothScan and SmoothSlow modes provide clean playback of DVD in slow motion and scan speeds.
Top-of-the-line component-video outputs help minimize line scan and digital artifacts on compatible advanced televisions, and composite-video and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television. The back panel offers one output each for composite-video, S-video, and component-video. A 10-bit video DAC with 27 MHz processing ensures accurate video with smooth gradations of color and contrast.
Both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel surround-sound signals can be routed through the player's digital-audio output for direct connection to a full-featured audio/video receiver. Built-in 96 kHz, 24-bit linear PCM decoding extracts the full performance of all the linear PCM audio formats in CD and DVD-Video. You can also process two-channel sources for surround sound--Digital Cinema Sound DSP reproduces the precise acoustics of acclaimed Hollywood mastering stages. TV Virtual Surround System generates the effect of surround sound speakers, even when you're limited to the stereo speakers inside your TV. Instant Replay jumps back 10 seconds and commences play. It's great for those times when you miss a line of movie dialogue or when you just have to see that dance move again. Custom parental control locks playback of user-designated discs with a four-digit code, whether or not the discs carry an MPAA rating.

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Alpine INA-W900 - Navigation system with DVD player, LCD monitor, digital player and radio Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I would rate this unit an 8.8/10. I own a 2009 Honda Accord Ex-L w/o Nav because Honda charges a ridiculously high price for their navigation package and I knew I could do better for cheaper with aftermarket. This unit does an ok job with its navigation, but not as good as other units. The alpine has about 6 million points of interest compared to 12 million of other units so if you are searching for a location without its address, it could pose potential problems. As far as map updates, I doubt it. I have heard from Alpine owners of past and they still haven't released a map update for previous models. A feature I would have liked to seen is the ability to send an address to your headunit from googlemaps which would have negated the need for map updates in my opinion. The turn by turn navigation is nice, the voice is not annoying and it has an adjustable setting that controls how loud the voice comes in over your music. Another feature I like is being able to see your next turn even if you are on the audio screen.
Where this unit shines, in my opinion, is its ipod integration.
**Disclaimer: Be forewarned if you have an ipod touch you will have issues with it because it is not completely compatible with the ipod touches. There will be occasional disconnects and the only solution is to unplug and then plug back in your ipod, even on the latest firmware, 3.1 as of this message. I have confirmed this with Alpine support (which is sub par at best). This would have been a deal breaker for me, but luckily I have a classic also that works very well with it even though there are some minor quirks though (not a dealbreaker in my book), but that could be because of the ipod, it is rather old and has been run over.**
The way you access your ipod is pretty much mimicked through the Alpine. You have access to everything you would normally have when using your ipod (music, movies, podcasts, playlists...). The sound quality using the ipod to the headunit is nice!!! I am no audiophile but music sounds great from this headunit with the settings I currently have. I have heard from others that the IMPRINT module makes it sound even better if you don't know how to properly configure your settings by yourself (which I know I don't). Album artwork shows up nicely in the corner if you have artwork for the song or if you prefer, your next turn if using navigation. One thing I would have liked to have seen with the ipod integration is a search function so you don't have to scroll through all of your music. I have 4,000+ songs and even though you can scroll by alphabet, it would make things a lot faster in some cases if I could just use a search function that narrowed down all the available listings every time you clicked another letter to the song/artist/album name like you would do with your ipod. Speaking of the alphabet search function, it can be a little hairy at times. You would think that since one of the selling points of this head unit is its ipod integration, it would sort songs like iTunes does seeing as how iTunes is the only way to put songs on your ipod. For example, lets say I have the following list of songs:
Almost Easy
American Idiot
...And Justice for All
Arterial Black
Baba O'Riley
If I am currently on a screen that shows these 5 songs and I hit the Alphabet > button you would think it would put the 'B' listings at the top, but it doesnt. It sees the ... and puts that at the top of the screen since it is different from 'A'. So now we have ...And Justice for All at the top of the screen and if I were to hit the Alphabet > button again, Arterial Black would show at the top because 'A' is different from .... iTunes ignores these just like it does the word 'The' in song titles when sorting by alphabet but this headunit does not. Minor quirk, I know.
Video looks great on the 7 inch screen and the sound quality is great as well when using a DVD. If you use a converter to change a video to ipod format (instead of DVD format) from say .flv (YouTube's format) or .avi there is some sound/video quality loss but it is still convenient to be able to store all of your movies on your ipod and have them accessible at any time.
I also bought an Alpine backup camera to go along with the headunit and it is a dream to have. I am very surprised it came with toggable cones to help you measure distance. Along the same lines, this headunit is an awesome all in one system. There are connections for another AUX input so if you wanted to put in say a front camera or PS2, this system is accomodating. Be prepared to pony out the money for extras though (backup camera, Imprint, HD radio, SIRIUS, Bluetooth). These are all seperate modules that you must pay for. I was a little disheartened to see you had to pay out extra for Imprint and Bluetooth. Maybe not so much the Imprint, but definately the Bluetooth I felt should have been included.
The touchscreen user interface is responsive and user friendly, not to mention eye candy. Be prepared to hear people say "I want that" for any passengers you might have. Menus are easy to navigate and provide adequate system options. I cannot speak on audio options such as HPF or LPF, for people with aftermarket audio systems, as I don't have one and I have never dealt with options like that before.
All in all, this unit is a definate + in my book. I am very happy with my purchase and am glad I didn't buy a different head unit, I would just like to see some map updates and I will be a very happy man.
Summary:
+++Definate headturner
++Audio Sound Quality
+Touchscreen interface
+Ipod Integration...
-Assuming you don't have a iTouch
+Built to be an all in one device...
-If you shell out extra money for the modules
+- Navigation package has its moments. Map updates hold this unit back from being competitive with other units.
--Alpine Support


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The INA-W900 All-in-one Navigation/DVD/Receiver is equipped with a 7 WVGA, 1.15 million pixel touch-control screen. Alpines exclusive GuideView Window gives you a picture-in-picture nav window while the unit is in audio display/mode. Alpine's OnPoint Advanced GPS Positioning ensures accurate positioning on the map in areas where it's difficult to receive GPS reception. The INA-W900 uses the latest Burr-Brown 24 Bit DAC for ultimate sound quality with all your digital media sources. With "Made for iPod" and "Works with iPhone" designations, the INA-W900 gives you fast access to all your iPod music and movies. 50W x 4, 3 - 2 volt RCA outputs, 1 A/V input, Rear Camera input, HD/Sat/Bluetooth ready.

GuideView Window for picture-in-picture navi. directions
"Made for iPod" and "Works with iPhone" iPod/iPhone Control
7 WVGA, 1.15 Million Pixel Touch-Control Screen
6 million Points of Interest (POIs)
HD/Sat/Bluetooth Ready
6 Second Boot-Up Time

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Toshiba SD-3990 Progressive Scan DVD Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First of all, let me say that this unit is very well worth the money. As "just a DVD player" I give it FIVE over FIVE points (or ten/ten if you wish).
The unit comes as Region Free DVD Player. Professionally modified to play any region out of the box. This feature makes it most versatile player as this player can play any region 1,2,3,4,5,6 PAL or NTSC on regular American TV just out of the Box It just works.
Good things:
it can play NTSC and PAL DVD, VCD. and when it plays PAL VCD, it will fit the image so that the image is not out of proper aspect ratio. You can even easily choose the left or right audio channel which is typical of VCD. Further, this DVD player can play DivX, MPG, mp3, jpg. It can play DivX with subtitles. When fast forwarding, it can go up to 30x and 100x (seems like not 100x but maybe 50x). When you step frame by frame, it works flawlessly. It's a great player for the price, considering all the media it plays (ours played DVD+RW too) and the quality of sound and picture it produces.
As a straight DVD player, this player excels. It has an absolutely brilliant progressive picture, with rich colors, and no prog-scan artifacts whatsoever. There are also a couple of nice digital touch-up controls, sharpness and brightness which can come in handy to boost dark images.
As a DIVX/Xvid player, also excellent. Highly compatible with divx 4/5 and vxid, not at all with divx 3.11 or ms mp4 v2 - according to my testing. plays ac3 audio on these files too. Interesting problem with divx subtitles. Very compatible, yet places them in the middle of the screen, which is weird, but oddly workable. The menu system for avi files is intuitive, but only captures the first 16 characters of the filename.
As a dvd-r player, it's also solid. It has played all media I've thrown at it (-r, -rw). The only problem is that it's picky about flaws. In fact, I have dozens of labeled dvd-r's which will break-up and not play past a certain point. unfortunate, but after I removed the labels (not an easy process) they played to the end.
Now for my favorite feature, the coup de grace: auto aspect-ratio. I have a 16:9 set. When I enable this feature (default), anamorphic titles will fill the screen, 4:3 titles will be in the middle (though zoomed in ever-so-slightly) and non-anamorphic letterbox titles will be zoomed in to fill the width of the 16:9. It makes this adjustment for dvd and divx content. And it gets it right 95% of the time - the other 5% you can adjust manually.

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Nicely affordable yet packed full of powerful video and audio playback features, the Toshiba SD-3990 single-disc, progressive scan DVD player has a stylishly silver, super-slim profile that measures just 1.65 inches high. It's also compatible with a wide variety of disc and digital file formats, including DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, and VCD discs as well as MP3, WMA, and JPEG (Kodak Picture and FujiColor CDs) content burned to disc. It's also DivX Home Theater Certified, meaning that it's compatible with video burned to disc using both the DivX video format.
The SD-3990 performs 3:2 pulldown detection and reversal, too--a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. To adapt 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video, frames in the original movie must be duplicated; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this duplication by removing the redundant information to display a frame-accurate picture.
With the JPEG Viewer, you can easily display your favorite digital photos and create custom slideshows with a few simple clicks of the player's remote control. The interactive Digital Picture Zoom feature allows you to select an area of the video from a DVD and magnify it. Other DVD playback features include fast scan, slow motion, multi-angle selection, multi-subtitle selection, and parental lock.
You get vivid, realistic sound, thanks to Toshiba's 24-bit/192 kHz pulse code modulation (PCM) audio processor. PCM audio translates digital signals from your DVDs and CDs into warmer, natural sound. The DVD player offers Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, and you can connect to a multi-channel home theater surround sound system via the coaxial digital audio output. It also produces 3D virtual surround sound from two speakers. It features the following video and audio connections:
Composite A/V: 1
S-Video: 1
Component Video: 1
Digital audio: 1 coaxial

Tech Talk DivX is a compressed digital video format (like MP3) that's based on the MPEG-4 video compression standard. It can reduce the video from a DVD (MPEG-2) to around 10 percent of its original size while still retaining good video and audio quality, enabling you to store several two-hour length movies on burned DVD media.
Component video (also called Y/Pb/Pr) features a three-jack video input, which provides separate connections for luminance (Y), blue color difference (PB) and red color difference (PR). This results in increased bandwidth for color information, resulting in a more accurate picture with clearer color reproduction and less bleeding than you would get with S-Video or composite (RCA yellow video plug) connections. You will need a separate RCA left/right audio cable for sound.
What's in the Box Single-disc DVD player, remote control (with batteries), printed operating instructions

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Sharper Image Wonderwall Entertainment Projector Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As I chose to pick up this unit at Kohl's, I did so confident that no matter how low my expectations, this would probably disappoint me. Upon reading the limited reviews and board comments, I was convinced it would be bad. Therefore, I started testing the projector as soon as I brought it home. To my pleasant surprise, this device was actually really good.
First off, sound. The sound is actually pretty good. It does a mono sound, but at full volume, it was ok in a quite room. The sound could be heard clearly from another room. I could see it failing in a loud or crowded room, however it comes with a headphone jack. You can also plug certain external powered speakers into this jack to supplement the sound if you feel the need to.
Now more importantly, the video. I tested the video with two movies on my standard DVD player. In order to see the projector at it's best, I tested it on the simpsons, a high bright picture with low detail. It functioned splendidly. I shot the picture at close range (about three feet) to produce a 27'' TV equivalent. Then I shot it across the room, about 10 feet, and received about a 130 inch TV equivalent. The image was shot on a white wall for the three foot, and white drawn curtains for the 10 foot. I also ran it both with and without the lights on in the room. At three feet, the light on did very little to effect the image. At 10 feet, the image suffered substantially(grew paler), but seeing as how this is 4 feet and 60 inches bigger than even they recommend, I am still impressed. I have not tested this product during the day as of yet.
The simpsons was clear and crisp at both distances. It did have some blurring, which seemed to appear and go away, and was mot prevalent at the center of the screen. As another reviewer mentioned, the screen has crisscrosses on it, which is unavoidable. Anyone who has dealt with a slight amount of snow when watching TV has faced worse. The "crisscross" is simply dark lines that appear in a crisscross pattern across the image, which is a result of the low resolution of the screen. The larger the image, the larger the dark lines. I can't say it bothers me, it is solidly there and unchanging, and doesn't effect the picture (except perhaps making the image appear darker). And depending on the angle and distance you watch from, you can't even see the crisscrosses
The second movie I tested was Final Fantasy, spirit within, a detail orientated dark movie. I could say it was watchable at the 10 foot distance. The darks and lights didn't show very well, and significant detail is lost. At three feet, their was still a lot of lost detail, but the dark scenes show up a lot more clearly.
All in all, the projector works great. It has a moderately loud fan, but the sound more than makes up for it. It is a $100 projector, and everyone who gets it needs to keep that in mind. The bottom line is that if you are looking for an HDTV or hi res experience, this is not for you. If you are looking for a replacement living room TV, this is probably not for you. If you are looking for some portable tv replacement, or something that lets you watch tv on the ceiling or some other wierd area of your house at the drop of a dime. This would be great. This is great for snuggling up at night with some popcorn in a movie theater experience, or even outdoors in the backyard watching your favorite romantic comedy or something like that.
Simply put, know what you are getting, it works, as a toy. Like it says on its box, it is typically for video games (high contrast, low detail, bright colors), and thus works well for them. It is more than I expected, and in my opinion, well worth the money. And when the next level of projector is 6 times the price of this one, this is the closest any of us low income guys are going to get to owning our own projector to play with.
Update:
Please note that I did NOT review a sharper image wonderwall projector. It shows the same picture... It is NOT worth the price tag of $300 some dollars I see, I got it for less than $100, which is why my review was geared as such. I am not sure if amazon has messed up, or if the product got bought out by sharper image, but you could buy a high quality "real" projector for that price.

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Panasonic SC-HT900 Home Theater System with 5-Disc DVD Changer Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Very attractive system with many features. Progressive scan DVD player looks great on my projector, thanks to the high end video circuitry in the 5 Disc DVD changer. Sound is very clear and accurately reproduced though the six speakers. Movie dialogue comes through very naturally. Does a fine job at decoding Dolby Surround. Movie "bass" effects are clear and pronounced through the active subwoofer. I've tested this system in store next to an expensive Bose and the quality is more or less comparable.
It is a known fact Panasonic DVD players are among the best in the business. Many more expensive DVD players(costing considerably more than this system) made by other brands use Panasonic internals for their players.
All DVD players must contain an MPEG decoder. In addition, progressive scan DVDs must contain a special device called a deinterlacer. Interlaced video frames are sent to a television in two pieces, by first drawing all of the odd lines, then the even ones. The deinterlacer essentially doubles each frame of video(producing a very defined picture) by filling in missing information. That is the true meaning of "progressive scan." This is the basis for HDTV, and be aware that your (Projector,TV,LCD) must be able to display HDTV or progressive to take advantage of this great feature. As with any other product, deinterlacers vary in quality and must be able to handle various film encodings. Panasonic uses top notch internal hardware to perform the deinterlacing(DCDi) and decoding. The results are spectacular!
Don't expect the bass to blow your ears out - no system at or near this pricepoint will. The subwoofer is powered but yet conservative (but more than other systems in its class). Don't buy this unit to play at maximum volume. System can be cranked up to loud but not extreme voulme. Sound will be more than enough for rooms

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Panasonic SC-HT900 is a Home Theater System with built-in 5-DVD changer and Surround sound speaker system.PRODUCT FEATURES:DVD-Audio Compatibility;Dolby Digital Decoder;DTS Decoder 2;Dolby Pro Logic Surround (Pro Logic II);FM/AM Digital Synthesizer Tuner;Audio Inputs;Cinema Mode;Dialog Enhancer;Multi-Channel Sound Field;Sound Field Control (SFC);Compatible Media Formats: VD-Audio, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM/DVD-R 4, CD, CD-R/RW 5, Video CD, JPEG, MP3, WMA, HighMAT;Progressive Scanning;Super Surround Sound.

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