- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 13 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Wow!! A beast"
Pros: Lots of power to 7 channels
Cons: UI and controls not firmware upgradeable.
Summary: I gave this a 10 because it is perfect for my application. (Your mileage may vary.) If Cnet allowed us to break down the review, I would give it a 10 in the value Category (Under $500 new on eBay), a 10 for performance, An 8 for aesthetics, and a 5 for the GUI. It took me about 10 minutes to connect this to my 7.1 channels of speakers, HDDVD, DVR, TV, Xbox and PC. The Sony speaker setup program was quick to run (they have a drop in sheet to explain it). The confusing part is when you try to assign an audio input to a video input. Here is a tip. The menu which shows this is backwards. It looks like you are assigning an audio input to a video input, when actually you are assigning the video to an audio input. Once you figure this out, the player is a breeze. The Sony remote is o.k. although somewhat bulky and ugly. I use a Logitech Remote anyways so I put the Sony remote away after the initial setup. The unit allows me to seamlessly go from HDMI inputs to Component inputs to S-video, etc. I have connected this player to pretty much every device I have and even use the analog 5.1 inputs to connect to my HDDVD for Dolby TrueHD sound. Although you can?t upconvert from the component inputs to the HDMI outputs, you can up convert if you stay with the same connectors. I have connected both the HDMI output and the component output to my TV, and switch back and forth to accommodate this. (Remember, HDMI is digital and DRM, component is neither).
The only two things I would ask for if they do a revision on this player is faster speed on the volume control, and a cleaner UI.
