A Better DVD Player For Older, Used Discs

Well, I have learned a good lesson this year. Stay away from those ultra-compact DVD players that run 30 to 40 dollars. Unless your DVD's are in pristine condition, those players won't play older or more heavily used discs at all. I have seen the error messages "Unknown disc" and "Disc error" too many times – on three different players from CyberHome, TruTech (Target's in-store brand) and Insight (Best Buy's in-store brand). Tired of these problems, I decided to spend a little more on a DVD player, and what I wound up with was a Sony DVP-NS57P (hereafter, the "NS57P").

One thing that attracted me to the Sony was the Sony name – while Sony does like to change the rules (more on that in a moment), their quality is generally pretty good. I have a very old (8mm) Sony camcorder that still works. Once I bought the unit, I found a good, basic DVD player at a reasonable price.


FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The NS57P cabinet is longer than those compact DVD players – I am not sure why, since it seems the electronics would be if not identical, similar to a compact-sized player. The body is a silver/aluminum color. Unlike most DVD players on the market these days, this one has a fluorescent display to show messages ("OPEN", "LOADING", etc.) and the elapsed play time on a DVD. There are only three buttons on the main unit other than the power button – eject, play and stop. Everything else is controlled by the remoted.

Included in the box with the DVD player are a remote control, two AA batteries, a red-yellow-white RCA triple-jack and cable, and an instruction manual.


STARTING IT UP

After connecting the DVD player to your TV, press the green power button on the remote to start up the NS57P. You are presented an on-screen menu that lets you set the language and screen aspect (normal, widescreen, etc.). After that, you're ready to use the unit.


THE REMOTE

Sony's remote is a full-size remote, about nine inches, that's comfortable enough to hold. Thankfully, this is another one of those remotes where the Play button is large and easy to find with the fingers; I'm annoyed with players where the Play button is the same size as all the other buttons. Buttons to rewind and fast forward are on either side of the Play button, with buttons to stop and pause located underneath.

But one design flaw that will annoy some users is this: the buttons to skip chapters are awfully close to the ones to rewind and fast forward. I noticed that a few times my finger pressed the skip chapter button, sending me to the next chapter and then having to go back.

One confusing button is the "Display" button. This button is really mislabeled, and should be called something else, but "Menu" is a standard term already taken for DVD navigation. What "Display" does is to bring up on-screen programming and control – features to go to a particular time code, to repeat a segment of video, and so on.

While I'm on the subject of repeating, I found the Repeat function a bit unwieldy to use, but some folks will probably not mind it. On most DVD players you usually press a button marked "A-B Repeat" which lets you mark the start point with the first button press and the end point with the second. Then it loops as you expect. With the Sony player, you press the Display button to turn on the DVD player's control. Then you use the up/down buttons to select the Repeat function (3 button presses). Then you select it (another button press). Then you choose "Set" (another button press). Then the time bar appears at the top of the screen. You press the Enter button to set the start point (yet another button press). And then you press the Enter button a second time to set the end point (a final button press). Then it loops.

Here's the strange part – Sony's remote has plenty of unused space at the bottom. Why didn't they just add an "A-B Repeat" button and save the user all this complexity?

I will say this about Sony's A-B Repeat feature, though, and I haven't seen it on many other DVD players these days. When it's looping, there's nothing else on the screen – just the video you want to see looping. Sony's player tells you what's happening on screen and then, after 2 seconds, gets the hell out of the way so you can watch. That alone made this player a keeper.


VIDEO QUALITY

This is not one of the new generation of "upconverting" DVD players, meaning you'll get standard resolution (no 1080i or 1080p). So don't think you're buying anything fancy with the NS57P; if you want upconverting or HD resolution, this is not the player for you. But I have to say the picture on the NS57P is very good; it seems a little sharper than the cheapo players I used before, if that's possible. Ditto on the freeze frame and video during rewind and fast-forward.


AUDIO QUALITY

No complaints about the audio quality, but I'm not a die-hard audiophile. There are RCA jacks for stereo output.


NAVIGATION AND PLAYBACK CONTROL

As I mentioned with the Repeat function, getting around on the Sony player is just a little tricky. Sony went to more of a menu-driven system for everything. I suspect that's to let you combine operational modes, something I can't imagine doing myself. The main driver is pressing the Display button, and then choosing what you want using the up & down buttons on the remote. In this way, you can go directly to a particular chapter, time code, or repeat a section of video.

The NS57P does have slow-motion playback, although in my use so far, I haven't figured out if the slow-motion has multiple playback speeds. Currently it seems to have 0.6X playback and that's all.

There is also accelerated-motion playback, which runs at 1.4X, or about 50% quicker.

Rewind and Fast Forward buttons have four levels – double speed (2X), and then three successively faster levels (presumably something along the lines of 4X, 8X and 16X).

The Zoom button lets you magnify your video picture to 2X and 4X magnification.


FINAL VERDICT

For a street price of $60, the Sony DVP-NS57P is a very good value for a DVD player that, I'm sure, is made with better parts than the "manager's special" DVD players out there. I have been able to play back a couple of older, more aged DVD's that would not have played back on the cheaper players I bought before, and that's enough of a factor to warrant a recommendation from me.

Usually the statement "You get what you pay for" is tinged with a rueful tone, and is often uttered by consumers regretting not having spent enough on something that has prematurely broken down. I would like to put a positive spin on the phrase for this Sony product – for the quality of materials, performance and operation, you get what you pay for.