 Delivers What It Promises... |
| Review Date: December 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Joonbeams, Silicon Valley, CA |
WARNING: This is a very long review...
*You want a Blu-Ray changer, so that you can keep all of your Blu-Rays (or standard DVDs) in one place, organized, sortable, and easily accessible? CHECK.
*You have a home theater where you'd like to be able to scroll through all of your movies from the comforts of your chair and pick what you'd like to watch easily and painlessly? CHECK.
*You'd like to have all of the information for your collection, including titles, release date, album art, and actor/director, loaded automatically (but customizable where need be)? CHECK.
*You want all of the above at a reasonable price, but don't want to sacrifice the current industry standards for Blu-Ray video and sound quality? CHECK.
This unit does what it claims to do and nothing that it does not claim to do (e.g. no wifi, no netflix/amazon, etc.). It's not magical or particularly revolutionary. It simply organizes Blu-Rays, automatically loads and enters (most) metadata, provides a relatively easy-to-use user interface, and offers outstanding Blu-Ray output.
Are there downsides? Of course. Dealbreakers? Not if you are simply looking for the above.
*It's not the fastest, but it's fast enough for all that it does. Be prepared to spend some time, especially with initial setup. It takes about 60 seconds to queue a movie and another 45 seconds or so to load the movie menu/movie.
*Also, it's not quiet - there is a constant very low level noise when this unit is on, even idle (almost trivial but there - if you're watching a movie you absolutely cannot hear it).
*It is massive in depth and height - it loads 400 Blu-Rays on a carousel for Pete's sake! It didn't claim to be "compact."
*The XMB interface (familiar to PS3 owners) is not as elegant as say, AppleTV, but it's absolutely just as functional.
*Those who want internet movie streaming won't find it here (though I think the firmware could be updated to accommodate this - just my own guess).
*You will need the Ethernet port on the back for Gracenote and BD-Live. A unit of this size with that kind of requirement should have had wifi built in (after all, Sony did build that in to the PS3 and wifi modules are pretty cheap nowadays). But again, there is an Ethernet port, so this is a nit.
All that said, at [...] (as of December 11, 2009) plus free shipping/no tax, this is the steal of the year from Amazon for the "problems" this thing solves (face it, getting up from the chair, opening the container, pulling out the disc, and loading it into your Blu-Ray into the player is hardly a "problem"). It's basically just a bit more expensive than a regular blu-ray player but with FAR more functionality and practicality - especially for a home theater. There is really no reason to research further, wobble, debate, hesitate, stutter, or second-guess any further. Stop reading here and buy this thing if you want the above capabilities, and can stomach the price. I've lost at least 3 precious weeks (at this price) with this thing, desperately waiting for an official review somewhere.
One caveat - this is a new product offering, new model. I cannot testify to its durability, longevity, stability, etc. over time. The above is based mostly on initial impressions.
The rest of this review is for owners/users. I will add to this as I identify other issues/problems/workarounds:
* Loading - Others have stated issues with loading (especially the dreaded "load all discs" which erases all of your loaded, and EDITED, info and starts from the beginning). A couple suggestions: load about 20-30 discs at a time. For that matter, try to break up the initial setup into manageable chunks (load, then edit, load then edit) rather than trying to do everything at one sitting - just my two bits. With each load, you will see a folder called "unknown discs". Highlight that folder and press "options". Then scroll down to "load" (not "load all discs" up top). It will only load the Gracenote info for those discs and won't touch your other edited info. Basically, do not EVER hit "load all discs" unless it's the very first time. Sony should have added an "are you sure" prompt for that, but it is kind of out of the way too. Just stay away from it. There is a folder called "BD Data" that you can't open but I think this is where the device stores the edits. I've confirmed that you can shut down, unplug, etc. and still have your edits/data.
* Disc breakage - Because of the other review I read on disc breakage, I decided to only load a few discs at a time, as I described above. This seemed to work fine. One thing that can happen, b/c the slots are so close, is that two discs can actually overlap in the same slot. It's not as hard to do as you think - I caught this once. Not saying this was the cause of the other person's problems though (in fact, I doubt it was). In general, that is another reasons why I think it's best to do the initial setup in chunks - you minimize the potential for damage. So far, I've played a couple movies and loaded all my movies (only about 120 discs b/c I only loaded the Blu-Rays) and I've had no issues with breakage. SO FAR.
* Organization - This might not apply to everyone, but I'm obsessive and anal when it comes to the organization of my media (e.g. iTunes, AppleTV, etc.). I cannot stand not having the right year, the right names/titles, album art, etc. Gracenote is "okay" in that it will sometimes get the data right. 99% of the time, it has at least some data, but it's only "perfect" (again, in my lil anal world) about 10% of the time. For example, I like to organize by title (you can sort by release year, slot # and title), but this unit recognizes "The" as the beginning of the title. So, "The Godfather" and "The Matrix" appear with the "Terminator 2" and the other "T's". I prefer to change the title to "Godfather, The" to get the organization right for my tastes. Others may differ. Also, if you order Box Sets, it will usually default to "Matrix Collection (Disc One)" rather than "Matrix, The" (actually it won't ever put a space before "(disc one)" - See? Anal...). Sometimes Gracenote will have the preferred choice if you highlight the title, go to "options", and press "load" - sometimes not. If so, you will see 2-4 additional options. You may have to try a few to get it right. If Gracenote isn't perfect, I always correct it manually. This means spending A LOT of time editing. Also, there is no way (yet) to add missing album art, so if it's not at Gracenote, you're SOL (and you will feel the feeling of fingernails grating the chalkboard everytime you scroll past your "dud" movie file). But I will be hounding Gracenote to update it's database with holes I find, hopefully others do too. I will periodically "re-load" problem titles. I've only loaded Blu-Rays into mine so this is kind of inexcusable (Gracenote/Blu-Ray coding issue, not Sony).
* Editing - As above, if you need to edit for any reason, it's pretty painful. But I found a little shortcut that others may not have realized. Rather than scrolling with the arrow buttons on screen to a letter, pressing the letter, then scrolling to another block, simply use the remote control itself. For example, a "space" is number "0" on the remote. If you press zero, the first slot is space. Let's say you next want the letter "T" in caps. Simply press "8" right after and since T is first in that queue, you will get a "T"...and so on. So, let's say you want to type ", The" (I've done this so much, I'm typing this from memory), you would hit "yellow button" twice (gives the comma), "0" once (space), "8" once (capital T), "4" five/six times (can't recall exactly how many - lower case "h"), then "3" five/six times (lower case "e'). Then press "enter" on the remote and you're done. You can do that without pausing or scrolling - all in a row! Maybe others knew this, I only realized it after the first edit. Another thing - "Clear" on the remote works as "backspace" if it's all the way at the end and as "delete" if it's all the way at the beginning. I found that using the remote saved me TONS of time. It's still kind of painful (especially having to type certain phrases like "Special Features" over and over and over again) but it's way better than using the on screen display. If you don't edit much, you might not care.
*Other media - As I've said, I've only used this for Blu-Ray so far. I cannot speak to the capabilities with standard DVD (which should be about the same), CDs (should be the about the same), or with home CDs/DVD-Rs/RWs (which I would expect to vary WIDELY). I also don't know how it handles digital media off USB (haven't tried yet). For home DVDs or rentals and such, I plan to use the "rental slot" (which I have tested and it works perfectly). But that's more my own quirkiness and not wanting to "mix" my hi-def Blu-Ray with standard - pure personal preference. (In fact, I have all my home movies, loads of other movies, and all music digitized on a backed-up hard drive running through a hacked 2Tb AppleTV, so I wouldn't use this machine for any of that anyway.)
* Usage - Last but not least is actually using this thing. It works as expected for a Blu-Ray player, but it takes a bit of time to load - more than normal b/c it needs to queue the disc first. It also automatically loads and plays the last loaded movie at startup/power on (haven't tried to figure out yet if that can be disabled). Be careful not to hit the "home" button which is clumsily placed so close to commonly used buttons (also be careful with other Sony remotes which can activate functions on this). I've programmed a Harmony remote to manage everything so I don't have that issue, but I hit "home" once and it took me back, right out of my movie, to the movie selection screen. This pretty much means another 60-90 secs to watch your movie again. My suggestion? Basically, don't rush when using this. Wait a sec or two before you hit a selection b/c if you do something unwanted, you must wait painfully for the "load" to complete, THEN wait for the "load" you actually want. There is no "undo". From a quality standpoint, picture and sound are outstanding - certainly as good (or better) as my very spec'd out previous Blu-Ray player - so you lose nothing and probably gain here. As stated, I haven't played with the USB Port/BD-Live functionality yet. Depending on what additional functionality I get from a USB drive packed with goodies, this could be a HUGE bonus. Seems like the XMB menu is set up for this, but I just don't know yet. I will update.
Anyway, I hope some of this long-winded review is helpful since there are still no major professional reviews out there. I'm very pleased with this purchase.
|
Very nice BD changer
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| Review Date: October 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: James Black, Taylor, TX USA |
It's about time an affordable BD changer appeared on the market. Picture and sound quality are equal or better than the PS3 it replaced. Been testing with Planet Earth, and the output is amazing. Also tested the up-scaling using the extended 'Return of the King' DVD, it's output was nearly good enough to keep me from buying the BD when (er. if) it appears.
Thank God for the new interface! It is much faster and easier to use than the old 'Disk Explorer' from the 300 and 400 disk Sony DVD changes.
The disk loading, and Gracenote, do need some improvement. If you just want to try the unit out after newly installing it, then start with only one disk. Because, every time you select the 'Load All Disks' option, it restarts from the beginning (disk 1), even if half of your collection was already stored.
The Gracenote had no info at all for about 1% of my collection. Another 2% had no picture jackets. And, perhaps the most annoying because of the number of times it happened, about 5% of my disks ended up with foreign language titles. You do have the option to over-ride this, which I did, and manually enter a title. Also there is the option to manually select different database entries - but all of the failed BD's had only a single entry. The player did manage to save my manual edits even when the disk was ejected and reloaded. |
Regrets, I Dont have them,..
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| Review Date: November 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: P. Chebib, USA |
I bought the sony BDP-CX960 to accomodate my ever expanding DVD library that was eating up my shelving space, slowly and surely.
I only read the one review available from amazon when I bought it, and the specs from sony [...]web page.
Having owned multiple sony coponents over the years, I felt comfortable pulling the trigger on this 649 dollars baby.
I briefly read through the manual some before setting it up. I have connected to a pioneer VSX-1019 receiver via the BD HDMI input, outputing to a samsung 58 inches 1080p PN58B650 Plasma TV. the speakers are 4 Polk audio m70's for front and polk cs2 cc speaker and Polk M-60 for saurround rear with 2 Polk audio PSW505 subwoofers,..
All I can say is WOW, WOW,...
THE SONY DBP-CX960 SETUP MENU was very easy and intuitive, smoothly guided me through the all set up, from choosing audio, to picture quality to upscale, etc,.. all were easy and straightforward.
Now came loading the BD and DVD discs. After connecting the RJ45 in the back to my network, I loaded about 100 DVD and BD discs.
Via remote I instructed the machine to load all disc informations, which it does by connecting to gracenote, web site that downloads the discs informations and displays the jackets for easy recognition, as well as genres, actors year, etc,..
well out of 100 disc I loaded, it recognized 100 discs and downloded all there info, some were older one from the mid 90's,... no problem.
the process took somE time, so you bettEr get it started and get busy with another project. I did not time the process, but for the 100 disc I think it took about 1 h +/- 5-10 min.
The picture quality is amazing, and the sound could not be better.
Now i can sit in my favorite chair, flip through my DVD collection and not worry about loading the disc...that is what I was looking for.
No need to manually enter any information, wow,..it is about time somebody made good use of the internet in this business.
By the way you can do the same for audio cd and other media format.
It can connect to your computer via your network and displays picture, music and movies,.. not bad at all.
The list goes on and on,.. in a brief summary, the machine has lived up to my expectations so far, after one month of use, and has delivered what Sony has proclaimed. Great picture, excellent sound, HDMI connection, and others connections, and easy set up and operation.
If you are debating weather to spend the extra buck on this baby, and want to treat yourself for an early X=Mas gift, go ahead, take the plunge, the price keeps falling,.. it is in my opinion worth the price i paid for it.
Hope you'll find this helpful |
Compelling Product, Well Executed
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| Review Date: November 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Fieldmarshal, New York, NY |
I've owned this 400 blu-ray disc changer for a few days, and I'm very pleased with it. The addition of of blu-ray capability to the carousel disc "megachanger" was inevitable, but what makes this really remarkable--and a net time saver--is that with an ethernet connection, it automatically catalogs all of your disc information using gracenote in just a few hours. Of 220+ disks loaded, it missed about 15. Frustrating though it is to have to enter this data by hand, it can hardly be blamed on Sony. Once identified, the machine remembers the discs gracenote missed.
Overall, this is a great blu-ray player. It's quick and quiet. Easy to load. Great image and sound quality. Much better for DVD playback than the PS3 I was using previously. Only caution for people considering it is that it is very large -- standard width, but 9" tall and over 21" deep! Make sure you have the room for it.
Overall, I'd say this dramatically enhances the value of my DVD collection by making it much easier for me to remember--and quickly access--the discs that I've bought over the years. |
Superb - Changes the way you manage your library
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| Review Date: December 8, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Laura Moose, Seattle, WA USA |
This unit is excellent. The Bluray experience is every bit as good as any other BD player I've used and the machine handles all of my CDs,DVDs,BDs without a problem. Some of my older DVDs have had freezing problems on other Bluray players but this one plays them all without a hitch.
The real genius of this unit is the ability to have all your movies at the ready and searchable... almost (albeit not quite as gracefully) like an ipod. This is awesome because it allows us to find DVDs we almost forgot we had. It also keeps all the disks out of the hands of my small kids who can't tell the difference between a Bluray Disk and a frisbee.
I felt that Gracenote worked wonderfully. Of the 378 disks I loaded, it only failed to identify 16. Most of those were not major releases (for example, the instruction manual/DVD for my Ryobi weedwacker). I was truly amazed by some of the titles it did recognize. It does take a little while to initially load all the disks and download the information but I honestly believe it was a small price to pay.
Our family has loved this unit. We got it bundled through Amazon with a 46" Sony Z series TV which made this Bluray player essentially free. If you are reading this review in December 2009, you should search Amazon for this deal if you are also considering a new TV. $1478 for a 46" LCD TV and this player is unbeatable. I asked for the supersaver shipping and got it in 3 days. The TV came the next day. The combination is awesome and I was very impressed with Amazon for this order.
Lastly, a note about some missing features of this unit. You can't access Amazon or Netflix, or any of that stuff that's becoming standard on the higher end Bluray players. That may seem like a deal breaker, but the fact is that the Z series TV we have this player connected to can do that. So can our Tivo. Honestly, do you really need ALL your equipment to have this feature. We're quite content without it in our Bluray player.
I recommend this, primarily if you have a lot of disks and you enjoy flipping through your titles before deciding what you're going to watch. |
Best buy for " Sony BDP-CX960 400 Disc Blu-ray Disc / DVD MegaChanger (Black) ", Lowest Price Sony BDP-CX960 400 Disc Blu-ray Disc / DVD MegaChanger (Black) + Free shipping. Get Sony BDP-CX960 400 Disc Blu-ray Disc / DVD MegaChanger (Black) Now! |
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