Find the perfect gift for everyone
CNET editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 08/05/2002
Design
At a mere two inches high, the XP50 takes up precious little space in an entertainment center. Still, it looks best atop a silver TV because the few buttons--Open/Close, Transport, and Remaster--are mounted on the player's top instead of out front. In fact, the only things that fit on the slim face are the drawer and a spacey, violet-backlit LCD.
That novel display--most decks have LEDs on a field of black--is actually the XP50's biggest flaw; it's tiny, hard to read, very bright, and impossible to dim. In terms of irritation, just imagine a 10-foot-tall Exit sign at the front of a movie theater. OK, that may be a slight exaggeration, but you get the picture.
The rest of the XP50 is far more copacetic. The remote's buttons, while not backlit, are arranged well, which allows for easy navigation by feel. The setup menus lack explanatory text, but navigation is simple enough. A well-designed display menu gives you access to more-advanced functions that are relevant during playback, such as Search and Picture modes.
Features
The XP50 handles a multitude of formats, including DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, and yes, DVD-A. DVD-A uses the 5.1-channel analog-audio outputs and requires a receiver or a preamp with matching inputs. Among the XP50's other audio bonuses are the Remaster feature, which resamples CD music to 24 bits, and Audio Only, which shuts off the video circuitry to supposedly reduce interference.
This deck's MP3 capabilities are among the best that we've seen, and it's one of the first players to support WMA files. The XP50 displays filenames and the disc's file tree, including folder names (for example, album titles). It can play an entire disc of MP3s at random and even lets you search for a tune anywhere on the CD by entering a few letters of the filename--very nice. Continue reading
Most helpful user reviews
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 8 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 8 user reviews
-
5 out of 5 people found this helpful
- See all 8 user reviews Write review
Submit your review
