Need megachanger advise

[Compromise]

I have done much reading on this forum regarding megachangers and have come down to believing that there are really three contenders: 1.) Sony DVP-CX777ES, 2.) the less expensive Sony DVPCX985V, 3.) the Kenwood DV-5900M and 4.) the Pioneer DVF727. In addition it appears to be important to be able to ultimately interface to the FireBall DVDM-100.

I realize alot has been said about these, however, I would like to know what the latest feelings are regarding megachangers before I sink $600 into it and maybe another $1400 in to the DVDM-100.

So any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Please note that I am very concerned about component drive resolution and processing, on screen guides, ease of programming, etc. Also I would like ProntoTSU7000 compatibility, at least to the extent that the titles could be loaded, etc.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Bumping this thread because I am looking at the same exact units: the Kenwood DV-5900M and the Sony DVPCX985V.

I searched the forum and there is a ton of information on the Kenwood but little on the Sony. The Sony is significantly cheaper.

The reason I am looking is that my Sony RCD-W7V has chronic picture freeze and unit lockup problems. Of course the warranty was just up last March and an exchange of the unit will cost $250.

I hate buying another DVD player/recorder from the same firm as the one that just crapped out on me but the price is less than half of the Kenwood. I have a Kenwood receiver that I am very happy with so this is a plus for the Kenwood player.

[Don Black]

I have 3 of the 777ES and paid about $450/each (that deal is dead). I have owned a Pioneer DV-F07 and a Sony 875P in the past. I will never buy another Pioneer changer since I went through two of the carousels on my old unit (some people have had great experiences with Pioneer though). The 777ES is a noticeable improvement over the 875P though. Not so much in picture quality (both do a very good job), but in noise and aesthetics.

The 777ES is rumored to have Faroudja-type processing capabilities since it produces such a great PQ. The major negatives to the unit are a slow layer change and a lousy interface.

You can get around the interface problem one of two ways: 1) Fireball or 2) DVD Lobby. A Fireball unit will run you about $2,000 plus tax. I put together a pretty fast PC with DVD Lobby, Music Lobby, and an 18" touchscreen LCD for about the same price. But if you aren't a "computer person" or don't have the time, the Fireball interface is very nice. You'll spend another $1,000 or so for touchscreen capability though (8" or 10" controllers).

[ChuckofTahoe]

Don:

What would you say are the primary functional and qualitative differences between the 777ES and the cheapo DVPCX985V? Both carry about 400 discs.

I also found a luke warm review of the 777ES here:

http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Sony%20DVP-CX777ES%20DVD%20Player:1991342851:page=user-reviews;_ylt=AjcfUN8bB0hN5rKYLpYmUOXySHAD;_ylu=X3oDMTByNjN0M2hlBF9zAzU3NjkwMzU0BHNlYwN1c2VycmV2aWV3cw--?clink=dmps/sony_dvp-cx777es/ctx=mid:6,pid:1991342851,pdid:6,pos:1,spc:14489115,date:20040816,srch:kw,x:,test:DFLT

The guy in the review mentions the picture freezing and unit lockup I am currently experiencing with my Sony RCD-W7V. Also, is it true you cannot scroll directly to a title without knowing the bin position?

Thanks,

Chuck

Originally posted by Don Black
I have 3 of the 777ES and paid about $450/each (that deal is dead). I have owned a Pioneer DV-F07 and a Sony 875P in the past. I will never buy another Pioneer changer since I went through two of the carousels on my old unit (some people have had great experiences with Pioneer though). The 777ES is a noticeable improvement over the 875P though. Not so much in picture quality (both do a very good job), but in noise and aesthetics.

The 777ES is rumored to have Faroudja-type processing capabilities since it produces such a great PQ. The major negatives to the unit are a slow layer change and a lousy interface.

You can get around the interface problem one of two ways: 1) Fireball or 2) DVD Lobby. A Fireball unit will run you about $2,000 plus tax. I put together a pretty fast PC with DVD Lobby, Music Lobby, and an 18" touchscreen LCD for about the same price. But if you aren't a "computer person" or don't have the time, the Fireball interface is very nice. You'll spend another $1,000 or so for touchscreen capability though (8" or 10" controllers).

[ChuckofTahoe]

Edit: The link is not working. Here is the review. The guy gave the 777 2 out of 4 stars:

Pros: Nicely built, sturdy, beautiful looking machine, good picture quality.
Cons: Difficult to setup and operate, Slow, Glitchy

I am not ready to throw this DVD player out yet and it does provide a nice, clean and safe storage area for 400 of my DVDs, but at a price....

The player is very nicely built. It feels solid and it is very beautiful, but it is not user friendly. Sony provides you with a remote packed with buttons and two different modes. Some of the buttons perform different actions, depending on the mode you have the remote set to. This can be very confusing and frustrating at times. On several occasions, it will freeze at the beginning of the video and you have to turn it off and on again to recognize the disk this time. I have had it get stuck once in the middle of a movie. Looking for a movie is a nightmare... Why couldn't they set up a lookup function like the TIVO. When you have 400 DVDs in this unit, your only options are to sort by location 1 - 400 or alphabetically. If the last movie you saw was 101 Dalmatians and now you want to watch Rocky, you have to scroll and search through the whole unit for Rocky, unless you know what number it is :). Another thing is that some movies have pre-programmed banners and others don't, so you may have a set of the same movies i.e.: The Pink Panther where 1 of the movies is called “Panther Strikes Again, The” and the others “The Pink Panther”, etc.. so if you're watching the whole series, you have to hunt for the other movies...

Originally posted by ChuckofTahoe

Don:

What would you say are the primary functional and qualitative differences between the 777ES and the cheapo DVPCX985V? Both carry about 400 discs.

I also found a luke warm review of the 777ES here:

http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Sony%20DVP-CX777ES%20DVD%20Player:1991342851:page=user-reviews;_ylt=AjcfUN8bB0hN5rKYLpYmUOXySHAD;_ylu=X3oDMTByNjN0M2hlBF9zAzU3NjkwMzU0BHNlYwN1c2VycmV2aWV3cw--?clink=dmps/sony_dvp-cx777es/ctx=mid:6,pid:1991342851,pdid:6,pos:1,spc:14489115,date:20040816,srch:kw,x:,test:DFLT

The guy in the review mentions the picture freezing and unit lockup I am currently experiencing with my Sony RCD-W7V. Also, is it true you cannot scroll directly to a title without knowing the bin position?

Thanks,

Chuck

[Compromise]

Sounds like the Sony is a PIA to operate. What about the Kenwood 5900? Anyone chime in on this? They appear to be about the same price.

[b00bie]

I have two 5900's and two 5050's three of the four are hooked to a DVDM-100 and all are controlled by a ProntoPro 6000. So far I have had to have three of the four repaired by Kenwood, there is a really large thread in this forum that discusses all of the"stock" problems with these units. The addition of the Escient really makes it unnecessary to load the titles into your remote, however prior to picking that up I did use a program called SuperNudelist with my Pronto to build movie and music lists into it, the program can be found in the file section of RemoteCentral and works extremely well. While the Kenwoods have their flaws, they still make handling a large collection of DVD's easier (I have about 1200) especially when combined with the DVDM-100, I liked it so much I wound up buying a Fireball music server and ripped all of my CD's into it, together they provide a single interface for all my movies and music, the wife thinks it's the greatest thing I've ever done with the system.

Tom

[Compromise]

Boobie,
How does the 5900 operate without the DVDM-100? Do you really need to spend the $2000 on the DVDM-100? Or doe the 5900 do a fairly good job at on-screen menu selection of your DVD titles? Or would you be lost without the DVDM-100? Also, could you use SuperNudelist alone? I have the TSU7000 which is compatible of course with SuperNudelist but I haven't started to use it yet.

You mention Kenwoods have their flaws, do you have a brief list?
Thanks in advance,

[ChuckofTahoe]

Here is the massive Kenwood thread. It's a great thread but it is so long it is a bit cumbersome to wade through. Also, it is so old that some of the posts and information are now obsolescent with firmware etc. updates and factory upgrades to the line up. Many of the older thread posters have moved on to new technology as well.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=95150

You might want to bump the thread with a post since many of the experts seem reluctant to comment in this thread.

I know some differences between the 5900 and at least the cheaper Sony relate directly to ease of information input. For example, the 5900 comes with a key board or keyboard capability whereas the Sony 985 only comes with a remote that has a mass of keys on it. So in the situation where you are manually inputting titles etc. you will probably be able to do it 3-4X faster on the Kenwood. Maybe the more expensive Sony comes with a keyboard?

At one time the Kenwood could not sort titles alphabetically and this is where the external hard drives and software were needed. Somebody correct me if I am wrong but I think Kenwood may have corrected this in the more recent models and you should be able to alphasort titles without re-arranging bin positions.

Originally posted by Compromise
Boobie,
How does the 5900 operate without the DVDM-100? Do you really need to spend the $2000 on the DVDM-100? Or doe the 5900 do a fairly good job at on-screen menu selection of your DVD titles? Or would you be lost without the DVDM-100? Also, could you use SuperNudelist alone? I have the TSU7000 which is compatible of course with SuperNudelist but I haven't started to use it yet.

You mention Kenwoods have their flaws, do you have a brief list?
Thanks in advance,

[ChuckofTahoe]

Here are some reviews of the 5900. Again many of the reviews are old.

http://reviews.iwon.com/pscAudioReview/Kenwood/PRD_129390_1587crx.aspx#reviews

The 5900 are hard to find it seems. Particularly for less than $900. Many of the on-line retailers are out of stock on this product.

[Kingdaddy]

All Mega Changers have lousy interfaces, a third party solution is the way to go. Escient Fireball has it's own problems and is very expensive for what it does. It's true that the Sony has poor layer change but that's about the only flaw that cant be worked out. The RS232 port on the 777ES makes it a hands down winner over the cheaper CX985V, my DVD Lobby setup works very well and basically glitch free. However, the first generation DTS discs are a problem with this interface as the Directdisc command that is used to play a disc will skip all the beginning screens and menus and go right to the movie, which is good for all movies except the first gen DTS discs which requires you to select the DTS option first then play the movie. With these movies you cannot get the DTS audio track without manually selecting them, so far here are the ones I know of that have this problem.

12 Monkeys
Apollo 13
Eagles "Hell Freezes Over"


There is a USBUIRT workaround for these discs though.

[Mark Lopez]

Originally posted by Kingdaddy
All Mega Changers have lousy interfaces, a third party solution is the way to go.

I agree. I find myself just using DVD Profiler either on the computer or on the quick reference book I printed out to look for what I may want to watch. Then I just select 'go to #' (on my Pioneer) and watch it.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by Mark Lopez
quick reference book I printed out to look for what I may want to watch. Then I just select 'go to #' (on my Pioneer) and watch it.

Sometimes things are just as simple as maintaining a list on a spreadsheet and then sorting it by bin # or title and printing it out periodically.

[b00bie]

Compromise

Prior to version 3 of the software the Kenwood default was numerical order after version three it's alpha sorted, the main drawback is if you exceed a single changer there is no aggregation between them, so if you have some movies with that start with a particular letter you would need to manually switch between changers to view them all. Yes SNL can be used with just the changer alone and I did so for a year before I went the Escient route, it works very well and makes finding a particular movie very easy. To invest in the Escient however takes you to a whole new level, not only does it handle three changers worth of discs seamlessly it provides a real easy to use interface with cover art, and pertinent data such as actors, ratings, genre, aspect ratio, release date of the movie and with the push of a button a synopsis of the movie. I picked mine up for less that 2K and I would never go back, I stick in a disc it goes out on the Internet looks it up and fills in the data. Is that worth the money to you, that's your decision. I do recommend that you play with SNL a little to see how you like it, it has a small learning curve and requires you to enter your movies into it manually, although the author has a tool now that does an import from DVD ProFiler if you use that program to keep track of your discs and I believe there may be some other tools up on RemoteCentral in the SNL files section.


Tom

[ChuckofTahoe]

Screw it:

I just ordered the DVPCX985V $308 before shipping from B&H Photo in New York.

I read somewhere that this unit, while not having the fancy wireless keyboard, does have an interface for a keyboard.

The other major weakness that I see is that it does not have the Faroudja processing and video imaging excellence of the Kenwood. But the unit is $700 less. I also bought a 4 year extended warranty for $40.00 which seems unbelievable. Hopefully it is not a worthless piece of paper. More hopefully I won't even need it.

After researching the Sony units and the Kenwood, it seemed that the Sony carousel and disc selection mechanisms of the Sony were more up to date and quicker to load and operate. I gather that the Kenwoods are due for completely new models within a year as well.

I will post feedback here when I get the Sony operating.

[Compromise]

Originally posted by b00bie
Compromise

....Yes SNL can be used with just the changer alone and I did so for a year before I went the Escient route, it works very well and makes finding a particular movie very easy.... I believe there may be some other tools up on RemoteCentral in the SNL files section.

Tom

Tom,
What is SNL, it is not in the AVSForum Glossary.

Also,
I think I just blew it. I purchased a "5900R" from Vanns here (http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/483999335) thinking it was the 5900M. Anybody know?

[b00bie]

Hi

SNL is just the abbreviation for SuperNudelist. I think it might be a typo that certainly looks like a 5900M and the link to the doc brings up the 5900M manual when you click on it, if there is such a beast as the 5900R I have never heard of it...........

Tom

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files/rcfiles.cgi?area=pronto&db=other&br=utilities&dv=supernudelist&fc=

[tartag]

So does there exist an alternate method of interfacing the DVPCX985V...?

-tartag

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by Compromise
Tom,
What is SNL, it is not in the AVSForum Glossary.

Also,
I think I just blew it. I purchased a "5900R" from Vanns here (http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/483999335) thinking it was the 5900M. Anybody know?

5900R = Refurbished 5900M. Should be OK and has the same warranty as new I think. Plus supposedly all firmware upgrades. The only issue might be cosmetic blemishes such as a scratch on the face plate that type of thing if you are picky about appearance. I read many reviews on the 5900 and from everything I have seen, the PQ is outstanding. You should be pleased.

I was never able to find an in box new 5900M for less than $950 or so. If you could even find them in stock.

I looked at that deal as well but when I pursued it they had no stock.

Curious to see when you get your unit and how it looks and performs.

[Kingdaddy]

The 777ES goes for about $650 on the internet new, even with the slow layer change I don’t see any close competition, the Kenwoods have a poor interface as well and their RS232 port is next to worthless so you cant even get a third party solution to work well with it.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by tartag
So does there exist an alternate method of interfacing the DVPCX985V...?

-tartag

I don't think so. The DVPCX985V does not have an RS232 port and this is the primary functional difference between it and the 777. The 777 does have a more aesthetic face plate if you are not into standard black components and a slightly more discerning noise filtering than the 985.

If your are talking about simple text entry, the DVPCX985V does have a front facing receptacle for a standard keyboard. So you don't need to be typing on the remote.

But as far as interfacing to other controllers/hard drives such as Escient and daisy chaining, that is the 985's main limitation vs. the 777 or the 5900.

I would liked to have had the Kenwood's Faroudja capabilities because as far as I can tell this is superior to Sony's proprietary technology (Precision Cinema). But I was very happy with the PQ of my last couple of Sony DVD players and I don't believe this to be an issue for the 985. I do have a 15 day exchange/refund period and the firm I bought the 985 from (B&H Photo) also deals in Kenwood though the 5900M would be a special order and north of $1K if I want to go back to this option. I doubt it though.

In my research of the Sony DVPCX985V, reviews of the picture and audio quality have been stellar. The main complaint seems to have been the tedious data enty and poor interface for searching out disk titles. I am not sure what people expect: I mean to load and catalogue 400 disks into a carriage is going to take a few hours at the minimum. I already maintain a spreadsheet list of my DVD collection so all I need to do is add in a column for the bin location on the 985. If using the onscreen DVD title search turns out to be too slow, I just look up the DVD in the printed copy of the spreadsheet and key in the bin #.

[tartag]

ChuckofTahoe - indeed the 975 does not have an RS-232. To be frank it is the little things about this player that torque me. I agree and accept the speed of the carousel and the load time between titles. I cannot however stand that if a title is present on a DVD you are unable to edit said title in the "Disc Explorer" For instance IMAX- Africa appears as LUMEN and there is nothing (short of backing up the disc and renaming it) that I can do about it.

It takes three button pushes (none of which are available from the remote) to have the front panel display the current title being played and no way to set that as default.

I have spent some time creating a PERL script that has my collection loaded along with the discs position in the carousel. Once I select a title it sends the IR commands to an IR repeater and hits the 975 to load the disc. That is the best I have been able to come up with and it’s what prompted my question regarding 3rd party control 'cause I can't stand navigating Sony's Disc Explorer.

Last gripe, is that if you have loaded say 150 DVD's, it as expected loads the DVDs to the back of the player moving the back half of the carousel up front, however there is no ability to turn off the rather bright blue light emitting from inside the machine; more than a bit annoying.

All of that aside this has been a solid player and has handled every format I've thrown at it. The SACD feature is nice in a machine at this price point as well. PQ, no complaints. It is a good looking machine in my rack and contrary to my above statement I do dig the blue LED’s

Cheers,
-tartag

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by tartag
rather bright blue light emitting from inside the machine; more than a bit annoying.



Look at the bright side, at least you can see the inside of the machine without a flashlight.

Aesthetically, this unit fits well with the rest of my equipment which is all black. All of the other LEDs in the system are blue as well.

I am taking a simple approach to this and expect to be able to surmount the unit's limitations.

I only have 200 DVDs right now that took me five years to accumulate and by the time I go over 400 and need to think about daisy chaining and more sophisticated cataloging, I will be ready to upgrade to the next generation of changers/interfaces.

I am looking forward to getting my unit. Hopefully it gets here by the weekend and I will have another excuse not to spend this weekend cleaning out the garage.

[Compromise]

Originally posted by Kingdaddy
he Kenwoods have a poor interface as well and their RS232 port is next to worthless so you cant even get a third party solution to work well with it.

Well, my reconditioned Kenwood is coming by UPS I believe. Now what do I do, refuse it at the door? Does anyone else think the 5900 is as big a piece of crap as Kingdaddy does, or should I keep it?

[M3 Pete]

Originally posted by ChuckofTahoe
I am looking forward to getting my unit. Hopefully it gets here by the weekend and I will have another excuse not to spend this weekend cleaning out the garage.

LOL! Loading my new 777ES and documenting the positions kept my wife and I busy this weekend, and kept her from bugging me to clean the garage!!!

[Kingdaddy]

I don’t mean to malign the Kenwood, only to convey what I’ve been told about the lack of possible software interface via the RS232 port. It's my understanding that the Kenwood has only a few controls available on the 232 protocol and the disc select command is far inferior to the Sony command protocol. If you don’t plan on any automation or 232 control then the Kenwood is probably as good as any. However it is my opinion that all these mega-changers will greatly benefit from a third party interface as the factory supplied one is very cumbersome. I can select any disc I want from my computer and have the movie start without any menu, FBI, Previews. With the computer cataloging the entire collection, it is far easier to locate and browse your movies and SACD’s (in my case) ad the GUI interface is just plain cool and fun to use, connect an Airpanel to the controlling computer and have a wireless portal to all your collection, this is the way to go for large collections IMO.

Airpanel

http://www.viewsonic.com/support/mobilewireless/airpanelsmartdisplays/airpanelv150p/

[b00bie]

Compromise

The first thing to decide is whether you want to just use your Pronto to control the 5900 or you want to invest more money in some type of a third party interface, if you will be happy with the Pronto then the RS-232 port is really a non issue. If you feel that you would like to have a nice GUI instead of just the library screen that the Kenwood provides then you have a second choice to make, the Escient does a terrific job of control using a combination of the RS-232 and the 1/8" IR cable, if you would prefer to go with a computer based solution the Sony and Pioneer models offer a more robust command set which allows for some additional third party stuff that does not interface as well with the Kenwood. Sorry but life is full of choices.


Tom

P.S. I would keep the Kenwood (but that's just me)

[Compromise]

Originally posted by b00bie
....

Tom

P.S. I would keep the Kenwood (but that's just me)

Why?

[b00bie]

Because I have been using them now for two and a half years the picture and sound are fantastic. I had Pioneer and Onkyo megachangers before I bought the Kenwoods and all of the user interfaces are very poorly designed and from what I hear from posts the Sony's is no better. Were back to that decision point again, how do you want to control this thing????? If a PC based system is for you then send it back and get another brand, but if not then the Kenwood is as good a performer as even the ES model Sony IMHO.


Tom

[Compromise]

What kind of operations can you do from a computer to the Sony unit? Is there good PC based software available that interfaces well to the Sony unit? If they are poorly designed, are they downloable as demos? Although my Kenwood is in transit, it would be nice to quickly play with some of the demos before it arrives.

[Kingdaddy]

Here are the commands supported by the Sony CX777ES RS232 Protocol

DVD Lobby is the only software control bundle I'm familiar with; I think they have a evaluation version.

NUMERIC KEY 0
NUMERIC KEY 1
NUMERIC KEY 2
NUMERIC KEY 3
NUMERIC KEY 4
NUMERIC KEY 5
NUMERIC KEY 6
NUMERIC KEY 7
NUMERIC KEY 8
NUMERIC KEY 9
DISC SKIP+
DISC SKIP-
FOLDER
AUDIO
SUBTITLE
ANGLE
PREVIOUS
NEXT
PLAY
PAUSE
STOP
CURSOR UP
CURSOR LEFT
ENTER
CURSOR RIGHT
CURSOR DOWN
TOP MENU
MENU
RETURN
TIME/TEXT
1/ALL DISCS
REV SCAN/SLOW
RWD SCAN/SLOW
Clear
SETUP_LOCK SET
DISC_DIRECT_SET
POWER_SET
BROADCAST_MODE_SET
PARENTAL_CONTROL_RELEASE
CIS_COMMAND_VERSION_REQ
STATUS_DATA_REQ
DISC_DATA_REQ
TOC_DATA_REQ
DISC_EXIST_BIT_REQ
TEXT_DATA_REQ
MODEL_NAME_REQ

[Edmundo Lopez]

Originally posted by Kingdaddy
The 777ES goes for about $650 on the internet new, even with the slow layer change I don’t see any close competition, the Kenwoods have a poor interface as well and their RS232 port is next to worthless so you cant even get a third party solution to work well with it.

ecost has it for $550. Is it a refurb?

[Don Black]

Dunno. But I paid less than that.

[Compromise]

Why is there such a price point difference between the Kenwood and the Sony?

[msb212]

The Kenwood PICTURE QUALITY blows the Sony and Pioneer out of the water. I have had both. There is simply no comparison. That is the reason the KW is so much more expensive. It has the Faroudja chip, better converters, etc. I have two 5900Ms and the Kenwood Entre, which for me, has been nothing short of extraordinary. That said, I just installed a second system in our country home, and had huge problems with the changer and the Entre unit -- both were defective. There is a defect that is very common inthe changer that is easily repaired. Most people have the poblem, get it fixed, and then never have another problem. That said, it does require some patience to get it all working the way you want it to.

Bottom line, the PQ is the reason to get the KW -- it is comparable tothe high end single disc player IMO. That said, the Momitsu I have in my Bedroom system with a plasma is the best PQ of all, connected via DVI.

[Compromise]

I believe my XP30 has the Faroudja chip in it and it only cost $200, so the price point is somewhat confusing.

[msb212]

What is an XP30? is it a changer? Here's the specs on the KW:


GENERAL FEATURES
- Daisy-Chain Control Terminal: Stereo Mini Connector
- Finish: Midnight Black
- Full-Function 10-Key Remote: with Joystick Control
- On-Screen Menu System
- Status Display: 15-Character Dot Matrix

AUDIO FEATURES
- 24-Bit, up to 96kHz Digital Output Capability
- 5.1-Channel Analog Outputs: for DVD Audio and Dolby Digital/DTS-Decoded Signals
- Digital Audio Input: 1 (Coaxial, for Daisy-Chaining)
- Digital Audio Output: 2 (1 Coaxial, 1 TOS-link Optical)
- Digital to Analog Converter: 24-Bit Resolution, up to 192kHz Sampling (L&R), up to 96kHz Sampling (C/LS/RS/Sub)
- Dolby Digital: built-in Decoder
- DTS Digital Surround: built-in Decoder
- Pure Audio Mode
- RCA Audio Inputs: L&R, for Daisy-Chaining
- RCA Audio Outputs: L&R Mix, for Dolby Digital/DTS 2-Ch Downmixed and Stereo Audio Signals
- Virtual Surround: 2-Stage

PERFORMANCE FEATURES
- Twin Focus Laser Pickup

DVD FEATURES
- Camera Angle Selection
- Dialog Language Function
- Dual-Side Play
- Frame Advance
- Parental Control
- Plays DVD Audio, DVD Video, CD, CD-R, CD-RW and MP3-Encoded CD-R/RW Discs
- Rental Zone 3-Disc Storage & Playback
- Slow Motion Play
- Still Frame
- Subtitle Function

DISC PLAYBACK FEATURES
- Digital Filter: 8-Times Oversampling
- Disc Capacity: 400 Discs
- Disc Sensing
- Noise Shaping: 3rd-Order
- PC Link Net Namer Automatic Title Downloading
- Play Exchange: 399 Discs
- Precision Digital Timing (DPAC)
- Programmable Memory: CD
- Random Play: CD
- Repeat Play
- Search

VIDEO FEATURES
- Digital Video Enhancer: Faroudja
- Gamma Control
- Multiple Video Aspect Ratios
- Picture Mode Control: Normal/Cinema/Soft/Fine
- Progressive Scan Deinterlacer: by Faroudja, with DCDi™
- Video Digital to Analog Converter: 10-Bit
- Video Inputs: 1 Component, 1 S-Video (for Daisy-Chaining)
- Video Outputs: 1 Component, 1 S-Video, 1 Composite

CUSTOM INSTALLATION FEATURES
- IR Control Terminal: Stereo Mini Connector
- IR Title Data Input/Output
- RS-232C Control Input: for KMC-1 Control and PC Link NetNamer

INCLUDED ACCESSORIES
- Coaxial Digital Cable
- Composite Video Cable
- Daisy-Chain Cable
- IR Data Cable
- IR Keyboard Remote Control
- RS-232C Cable
- S-Video Cable
- Stereo Audio Cable

[Compromise]

What about the Entre vs. the Escient. I found an Entre for $700 used on ebay. Would it be worth it?

[msb212]

The Entre is made by Escient. It can be a bit buggy, but I ave found it to be amazing. And the price cannot be beat. HOWEVER, if you are buying off EBAY, MAKE SURE you get some kind of warranty protection. I bought my stuff from Jamal of AV Outlet. He guarantees for a year. The second Entre I got from him for my country house system was defective. He exchanged it immediately and now it works great. But since this stuff has been a it flakey (see the KW thread) be careful. But I love it.

[b00bie]

I had one and sold it (on ebay), it was just too much of a pain for me, I guess I just don't have enough patience, the DVDM-100 on the other hand is a breeze to work with. If you have the time to devote to it the Entre will actually do what a DVDM-100 and a 40G fireball music server does, so for the price it is a real deal. I would read the two Kenwood threads in the DVD forum here before you take the plunge to get an idea of what to expect from the unit. Good luck


Tom

[msb212]

Originally posted by b00bie
I had one and sold it (on ebay), it was just too much of a pain for me, I guess I just don't have enough patience, the DVDM-100 on the other hand is a breeze to work with. If you have the time to devote to it the Entre will actually do what a DVDM-100 and a 40G fireball music server does, so for the price it is a real deal. I would read the two Kenwood threads in the DVD forum here before you take the plunge to get an idea of what to expect from the unit. Good luck


Tom

I agree completely -- though I have not used the DVDM100. If you have the cash, a better option. If you have a thinner wallet, and a great deal more patience, the Entre is a great solution.

[Jedi]

.....for those avoiding the Sony units due to the so-called autostart bug, using the following procedure solves this problem. After viewing a disc, when shutting down, while the current disc is still in the play mode, if one enters the "Stop" command, and follows this with the "Power" (off) command, the autostart bug issue is solved. The next time the changer is powered up, the unit behaves properly and does not go into play mode until a disc is selected and the "Play" command is invoked. Remember, while still in the "Play" mode, always enter "Stop" followed by "Power" (off), in that order and without any intervening commands, and you will not again have to experience the dreaded unintended autostart bug again.

Try this out and let me know if this doesn't solve the bug. I know it works on the high-end CX777ES model, and I suspect it will work for the lower end megachangers displaying this problem as well.

[ChuckofTahoe]

My Sony DVPCX985V mega changer arrived last Friday and I spent Friday night and Saturday morning loading about 150 DVDs into it.

This unit is impressive and easy to use. PQ and audio is astounding and best I have seen in a DVD player (though my experience is limited).

For anyone with a smaller size DVD collection such as me, the Sony Disk Explorer catalog and disk management system is more than adequate and easy to use. The unit has a keyboard receptacle in the front of the unit and with that it takes a couple of minutes to load the information and select a screenshot for the jacket cover for a typical DVD. This can take longer or less depending on the DVD and how long it takes to get through the DVD intro screens if you are loading a screenshot from the movie. About 10% of the DVDs auto load the information into Disk Explorer.

PQ is awesome once you get the settings right. I had DVDs that never looked that good on my other DVD players but look and sound awesome on the Sony 985. For example, the copy of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly always looked and sounded washed out on my other players. On the 985, this movie now looks first rate.

I will post pics of the unit and the onscreen menus of Disk Explorer soon.

I paid $308 for the unit and bought a 4 year extended warranty with it for $39.00 at B&H Photo.

For anyone who is cheap like me and has a modest sized video collection, this unit is ideal.

One note: This unit is big. I was only able to fit it on the bottom shelf of my rack due to height clearance and obviously this is not the ideal location for loading DVDs, remote reception etc..

[Compromise]

Wow, what a HUGE disappointment.

Just hooked up my "new" 5900M(R).

My 5900MR doesn't work. I am able to see stills on it but when you push play, you get a few moments of video then black, only audio comes through. Its dysfunctional!

AND, when you look at the stills, or any of the menu letters on my plasma, they look like crap. The Fajouda chip apparently does't work as well as my XP30. Double disappointment.

Now I have to return it. I will probably get a hassle. I will not accept a no return policy, or a ship it to the factory for repair at this point.

[Compromise]

I purchased this unit from Vann's (www.vanns.com). I called them this morning and told them the unit was defective, explaining that I could get a still picture but no video. He said the cable was the problem. I asked him how the cable could be the problem if I got still pictures, the menu items, but no video. He said it was not properly connected.

However, he did give me an RMA number, and to my complete surprise, said I would be receiving a UPS email with a shipping label, but not until late tonight (lose a day). I did not expect for them to pick up the shipping for the return as most places do not do this and you get a problem.

[derekcowburn]

DVPgenie is another option to solving the Sony DVP-CX777ES interface problem. It's much less expensive than the Escient yet has the auto-identify, cover art, and category features. The WiFi-to-serial lets you use a remote PC so there's no PC fans in the media room.

http://www.ibtcorp.com/dvpgenie

There's also a WiFi PocketPC interface. No support for the 5900M--yet.

[Don Black]

Derek,

I applaud your creation of another option for the 777ES interface. However, I would respectfully recommend that you either add support for multiple changers and improve the GUI or lower the price by about $100. At $150, you're coming close to the price of DVD Lobby but without the fancy graphics or the 17+ changer capabilities. Thanks.

[ChuckofTahoe]

That is brutal. At least they are taking it back but what a waste of time for you.

I have been using my Sony DVP CX985V for over a week now and am extremely please with the performance of the changer and the picture quality of the audio and video playback.

Based on my experience, I would recommend you trade your Kenwood 5900M for the Sony DVP CX777ES which you can then control with a PC and some third party software such as DVD Lobby.

You could probably get this unit through Van's using your credit from your failed Kenwood 5900M.

Edit: I checked Vann's price on the 777ES and it is $799. Way to high for this unit. Many on-line retailers are selling the unit for less $600. I would try and get your money back for the 5900M and shop elsewhere. If they are unresponsive you may want to contact your credit card company and cancel the charge through them. $200+ difference is a lot if you decide to go 777ES route.

These guys who are a sponsor on this forum, have the unit for $549:

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=417704&store=ecost&source=ECOSTPG&adcampaign=email,ECOSTPG

Originally posted by Compromise
I purchased this unit from Vann's (www.vanns.com). I called them this morning and told them the unit was defective, explaining that I could get a still picture but no video. He said the cable was the problem. I asked him how the cable could be the problem if I got still pictures, the menu items, but no video. He said it was not properly connected.

However, he did give me an RMA number, and to my complete surprise, said I would be receiving a UPS email with a shipping label, but not until late tonight (lose a day). I did not expect for them to pick up the shipping for the return as most places do not do this and you get a problem.

[msb212]

THe KW offers a significantly better picture than the Sony, IMHO. I have looked at them side by side. You probably just got a bad changer.

[Don Black]

The general consensus has been that that's not the case. But everyone's eyes are different... You could be right.

[Compromise]

Today I received an email from Vann's:

"This is to notify you that your credit request has been processed. Your account has been credited $799.87. Your credit reference number is XXXXXXXXXXXX. Please refer to this number when contacting customer service with any questions you may have.

Thank you for choosing Vanns.com - Since 1961 we have taken pride in offering a large selection of quality name brand products at competitive values and backed by outstanding customer service."

I was very surprised first that they emailed a ups label right away, and two processed a refund so quickly. However the refund does not show up yet on AMEX but the email gives me hope.

msb212 regarding PQ:
When I had the KW for a few hours, the PQ on the menus and stills that I could see was quite bad. Severe mpeg encoding artificts were visible around sharp objects. I was displaying on a Pio Plasma 503cmx (1280x768). I hope that the 777ES is not worse.

Don, perhaps you could shed some light on why the PQ was so bad on the KW.

Also, because Vann's has been so responsive I think I should give them a chance to match the eCost price. Does eCost have a good return policy in case the PQ is terrible? I am really nervous about the PQ. My Panny XP30 is absolutely great in this regard and hope the 777ES is not a big let down.

[Don Black]

I'm not saying that the KW's PQ is bad. Just that the Sony's is generally considered as good at a much lower price point. Most people in this forum have not seen a significant difference in between the two. Indeed, some suspect that the 777ES has some Faroudja components built in secretly because the PQ is so good in relation to the KW. But again, ymmv.

[msb212]

Originally posted by Compromise

msb212 regarding PQ:
When I had the KW for a few hours, the PQ on the menus and stills that I could see was quite bad. Severe mpeg encoding artificts were visible around sharp objects. I was displaying on a Pio Plasma 503cmx (1280x768). I hope that the 777ES is not worse.

Don, perhaps you could shed some light on why the PQ was so bad on the KW.



It depends on how you had it set up -- was it set to progressive, for example. There is a switch at the back. Then, there are a wide variety of settings on the OSD that make a HUGE difference in PQ. If you merely plugged it in, I am not surprised at the poor PQ. If you did set it up properly I don't know what to say since mine looks incredible when used with my plasma. And I tried it side by side with the Sony and there was no comparison.

[ChuckofTahoe]

I am guessing that by account being credited, they mean your account at Vann's and not your credit card account. Refund for credit toward another item is pretty typical.

You may want to approach them pretty quickly about matching the $549 price on the ES777. If they don't, you may want to contact your CC company.

That problem you are having with the Kenwood sounds like defective software/firmware in the 5900. You probably could not judge the PQ off of a defective unit.

With respect to Ecost, I don't have any personal experience with them. But they did come up as a low cost provider on a Yahoo search and the merchant rating looked pretty good.

QUOTE]Originally posted by Compromise
Today I received an email from Vann's:

"This is to notify you that your credit request has been processed. Your account has been credited $799.87. Your credit reference number is XXXXXXXXXXXX. Please refer to this number when contacting customer service with any questions you may have.

Thank you for choosing Vanns.com - Since 1961 we have taken pride in offering a large selection of quality name brand products at competitive values and backed by outstanding customer service."

I was very surprised first that they emailed a ups label right away, and two processed a refund so quickly. However the refund does not show up yet on AMEX but the email gives me hope.

msb212 regarding PQ:
When I had the KW for a few hours, the PQ on the menus and stills that I could see was quite bad. Severe mpeg encoding artificts were visible around sharp objects. I was displaying on a Pio Plasma 503cmx (1280x768). I hope that the 777ES is not worse.

Don, perhaps you could shed some light on why the PQ was so bad on the KW.

Also, because Vann's has been so responsive I think I should give them a chance to match the eCost price. Does eCost have a good return policy in case the PQ is terrible? I am really nervous about the PQ. My Panny XP30 is absolutely great in this regard and hope the 777ES is not a big let down. [/QUOTE]

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by msb212
It depends on how you had it set up -- was it set to progressive, for example. There is a switch at the back. Then, there are a wide variety of settings on the OSD that make a HUGE difference in PQ. If you merely plugged it in, I am not surprised at the poor PQ. If you did set it up properly I don't know what to say since mine looks incredible when used with my plasma. And I tried it side by side with the Sony and there was no comparison.

What Sony are you comparing it to? I have three Sony DVD player and one looks like sh*t and the other two look fabulous including the new 985V that I just got to house the DVDs.

I am not anti-Kenwood either as I am using Kenwood VR5700 (sister to DV5900M) for input selection and amplification.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Sony 777ES thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=340752&perpage=20&highlight=777es&pagenumber=1

I read through some of this thread before buying the 985V. There is some good information on the 777, the 985 and other mega changers.

Plus DVD Lobby is discussed quite a bit.

[Compromise]

Originally posted by msb212
It depends on how you had it set up -- was it set to progressive, for example. There is a switch at the back.

I did have it set up for progressive, and checked both switch positions. I think it must have been just a defective unit.

Originally posted by ChuckofTahoe
I am guessing that by account being credited, they mean your account at Vann's and not your credit card account. Refund for credit toward another item is pretty typical.

You may want to approach them pretty quickly about matching the $549 price on the ES777. If they don't, you may want to contact your CC company.

That problem you are having with the Kenwood sounds like defective software/firmware in the 5900. You probably could not judge the PQ off of a defective unit.

I called the guy at Vann's and he said the credit would be to the credit card eventually, but it could take up to three days. So I will wait and see and post the result. It is always nice to find a vendor who refunds your money without a big hassle.

Regarding the $549 price, he said that he could only match authorized Sony dealers like Crutchfield. I listed all of the vendors - ecost, PCMALL, hypeaudio, let's go digital, nicebuy.com, and others, and he said that they were all Unauthorized dealers and he could not match their price. I know from experience trying to return something to PCMALL is an absolute nightmare, for example.

Also he did send me a URL to a Sony site which lists their authorized dealers (http://www.sel.sony.com/cgi-bin/SEL/consumer/ss5/cgi/aid_list.pl)

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by Compromise

Regarding the $549 price, he said that he could only match authorized Sony dealers like Crutchfield. [/B]

Well I kind of agree I don't get the best vibe from Ecost as they sell jewelry and bunch of other crap unrelated to electronics.

I do recall somebody having posted a positive experience about them but you would have to do some searching on the forums to see if any feedback is posted.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by Compromise

Also he did send me a URL to a Sony site which lists their authorized dealers (http://www.sel.sony.com/cgi-bin/SEL/consumer/ss5/cgi/aid_list.pl)

The dealer that sold me the 985V is on the list of authorized dealers. B&H Photo. I only paid $308. They don't list the 777ES for sale but you might e-mail them and see what they would charge you if you could special order it.

Then you could take the price to Vanns. It seems like $699 is at least $100 more than what most people have paid for this unit.

[M3 Pete]

Originally posted by ChuckofTahoe
My Sony DVPCX985V mega changer arrived last Friday .

One note: This unit is big. I was only able to fit it on the bottom shelf of my rack due to height clearance and obviously this is not the ideal location for loading DVDs, remote reception etc..

HUGE is a better description. I have the 777ES and it's 21.5 inches deep, which is about 2-3 inches deeper than most cabinets. I have to use the back wall extensions on my audio cabinet and it barely fits. 7 inches tall too.

[Compromise]

Originally posted by ChuckofTahoe
The dealer that sold me the 985V is on the list of authorized dealers. B&H Photo. I only paid $308. They don't list the 777ES for sale but you might e-mail them and see what they would charge you if you could special order it.

Then you could take the price to Vanns. It seems like $699 is at least $100 more than what most people have paid for this unit.

Vanns price is $799 not $699 ($250 more than the others!). Called B&H and they are closed for the day. I will try again tomorrrow.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by Compromise
Vanns price is $799 not $699 ($250 more than the others!). Called B&H and they are closed for the day. I will try again tomorrrow.

$799 is really too much. Even if you find a dealer that is not an authorized dealer, I would say $200+ savings is worth it. Just make sure they are willing to exchange for defectives and that they have an inventory of product you are willing to take in exchange if it comes to that.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Yeah it's huge. Luckily my audio stack is angled from back to front so the bottom shelf has a huge depth http://www.audio-direct.com/cgi-bin/pgen_asp/pagegen.asp?itemnum=LAMSL-10C. My problem was the height which precluded me from putting it on any but the top and bottom shelves. The top is reserved for my receiver which needs to breath.

The 777ES and the 985V have identical dimensions.

Originally posted by M3 Pete
HUGE is a better description. I have the 777ES and it's 21.5 inches deep, which is about 2-3 inches deeper than most cabinets. I have to use the back wall extensions on my audio cabinet and it barely fits. 7 inches tall too.

[Oliver Klohs]

Hi,

I'd say that if image quality is important and with the possibility to return one of the changers without too much hassle I'd order the two Sonys and the Kenwood 5900 and do a shootout.

If having very fast access to the main movie without FBI warnings and all the other crap is important I'd go with DVDlobby and the Sony 777 in a second, I would probably have one by now if it was playing PAL movies, but it is supposed to be an NTSC-only player.

BTW: I use an SDI-modded Kenwood and the PQ is up to par with the best Panny SDI-players and DVDlobby makes handling the player very easy with only a MX-700 universal remote.

Oliver Klohs

[Don Black]

I'm curious as to how you get the MX-700 to work with DVD Lobby. I'm looking at setting up a similar interface.

[Compromise]

Originally posted by ChuckofTahoe
I am guessing that by account being credited, they mean your account at Vann's and not your credit card account.

The credit finally showed up on my AMEX this morning! Now I can by the Sony. I am going to try to find an "authorized" on-line Sony dealer who is in the $550 price range.

Got it for $650 + $30 shipping at OneCall. OneCall is an authorized Sony dealer and it comes with the 5 year warranty. I thought it was worth the extra $100 for the warranty.

I asked them about returns and they said the shipping is on me. I hope I do not have to return this one. Looking forward to playing with it.

[TwinTurboZX]

Are you guys sure the layer changes on the 777ES and 985 take a while? I have an $80 Sony DVP-NS575P and the layer changes are almost unnoticable.

[Kingdaddy]

Originally posted by TwinTurboZX
Are you guys sure the layer changes on the 777ES and 985 take a while? I have an $80 Sony DVP-NS575P and the layer changes are almost unnoticable.

Yes, I've had 2 different 777ES's and their both very slow. I had a NC685 Sony that had no noticeable layer change, but my 777 is exactly 2 sec every time on every disc I have so far. Considering all the automation possibilities and the great PQ and SQ, the layer change don’t bother me too much as nothing else for anywhere near this price can compete. However it is truly inexcusable for any DVD player to have such a slow layer change, Sony always finds time to throw a flaw in every machine they make and they’re all avoidable.

[Oliver Klohs]

Don,
I use DVDlobby TV that can be controlled by about 10 different keyboard buttons.
I use the SK7100 keyboard and that one is easy to learn into the MX-700.
From there on it is just selecting a movie in DVDlobbyTV and controlling the changer with the MX-700.
I hate using a keyboard in my home theater so the MX-700 is a huge improvement for handling my DVD collection via DVDlobby and of course it controls all my other equipment, too.

[M3 Pete]

Originally posted by Compromise
The credit finally showed up on my AMEX this morning! Now I can by the Sony. I am going to try to find an "authorized" on-line Sony dealer who is in the $550 price range.

Got it for $650 + $30 shipping at OneCall. OneCall is an authorized Sony dealer and it comes with the 5 year warranty. I thought it was worth the extra $100 for the warranty.
.

Too late now, but I got mine from Oade for a reasonable price several months ago. They are an authorized Sony dealer. I think it was about the same as you paid, not sure what they are asking now. Good guys though, I'd buy from them again.

http://www.oade.com/

[ChuckofTahoe]

Originally posted by Kingdaddy
Yes, I've had 2 different 777ES's and their both very slow. I had a NC685 Sony that had no noticeable layer change, but my 777 is exactly 2 sec every time on every disc I have so far. Considering all the automation possibilities and the great PQ and SQ, the layer change don’t bother me too much as nothing else for anywhere near this price can compete. However it is truly inexcusable for any DVD player to have such a slow layer change, Sony always finds time to throw a flaw in every machine they make and they’re all avoidable.

If layer change is what I am thinking of, isn't this more a function of the DVD. I find that layer change varies according to the DVD and the disk manufacturing process. Now some players probably handle it better or worse but with the Sony's I have had, this only occurs a few times (once per disk of a movie) during the movie at most. And usually it is just a sub one second pause in the action. The pauses I have observed have not been anywhere near 2 seconds or even one second.

To be honest, I have hardly noticed it on the new 985V I just got. I really do not think this is a factor for Sony anymore. A non-issue as far as I can tell with the new players.

Sheesh, when you were a kid and went to the movies and they had to change reels or the film broke, there would be blank spots in the movie while the next reel cued up.

OK I will head over to the layer change thread now.

:D

[Jedi]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Oliver Klohs

I use DVDlobby TV that can be controlled by about 10 different keyboard buttons.
__________________________________________________________

...don't quite understand what is meant by "DVDlobby TV?" I'm familiar with DVDLobby, but the "TV" part is confusing me. Can you please expand on what software/hardware is being controlled by the MX700? Is the a PCHT or Sony CX777ES application?

[Compromise]

OK my CX777ES arrived, and appears to work well. PQ is very good and I am happy with the PQ. I just started to play with it and thought I would like to thank everyone for their help in these discussions.

Now it remains to be seen how the upgrade to 2.3 of DVD Profiler works out, and how to arrange the stack. In addition, how to program the Pronto is a major issue. But it appears that this will be a nice addition to my system.

[Oliver Klohs]

compromise,
glad you like your Sony, I hope you'll be happier with it than with the Kenwood

Jedi,
DVDlobby_tv as it is called correctly is a special DVDlobby interface where you can browse all of your DVD collection with only a few keyboard presses, thus enabling you to manage your collection with a learning remote. You could use it for playback from a megachanger or from harddisc.
Obviously it is a HTPC application, but it is really worth the slight hassle to set it up, as once you have it running you can browse all your movies with such ease that I would never want to go back.
There are a few threads around here about the lobby products, just do a search.

[Don Black]

Oliver: By DVD Lobby TV, do you mean the keyboard shortcuts:

Keyboard Shortcuts

+ Next Movie
- Previous Movie
p Play Movie
o Overview Panel
t Thumbnails Panel
g Genre Panel
m Toggle DVDLobby Menu
a Autoplay (slideshow thru Movie Posters)
s Search (type word(s) then ENTER)
j Jump to any dvd number (press j, then collection number, then j)
c Toggle Transport Controls

Note: MainLobby must be in LAUNCH mode for the DVDLobby Pro shortcuts to work.


...or something else? Thanks again.

[Compromise]

Does anyone know if a software application exists to program the CX777ES. It seems that doing it with the remote control is insane, even with a keyboard hooked up. It would be nice if you could update the folder data with a simple download from DVDProfiler, but I am not asking for much!

I am not looking for DVDLobby type solutions.

This way my wife can scroll through the movies without PC interface, which believe me is necessary.

The unit itself only picked up arount 20 of my 300 DVD titles, and even fewer sleep icons.

Thanks ahead,

[Oliver Klohs]

Don,

the keyboard shortcuts for DVDlobby_TV are these:

> PAGEUP or R - Scroll overview up
> PAGEDN or F - Scroll overview down
> LEFT or A - Move left
> UP or W - Move up
> RIGHT or S - Move right
> DOWN or Z - Move down
> U - Switch between genre/first letter mode
> I - Toggle search mode
> O - Play trailer
> P - Play movie
> ENTER or X - Select

I have attached a screenshot of the updated version.

Oliver

[b00bie]

I still think your best bet is a Pronto and SuperNudelist, you can have easy access to all of your movies by name or genre' or both depending how you want to set it up in the remote.....................


Tom

[Oliver Klohs]

Tom,

it depends on what you want - I have had a Pronto for very long, but have switched to the MX-700 remote recently and if Don for example has the MX-700, too, then DVDlobby will be a better choice.

That being said I have tried Supernudelist when I still had my Pronto and while I did not really like it it is still much better than having to input all titles manually into the changer.

Oliver

[Low Profile]

I own a Phillips ProntoProNG TSU7000 and use if for all my home theatre components which include 3 of the DVP-CX985V changers. I have been very happy with these changers. Not one problem since day one. I have not noticed a slow layer switch at all by the way. I would not keep them if that was the case. For the price, tax, tags, and out the door, including 5 year service plans on each, these babies are worth their weight in gold as far as I am concerned.

In conjunction with the changers I do use the TSU7000 to automate my DVD collection. I needed a remote anyway for the rest of the home theatre setup, so things worked out well. I am not sure how the SNL works available at remotecentral.com, but I never found the need to check it out. I have also never used the Disc Explorer feature that is built into the Sony changers. I simply made sure each and every disc I owned in my DVD collection, including DVD titles with multiple discs was entered in my DVD Profiler, bought the three Sony changers, loaded them up, and programmed my TSU7000. The rest is history.

I currently have 1010 DVD covers in my TSU7000, with enough room for another 190 covers. In addition, I do have some DVD covers which jump to themed submenu pages, mainly for box sets giving you more detail per disc. When Phillips updates the firmware this quarter making the full 32 megs in the remote accessible (now you can only use 16 megs) I will have more than enough room for further expansion if I want to add more changers to the mix. Now when I buy a new DVD title I just add it to my DVD Profile (without reordering collection ID's), drop the disc in the next available changer slot, update my .pcf file with the TSU7000 editor, and download it to the remote. It just takes just a couple minutes.

All the hard work is done. My .pcf file for the TSU7000 is available if anyone wants to retrofit it to their particular setup. I have the IR codes learned for all three changers which covers command modes 1-3, including discrete power on and off codes for each, all 1200 macros for loading the 400 slots from each of the 3 DVD changers, and the DVD navigation part of the interface set to go.

I did look into other solutions available out there, but in the end I found that the TSU7000 was the way to go for me. With the TSU7000 I have the all in one remote I was looking for, my DVD collection is now automated and is easy to update, I avoided having to add yet another peice of gear to my setup, and unlike most other solutions, I can sit back and browse my DVD collection, while not interrupting whatever I may be using my home theatre for at the time. I could not ask for a better solution. My TSU7000 has been performing flawlessly so far as well. Not one failed macro with regards to any part of my home theatre setup. It was well worth the investment. If you want a quick, easy way to automate your DVD collection, all in a hand held size remote, then the TSU7000 could very well be what you are looking for.

For more detail check out this thread (http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-prontong/thread.cgi?3189) over at remote central. My .pcf file is available for download in that thread as well. Enjoy!

-Lowpro

[Oliver Klohs]

Lowpro,

this is impressive - you certainly have invested some time and thought into this and it is the best one-piece solution to handle a DVD changer I have seen.
If I didn't have a PC in my home theater anyway I would probably go the same route, but then it would have to be the Pronto 7000, as these covers have to be in color for sure :)

Oliver

[Toeside]

Can anyone tell me how the Sony DVP-CX985V would compare to my Mitsubishi DD-8040 which features DCDi by Faroudja?

[chap]

Impressive. I had no idea that this was even an option. I haven't made a major purchase in quite some time and this might be it. I don't know if I am willing to drop 2k for the Fireball though. I'm going to look at the DVD Lobby solution first.

[Compromise]

Only problem with the TSU7000 is it takes a long time to program 400 DVDs and they may not all fit if you have a lot of other stuff on it. Hopefully Philips will solve this memory problem soon.

I have also tried the Cinemar DVDLobby and find it to be difficult to work with, in the respect that the sorting features do not work properly, and this is a must when you have 400+ DVDs. Other features do not work as well, like the genre filtering, within the mlserver, such that you must filter out apriori any DVDs you have in your DVDProfiler file that are there as wishlist items, etc. It makes file manipulation tedious, even if you only add a couple of titles.

Not sure about the Fireball.

I think the 7000 solution will ultimately prove the best for the interim period, once the memory problem is satisfied.

[Kingdaddy]

Originally posted by Compromise
I have also tried the Cinemar DVDLobby and find it to be difficult to work with, in the respect that the sorting features do not work properly, and this is a must when you have 400+ DVDs. Other features do not work as well, like the genre filtering, within the mlserver, such that you must filter out apriori any DVDs you have in your DVDProfiler file that are there as wishlist items, etc. It makes file manipulation tedious, even if you only add a couple of titles.

Sorting works just fine for me, I use Z's in front of the sort title to move cretin movies to the back of the thumb list. In addition, you can specify the Genres so that they display anyway you want. I have a Pronto and SNL and I would never go back to programming my Pronto with all me DVD and CD collection ever again, DVD lobby and Music Lobby is great, it's Music Lobby’s companion program J Rivers Media Center that has problems and poor support. BTW, Cinemar has great support that will give you more help then J Rivers will on their own product, so no mater.

[Compromise]

Discussion of Cinemar is probably getting off topic, however, having to put Z's in front of the sort title is the type of problem I am referring to. You actually would need to do this in mlserver prior to loading up DVDLobby, or even earlier in DVDProfiler. In addition as mentioned, you are not able to sort out as advertised the wish list from owned on import from DVDProfiler, so one needs to presort in DVDPRofiler, import to mlserver, put the z's in front of those DVDs you want at the end, and then open DVDLobby. You may consider this just fine for you, but for me it seems a bit tedious. Perhaps the 7000 is tedious in programming, but it is easier in my opinion to add more.

Perhaps it is only a matter of preference.

On the other hand, I would really like DVDLobby to work more effectively, as the 7000 solution eats memory, which is quite scarce on the 7000.

There is another solution, but I have not really looked at it, called DVPGenie.

[Don Black]

DVD Lobby is in serious need of an update. I wish they would focus less on satellite radio and weather and more on their core apps: DVD and CD/MP3.

[ellisr63]

Low Profile,
I like your setup. Will it work as well with a Pronto TSU6000? Have you also come up with a way to run all the dvd changers from 1 video and audio input or do you use 3? I am running out of inputs and would like to only use 1 input. What do you think about the video quality of the Sony DVP-CX985V? I am running my Kenwood 5050M to my Mitsubishi 65" diamond and the picture quality is poor (in some respects my XBOX has better video).
Ron

[isamu]

Originally posted by Oliver Klohs

BTW: I use an SDI-modded Kenwood and the PQ is up to par with the best Panny SDI-players and DVDlobby makes handling the player very easy with only a MX-700 universal remote.

Oliver Klohs

Hello Oliver. I too will be buying a mega changer in the next month or two and am leaning heavily in the Kenwood 5900M direction. Especially because of the alledgedly superior pic quality courtesy of Farouja. Picture quality and massive storage would be a match made in heaven for me, and would be good enough for me to get past any other issues like noise, cumbersum interface, etc.

I notice you mention you own an SDI modded 5900M. I was wondering did you buy your changer from *HERE* (http://jvb.nl/jvb.asp?cur=2&level=dvdplayers&page=title&title=262) ? They offer the 5900M as an SDI modded unit and it's region free and plays pal discs as well. I have been eyeballing this offer and was wondering if you'd recommend it from JVB?

Another thing.....

I am not too familiar with the benefits of an SDI connection. How is this type of connection beneficial over say, a standard analog component or even a DVI progressive connection? They mention that with SDI you are getting a digital only signal....but that it outputs at 480i instead of 480p. Would this yield a better looking picture than a 480p DVI connection? Or would the deinterlacing by the farouja chip in the Kenwood 5900M give it a better looking picture?

Please comment.

[Oliver Klohs]

Hi,

SDI is all over AVS, the short version: no HDCP and it's digital, therefore you get the benefits of HDMI/DVI without copy protection issues.
You'll need a scaler for that, though.

I did not buy my Kenwood from JVB digital and can't comment on their mods.
If you are on the JVB site already you might want to check the Sony 985/777 changers they also sell, same for the 5050. Keep in mind that the SDI mod just enables you to get an interlaced digital signal out of your DVD-player, so that you won't need Faroudja processing or the like.

[isamu]

Originally posted by Oliver Klohs
Keep in mind that the SDI mod just enables you to get an interlaced digital signal out of your DVD-player, so that you won't need Faroudja processing or the like.

So if that's the case, would coupling an SDI modded player with a front projector like say, the Infocus SP5700/7205 be a waste of time....since those projectors already has a built in de-interlacer? Would a projector with a built in de-interlacer render an SDI connection useless?

[Oliver Klohs]

With a megachnanger SDI out is the only option to get an all digital path to your projector, so you will still get better results with an SDI-mod and a scaler, although this comes at a price.

[Sommer3]

Hello, Seems that the original question was advice re: MegaChangers, but has gotten a bit off track - good info but, I have same initial question. Have read both 18pg Sony 777/985 thread and much of KW Soverign & still a bit confused. I don't need 400 DVD discs 75-100 would be nice and same number of CD's. I'm probably like most - trying to get them out of the cases so they can be used/accessed easily not only by me but by the spousal unit ;) - Suggestions or recommendations welcomed/requested. Control w/pictures art would be nice but once cataloged/saved (?) should not need to be updated frequently.

Thanks,

Dave - Archivist

[Compromise]

I certainly enjoy the issue of SDI, as it exists on the Kenwood units and not on the Sony. Although SDI is probably more redily dealt with on conventional DVDs as we get to HD this issue will become more important in my opinion.

[Oliver Klohs]

Compromise,
you can get SDI with both Sony and Kenwood units.
Dave,
the Sony 985 megachnager can be had for around 300$ and although it is for 400 DVD's/CD's it doesn't hurt to have a little headroom. Of course you can buy a more expensive unit from Pioneer that holds only 300 discs but why would you want that ?

[isamu]

Originally posted by Oliver Klohs
With a megachnanger SDI out is the only option to get an all digital path to your projector, so you will still get better results with an SDI-mod and a scaler, although this comes at a price.

Oliver...I understand your point. But what I was asking was, since the Infocus 7205 already has a scaler built into the projector, is there a need to get the IScan HD+?

[Oliver Klohs]

isamu,

your projector has no SDI input so for taking advantage of the SDI output you need a scaler which can be an iscan HD but also a Vision HDP or something else with SDI input(s).

An alternative scenario would be that you connect a changer directly to your projector via component - will save you money and hassle but you will end up with a picture that cannot compete with the SDI-changer/scaler solution.

[isamu]

Originally posted by Oliver Klohs
isamu,

your projector has no SDI input so for taking advantage of the SDI output you need a scaler which can be an iscan HD but also a Vision HDP or something else with SDI input(s).

An alternative scenario would be that you connect a changer directly to your projector via component - will save you money and hassle but you will end up with a picture that cannot compete with the SDI-changer/scaler solution.

OK I understand now :) Thanks for clearing that up.

Just for the record, I do not own a front projector yet. I just got the impression that the Infocus SP7205 and SP 5700 had SDI inputs and would do the same thing the IScanHD+ does.

OK so let me ask you this....which solution would yield a better picture:

1)Coupling a Mega changer with the IScan HD+ scaler and feeding that to the pj?

or:

2)Using my PC as an HTPC and using a software scaler like De-scaler to upscale the image? I have read that a lot of people are doing this and are quite pleased with the results they get using this solution. I mean if you think about it, I does seem more feasible and inexpensive to just turn my PC into an HTPC when I get my first projector. I'd just need to get the software scaler and a bigger hard drive. But like said, I'd like to know what would produce the best picture.

Your thoughts?

[Oliver Klohs]

A PC solution has its advantages, too.

Picture quality should be about comparable to a solution with a scaler depending on your skills with building your HTPC.

I used to use mainly a HTPC but now I am back to a dedicated scaler although I still have the PC.

I have more than 400 DVD's that I like to have stored away somewhere without having to touch them again and I don't like the concept of PC servers. That's why I use the scaler/changer solution myself.

[Compromise]

Originally posted by Oliver Klohs
Compromise,
you can get SDI with both Sony and Kenwood units.
Dave,
the Sony 985 megachnager can be had for around 300$ and although it is for 400 DVD's/CD's it doesn't hurt to have a little headroom. Of course you can buy a more expensive unit from Pioneer that holds only 300 discs but why would you want that ?

I just purchased my 777 and do not think it has an SDI output but will look tonight when I get home.

[Oliver Klohs]

Compromise,
the SDI output has to be fitted by a third party. It is the same with all other so-called SDI-players.

[proudx]

I have a 400 disc kenwood changer with sdi output. what would be the best pq on a crt :
lumagan hdp pro
or
silk sdi input card into dscaler and output out a radeon9500

[Oliver Klohs]

Proudx,

I'd suggest you also look into a used Holo Icard for a PC solution, as it will give you the advantage of DCDI and being plug and play and you can still use Dscaler with the card if you like.

Other than that with the Dscaler engine the cards seem to be similar in picture quality and so far slightly superior to the Lumagen for DVD material. According to someone I know who has tested both a Holo-PC and a Lumagen HDP, a good Holo-PC with a Radeon 9500/9600 had a noticably cleaner picture with more depth to it.

The Lumagen units are still in beta though, so the quality might still get better or others opinions may differ.

Also keep in mind that Luamgen has announced the capability to deinterlace 1080i with inverse telecine, although apparnetly they still haven't got it working after more than 6 months.

[Sommer3]

Oliver,

Thanks for the feedback, I've noted that most of the recommendations for the Sony seem to favor the 777 d/t the RS232 Port or control mechanism (+ the higher DAC #'s). Can the 985 be easily (relatively) controlled by IR using a Harmony Remote? (I think I read somewhere that Harmony now has a sript for the MegaChangers.) Since I don't need lots of Discs, it may be more cost-effective to enter them through the Sony Software (not good reviews) vs alternative device (Entre' or HTPC). Art work would still be nice as would extra control functions, but main objective remains get them out of the cases (storage).

Dave

[Oliver Klohs]

Dave,

I don't know the harmony remote but there are possibilities with the Pronto line of remotes and the MX-3000, the MX-3000 solution being very slick, but then the remote costs as much as two changers :)

For a simple solution you could still use the tried-and-true method of listing your CD's and DVD's with Excel - does the job all the time, alternatively you can always use DVDprofiler for your DVD's, I love it !

[Compromise]

I have a 777 and a 7000 and DVDprofiler which is great. I have set up icons on the 7000 to handle all of my DVDs on the 777. Software like Mainlobby is very complex and not very good in my opinion. I would love to see a MAC version for example, but if it was the same, its utility would be limited.

This is the issue, how to RS232 control or serial USB control the 777 from the MAC. No useful interface exists to date.

The interface on my 3GHz PC with Mainlobby I consider in much better, but still very user unfriendly and I would prefer the MAC.

[Kingdaddy]

Here is another PC solution, but not Mac compliant. Youre out of luck controlling any HT gear with a Mac AFAIK.

http://www.ibtcorp.com/dvpgenie/default.asp

[cpa-esq.]

Originally posted by Kingdaddy
Here is another PC solution, but not Mac compliant. Youre out of luck controlling any HT gear with a Mac AFAIK.

ibtcorp.com/dvpgenie/default.asp


Hey... this looks like what I've been looking for.

Thanks for sharing the link Kingdaddy

[Kingdaddy]

Originally posted by cpa-esq.
Hey... this looks like what I've been looking for.

Thanks for sharing the link Kingdaddy

No prob, wish you good luck

Now that HD DVD is just around the corner I'm starting to lament a bit about my DVD PQ, especially since I got HD service and projector to display 720P. All my DVD's look soft and dull compared to HD. Now having said that I'm starting to give second thought to the SDI mod from MSB and a DVDO Iscan HD with SDI mod. The whole thing could run close to 2K but if the PQ was comparable to HD I would go for it.

Anyone have any idea what I could expect from this upgrade, I do not intend to re-buy my entire collection of 300 DVD when BR or HD DVD are available, the software in the long run cost much more then the hardware.

[Oliver Klohs]

Hi,

most of the time SDI goes some way to improve DVD quality, together with a nice scaler the improvement should be substantial. Closer to HD ? Yes !

Comparable to HD ? Still not I fear.

I have another position on this: If it is DVD I want to see I want to make the best out of it, so I use SDI for some time now.

Oliver

[Kingdaddy]

Originally posted by Oliver Klohs
Hi,

most of the time SDI goes some way to improve DVD quality, together with a nice scaler the improvement should be substantial. Closer to HD ? Yes !

Comparable to HD ? Still not I fear.

I have another position on this: If it is DVD I want to see I want to make the best out of it, so I use SDI for some time now.

Oliver

Thanks for you input, doesn't sound like it's worth 2K for the mod and scaler though, maybe I'll wait a bit and try to find a good DIY mod kit for my CX777ES.

Thanks again.

[Compromise]

If you find a good DIY mod kit fo rthe CX777ES please post it.

[rmenkes]

Just dowloaded and purchased DVDProfiler...nice product. Wish the interface looked more like DVDGenie. Are there any online companies or persons that perform complete HTPC and/or Remote control programing utilizing the best of this type software? Mainlobby looks nice but beyond my skill set.