Sony DVPSR90B MIDI DVD Player

M. Appleton

at 5:13 am

Since I began to download DivX rips of US TV episodes I wanted a capable player, so I bagged one of these off eBay and I am VERY impressed.

I was struck by the sheer size of the thing – it’s no bigger or heavier a slimline PS2. It’s very elegant in black, with a green LED display and the minimum of buttons on the top edge of the fascia. The remote is also pleasingly small but doesn’t compromise on features. (I should add for Scott Jones that although there is no eject button on this player’s remote, the player does accept an eject “signal” from other Sony DVD remotes, as well as my Sony all-in-one).

There is only the bare minimum of socketry (an RGB SCART and composite phonos), but I have no qualms with that. An S-Video would have been nice but it’s unlikely an AV receiver owner would go for an entry level player like this anyway. Picture is outstanding at this price point, with a few preset modes and sharpness adjustment. The player is also pretty quiet in operation (but it’s a bit slower to load than some of its stockier cousins – again, no biggie for me). Chapter seeks are incredibly quick and smooth, with barely a quarter of a second’s pause; layer changes are equally fast, a huge improvement over my previous player.

The biggest draw for me, though, was DivX capability – my home-burned compilations played as though they were ordinary MPEG-2’s, so I can’t fault it in this respect either. I just have to add chaptering structure to my comps now! I have also just discovered that it also plays Xvid (apparently far more popular), so there’s every chance it could play ANYTHING in a .avi container.

The rise of Blu-ray is apparently doubly good because players like this are now going for ridiculous (in a good way!) money. DVD players seem to have reached their apex now, so get on the wagon if you haven’t converted to HD yet – this is probably the best £17 I’ve ever spent.
Rating: 5 / 5

Candy corn

at 9:56 am

Paid £15 for my 3 year old multi regional dvd player which played everything but had to get a new one down to remote busted.This sony was peddled as a multi regional yet it will not play all my region 1 dvds but is selective and will play a few region 1,my old dvd was purchased for its ability to play all regions.Not happy and will need to send this player back and find a dvd player which is a multi regional player.The player i am giving two stars for looks and a better quality remote control but its not what i was hoping for.
Rating: 2 / 5