How do you handle multiple cd sets?

IE Star wars trilogy has 4 discs, but only on entry in collection.
Same with most TV seasons.

I can do with out the Bonus DVDs, but some (Like cleopatra) are across 2 dvds, or with the TV series across 2-5 DVDs.

Heywood -

As far as DVD Profiler is concerned, to add more than one disk from the DVD (box sets, special editions, etc.) or a DVD that is not found in the Profiler's database. You can add the disks manually by using the "Add By Title". De-select "Download profile from IVS" found near the bottom on the "Add By Title" screen and then add the title. Prior to completion, you will be prompted to save the manual entry.

Don't know what happened to my last reply but...

Syill having issues with H 880 and Media- List shows up, I hit the desired disc, I see the see icon, but no chaNGE.

Does player have to be stopped?

Does anyone who got this to work remember if they choose Hit disc directly or choose from on screen in the harmony set up mode?

Don't know what happened to my last reply but...

It most likely got lost due to the problems they recently had here with the forums.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/announcement.php?f=18&announcementid=94

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but is there a way to change the title that's automatically loaded by the machine? I put in many discs of stargate, and it only recognized the first one (season 1, disc 1). It's not a problem for me to enter the info for all the others, but I can't change the info the machine has for that first disc so it'll match what I put in for the other discs.

The title the machine gave it is long and will not sort very well, so I'd really like to be able to change it from like 'Stargate: SG1 season one' or whatever to just 'SG 1.1,' which is the format that the rest of the discs will be in.

Thanks for help.

Is it possible to send a command to the CX995v to go directly to a specific TV series episode? Most front ends assume that the DVD has just one movie (plus extras) on a DVD. TV series season discs can have 4-6 episodes on each disk.

Ok- I think I have it
When setting up yhe media,
In the remote set up, tell it that to select a title
you hit "display"
and "right"

and after you make your selection

you hit

"select"
and "display"

right now

It seems that the second display may be sent too soon, and I may need to set a delay.

I've had my CX995 since last summer and have enjoyed it.

I have started re-encoded/shrunk some of my DVDs so they have no menus and just start playing the show.

I used some Verbatim 4X DVD+R media and when I play them back on this changer (as well as another Sony DVD player I have) I get stuttering and blocks on the screen. In other players the same disks play fine.

So my question is what media (preferrably 16X) works best with this Sony changer?

Thanks in advance for any responses!

I have been debating getting one of these for the last several months and now that I have an HDTV I am especially interested in getting a player that can upconvert my DVDs to 720P, (the progressive scan picture from my current dvd player is ok but I figure this should yield an even better picture)

My main question is that it seems most people are only having 25-50% of their DVDs autoload information with the rest having to be entered manually. I was wondering if there was anyway to find out in advance maybe through a computer if this information is on my DVDs already. I currently have about 250 DVDs with about 175 of them representing multi disk box sets (mostly tv series sets). I figure I will have to enter a lot myself but would be nice to know in advance what kinda project I am in for. Thanks.

My experience has been that less than 10% of my 350 DVDs were auto recognized. ( most sony DVDs are recognized)

I am not aware of anyway to check in advance. I have also read that people who burn the Back up copies sometimes have dificulties with the unit recognzing the auto text.

I use dvd profiler to make a coffee table book with a listing of Titles by Genre, Alphabetical, and include Slot location for each DVD (I added a 1 in the Thousands digit in case I get a second DVD jukebox which would start with 2001).

It is easier to take a 3 ring binder and flip through than enter all the data manually ( Even with a key board- I did it for my 2 400 disc cd changers.)

I have recently purchased the Harmony 880 and have loaded the DVDs into the remote. Works well, except for the inability to get the last <display> command to clear the screen. <see above ramblings>

Definitely better to use DVD profiler...entering all the info into the 995V and then losing it is a baaaad experience. (Ask me how I know. :) )

Well it looks like Sony has come out with a new additional model to go with the DVP-CX777ES changer. The DVP-CX777ES/B.

But it appears that the only real difference is that it is black instead of silver. And no, before anyone even asks. They did not also add a HDMI output with upscaling to it.


http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?CategoryName=hav_DVD_DVDPlayers&ProductSKU=DVPCX777ES%2fB&TabName=specs&DCMP=OVERTUREPI_DF

That sucks! Guess we have to wonder if they improved the disc explorer navigation interface. Oh well... we can hope.

landale -

I have been randomly using this changer for ~8 months. The 720p HDMI output is pretty good. I think there is a bit of EE (sharpness) added but not too bad for the convenience gained.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and put our 225 movie collection into the unit (alphabetically) this past Sunday. Only about 10% were auto-detected when I pressed the "load" button. I entered the information for the rest of the discs Monday morning. It took me ~2 hours with an old Compaq keyboard.

This was much less time than I expected.

Thanks for the information. I really think this is the ideal dvd player for me. I bought the Sony 200 disk changer that hooks up directly to your HTPC mainly because it would automatically load title information from the internet but it handled my box sets so poorly (not labeling which was disk 1, 2 etc..) that it wasn't worth the extra $100 over this unit given I was going to have to manually re-enter most of my titles anyway.

While I figure the 720p upconversion isn't going to match what I would get on some of the better single disk players (like the new sony DVP-NS75H or one of the oppo units) its good to hear that it still produces a great picture on HDTV's.

As soon as amazon processes my refund of the 200 disk one I will definetly pull the trigger on one of these.

Does anyone know whether DVP-CX777ES/B has an improved navigation interface to the older version of the 777 player, similar to, or better than the 995V? Just checking :D

I really doubt it. It looks like the same thing other than it is also available in black now. People have been complaining about it for years now. But yet they have pretty much used the same interface since the CX860, so I don't see where they have had any real desire to change it even with all the complaints.

:( :(

I agree wholeheartedly, thought they would have tried to prove the consumers wrong by doing what we didn't expect, but hoped for nonetheless. Sadly, I might end up getting this black version solely for aesthetics and WAF.

Yeah now I wish I could just trade even up, my 3 silver ones for 3 of the black ones.

Yeah now I wish I could just trade even up, my 3 silver ones for 3 of the black ones.

Black spraypaint? :cool:

Black spraypaint?


Naaaaaa, I don't think so.

:D

RE: Direct Disc access using the Harmony 880

After reading through the whole thread, and trying numerous delay settings, extra sends etc.
I decided the best way around the Display screen staying up after you run the Media key macro is to map one of the unused keys in on the remote to display.

I used the "+" button, as it also has "clear" on it. you just need to wait until the disc changer starts to move, and then hit "+".

Or you could have a bunch of dummy comands before the "Display" command on your macro, but you would have to keep the remote pointed at the system.

If anyone has a better solution, please share.

I know it's in this thread somewhere but if someone can save me the searching around for it....

What does the KIT2 in DVP-CX995V/KIT2 represent? Was there a DVP-CX995V prior to this?

I'm pretty sure that it's just a promotional package, and that only means it comes with 5 free DVD's.
All you had to do was use "kit2" as a search word in this forum thread.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7492025&highlight=kit2#post7492025

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-dvd/thread.cgi?1629

I hate to admit I have been lurking around this thread for a number of months without doing anything...

The price for this player is fairly reasonable at a number of locations..., but I keep hesitating!

I guess I am hoping that Sony will come out with a Blu-Ray version of this player in the near future... and then I would just be buying another one........ Oh Woe is Me!
Single-disc Blue-Ray player costs $1k. I am so scared to think what will be the price tag for the hi-def mega changer :confused:

I read thru many pages, but I do not seem to see the answer for my question. I am using Harmony 676 to control the Sony 995. Anyone knows the command name on the changer for "cisc skip" buttons (+ and - on the remote)? Any tip on programming the Harmony is highly appreciated.

I'm pretty sure that it's just a promotional package, and that only means it comes with 5 free DVD's.
All you had to do was use "kit2" as a search word in this forum thread.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7492025&highlight=kit2#post7492025

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-dvd/thread.cgi?1629

Thank you.

Truth be told, even if I do have to stick with component, the picture is fine and the player is worth what I paid for it. So I'm trying to just be happy with the situation and not worry about the hdmi.
I do not think you will notice any difference from the viewing seats with HDMI. So, you are not losing anything.

Wow... 36 pages! :) Need an opinion on this again folks. I have a Denon 1920 which I like (hate the power off issue) but it won't play any of theh wife's native content SVCDs and such. The Sony 975 did just fine with everything. If I switch to the 995... hows the PQ/SQ gonna be compared to the Denon 1920?

Your response is appreciated.

Cheers!
I had the Denon 1920 for a short period of time, but I did not try VCD on it. For the 995, the SQ is not bad, except the singing and music are separated into left and right channels (it is the disc, not the machine). That's why I seldom play my old VCD discs these days.

I do not think you will notice any difference from the viewing seats with HDMI. So, you are not losing anything.

Thats kinda upsetting to hear, I was hoping that I would at least see some kind of noticable improvement with this player over my current progressive scan player which is currently connected to my 50" DLP via component cable. Is everyone else finding this to be true in their experience with this player. If that's the case I might decide to just go with one of the upconverting players from Oppo.

Thats kinda upsetting to hear, I was hoping that I would at least see some kind of noticable improvement with this player over my current progressive scan player which is currently connected to my 50" DLP via component cable. Is everyone else finding this to be true in their experience with this player. If that's the case I might decide to just go with one of the upconverting players from Oppo.
People buy this unit for its 400 disc capacity, not so for the HDMI. Also, it depends on the receiver. High quality receiver has already done great job on video up to 420p over components. For my setup, I have to look closely to see slight finer picture on HDMI. I have not tried the most expensive upscaling player, but I do also see very slight improvement on HDMI on my Denon 1920.

People buy this unit for its 400 disc capacity, not so for the HDMI. Also, it depends on the receiver. High quality receiver has already done great job on video up to 420p over components. For my setup, I have to look closely to see slight finer picture on HDMI. I have not tried the most expensive upscaling player, but I do also see very slight improvement on HDMI on my Denon 1920.

And that is my main reason for purchase but it would be nice to get a little something extra due to the HDMI upconverting.

And that is my main reason for purchase but it would be nice to get a little something extra due to the HDMI upconverting.

Everything that's input to your DLP TV set, is already being converted to the DLP's native rate by the TV itself. So there may not even be much, if any, difference between the way a DVD player does it or the way the TV itself does it. Either way, you are not getting a true HD picture from it.

Everything that's input to your DLP TV set, is already being converted to the DLP's native rate by the TV itself. So there may not even be much, if any, difference between the way a DVD player does it or the way the TV itself does it. Either way, you are not getting a true HD picture from it.

But in many cases upconverting dvd players do a better job at this process then the TV's do and with the signal already using the TV's native format it means the TV's inferier upconversion process doesn't need to be used. Sony's own DVPNS75H I have seen do a fantastic job in this regard but that is only a single disk player. I guess in the end I'd like to have my cake and eat it too with a great quality upconverted picture and 400 disk capacity.

I do not notice much difference with HDMI vs Component into my Sammy HLR50 DLP. But have not spent a ton of time tweaking settings.

Has anyone noticed a difference in Audio lag between the two?

Having the DVD player do the converting vs letting the TV do it?

(I use Optical out fo audio)

But in many cases upconverting dvd players do a better job at this process then the TV's do and with the signal already using the TV's native format it means the TV's inferier upconversion process doesn't need to be used.

And in many cases it don't make much difference which does the conversion. Because it's still being manipulated by either one or the other to be something that it really is not. Neither the TV or the DVD player, is going to do as good a job as a $2000 scaler does. A $120+ single disk upconverting player is not going to be a whole lot better, if any, than a $350+ 400 disk upconverting player that is made by the same company. They both in all likelihood, use the same scaling chips.

I just picked up the DVP-CX995V and I am having a couple of issues.

- As stated in previous posts the system isn't very good at picking up the titles of the DVDs via Load. I have not found a single disc where it has, so I am wondering if the unit is malfunctioning. Anyone know of a list of DVDs that are known to be picked up?

- My Harmony 880 codes (almost none of them other than play, stop, and power) seem to work. Has anyone else found this to be true?

- Last one, where do you guys keep the list of which DVD is in which slot? DVD itself seems to be waste of time, if you lose power for a decent amount of time its going to reset. The Harmony screen is just too small and you can't search. Paper? Is that the only choice?

I plan on uing paper sorted by title, another sorted by actor and another by category (drama, action , etc).

gk

- Last one, where do you guys keep the list of which DVD is in which slot? ...

. Paper? Is that the only choice?

I finally settled on using a small spiral notepad.

But, I also note the correct aspect ratio setting for my PJ and the preferred audio track (if it isn't the default track) so that I don't have to waste several minutes trying to figure out the settings each time.

It's really pathetic that we have to keep paper lists, but I still prefer my changer to having to get up and dig through hundreds of cases to find the disk I want to watch. :(

I finally settled on using a small spiral notepad.

But, I also note the correct aspect ratio setting for my PJ and the preferred audio track (if it isn't the default track) so that I don't have to waste several minutes trying to figure out the settings each time.

It's really pathetic that we have to keep paper lists, but I still prefer my changer to having to get up and dig through hundreds of cases to find the disk I want to watch. :(

Amen Brother - lesser of two evils

aram535, garykagan, and Mac The Knife -

If you decide to use a paper list to keep track your DVDs, my suggestion would be to use DVD Profiler software to catalog your database. InterVocative offers a free version or a registered version.

http://www.intervocative.com/Products.aspx

Sorting is a breeze (collection number, genre, actors, etc) and the different reports you can create would look great on that coffee table of yours. :)

Check it out.

I will check that out - thanks!

gk

aram535, garykagan, and Mac The Knife -

If you decide to use a paper list to keep track your DVDs, my suggestion would be to use DVD Profiler software to catalog your database. InterVocative offers a free version or a registered version.



Thanks. It looks pretty good. I had been using Collectorz MovieCollector a while back so I decided to see if they had made any improvments, and looks like they added a 'storage section'.

I'll try both out and let the group know which works better.

Aram

I plan on uing paper sorted by title, another sorted by actor and another by category (drama, action , etc).

gk

Try DVD Profiler...
http://www.intervocative.com/dvdpro/Info.aspx

you can print out all kinds of reports.

I haven't checked out this thread since back in January or so, a month or two after I got my changer. I see some of the same questions are still popping up.

On the issue of this beast insisting on loading a DVD, and starting play, without letting you stop it, I recall reading one solution, that was to put a blank DVD in one slot, and always go to that one, when you shut of the changer. When you restart it, it checks the blank for just a second, then stops, and you can control it. I usually turn it on by pushing the button on the player that controls the carousel, and turn right to the number I want. Entering a disc number in the display, from the remote, as someone suggested a couple of pages back, works too, but sometimes, depending on its actions, you will be interupted, and have to enter the number again.

I don't have a computer at home, so all the disc cataloging programs aren't an option for me. I did buy a remote keyboard, to enter titles for everything, and I keep the cases for everything loaded in it in order, on shelves, so I can see at a glance what is where, without the machine on.

Once in a while, I have had problems when discs that had loaded info, and had not been removed from the slot, would not play, and the info disappeared. I remove the disc, reinsert it, and so far, the info has reloaded, and it has played. I think my biggest complaints are that play stops when you use the Disc Explorer, and you can't page down in the Disc Explorer.

On the issue of this beast insisting on loading a DVD, and starting play, without letting you stop it, I recall reading one solution, that was to put a blank DVD in one slot, and always go to that one, when you shut of the changer. When you restart it, it checks the blank for just a second, then stops, and you can control it. I usually turn it on by pushing the button on the player that controls the carousel, and turn right to the number I want. Entering a disc number in the display, from the remote, as someone suggested a couple of pages back, works too, but sometimes, depending on its actions, you will be interupted, and have to enter the number again.

Do you mean an empty Slot, or an actual empty DVD?

Once in a while, I have had problems when discs that had loaded info, and had not been removed from the slot, would not play, and the info disappeared. I remove the disc, reinsert it, and so far, the info has reloaded, and it has played. I think my biggest complaints are that play stops when you use the Disc Explorer, and you can't page down in the Disc Explorer.

Are you saying that your loader is actually picking up some titles? Mine isn't picking up any so far. I just got it and I've like 20 DVDs in there, Godfather collection and 8 Star Trek, and the 6 StarWars DVDs and so far nothing. I have held off putting more DVDs in there until I can be sure I won't have to take them all back out to send it back to Sony.

Thanks.

Aram

Are you saying that your loader is actually picking up some titles? Mine isn't picking up any so far. I just got it and I've like 20 DVDs in there, Godfather collection and 8 Star Trek, and the 6 StarWars DVDs and so far nothing. I have held off putting more DVDs in there until I can be sure I won't have to take them all back out to send it back to Sony.
Aram

aram535 -

Go ahead and load the rest of your DVDs.

A very, very small percentage of disc information (titles) gets recognized when you load your discs. Of the 572 DVDs that I own, maybe a handful or two got read. However, you can take the painstaking time to label the discs through the the Disc Exployer. I'm happy to report that I've never use (or seen) the DE feature, instead, I access my collection through my Philips TSU7000 remote control. :)

I'll try to report back to you the DVDs it did read when I come across one. However, I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a response, it's like finding the needle that got lost in the haystack. :p

i currently have 320 dvds loaded. only 5! were picked up by the player (mostly old titles), and when it does you cant edit the Titles, annoying.. all others i had to type using the remote untill i got a ps2 keyboard.

If this thing were to ever lose my dvd names, its going out the nearest window.

I was wondering if there was anyway to find out in advance maybe through a computer if this information is on my DVDs already. I currently have about 250 DVDs with about 175 of them representing multi disk box sets (mostly tv series sets). I figure I will have to enter a lot myself but would be nice to know in advance what kinda project I am in for. Thanks.

The same "Titlewriter" software that people are using to add the title information to back-up discs can be used to read the original DVD to determine whether it contains title information.

If this thing were to ever lose my dvd names, its going out the nearest window.

latnekky -

Then I would suggest putting bars on your windows. :(

I'm not trying to make light of this issue, but to give you advance warning that it can happen. Just ask grob312, ran007, Danabw, or JerseyBob what happen to their information?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7122333&&#post7122333

Unfortunately there are many others as well. Do you have a Plan B (backup) to fall back on?

Good luck.

Would have been nice of Sony to give us a download feature maybe a memory stick writer/reader or something. Its impossible to imagine that you would ever keep that information. I am not sure if I even put this thing on my UPS, just leave it on the Monster Power Console for protection.

I am planning on just using some sort of static list. I think I am going to stick with Collectorz's MovieCollector and use that export XML out and format it to whatever format, sort I need ... most likely just post it on my intranet as a HTML.

Aram

Do you mean an empty Slot, or an actual empty DVD?



Are you saying that your loader is actually picking up some titles? Mine isn't picking up any so far. I just got it and I've like 20 DVDs in there, Godfather collection and 8 Star Trek, and the 6 StarWars DVDs and so far nothing. I have held off putting more DVDs in there until I can be sure I won't have to take them all back out to send it back to Sony.

Thanks.

Aram

I mean an actual empty, unrecorded, but recordable, DVD. The player won't stop on an empty slot, but will read the empty DVD very quickly, then stop, so you can give it commands. At least, that's what some other folks on this thread said, way back in the winter. I haven't tried it yet myself, but will sooner, or later.

I have a total of about 250 DVDs, CDs, and SACDs loaded in the machine. I'd say that about 15% loaded info. That is a bit slanted, because many of the SACDs are Sony. I did note that none of the older, say 5 years or more, Sony CDs loaded info. Oddly, some DVDs of other brands load only a freeze frame, only a title, or only a generic title for a series of DVDs. Get yourself a remote keyboard, and start typing! And, when loading new discs, only allow the player to load the new ones, not reload the old ones.

I tried the "blank" dvd trick last night and it does work pretty well. Although I just have to remember to put it back to 400 when I'm done.

I think I am just going to use my Harmony Remote's feature for now. I don't see any major reason of loading the stuff into the SONY since I know at the first minor power outage its going to lose all of it.

How do you stop it from loading the old discs and load just the new ones? I looked at the manual and it doesn't seem to distinguish the two actions.

....

How do you stop it from loading the old discs and load just the new ones? I looked at the manual and it doesn't seem to distinguish the two actions.

Don't use the "load" button after you already have a bunch of disks loaded. Instead just "play" each new disk when you put it in and the info wwill be updated for that disk.

Don't use the "load" button after you already have a bunch of disks loaded. Instead just "play" each new disk when you put it in and the info wwill be updated for that disk.

That works.
In my situation, when I load new discs, there are usually several of them in a row. So, I do use the load feature, but I watch and stop loading when the new ones are done.

FYI - In Fry's Electronics Saturday sale installment in the paper in the Houston area, this unit is onsale (half off). Don't know the geographical limitations but if you are looking, or on the fence, now might be the time to jump on it. Their online price still has it listed at full MSRP.
Just a heads up.

Amazon.com has it for $299 -- free shipping

I have three CX995V units. One of them lost its memory twice in less than one year. I do not want to spend hours re-entering this information. Why didn't Sony include a memory card slot to allow you to save your information? If they did, I'd be able to reload in seconds.

Better yet, I could enter the information on a computer and not sit in front of the machines hunched over a keyboard.

This machine is a great example of flawed product design. This thing does not even understand alphabetical order (It sorts all the capital letters and then sorts the lower case letters).

There is no way to join more than one in a common database of movies. You need to remember which player the disk is in.

The problem with autoload has been well documented.

They only play NTSC discs. PAL disks (disks fro Europe or many movies downloaded from Internet) show an "area limitations" error. This is not the same as a region error. Every other DVD player I have (even one I paid $19 for) plays both types.

Also, do not try to take it anywhere with the disks loaded! Half of them will come out and the machine will jam, making a horrible noise. This can only be fixed by manually opening the door and removing every disk by hand. Then reloading the discs and reentering the information. Don't even try to carry one upstairs. If it tips by just 15°, you have a disaster.

The optical audio jacks worked fine. When I unplugged the wires to move the machines, the little doors that covers the jacks broke off (ON ALL THREE PLAYERS). Then the optical audio cables would not stay in the jacks.

One of the three players makes a craking sound periodically during a movie.

When these things break down completely in 2 or 3 years, I'm going to rip all my movies onto hard drives (a RAID sytem) and hook these up to the TV.

I would avoid these players. They are more trouble than they are worth.

Also, do not try to take it anywhere with the disks loaded! Half of them will come out and the machine will jam, making a horrible noise. This can only be fixed by manually opening the door and removing every disk by hand. Then reloading the discs and reentering the information. Don't even try to carry one upstairs. If it tips by just 15°, you have a disaster.
How is any of that Sony's fault? It was never designed to be moved around while filled up or to be used like a suitcase for traveling around with 400 DVD's in it. You will find this same limitation on any brand of CD or DVD megachanger.

I've had mine since December, and haven't had any real problems. I do agree that Sony shouldn't have made them not play PAL. I've learned ways to deal with the auto load. The 777es has the info loading features you want, but for more $. For $3-400, I think it's a nice machine. My major complaint is that you can't continue to listen to what's playing while you call up the Disc Explorer, to see what you want to play next. Unless that would add significantly to the cost of the machine, I'd call that a design flaw.

I have three CX995V units. One of them lost its memory twice in less than one year. I do not want to spend hours re-entering this information. Why didn't Sony include a memory card slot to allow you to save your information? If they did, I'd be able to reload in seconds.

I would avoid these players. They are more trouble than they are worth.

995x3 -

Sorry to hear your tales of misfortune w/Disc Explorer (DE) feature. :(

If you were to read this thread you will find alternative solutions to the DE. Let me tell you mine.

I use a Philips ProntoProNG TSU7000 remote to control my DVD collection. Each disc I put into the changer's number slot is cataloged using InterVocative DVD Profiler software. I than program my TSU7000. My family and friends love picking the DVD cover jacket that represents the movie. The unit than loads the disc, the lights go down, the movie begins, we sit back, and enjoy the popcorn. :)

I have been extremely happy with these changers. I own 2, even though they are the older model, DVP-CX985V, they have never given me a problem. The changers simply warehouse my discs. I will buy a third when that day arrives.

Though I was set to buy a Pioneer F727 megachanger because of all the reported Sony disk data problems, Fry's put the cx995 on special for $199, so it became a no-brainer. Some questions:

1. With no data port, how do you guys use the 3rd party disk management software on the 995?

2. Whats the best way to load rental DVDs?

3. CDs don't get much mention. Since my unit will be more than half filled with CDs, any tips on cd managment would be appreciated.

DWPC - My 2 cents:

Re: #1. Since no RS232 ports, our solutions are infrared based. By "disk management software" I presume you mean DVD Profiler or DVD Collector, or a simliar program. Search this thread, there are several posts as to how we've implemented these solutions--from the basic report printouts with location number noted (and then selected manually using your player remote) to full blown automated "libraries" controlled by a universal remote such as the Harmony 880 or Universal Remote MX-3000.

There are several posts re: #2 here--please search.

Re #3. If you use a "disk management software" you will have to experiment on how you setup your data, as most of these programs are designed out of the box for DVDs OR CDs, but not both. You would likely have to choose which (dvd or cd) to automatically download data for, then manually input the information for the other class of discs.

Good Luck!

I'm waiting for my 995 to arrive, but I'm not looking forward to keying in all my disk data manually. I've seen threads on successful data-loading with IR devices and was wondering if anyone has found a way to load disk data onto the 995 via their Palm's beaming feature.

First step would be to get the data into the Palm in a usable file and readable data format. I've never used the beaming feature on my trusty ol' Palm III but maybe its day has come.

I'm very pleased that I can use my Harmony remote with the list of movies updated.

Even if I couldn't, though, I still think I'd use the "paper spreadsheet" approach. It's quicker, easier (both initially and to update), and you have your list of movies right there at hand.

I've seen threads on successful data-loading with IR devices and was wondering if anyone has found a way to load disk data onto the 995 via their Palm's beaming feature.

It is not possible to load disk data into the 995 via IR by any means.

First, thanks for so much information. I purchased the unit last week, and manually loaded all 400 discs information via keyboard for the kids convenience. I have a numerical listing of everything in case it goes down.... I love the convenience of this player - I need another one now......... The picture via component via a calibrated Sony RPTV KP57WS510 seems a little soft to me, but is very watchable, and the layer change is very quick on most titles. My question is about whether it would be worth purchasing an HDMI cable and DVI adapter to connect the upconverting capability to the RPTV. In the family room I have an upconverting Samsung DVD-HD850 fed to their 32" LN-R328W LCD display. I did a hack on the HD850 so it upconverts via component, and it looks great. It's not a spectacular difference, but if you pause a movie and then cycle through the resolutions you can see a difference.

Anyway - would like some feedback on the issue of whether it would be worth the trouble to buy a 12' HDMI and a DVI adapter to take advantage of upconverting capabilities - I know that the upconversion benefits are less on an CRT RPTV than on fixed pixel displays

Thanks for your help

can someone post screenshots of the on screen menu?

thanks.

Definitely if you guys have a local Frys Electronics around you, the sale ends today. The player is going for 50% off their retail price so 199...I'd say that's a pretty decent price.

On the website is it still over $300....

Gary

Yeah I think the web is not going to give you the lower price so it's an instore only deal.

On the website is it still over $300....

Their in store prices and web store prices, are very often not the same. In fact, quite a lot of their in store deals are not available at their website.

It isn't on sale in the Phoenix area.

I ordered a 995 last Saturday on the Fry's $200 deal; free shipping too. It arrived yesterday and I started loading disks last night. I knew about its disk reading blindness, so my only disappointment so far is the crappy remote. I'm hoping I can program my Pioneer remote for the basic disk selection commands. Of about 200 disks loaded, it did actually read the data for one music CD and one movie DVD. Thats beyond pathetic! It did read one cd, so it appears to have CD text capability though who knows how its applied!

The disk reading issue is really astonishingly bad. Its hard to believe a company like Sony brought this model to market with the disk info-reading capability virtually nonfunctional. The 995 works for me only because my major use will be classical music CDs, so a list is all I need. I don't want to have to turn on the tv to find/play a music CD. Doing the initial list in a spreadsheet is a major hassle, but adding new disks and maintenance will be no trouble. The 995's autoloading on startup is an aggravation, but minor.

I might have held out for a Pioneer F727, but its file format abilities are old and limited, it lacks HDMI, and its interlaced scan only. For those needing mpeg capability and HDMI, though, the Sony seems the only megachanger available. Its hard to figure, but apparently demand for megachangers just isn't high enough for others mfrs to compete.

For $200, The Sony 995 is a good buy simply for its convenience. But if I'd paid $300 or more, or really needed the on-screen selection, the 995 's data loading disfunction would be completely unacceptable and it would be on its way back to Fry's.

I was wondering if anybody can advise me a little here...I was going to use dvdprofiler and up load my dvd collection and then print out a list to keep with the player instead of using the listing function on the unit itself. My problem though is that when entering tv collections or boxed sets, the dvd numbers the set as one disc only...so when I go to print out the list the numbers will be off. Has anybody found a way around this? Or do most just manually change the numbers everytime a boxed set is entered? Thanks

I was wondering if anybody can advise me a little here...I was going to use dvdprofiler and up load my dvd collection and then print out a list to keep with the player instead of using the listing function on the unit itself. My problem though is that when entering tv collections or boxed sets, the dvd numbers the set as one disc only...so when I go to print out the list the numbers will be off. Has anybody found a way around this? Or do most just manually change the numbers everytime a boxed set is entered? Thanks




There is, but it's kind of like two way process to do it.

First to add the additional discs, just pick the DVD you want add more discs to that is already in your list (such as maybe a box set that shows up as only one slot used, and where you want to have a slot number for each disc that is in the set), and then pick the edit option. Then in the edit options where it shows, "Features, Overview, Easter Eggs, Discs" Pick the one for "Discs", and then in there you have the option to "Add Disc", and every time you click on that it will add more discs to the title. It will default to giving the first added disk the name of "Bonus Materials" and then the next one it will call "Disc 3" and then if you click again the next one will be "Disc 4" and so on, but you can chose whatever you want to call them as those are only the defaults it assigns, and you can override them by just typing something else in.
And then after that, now pick on the disc, and there should be the new discs that you added in the above. Pick the one you that want to personalize with more information and assign a location or slot number. You then go to the menu choices on the very top of the screen, pick the one for DVD. Then in the drop down menus that one produces, pick "Personalize DVD" and in there you can access the disc you are now on, that you added with the disc edit option. In Personalize DVD menu where the choices are "Notes" and "Discs", again pick the one for "Discs", and that is the one that lets you assign the slot number and location.




And another way for Box sets, such as maybe a full season of The X-files or a 3 movie box set. Or something else like those, where they do not sell the discs that are in the set separately.

Go into Edit mode for the main profile of the Box Set. Then look for the Box Set button in the top third of the information section. Click it and begin assigning the sub-profiles to the main profile. After you Save the changes, you should see the main profile with a plus on the left and the others are hidden until you click the plus.

tw112 / Johnla -

I use a different way to add manual disks to DVD Profiler. It might be easier.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7922410&&#post7922410

tw112 / Johnla -

I use a different way to add manual disks to DVD Profiler. It might be easier.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7922410&&#post7922410

That's not really any easier than using the edit mode, just a different way. Also, the edit mode has a function that's made to be used for entering in box sets.

That's not really any easier than using the edit mode, just a different way. Also, the edit mode has a function that's made to be used for entering in box sets.

It was just a suggestion, but I want to thank you for sharing another means of adding manual discs. :)

Having used the predecessor model, I purchased the 995 for two reasons.

1) Better Disk Explorer software. The older version had much more limited space for entering data and there was no capability to input a picture from the DVD. The 995 is a significant improvement in that you can see many lines on the screen, more data per line and a picture capture capability, even though you must go to the detail screen to see the picture.

The fact that 95% of the disks need to be input manually using an PS2 keyboard is the same as previous models. However, I have found it fairly quick to enter the data manually, especially if you start with an Excel database. One would think, however, that Sony would figure out some way to get the information already resident on the disk into the disk explorer. Must be German engineering. But, once in, the Disk Explorer works great.

2) HDMI interface. To this point, the 995 going via HDMI into my Samsung DLP is horrible. Color transitions are highly pixilated, especially on darker scenes. Distinct digital squares noticable on color transactions. Faces look blotched with red and white instead of smooth color transitions. Tried every setting on the 995 with no improvement. Will call Sony tech support in the next few weeks. Have returned to composite video for now which looks great. Curses.

By the way, the Harmony remote works great with the 995 giving full functionality of DE and other functions.

Thanks for the tips! I will keep the boxed sets till the end and then try it out...I hit another problem in my head though. What about the discs that are dual layered? The 995 only plays one side correct? So just eject and flip it over?

You mean two-sided. Yes, those you have to eject, and flip. Unless you want to buy two sets...

Dual layered (DL) discs have two layers on one side. Pretty much all recently made DVD players will play both layers, without flipping, of course. Any commercial disc with much more that two hours of program per side will be DL, which means most discs, or at least a lot of discs, are DL these days.

Should altering the disc # or slot #for box sets result in a change in the actual 'total count' of discs in the collection? I tried personalizing a few box sets and while it accepts my changes when I click on the 'disc' tab, after reassigning collection numbers, nothing happens, the assigned numbers I had before in the main window are the same. Is this normal?

The total disk count should be the actual total number of disks that you have. But, if you have 1 box set with 10 disks in it, it very possibly will show up as a total of 11 disks, and not 10. It probably will show up as 1 disk for the listing of the box set itself if you entered in the UPC# of the box set, and another 10 disks for the separated contents of the box set. Which is actually 1 too many (and is very irritating). But even if you instruct profiler to "reassign all collection numbers" of all the disks by title, it won't reassign the numbers of the disks that are in the box set area when you click on the "+" icon to see all the disks in the box set. Those must be reassigned manually. Which of course when you do that, it will also change the numbering of many of the rest of the disks the next time you do a "reassign all collection numbers".

Well I did manually assign numbers to the individual discs, which can be seen when I click on the 'Disc' tab, but the numbering of the rest of the discs didn't change, still shows the same total. I have four season of Smallville each with 6 discs and the Jurassic Park Trilogy with 4 discs, but the main page only shows 1 discs from the set, since I did enter the UPC#. The others are only seen when I click on the tab for 'discs'. I thought the numbering would change but it didn't, guess I'm not doing something right.

I'm in the same boat as you ion-man. Can't figure out why I am having so much trouble with it but oh well I'm just going to go ahead and manually change the disc numbering and then later on add it in excel when I print the list out. Thanks for all the tips though.

Bwahahaha, and people were wondering why I don't use any of the database apps and instead just use a small spiral notebook to keep track of my disks... :D

Nothing like trading one crappy user interface (Sony's explorer) for some other crappy UI. ;)

ion-man and tw112 -

If you looking for the collection number (DVD Profiler) to represent the slot number of your changer, you could try the method I described in post 1327 for adding manual discs. I currently have 587 DVDs (sic :p ) that are appropriately slotted by their assigned collection number. 1st changer 1-400, 2nd changer 401-800.

Bwahahaha, and people were wondering why I don't use any of the database apps and instead just use a small spiral notebook to keep track of my disks... :D

Nothing like trading one crappy user interface (Sony's explorer) for some other crappy UI. ;)

Um....congrats? ;)

Seriously, I am pleased with using Excel to keep a basic log, and I think I would do the same even if I wasn't using this file to upload info to my Harmony remote.

By the way, I just got a new projector in today - Sharp v9000 - with a DVI connection. If this damn player's HDMI has trouble communicating again, I'm going to want to spank some Sony ***.

ion-man and tw112 -

If you looking for the collection number (DVD Profiler) to represent the slot number of your changer, you could try the method I described in post 1327 for adding manual discs. I currently have 587 DVDs (sic :p ) that are appropriately slotted by their assigned collection number. 1st changer 1-400, 2nd changer 401-800.

I did try that method and the situation I explained is the end result. As I said, maybe I am doing something wrong because I cannot use th 'edit' option to make the changes since the box comes up requesting me to type in what needs to be editied and jurassic park (for instance isn't in the list to select from since it is the one I am trying to edit. I ended up using the 'personalize' option, and clicking on 'discs' on the extreme right side of info area, and adding the discs there. This leads me to another question: Should I assign numbers to 'slots' or 'locations'? So far I have put numbers for each disc of Jurrasic Park, with the first disc having simlar # to the main listing in the main list. The other discs follow in #. I have also done this for the 4 seasons of Smallville, with no change in the total # of discs even though the discs are visible when I clickon 'discs'. I didn't even realise I'll have to do this for the 2-disc dvds as well. :eek:

Bwahahaha, and people were wondering why I don't use any of the database apps and instead just use a small spiral notebook to keep track of my disks... :D

Nothing like trading one crappy user interface (Sony's explorer) for some other crappy UI. ;)


Yeah like it's real hard to manually edit a disk slot number in DVD Profiler, as opposed to writing it all down in a notebook, not! Sorry, but I'll take a program where I can enter in a disk just by using a cheap CueCat bar code scanner, or even by just entering in the UPC code by hand. And then have it grab all the disk info, movie info and even the cover art, not to mention the many numerous ways it can print out your disk collection. And when you consider you can do all that even with the free version of DVD Profiler, then I'd still take it any day of the week over messing around with a sub standard DIY alternative to do the same thing.

I've been really pissed that this player's HDMI port didn't work with my Mitsubishi HC900. I was satisfied with the component video quality, but it kept bugging me that I couldn't use the HDMI connection.

I just got in the Sharp V2000 from Costco, and I have to say that this player does a very nice job through HDMI. The combination of the Sharp projector with the Sony sending an upconverted 720p signal is outstanding. I probably will hold off getting an HD-DVD player now and wait for the second generation.

Do you know why the HDMI connection did not work with the Mitsubishsi and works with the Sharp? The HDMI connection from the 995 to my Samsung DLP was extremely poor and I changed back to component video, which is fine.

Do you know why the HDMI connection did not work with the Mitsubishsi and works with the Sharp? The HDMI connection from the 995 to my Samsung DLP was extremely poor and I changed back to component video, which is fine.

I don't know why, I just know that it didn't (and when I say it didn't work, I mean it sent no signal at all. Presumably, it had something to do with not establishing a handshake with the HDCP.)

I spent several weeks with various tiers of tech support at Sony, until I finally just gave up and used component. Now that I moved to a 720p projector, the upconversion would be more important to me, so I would have sent it back if it hadn't worked with the Sharp.

I really despise HDMI. It is a buggy interface which gives us absolutely no benefit (save putting audio and video on the same cable, which I don't see as being a benefit.) But they are willing to screw us to enforce their buggy protection system.

It's funny - I see all these people wanting to boycott HD-DVD and Blu-ray because they wouldn't work together, but I'm 20 times as pissed about HDMI. At least HD-DVD and BD are new technologies which move us forward.

we'll my 995v today decided to lose all the disc titles that i had spent hours putting in last january! fuggggg....
my wife said it took forever to load the list and then there was nothing in it! WTF sony!

1. Picture on component cables is excellent. Haven't tried HDMI.

2. Autorun sucks, but a minor issue I'm already used to.

3. Wish it had a more substantial remote...its a very cheesy one for a supposedly $400 item. Number buttons are tiny & hard to press.

3. I simply compiled an Excel list of my disks by slot number. I saw no point investing hours to enter disk data manually just to see it on screen or risk its disappearance. As long as I know the slot number, thats all that matters.

Given that I bought it on the $200 Fry's deal, I'm very content...so far.

This player looks very nice upconverting to 720p thru HDMI, it's worth getting a cable.

I Just bought the Sony 995 and have a question that is bugging me to death.

Can the 995 play one DVD movie after another automatically? If so how do you set it up to do that?

Any help would be great..

Regards

Dan

Don't know if it can do that but my guess is if you had a remote capable of programing macros ( such as Harmony for eg.), you should be able to set up an 'activity' where you have the remote command the 995 to revert to the explorer after hitting 'stop' so you could select another disc. Or you could have the 'activity' play the next disc in queue (if they are so arranged) when you hit stop on remote.
Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

The picture on my CX995 via component on a calibrated Sony RPTV KP57WS510 seems a little soft to me, but is very watchable. Is it worth purchasing an HDMI cable and DVI adapter to connect the upconverting capability to the RPTV?? I would need to buy a 12' HDMI and a DVI adapter to take advantage of upconverting capabilities - I know that the upconversion benefits are less on an CRT RPTV than on fixed pixel displays - I just don't know enough about this to decide whether it would be worth it.

Thanks for your help


Can anyone help me on this? Would appreciate it

Can anyone help me on this? Would appreciate it
The 995 sends only 480i (interlaced) or 480p (progressive) via component. HDMI is required for 720p or 1080i output. First, make sure your 995's component output menu is set for "progressive" (assuming your tv can display it). If you're used to seeing 1080i from your previous DVD player, 480p may look softer.

HDMI performance seems to vary widely by TV make. HDMI cables are expensive, name brand ones are ridiculous. If you're content with consumer-grade cable (I am), you could buy the HDMI cable and DVI adapter at a place with "no-questions" return policy like Sears and return it if it doesn't improve things. No harm-no foul. Or buy from a low-cost cable supplier like Monoprice to minimize cost.

Thanks - The player is set up correctly to output the 480p.

In another room I also have a Samsung HD850 upconverting player hooked to one of their newer LCD's, and performed a hack on it that allows it to upconvert via component - too bad I can't do that here too but I can't find a hack.

Thanks again

Don't know if it can do that but my guess is if you had a remote capable of programing macros ( such as Harmony for eg.), you should be able to set up an 'activity' where you have the remote command the 995 to revert to the explorer after hitting 'stop' so you could select another disc. Or you could have the 'activity' play the next disc in queue (if they are so arranged) when you hit stop on remote.
Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

Thanks and you might correct I'm starting to think that the 995 can't go from end of one disc to start of another anyway but manually. Maybe remote is the only way to go.

I Just bought the Sony 995 and have a question that is bugging me to death.

Can the 995 play one DVD movie after another automatically? If so how do you set it up to do that?

Any help would be great..

Regards

Dan

Dan, the 995 will auto play discs that don't automatically return to the menu when play completes. Of course, most DVDs do return to menu. Some TV collections will play through, IF you select "play all" at the start. They don't return to the menu. CDs will autoplay, because they don't have a menu like a DVD. I don't know of any way to set it to continuously auto play DVDs, but programmed play, selecting those you want to play, should work.

Thanks for the info. kjbawc,

Just to report this 995 so far is a very pleasent surprize, it performs well .

Can anyone help me on this? Would appreciate it
Results of HDMI and upscaling seem to vary considerably (based on reports of AVS posters). About all you can do is try it with your hardware. It wouldn't be a big deal if HDMI cables weren't so outrageously expensive.

Results of HDMI and upscaling seem to vary considerably (based on reports of AVS posters). About all you can do is try it with your hardware. It wouldn't be a big deal if HDMI cables weren't so outrageously expensive.

Greetings,

Big_Daddy, try setting the component video output to interlaced and see how that compares to progressive. I found the deinterlacer in the 995 to be average. The deinterlacer in your TV my be superior to it and will yield better pic quality.

I have run the 995 with both HDMI set to 720p and 480p via HDMI to my Sony HS51a front projector. The scaler in the projector is superior to the one in the 995. I added a pre/pro that has a high end video processor which can transcode component video to HDMI as well as deinterlace and scale to the native resolution of my projector. Since the 995 will not output 480i via HDMI I use component video set at 480i from the 995 to the video processor/scaler. The signal is then deinterlaced and scaled to 720p and sent on to my projector.

The difference between this and HDMI ( either 480p or 720p as scaled by the 995 ) was not subtle. This is why I suggest that you try and send a 480i signal to your TV. The video processor in the TV which will deinterlace and scale the signal to the TV's native resolution may ( and should ) offer better quality over the 995.

Good luck !

Regards,

[QUOTE=placidman]Greetings,

Big_Daddy, try setting the component video output to interlaced and see how that compares to progressive. I found the deinterlacer in the 995 to be average. The deinterlacer in your TV my be superior to it and will yield better pic quality.[QUOTE]

I went into the service menu of my CRT RPTV and tried this, and when I feed the TV a 480i signal, it displays it at 480i, so I didn't look any better, in fact it looked worse.


[QUOTE]
The difference between this and HDMI ( either 480p or 720p as scaled by the 995 ) was not subtle. This is why I suggest that you try and send a 480i signal to your TV. The video processor in the TV which will deinterlace and scale the signal to the TV's native resolution may ( and should ) offer better quality over the 995.

[QUOTE]

I went ahead and purchased an HDMI to DVI cable from Monoprice (what a steal...). Hooked it up and it immediately got a handshake with the TV, which uses 1080i as it's native mode. The difference between the component and HDMI/DVI cable is obvious to me, but I can't decide if it's in a good or bad way. The component connection is very bright and clear, but compared to the HDMI/DVI seems to have too much edge enhancement. The digital connection is a little softer or muted or something, but it almost looks more natural to me. I put in "Pulp Fiction" to the scene where Samuel L. Jackson's head fills the screen right before he blows away the two guys in the apartment near the beginning of the movie. With component the texture of his face is very crisply outlined, and once I compare it to the digital connection I think "overly so". (I have the component and digital cables hooked up at the same time so I can just switch back and forth). You can individual hairs sticking up on his head, and they look too crisp on the component side. On the ditigal connection you can still see individual hairs, but there is no starkly distinct edge around the hair. I have turned off scan velocity modulation in the service menu so I don't think that is it.

I can't decide if I like the softer look or not. But, it's very similar to the way I felt about the look of the TV itself, after I turned off red push and edge enhancement - thought it was too soft until I got accustomed to the way it looked. The cable was a fifteen footer but was ridiculously low priced so I'm going to keep it and decide over time what looks best.

I have had the DVP-CX995V for a year now and love it. I recently purchased a Panasonic DMR-ES45V DVD/VCR combo unit to migrate home movies to DVD. I'm using DVD-R discs and properly finalizing them. They play fine on my PC and in the Panasonic player.

When I try to place any of the discs I've recorded on the 995, it hangs at "READING" for a while before turning off power to the unit. Has anyone seen anything like this before? I suppose my next step is to try DVD+R media, but I wish I had known that before picking up a 100 pack of DVD-Rs...

Dave

Never buy a 100 pack of any type of blank media, until you are certain first that it works for you. This even applies if you know that either a + or - type works, but you are changing to a brand that you never used before. Sad to say, but not all blank media is of the same quality. So it's not unheard of, for one brand to work where another brand may not.

Make copy to +R and see if it works.

I have some DVD-R's in my 995 that are working perfectly, so it's not a systemic problem with DVD-R's. Perhaps it's the brand or the way you do the burn or your burner for that matter.

I've been using two tricks that seem to help. First, I never burn all the way to the end of the disk. I always leave about 100 MB free. I started doing this when I noticed I had a bunch of disks that were fine until they got to the last 5 minutes. Second, I always burn at the slowest speed of my burner, 4x in my case, so that there are never any abrupt speed changes during the burn. I started doing this when I noticed a couple of disks that seemed to have problems at about the same places on the disk that my burner increased the burn speed.


PS: For those who recognize that I've posted a bunch of stuff about having an 860. Well, my 860 finally died, so I was forced to bite the bullet and buy a 995. I've only had it about 2 weeks and it already has been subjected to a 30 minute blackout (thank you SRP :rolleyes: ).

My 860 died after experiencing a disk jam. It partially ejected a disk and then tried to spin the carousel. This seems to have torn up the drive train since it now cannot reliably line up the selected slot. It just keeps going left and right past the slot over and over again and the only way to stop it is to yank the power cord out of the wall (I'd really like to the thank the a-hole that wrote this infinite loop into the firmware :mad: ).

Anyway, my love/hate relationship with these Sony megachangers continues. This new player is missing a bunch of features that I used regularly on my 860. Also, I think the picture from the component outputs is slightly softer than my 860 (I wasn't able to compare them side by side, so I'm not certain). I haven't gotten around to testing the HDMI output since I don't have the right cable and I don't have anyway to switch between the DVI out from my HDTV tuner and the HDMI out from the 995. So I'm trying to decide if it's worth several hundred dollars to get the HDMI port working. :(

Frankly, I hate the remote that comes with the 995. Luckily almost everthing on my old 860's remote works with the 995, so I'm using my old remote for now.

I'd really like to get my 860 working again since I could use the extra storage space. So if I ever get inspired I'll open it up and see if I can fix the drive train problem.

Using DVD+R media seems to have fixed the problem. I'm not really sure what the problem with the DVD-Rs is. They were Verbatim brand and worked fine if burned using a PC vs the DVD recorder. In any case, I guess I can't just work around it now.

thanks for the comments.
Dave

My new Harmony 550 works great with my 995. All the commands worked straight from the wizard. It took a little time to arrange things to my preference. I also added X10 to control the lights. Now the lights go off on a DVD play, back on for stop/pause…cool.

I've burned a lot of -R Verbatims, sp Video Mode, on my Pio 640, and they play fine on my 995. I have found a few -Rs and +Rs, from other sources, that wouldn't play on the 995.

Any problems with the DVP-CX995V scratching or marking discs.? I have read some reviews (on Amazon I think) that referred to the DVP-CX995V scratching DVD's and was the result of the disks being to close together in the carousel.

I can't speak for the Sony DVP-CX995V, but my 4 Sony DVP-CX985V DVD changers have yet to scratch or mark a single DVD after several years of daily use.

Well, they'll certainly scratch a disk when you have a disk jam. I learned that one the hard way.

I think I saw a few new scratches when moving my disks from my old 860 to my new 995, but it was nowhere near as bad as the amount of scratching that I experienced when I was manually handling disks with single disk players.

I use cheap CompUSA DVDs by the 100 pack, +R and -R.
No problems yet...I hope my luck holds out.

I've experienced problems with some Ritek dvd -r's, and some Frye's (Great Quality) dual layer disks.

I have had absolutely no issues with Fuji dual layer or Verbatim dual layer. I now use Verbatim DL exclusively.

I Bought The Sony DVP-CX995 About 2 Months, 2 Weeks Ago I Bought A HDMI TV And When I Plug The DVD Player Into The TV I Get Video But No Audio. The TV Is Set For HDMI Audio But Its Not Putting Any Out. Anyone know how to fix this?

EDIT: also i lost my manuel how do you get into the setup options its not on the remote

I Bought The Sony DVP-CX995 About 2 Months, 2 Weeks Ago I Bought A HDMI TV And When I Plug The DVD Player Into The TV I Get Video But No Audio. The TV Is Set For HDMI Audio But Its Not Putting Any Out. Anyone know how to fix this?

EDIT: also i lost my manuel how do you get into the setup options its not on the remote

Depending on the TV, you may need to set the DVP to output only 2.0 (maybe PCM) and not 5.1 audio.

Keith

its a panasonic TH-42PX60 would i have to change the setttings on the dvd player because i played around with the tv audio settings and nothing fixed it. if i do have to change ti on the dvd player how do i do that?

...how do i do that?
Read P. 81 in the manual; it walks you through it.

Read P. 81 in the manual; it walks you through it.

i lost my manuel. is there an online one or woulud yolu be able to pm and explain it to me. i do appologise but i wanna fix this

i lost my manuel. is there an online one or woulud yolu be able to pm and explain it to me. i do appologise but i wanna fix this

Here's the link for the on line PDF download.


http://esupport.sony.com/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=DVPCX995V

So i changed the hdmi audio to PCM and still no sound. its weird the video works 100% not audio. anything else?

anyone have any ideas??

Try setting it at "downmix" because the TV itself sure does not have 5.1, and also "auto" because the TV probably can not accept PCM.

i'm stupid forgot to enable digital out. thanks for the help sounds awesome now.

I just received a Sony mega-changer DVP-CX995V and have it connected to a Westy LTV-32w1 via HDMI/DVI. No matter which DVD is playing, the best resolution which the Westy's Setup Info shows is 640 x 480. I've contacted Westinghouse; they say that via HDMI, the Westy only shows what it's receiving; there are no settings which can affect the resolution that I receives.

I've also called Sony. They said the DVP should be upconverting to 'something higher' than what the Westy shows. I've set the Sony on 'auto' and have also selected 1920x1080i, 1280x720p, and 720x480p, but I still see the same 640 x 480 reading on the Westy's 'System Info' screen.

I have a Lite-On DVD recorder also which is going to the Westy via component. I checked the res with it; the max res on System Info is 720 x 480. Standard cable is something like 640 x 240 if I recall correctly. So it would appear that the Westy's System Info is not 'stuck' on 640 x 480.

I've had this set for some months now and I'm pretty satisfied with it. The PQ with the Sony and Lite-On is quite good, but I'm wondering if it could be better. Since Westy and Sony kinda point at each other and the manuals don't help to resolve this issue, I'm asking you guys for your expertise. Believe me, I"ve tried to resolve the issue on my own; I've read almost all pages on this forum and most of the 27 pages on the Westy owner's forum, but I don't see anything which helps.

This Sony changer is one great big huge....flop.

I not only bought one, but had an expensive SDI mod done to it.

It's still half-baked and the PQ out of my Toshiba HD-DVD player on even SD discs is far superior. The Tosh also puts out the rez I select - imagine that!

The Sony loves to drop back to 480p over HDMI. I got a HDMI splitter so that it could see my TV because it would only select 480p for my projector. lame!

I use my CX995V as a holder for discs.

Sony really needs to update this guys firmware if at all possible to make it something useful.

Ken

I've got mine hooked via HDMI/DVI to a Sony KP57WS510 CRT RPTV and it outputs in the set's native resolution of 1080i. I can select other resolutions, but the TV will convert them to it's native resolution anyway so no big whoop.

The picture is very clean, but just a tiny bit soft compared to component. But after comparing the two for a few weeks now I much prefer the digital connection. If you have had your set calibrated, or done it yourself you'll know what I'm talking about. After I calibrated this set (turned of SVM, corrected red push, did electronic and mechanical focus, service menu convergence etc) the picture looked way too soft to me on most inputs, but as you compare the two you can really see that the edge and color enhancements add false contouring that is just not supposed to be there. The digital connection on this machine gives the same natural, altered look that is supposed to be on the screen. It's very film like.

I'm very happy with the unit and it certainly is convenient at the same time - best of both worlds. Is it perfect? Certainly not. Is it awesome? To me it is - for both the picture and ease in finding DVDs

The menu/folder system isn't too high tech, but it's what you would reasonably expect in something like this. I can easily sort several different ways and have never had any trouble finding what I wanted. I (knock on wood) have never lost any of the titles I keyed in either -

If you own this unit, just enjoy it and let it be what it is and you'll have a rousing good time showing it off!

Results of HDMI and upscaling seem to vary considerably (based on reports of AVS posters). About all you can do is try it with your hardware. It wouldn't be a big deal if HDMI cables weren't so outrageously expensive.


Go to ebay. I just picked up a few for $6.50 each (monoprice) including shipping. It's a digital signal so there shouldn't be any PQ issues.

-mk

This is a cross-post from the Westy LTV-32w1 owner's thread. You can see my issue a few posts up.

Just got off the phone with Sony; got stepped up a level to a product specialist. After 25 minutes, he believes there is an incompatability issue between the Sony's HDMI output and the Westy's DVI (HDCP) input. Seems that Sony does not subscribe to HDCP. He postulates that when the West does not see that the Sony isn't 'authorized' (by HDCP) to display at a res above 480p, it defaults to 480p. That makes sense to me, but I'm ticked off that I can't have the upconversion via HDMI that Sony advertises on Sonystye.com. To me that is false advertising. As some have reported, the Sony changer can upconvert on a Sony display, so apparently those two Sony products 'agree' to display at a higher resolution.

Its ironic that Sony doesn't care much about HDCP (digital content protection) in this and other DVD players, but they sure like to 'protect digital audio content on SACDs !!

By the way, from other threads I've read, this holds true for other Sony DVD players, not just the DVP-CX995X. Perhaps this is the reason one prior poster said that the Sony likes to drop back to 480p.

Just got off the phone with Sony; got stepped up a level to a product specialist. After 25 minutes, he believes there is an incompatability issue between the Sony's HDMI output and the Westy's DVI (HDCP) input. Seems that Sony does not subscribe to HDCP. He postulates that when the West does not see that the Sony isn't 'authorized' (by HDCP) to display at a res above 480p, it defaults to 480p.

Well the rep is wrong, Sony does "subscribe to HDCP". It's more than likely a issue of the information of the DVI input connection of the TV not agreeing with the HDMI output of the Sony. This is not the first incident I've seen where a TV or a projector with a DVI input that will not allow HDMI device to output at either 720p or 1080i. But usually it happens after running through a receiver that has HDMI switching, even though they will work when hooked up direct without going through the receiver.

I can only say that others' Westy's will display >480p using an Oppo or Toshiba, so if it is a DVI issue, it's a Westy/Sony issue not a Westy/all-others issue. Does that make sense? I've just had alot of coffee.

It can still be a all "Westy" issue. The Sony has a HDMI interface, and having HDCP is part of the requirements/licensing of HDMI, so you must adhere to the HDCP requirements of HDMI. DVI on the other hand is not as strict with HDCP, and in fact some implementations of DVI can be totaly without HDCP. If the DVI of the "Westy" is sending EDID information back to the Sony, that the Sony sees as wrong for HDCP, then that is why this is happening. And in that case it would be the fault of the DVI device for sending some sort of wrong EDID information.

Per HDMI's website, it appears that HDCP is not required for HDMI licensing, but its in their spec:

From: http://www.hdmi.org/about/faq.asp#q1_5

Royalty
HDMI is available for a reasonable royalty rate as follows:

* For each end-user Licensed Product, fifteen cents (US$0.15) per unit sold.
* If the Adopter reasonably uses the HDMI logo on the product and promotional materials, then the rate drops to five cents (US$0.05) per unit sold.
* If the Adopter implements HDCP content protection as set forth in the HDMI Specification, then the royalty rate is further reduced by one cent (US $.01) per unit sold, for a lowest rate of four cents (.04) per unit. Adopters must license HDCP separately from Digital Content Protection, LLC, an Intel subsidiary. Please see www.digital-cp.com for details.

If a manufacturer subscribes ( pays the royalty ) to HDCP, then HDMI will reduce the per-unit royalty. I'm just rying to figure out all of this mess. I sure hope I don't go deeper into this stuff; its both addicting and frustrating.

Per HDMI's website, it appears that HDCP is not required for HDMI licensing, but its in their spec:

From: http://www.hdmi.org/about/faq.asp#q1_5

Royalty
HDMI is available for a reasonable royalty rate as follows:

* For each end-user Licensed Product, fifteen cents (US$0.15) per unit sold.
* If the Adopter reasonably uses the HDMI logo on the product and promotional materials, then the rate drops to five cents (US$0.05) per unit sold.
* If the Adopter implements HDCP content protection as set forth in the HDMI Specification, then the royalty rate is further reduced by one cent (US $.01) per unit sold, for a lowest rate of four cents (.04) per unit. Adopters must license HDCP separately from Digital Content Protection, LLC, an Intel subsidiary. Please see www.digital-cp.com for details.

If a manufacturer subscribes ( pays the royalty ) to HDCP, then HDMI will reduce the per-unit royalty. I'm just rying to figure out all of this mess. I sure hope I don't go deeper into this stuff; its both addicting and frustrating.


It's more than just the maker of the device that has a input on if it needs to have HDCP or not. In the case of a DVD player it's also the content providers.


http://www.hdmi.org/about/faq.asp#content_protection

"Q. What is HDCP?

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a technology developed by Digital Content Protection, LLC (a subsidiary of Intel) to protect digital entertainment content. HDCP has been implemented across both DVI and HDMI interfaces. The HDCP specification provides a cost-effective and transparent method for transmitting and receiving the highest quality digital entertainment content to DVI/HDMI-compliant digital displays.

The HDMI standard does not require HDCP. However, it is required by industry groups and governmental regulation (details below).

Q. If my digital monitor doesn’t have an HDCP-compatible connection (such as an HDMI connection with HDCP), will I be able to view HD DVD and Blu-ray content in high definition?

Content owners (i.e., a movie studio releasing a DVD) decide which technologies they will use to protect their content against unauthorized copying. Movie studios, which fear that high-definition versions of their movies will be pirated, are expected to use HDCP when releasing high-definition versions of their movies, though some may choose to release some titles without HDCP. To be safe, consumers who want to be able to play high-definition content should ensure that their HDTVs and other HD devices are able to decode HDCP-encrypted content.

There are also specific requirements on HDCP usage mandated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and by industry bodies in Europe and Asia. See below for more information.

With certain exceptions, nearly all HDMI devices on the market include HDCP support. DVI devices, in particular earlier versions of DVI, are more likely to lack HDCP support."


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
NOTE that last part!


Also make note of pages 18 and 86 of the owners manual where it mentions what may happen if it's hooked up to a device that does not support HDCP. The 995 does indeed have HDCP on it's HDMI output.

http://www.sonystyle.com/intershoproot/eCS/Store/en/documents/specifications/DVPCX995V.pdf

I've owned this model for a week now and I love this thing. Hooked up componet and works great. Is it worth hooking up HDMI? I have a switching componet AVR (with optical audio) and if I hooked it up HDMI I would have to go direct to TV. Worth it?

Yes I believe it only upconverts thru HDMI, I have mine hooked that way and the image is steller.

As I mentioned in a previous post, two Sony techs admitted that this unit does not upscale. To both techs, I reminded them of the Sony 'features' on sonystyle:

The DVP-CX995V 400-disc DVD/Super-Audio CD (SA-CD) changer up-scales video to high definition (1080i/720p) resolution

One of the techs said something like 'I hate when they do that'. Now, I'm sure there'll be at least one poster after this who says it will upscale. To that, I'd say that I would surely like to see Sony's official statement. I'd also like to see their official statement that their HDMI is HDCP compliant so I can finally put my 'stuck on 480p' issue to bed!

By the way, last night I experimented with the turn on sequence. I first turned on the display ( Westy 32" LCD ), then the changer. The display showed 'garbage', meaning just that, no recognizable picture of any sort, just some odd pattern as though it were being scrambled. But the Westy reports the resolution as 720 x 480.

When I turned the changer on, then the display, I get a 'good' picture, but 640 x 480.

Lastly, my Westy's DCI input is "DVI-D (HDP support)" per Westy's manual.

Now, I'm sure there'll be at least one poster after this who says it will upscale. To that, I'd say that I would surely like to see Sony's official statement. I'd also like to see their official statement that their HDMI is HDCP compliant so I can finally put my 'stuck on 480p' issue to bed!

Yes it upscales over HDMI, and yes it is HDCP compliant!
Did you even read your owners manual for the 995? Because all that info is in there.

Yes, I read the owners manual as well as my Westy manual and about 100 pages of threads. OK, now I admit I see that the owners manual footnote says it is HDCP 1.1 compliant; it also says it upscales ( or upconverts ) to higher resolutions. However when I get conflicting info from many sources, especially Sony, I am suspect, aren't you?

This morning, a THIRD tech told me that this thing DOES NOT upscale; it simply outputs what's on the DVD. Take a standard DVD and you'll get 480p. Take a 'HD" DVD and you'll get something higher. So I reminded him of the manual and sonystyle statements; he merely repeats what he's just said. Johnla, your last post hints that I should just read the manual and Sony's published info and that should be the end of it. But with the number of posts you have, one could inferr that you've researched topics to the bitter end too.

Something's not working here and I'm simply digging in my heels. I've already spent an inordinate amount of time trying to resolve my little issue and I know I'm not alone. So until I get some 'straight' answers SOMEWHERE, I'll dig further.

O, one last thing. Today's Sony tech said that if my display is HDCP 1.0 and the Sony is HDCP 1.1, it 'won't work'. I asked for some supporting documentation, but as usual, he could not supply any. Well, it DOES work, but only at 480p.

This morning, a THIRD tech told me that this thing DOES NOT upscale; it simply outputs what's on the DVD. Take a standard DVD and you'll get 480p. Take a 'HD" DVD and you'll get something higher.

Well it does upscale, so the Sony CSR's are wrong about that. And believe it or not, it's certainly not the first time they have been wrong about something. Just ask them when they will fix the disc explorer menu, if you want some bogus answers. Not to mention it can not play any HD DVD's at all, so saying something like taking a HD DVD and putting it in. Is not even possible, as it is not a HD DVD or a Blu-Ray player.


You want to only belive the Sony CSR's/techs, when it makes it look like it's all a Sony issue. They are wrong about a lot of things, and 99% of the time when you call them, they are just reading off of a answer sheet. Most of them have never even seen, let alone used the products that they are answering questions about. Funny how you want to try and blame Sony for all your problems with this, and not your "Westy". I still say you are having this issue is because your display has a DVI input and not a HDMI input, and for some reason they don't want to play well with each other because of that and they are failing the HDCP handshake. And the Sony drops down to 480p because of that.


And if you still think that it don't upconvert, then I suggest you look here. And in fact, this is also the forum to ask any questions about Sony products.


http://www.agoraquest.com/viewtopic.php?topic=21967&forum=50

Let's get one thing straight: I don't want to blame anyone. I just want some straight answers. I get conflicting answers from Sony whether its on their website or via phone help. I know that those and other call center employees use the same answer database and they've all been trained/brainwashed. When I call Westinghouse, I ask the same type of questions, and I've also gotten conflicting answers there. There's just been more contraversial info from Sony than from Westinghouse. I'm really trying to keep and open mind here, but its really frustrating.

If its a Westy DVI issue, then why have some reported Oppo players and Toshibas supplying >480p to the same set that I have? Based on that info, I'd say at most the Sony HDMI to Westinghouse DVI issue.

I appreciate the agoraquest link. I've been there some weeks ago. I'll give it a look again.

Oops, meant to say:

at most its a Sony HDMI to Westinghouse DVI issue, not an 'any-manufacturer' HDMI to Westinghouse DVI issue.

Hobie......

I can tell you that mine upconverts over HDMI to a DVI equipped front projector (InFocus 7210) with no issues. I tried all the resolutions when I first set the unit up and could display 480p, 720p, or 1080i with no issues at all.

As far as tech support goes........ the vast majority of the time you will get 10x better help and advice here on AVS than you will from the manufacturer.... even if there is a "known issue" they folks that answer the phones don't know about it... or if they have heard it before they are instructed to pretend it's the first time... We have seen this happen over and over here on AVS even when we had a group of over 50 people calling in and reporting the same issue.... everyone was informed that they had never heard of this problem before... so it must be some other component that you have connected........ they all just lie, stick there fingers in their ears, and sing la la la la la.

I think most manufacturers absolutely 'hate' the internet!

Do you see a PQ improvement at 720p or 1080i?

Not all players/displays will handshake when it comes to trying to hook an hdmi out to a dvi in. It's just one of those things that happens. I've hooked my CX995 to 3 different TV's and all three of them display an upconverted resolution of 720p or 1080i. My CRT RPTV only has a DVI in, so I bought an hdmi to dvi cable and the picture is beautiful, and displayed at 1080i.

You just have a TV that won't handshake with this particular player. There are probably other TV's it won't handshake with too. Sorry to hear it won't work for your upconverting needs

It definitely upconverts. Without a doubt. Get the idea that it doesn't out of your head.

I can choose the different resolution outputs on the 995 and the resolution matches on my TV. So when I switch to 720p it says 720p on my TV. The PQ definitely looks better than 480p. It looks HD quality to me.

-mk

Greetings,

The 995 does deinterlace and upconvert via HDMI. It can be a bit finicky with the HDCP handshake so I suspect that this is where your problem lies. Do you have the HDMI resolution set to Auto or 1280x720 etc? If it is set to Auto the unit will sense the native rez. of your display and set the player accordingly. If you have not tried already see what happens if you change the setting.

Regards,

Mikek: here's what the sonystyle.com says about the player's 'upconverting' capabilty
"HDMI™ Technology: Yes (Upscaling of the Video Resolution Output to approach 720P/1080i)"

When I was told by Sony ( more than once ) that the unit does not upconvert, I reminded them of this statement. One rep said, yes, but we don't 'meet' 720p/1080i, we approach it. I told him that this misleading.

placidman: I have tried 'auto' and the other three hard settings, all with the same result.

Today I spoke with Westinghouse ( my LCD ) and they suggested that I buy a HD DVD and try it, along with doing a hard reset on the LCD. I'll give that a shot tonite.

My HDMI connection from my 995 disc changer goes to my Yamaha receiver (2-HDMI in 1 out) then to my 42" Sceptre 1920 x 1080 LCD clearly "upconverts" to a 1080i signal. Over the component connection it is 480p and there is a huge picture improvement between the two.

When I was told by Sony ( more than once ) that the unit does not upconvert, I reminded them of this statement. One rep said, yes, but we don't 'meet' 720p/1080i, we approach it. I told him that this misleading.


No it is not misleading.

I think you are misinterpreting what 480i to 720p/1080i conversion really is. It can not turn a SD source into a true HD source. But it can make a SD source a lot better and output it as either 720p or 1080i. And that is exactly what the one rep told you. Is that it can't magically make a SD source into a true HD source. Even a dedicated stand alone $5k video processor can't turn SD into true HD.

No it is not misleading.

I think you are misinterpreting what 480i to 720p/1080i conversion really is. It can not turn a SD source into a true HD source. But it can make a SD source a lot better and output it as either 720p or 1080i. And that is exactly what the one rep told you. Is that it can't magically make a SD source into a true HD source. Even a dedicated stand alone $5k video processor can't turn SD into true HD.

Greetings,

I would have to agree with John. In my opinion the whole upconverting language can be confusing to those who don't fully understand it.

The player is not taking a 480 line signal and making 720 or 1080 lines. What it is doing is video scaling it to a scanning rate that matches them at it's output. Not all players do this well but some better then others.


Regards,

Alright, here's the bottom line: I'm seeking the best PQ with the Sony changer and Westy LCD. If the LCD says it's not receiving 720p or 1080i, and both units are (purportedly) capable of providing it, then what's the problem?

Regarding the 'true HD' PQ, I don't recall mentioning or saying that I want it. If I truly wanted that, I'd go Blu-Ray and a 1080p display. Many on this forum and the Westy forum report that a 720p/1080i display just looks better than 480p, others disagree. I'll get to the bottom of this sooner or later.

Hobiedog,
I can’t see a difference from 720p and 1080i on my Sony LCD 60’ rear projection.
They picture is great on both. I have fully enjoyed the 995 for the disc handling and the PQ.

But…when comparing a HD feed to the DVD picture, the HD blows the DVD away.

I wasn't expecting much difference between 720p and 1080i based on others' experiences. However some have said that those two 'resolutions' PQ are better than 480p. That's what I want to see.

Another update: I've swapped the HDMI/DVI adapter but had the same results. The new adapter had 24 pins (apparently a DVI-D dual link ) plus the larger 'stab' at the top. My original adapter had 16 pins ( apparently a DVI-D Single link ). For photos of various pin configurations, see: http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/DVI_info.html
I didn't think it would make a difference, but thought I'd try it anyway. I also bought a HDMI to DVI cable ( without a separate adapter, that is ) and I'll try this next.

I also did a hard reset on the Westy as suggested by them. Same result; still only 480p.

mill5: yours is yet another example of Sony display and Sony changer playing well together. I just wish my Westy would.

FWIW, I compared my 995 with the Denon DVM-1815 five disc changer. The Denon only has component. After trying the 995 through component and through HDMI, using my Panasonic AE900 projector on a 110-inch screen, the Denon wins hands down. It wasn't even close.

Again, FWIW. If you want a good picture and a big picture, the 995 is not the way to go.

I've had my 995 for over a month now and I love the convenience. PQ is excellent on my Pioneer 53". The autostart is a PITA but I'm used to it now. I still think the remote is a piece of junk. I can't program the number keypad to work for disk selection on my Pioneer remote in the DVD (or any aux other) position, so I'm stuck with it.

... I still think the remote is a piece of junk. ....

Yeah I much prefer the remote from my old 860, since almost everthing works I've been using it instead. You might try looking for one on e-bay if you hate the 995 remote enough.

My 995 is losing the text info for slot #1, like several other people have reported. This sure seems to be a systemic problem with the 995.

In my case it's only a mild irritant since slot #1 is loaded with Lord of the Rings FOTR #1 and since the next five slots are also LOTR discs, I'll never forget what is in slot #1.

However, I'm curious about whether this only happens for manually entered text. For those people who's player loses info for slot #1, did you manually enter the text?

And for those people whose player retains the slot #1 info, is the data from the disk or was it entered manually?

I've had the problem with random slots. I keep the first 50 empty, to use when I want to put in a bunch of things. I have noticed that occassionally, when passing through the discs that are loaded, it will sometimes drop the info on a disc. So far, that has always been with one of the few discs that will actually load info! I just eject them, reload them, and then the info reads. But, since I know of this phenomenon, I try to avoid letting the machine scan through the discs.

Has anyone seen any pictures of the inside of a 995?

i am looking for advice on what brand of recordable discs this unit will play. ihave some tdk dvd-r that i've recorded on a panasonic dvd recorder that will play fine on my two other sony single play units, ns775v and a dvps 530 but when i try on this unit it says reading then just shuts off. the unit does play store bought dvd's just fine. any suggestions or did i just get a bad unit. thanks

I have several DVD-R's in my 995 although some will not play. I always buy Taiyo Yuden for single layers disks and Verbatim DVD+R DL for dual layer. For those that won't play, I use my single disk player.

[QUOTE=munsell6]i am looking for advice on what brand of recordable discs this unit will play. ihave some tdk dvd-r that i've recorded on a panasonic dvd recorder that will play fine on my two other sony single play units, ns775v and a dvps 530 but when i try on this unit it says reading then just shuts off. the unit does play store bought dvd's just fine. any suggestions or did i just get a bad unit. thanks[/QUOT


I mostly use Sony +R and -R. They are usually on sale at Best Buy for 50 for $15. I have used other brands and have never had any problems. I use a Lite-ON burner.

-mk

Thank you for replies I tried the verbatim +r's and those seem to work well. Will also try some other brands of +r' s too. Thanks again

I haven't had any problem with Verbatim -Rs, recorded on my Pio 640. I have had the occasional -R and +R disc, from other sources, that would not play. In fact, I plan on buying a fourth DVD player (I have the 995, a 5 disc R0 Philips, the Pio DVDR), the cheapest I can find, to play the odd -R or +R that won't play on the others.

I have several DVD-R's in my 995 although some will not play. I always buy Taiyo Yuden for single layers disks and Verbatim DVD+R DL for dual layer. For those that won't play, I use my single disk player.

Do all of your Verbatim +R DL discs play fine, through the layer break and beyond?

I just found info on sony website under product info for this unit for player compatibility on recordable dvd formats and it states that unit will not play dvd-r's that are 8x, but does play the 4x and 16x. Of coarse my first batch of recorded dvd's were 8x. Hope this info is helpful to others. thx. again!!

That's odd! No 8x? Well, the Verbatims I use are 16x, and they do work.

Just wanted to comment that I am using 8X +R Ty's with no problem.

Well, I've had my dvp-cx995v player for almost a year and noticed that it would lose disc info for slot 1, which was okay but the other night I went into folder and all information for 350 disc was gone, quite a bummer. I have a spreadsheet with all of the listings so I'll just have to re-enter it. One has to wonder why Sony has such a great Idea but fails to acknowledge any issues with the player such as memory and auto-play.......Oh well, still love the player, just needs to be perfected. I also own 3 400 disc cd changers and they work fine. Does anyone no of any firmware updates???

Do all of your Verbatim +R DL discs play fine, through the layer break and beyond?

Mine do (also have this player and an older Toshiba). Absolutely flawless in about 35 disks. I only buy Verbatim now.

Well, I've had my dvp-cx995v player for almost a year and noticed that it would lose disc info for slot 1, which was okay but the other night I went into folder and all information for 350 disc was gone, quite a bummer. I have a spreadsheet with all of the listings so I'll just have to re-enter it. One has to wonder why Sony has such a great Idea but fails to acknowledge any issues with the player such as memory and auto-play.......Oh well, still love the player, just needs to be perfected. I also own 3 400 disc cd changers and they work fine. Does anyone no of any firmware updates???

I've had this problem in various slots. I think the problem is that when it runs through the discs, it rescans them, and sometimes, the info doesn't load. If I take the disc out, and play it, it always scans, and the info comes back, assuming it is a disc that could be read in the first place.

The really strange thing is that I owned an 860 for several years and it NEVER lost the slot info. I wonder what they changed that reduced the reliability?

Mine do (also have this player and an older Toshiba). Absolutely flawless in about 35 disks. I only buy Verbatim now.

Thanks.

I have an older Sony DVP-NC685V that hardly plays any of mine. They're all done by either dvdd or imgburn from iso's. No matter what speed 2.4, 4, or 6 my Plextor 716uf burns them at, my Sony has either a little bit of trouble (usually at or after the layer break) or can't play them at all.

I finally got around to opening up my old 860 to try and look for any damage to the drive train. But, I couldn't really tell anything because I couldn't really figure out what was supposed to come out after taking off the top (at least without damaging a wiring harness). I was able to find the motor and gear train that drives the carousel and from what little I could see of the gears through a tiny crack looked ok.


After loking at this beast, I'm not surprized they don't amke it anymore. It has so many tiny little connectors and fragile wiring harnesses that I'm convinced it had to be hand assembled because I just can't imagine that they could get a robot to do some of the work that was involved. Plus it's all screwed together, not a single snap on part anywhere in it.

If someone knows a source for the service manual for this beast, I might try some more tinkering, otherwise I might be stuck.

If someone knows a source for the service manual for this beast, I might try some more tinkering, otherwise I might be stuck.


The service manual is part # 992177911 and can be ordered direct from Sony parts for $31.67, and they show it as being in stock. Use the link below, enter in the part # 992177911 and use the 2'nd "Part or Accessory Number (EX: 1-123-456-78 or ACD2L)" search option. To bring it up.

http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/web/productSearch.do


You can also order it from partstore.com. But surprisingly enough it will also cost you a lot more from them, than buying it direct from Sony parts. Because they want $63.34 for it.


http://www.partstore.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductSKU=1774839&ProductType=ACCS&ModelID=10385

My 995 finally lost all disc info. Fortunately I have been using the titlewriter and basically just had to reload everything.

What might have caused it was using slot 1 and slot 400. I was switching between these 2 slots and after that all the info was gone.

This could have been and probably was just a coincidence.

-mk

My 995 finally lost all disc info. Fortunately I have been using the titlewriter and basically just had to reload everything.

What might have caused it was using slot 1 and slot 400. I was switching between these 2 slots and after that all the info was gone.

This could have been and probably was just a coincidence.

-mk

I am thinking about getting a unit like this but am not happy that you can't hook it up to a computer. What do you mean by reload? Are you able to backup the disc info somehow and automatically reload it back into the 995?

thanks,
Brendin

Are you able to backup the disc info somehow and automatically reload it back into the 995?

No, you can not do that.

He meant that he has been ripping discs, using Titlewriter to add the title info and then burning new discs for use in the player. Then when he presses the "load" button on the player, it reads the title info from the disk (only about 20% of factory DVDs have title info on them which is why he is ripping and reburning).

Unfortunately, even the automated reloading of the title info can be pretty painful since it takes about a minute or two per disc. So if the player if full and it loses everything, it can take several hours to reload all the info.

Does everyone who owns this unit lose the information when a power outage occurs? I've had mine since sept 1st but I don't think I've lost power yet. Wonder if I need a UPS? Would a UPS solve it?

Are the most recent one's manufactured hold the information? Does anyone own one that has been through power outages and still retain the information? Hard to believe Sony wouldn't try to fix this?

I want to buy another one but if they all lose the info I'll probably pass.

He meant that he has been ripping discs, using Titlewriter to add the title info and then burning new discs for use in the player. Then when he presses the "load" button on the player, it reads the title info from the disk (only about 20% of factory DVDs have title info on them which is why he is ripping and reburning).

Unfortunately, even the automated reloading of the title info can be pretty painful since it takes about a minute or two per disc. So if the player if full and it loses everything, it can take several hours to reload all the info.


Yeah not worth the effort to burn 400 new copies, then go thru the reload, I just put the info into DVD Profiler and print myself out a nice book

My 995 went through 2 short black-outs in the first month I owned it. It didn't lose any info during those blackouts. Instead it just occasionally drops the info for slot 1 even when there hasn't been any blackouts or brownouts. So far, I haven't been able to correlate the loss of data with any particular event.

As Scarpad said, keeping a paper listing is almost a must have for these units. I've gotten to the point that I almost always use the paper list instead of the scrolling through the explorer.

My 995 went through 2 short black-outs in the first month I owned it. It didn't lose any info during those blackouts. Instead it just occasionally drops the info for slot 1 even when there hasn't been any blackouts or brownouts. So far, I haven't been able to correlate the loss of data with any particular event.

As Scarpad said, keeping a paper listing is almost a must have for these units. I've gotten to the point that I almost always use the paper list instead of the scrolling through the explorer.


The Explorer is pretty much use anyhow, the artwork is too small, they don't give you enough character space, Paper is much more usefull

I have been thinking of buying one of these for the last year or so. Does anyone have any information about a potential replacement model?

The Explorer is pretty much use anyhow, the artwork is too small, they don't give you enough character space, Paper is much more usefull

Save the trees! :) I use my remote control instead of the Sony's Disc Exployer feature. BTW, nice collection of DVDs.

I have been thinking of buying one of these for the last year or so. Does anyone have any information about a potential replacement model?

No knew models that I'm aware of, waiting patiently for HD DVD or Blu-ray mega-changer to arrive.

Yeah not worth the effort to burn 400 new copies, then go thru the reload, I just put the info into DVD Profiler and print myself out a nice book

yeah, burning 400 DVDs would suck. I just do one or 2 at a time and put it in the DVD changer. All my DVDs are copies. I keep the originals in storage.

-mk

Hi,

I've had a DVP-CX995V for about a month now and I really, really like it, but I'm having two serious problems that may force me to return/replace the unit.

First (and most importantly) the buttons on the front panel don't work properly any more... For example, if the player is off and I hit the open button, it just acts like I hit the power button. After that, hitting any of the buttons doesn't do anything. Other buttons are equally useless. I'm hoping it's been put in some sort of 'mode' that I don't understand, but unplugging the unit doesn't change anything.

Second, I've read elsewhere that people have experienced dropouts when playing movies and SA-CD's. Is there a fix for this? It's happening to me too.

I really hope I don't have to return this thing because taking out all those discs is going to be a serious pain in the arse...

yeah, burning 400 DVDs would suck. I just do one or 2 at a time and put it in the DVD changer. All my DVDs are copies. I keep the originals in storage.

-mk


Well at least burning a 400 disk collection is now economically feasible, the prices of disk would make it only about $100 to do that.

....

I really hope I don't have to return this thing because taking out all those discs is going to be a serious pain in the arse...

Oh yeah. When my old 860 died a few weeks ago, I had to move 300 disks from my completely full old 860 to my new 995. That was just a slot-to-slot move and it was a pain. Having to actually put them back into boxes one at a time will really be painful. :(

Yeah not worth the effort to burn 400 new copies, then go thru the reload, I just put the info into DVD Profiler and print myself out a nice book
I just click on the movie image on my database and let it all happen automatically. That is if you are using a Sony DVP-CX995V and have a PC in the same room.

First (and most importantly) the buttons on the front panel don't work properly any more... For example, if the player is off and I hit the open button, it just acts like I hit the power button. After that, hitting any of the buttons doesn't do anything. Other buttons are equally useless. I'm hoping it's been put in some sort of 'mode' that I don't understand, but unplugging the unit doesn't change anything.
There is a lock mode. You may need to follow the instructions here to unlock.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6476/dvpcx995vjk0.th.png (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dvpcx995vjk0.png)

There is a lock mode. You may need to follow the instructions here to unlock.

Thanks, I was hoping it was something like that, but unfortunately it's not... The buttons on the remote always work, it's just the front panel that's wonky.

I took it back to the shop and it's on the way to Sony for repair now. The behaviour of the unit was that the All/One or Folder buttons were being pressed at random times... The current theory is that the control panel is 'jammed' forcing some of the buttons to act like they are being pressed all of the time and preventing other buttons from working.

No matter what I put in the player, I get cannot play on front panel. Is there a common problem. I'm sure the warrenty is only 1yr. Can anyone help with quick fix.
thanks

I am also having problems with my CX995V

I have had it for about a month it has worked well and my wife and I have enjoyed it. However this week The HDMI stopped working, component out still works which I am using at the moment

but the remote.. Well you press a button and in a few seconds it may or may not register your input usually not though.

Changed batteries tried two different remotes as I have an older player that uses same code, checked cables nothings new nothings changed just stopped working.

Anyone with a solution or experienced this or similar before.
Reply’s would be greatly appreciated.

but the remote.. Well you press a button and in a few seconds it may or may not register your input usually not though.
.

If the 995 has gone into screen saver mode, the first push of any one button, on the remote, or on the unit itself, only wakes it up. A second push of a button will get a normal response. Could that account for some of your response failures?

Well it is pretty slow to respond. My old 860 responded about twice as fast as my 995. But it usually doesn't miss any commands.

I've noticed this with a lot of newer electronics. I think more and more units are using "pre-canned" operating systems instead of being custom coded and the off-the-self code is not sampling the inputs as fast as the old custom code did.

My LG3510a is even worse, it is slow as hell and constantly requires two or three attempts to get it to take the command.

I've found that holding the key down for a full second rather than just giving it a quick click helps but even that isn't always enough.

Hi,

I've had a DVP-CX995V for about a month now and I really, really like it, but I'm having two serious problems that may force me to return/replace the unit.

First (and most importantly) the buttons on the front panel don't work properly any more... For example, if the player is off and I hit the open button, it just acts like I hit the power button. After that, hitting any of the buttons doesn't do anything. Other buttons are equally useless. I'm hoping it's been put in some sort of 'mode' that I don't understand, but unplugging the unit doesn't change anything.

Second, I've read elsewhere that people have experienced dropouts when playing movies and SA-CD's. Is there a fix for this? It's happening to me too.

I really hope I don't have to return this thing because taking out all those discs is going to be a serious pain in the arse...

Just an update to my situation, I took it back to the dealer and they shipped it to Sony for repair. So far, everything's working fine now.

I know this has been talked about a lot in this thread, but after searching and reading through the entire 49 or so pages i've seen of it, i can't find a definitive answer.
Does anyone have step-by-step instructions to program the 880 to control the Sony 995, or more specifically, using the "media" feature on the remote? I can not for the life of me get that feature to work right. I can import my list fine into the remote, but everytime i click on a movie there, it just does not send the right commands to the dvd jukebox.

Anyone willing to walk me through it from the beginning?
I'm so sick and tired of the 880's web interface that i can't bear to look at it anymore.


Thanks in advance!

-nick

Sorry if this was posted before but while looking around on Sony's website found this in the eSupport knowledge base.

Knowledge Article C83086
The inserted disc begins to play when the DVD player is turned on.


The inserted DVD will begin playing if it is the first time the disc has been inserted into the DVD player. Also, if the DVD player was previously turned off while the DVD was playing, the inserted disc will automatically begin playing again when the player is turned back on. This is normal operation.

NOTES:

Most DVD discs are encoded to automatically begin playing when the DVD player is turned on. The Resume Play and Autoplay features cannot be disabled for DVD discs.
When a DVD changer is turned on, the last disc that was played will begin playing.
Compact Discs (CDs) do not automatically play. This feature is not supported with CDs.

Created: Wed Oct 30 09:35 2002 | Last Modified: Tue Jan 03 16:16 2006
http://www.iq.sony.com/srvs/autoresponsev4.asp?id=83086


So even though they have an option for not auto playing if the DVD itself was encoded that way it can't be prevented. Probably part of the DVD specifications.
So we are all here upset that it automatically plays a dvd that we don't want. ;)

So anyone want to try all 400 dvds to see if they can find one that will not auto play :D

The article is wrong. I have loaded many DVDs that I made myself and I have not programmed them to autoplay. Yet they still autoplay when the setting is set to OFF.

After reviewing this with the Sony CSR, they apologized and said the unit should be returned for service! I'm reluctant to take it in based on what I've read on this forum. It seems to be an inherent defect.

Has anyone ever had any success with a repair of this issue?

As an engineer here is my diagnosis of the Autoplay problem that has been reported many times on this thread:

This is simply poor design by Sony. The problem seems to be that when turning off the player, the disk is not unloaded from the drive mechanism, and is not returned to the carousel. So when you turn the unit back on, the DVD is already loaded and hence it autoplays. Most DVD players (even older single slot machines) will autoplay if you leave the disk in the tray when you turn it off.

I have an older Sony 200 disk CD carousel, and it always unloads the disk every time you turn the power off. So when you turn it on, there is no disk loaded, all of the disks are in the carousel. So you can easily spin the jog dial and select the disk you want- no waiting.

IMHO Sony screwed up with the logic with this control. There is NO DIFFERENCE between the settings of Autoplay = ON and Autoplay = OFF.
The difference between On and OFF should be this:
On: The last disk is always left "in the tray" so when you turn it on, it resumes play. - Power-off should be almost no delay. But Power on will be delayed while reading the disk every time.
OFF: The last disk is always removed from the tray and returned to the carousel so there is nothing in the tray to play when power is turned on. In this case the power-off will take longer (while it unloads the tray), but Power on should be without delay.

I just click on the movie image on my database and let it all happen automatically. That is if you are using a Sony DVP-CX995V and have a PC in the same room.


What are you using to do this?

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/its-loud-dude/DSCN2576.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/its-loud-dude/DSCN2577.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/its-loud-dude/DSCN2573.jpg
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n139/its-loud-dude/DSCN2574.jpg

What are you using to do this?
Hi,

I use a combination of a database program called Movie Collector and a universal remote control software called IRCommand2.

I think I have a PM from you. I will reply to it in a little while.

Hi,

I use a combination of a database program called Movie Collector and a universal remote control software called IRCommand2.

I think I have a PM from you. I will reply to it in a little while.


There are a small few of us that do this. I'm using USB-UIRT, Girder & DVD Profiler with a custom program I wrote to queue up the movie on Title 1, Track 1. To pass the time it takes to queue up I run two trailers as a pre-movie intro.

I'd be interested in exchanging ideas on some of the challenges involved with bypassing warnings, previews, lengthy menus, etc - perhaps in another thread? I inquired loooonng ago in this thread but got nada for response.

Regards...

I'd be interested in exchanging ideas on some of the challenges involved with bypassing warnings, previews, lengthy menus, etc - perhaps in another thread? I inquired loooonng ago in this thread but got nada for response..
With the 995 you pretty much can not bypass such things if they are locked in order to force you to watch them. (And they usally are!) Unless you make a copy and modify or remove them in the copy. With the 777ES you can, but only when controlling it through the RS232 interface, but that is only because the RS232 interface also allows you some direct control options that are not even available via IR.

Can you get dual output from the DVD player? I'm interested in running HDMI to my home theater and running component + coaxial + IR upstairs, to the living room. Like keeping the kids entertained, yet visible, while company is over. Can the component output be active while an HDMI cable is connected but nothing is active on the receiving end? Should be a simple test. Thanks!

Oh, I also want to run s-video to to a display outside the theater in the lobby area. Is the S-video and L+R audio active while the HDMI output is active?

I know that component and s-video are active at the same time but I don't know about the HDMI port (esp. due to HDCP issues).

But the real problem is that there is only one setting for the aspect ratio, so if the displays are different aspect ratios then the image will either be squeezed or stretched on one of the displays. And the aspect ratio setting is buried fairly deep in the menus and can only be changed when playback is stopped, so it's a PITA to change it.

Neo Dan, great pics.
Any more?

IMHO Sony screwed up with the logic with this control. There is NO DIFFERENCE between the settings of Autoplay = ON and Autoplay = OFF.
The difference between On and OFF should be this:
On: The last disk is always left "in the tray" so when you turn it on, it resumes play. - Power-off should be almost no delay. But Power on will be delayed while reading the disk every time.
OFF: The last disk is always removed from the tray and returned to the carousel so there is nothing in the tray to play when power is turned on. In this case the power-off will take longer (while it unloads the tray), but Power on should be without delay.

You exactly correct. There is no difference between Auto-Play ON or Auto-Play OFF.

As I believe I have stately earlier, I used to have a Sony 5 disc changer and it has the same menus. Auto-Play ON and OFF worked correctly in this changer. Just as you would expect the movie continued when powered on with Auto-Play ON and nothing happened with Auto-Play OFF.

-mk

I have had the DVP-CX995V for a year now and love it. I recently purchased a Panasonic DMR-ES45V DVD/VCR combo unit to migrate home movies to DVD. I'm using DVD-R discs and properly finalizing them. They play fine on my PC and in the Panasonic player.

When I try to place any of the discs I've recorded on the 995, it hangs at "READING" for a while before turning off power to the unit. Has anyone seen anything like this before? I suppose my next step is to try DVD+R media, but I wish I had known that before picking up a 100 pack of DVD-Rs...

Dave

this worries me. Anyone else have experience with panny recorded -R? 90% of my disks are recorded on my E80 so if the -R doesn't work, this sony is pointless for me.

this worries me. Anyone else have experience with panny recorded -R? 90% of my disks are recorded on my E80 so if the -R doesn't work, this sony is pointless for me.

I haven't had this problem with -R discs recorded on my pio 640. But, I have experienced the phenomenon with a few -R discs I have tried, without knowing what they were recorded on. The shutting down of the 995 is most disconcerting, and can be hard to deal with, since it tries to read the disc again, when you turn it on to remove the disc.

i guess i will find out soon as the thing has already been shipped :) Even if it doesnt read the panny i have about 60 store boughts that will positively work

so is it an endless loop when it tries to read the -r and can't?

I can happily confirm that (at least one of) the panasonic E80s -R do play in the changer. Just hooked it up on the front of my TV with S vid and pic looked pretty good. If one plays it makes sense they all should play.

Now gotta wait for weekend to change my setup around with all my pasketti. Hopefully the 3/1 hdmi switcher will clean things up a bit

My 995 drives me nuts as it looses the DVD title memory every now and then
Just wipes out everything replacing it with "?" for each title

No real rhyme or reason when it does it but as my collection exceeds 300 titles it's become a royal PITA to keep doing this over, to the point that now we just use an EXCEL spreadsheet to keep track of what's where...
But there HAS to be a fix for this? Firmware??

WOT

you have a UPS I assume?

UPS?
Why would I need that?
According to the documentation for the 995 the title details are stored within involatile RAM
WOT

My 995 drives me nuts as it looses the DVD title memory every now and then
Just wipes out everything replacing it with "?" for each title
...
But there HAS to be a fix for this? Firmware??



No, there is no fix or new firmware for it.

UPS?
Why would I need that?


I believe it would prevent your repeated stress of reentering things everytime the power blips. :) Actually I spent enough money on my equipment that I have one for it so just plugging in the sony is a no brainer. But I realize everyone doesnt have that luxury so this flaw may be quite inconvenient.

I believe it would prevent your repeated stress of reentering things everytime the power blips. :)

I'm afraid owning a UPS won't prevent this issue (loss of DVD titles - ?) from
occurring. :(

I've had my 995 for over a year now. I've been through several power outages. I have NEVER lost everything. And yet, some people have lost everything. There has to be some factor causing it. Could some of the units have a defect that causes it to happen sporadically? Could some odd set of commands in sequence cause it? Perhaps power surges? There has to be something we haven't identified yet causing it.

The only problem I've had with lost data entry is for single discs. Every once in a while, I think 4 or 5 times in a year, when I select a disc to be played, with its info intact in Disc Explorer, and it starts to read the disc, it won't read the info, and the info will disappear. If I eject the disc, reinsert it and play it, it invariably reads, and the info is restored. This only happens with discs that have info encoded.

so far i've only put in the Xena collection. I did notice it didnt catch every one so i guess i need to reload.

On a side note, the test i did on the keyboard proved as smooth as if i was typing on my PC.

I have a CX995V and made copies of my CDs and DVDs for it, adding CD-TEXT and DVD TEXT as necessary to the copied disks so that they provide data in the "folder" browsing menus.

So far, so good.

Except, the unit refuses to display the Artist on some CDs. I've checked the CDs, and they were burned properly (reading the CD-TEXT back from them on my computer), and tried reburning them, to no avail.

I can see nothing fundementally different between the CDs where CD-TEXT Artist information is read properly and where it is not. For example, a CD with Artist "Pink Floyd" and Title "The Wall (CD1)" reads fine, but a CD with Artist "Pink Floyd" and Title "The Wall (CD2)" has missing Artist CD-TEXT when read.

Has anyone else seen this behavior?

IR died on mine again. This is teh second time. Bye bye sony, hello oppo. This further solidified my boycotting of sony hardware. Its a shame that this happened to me AGAIN. Last time it cost me $100 to send it out for repairs.

I just purchased sony svp-cx995v player and I am primatily using it for now for cd's only. I own a pioneer elite receiver, about 8 years old and I bought at the time a pioneer cd carousel player. Hooked it up to cd input back of receiver and sounds great. Now I bought sony changer and my hook up is using coaxial calble to back of receiver, coacial input, and HDMI cable to plasma tv. Audio settings on cd changer are as follows: Digital out:on, Doldy Digital: Dolby Digital and DTS: DTS. Finally set at 96/24 bit. Well cd's do not sound as good as if they were played on the pioneer changer. I am thinking in hooking up sony changer to cd inputs back of receiver and changing settings on sony changer to Digital out:off, D-pcm setting for dolby digital and dts and bit setting at 48/16 bit. Anyone has similar problem as I do. Thanks for input

After reading every post, I have decided not to buy this unit. The main reason is the lack of customer satisfaction and support that Sony has displayed. When I went into the sony store to get a demo of the unit, it was almost like pulling teeth to get the sony rep to find a unit that was hooked up via HDMI so I can see the upconverting quality. The quality looked great, but wasn't happy with the way I was treated.

Sales people aside, Sony themselves have proved that they only care about you until you leave the store. Sony has know about the data loss and the auto start issue for almost one and a half years, and failed to fix it. I cannot believe that Sony's solution to fixing these problems is to have you ship the unit at your expense, only to get the unit back with the same problems. That is totally unacceptable. Seeing these problems over a year ago scared me, but reading recent posts where the problem still exists scared me more. I cannot see why, what looks like a simple firmware issue, has not been fixed yet. Total lack of customer care.

The final nail in the coffin was after talking to a friend of the family who worked at a licensed sony repair shop. He had told me that these kind of stories don't surprise him. According to him, Sony is one of the most painfully companies to deal with. He also said that it is typical of Sony to deny to problem to cover their back, rather than to fix it.

I can see where a unit like this can solve the needs of many that have a large collection. There no other current competition to this unit so I can see some being forced to take the lesser of two evils. But for me, It rather stay out of Sony's bed.

I hope, for the sake of owners of this unit, that there is a solution to the problems. Either it coming from Sony, or another company with a better product. I guess its the Oppi 981 for me.

Well, I found out a few things about the CX995V's handling of CD TEXT.

It is very particular about the CD TEXT on the disk. In general, where I had problems, I just retained the TITLE, and PERFORMER fields, and set MESSAGE to "". That's not to say that MESSAGE fields that aren't empty don't work, but they don't work consistently.

I had one troublesome disk with COMPOSER data, and the unit could only read the CD TEXT once I burned it without COMPOSER data.

Another disk constantly refused to show the Artist, just the title, no matter how many times I burned it with minimal CD TEXT. Turns out the CX995V was *stuck* on the settings of the last disk in the slot. Perhaps it has some means of checking whether the same disk was removed and reinserted. Though, this was not a problem with other disks that had minimal CD TEXT changes. I eventually inserted a different disk in the slot, loaded it, removed it, and inserted my troublesome one, and lo! It read the CD TEXT fine. Grrr.

This unit is a lot of trouble, and wouldn't be worth it, except for the relatively low price (I paid $300 or so, and I understand that it can be had for $220 these days). Unless you're prepared to meticulously craft your own CD TEXT and DVD TEXT and JACKET_P directories on copies of your disks that lack this information, I would not reccomend it.

My primary purpose in getting it was as a stop-gap measure until I get a media thin client online in my media room.

How do I lock the front cover? I've followed the steps in the manual and I am not getting the 'LOCKED' msg on the display when the unit powers up.

And just for clarification, 'STAND BY' mode is just the unit powered off, correct?

Well, I found out a few things about the CX995V's handling of CD TEXT.

It is very particular about the CD TEXT on the disk. In general, where I had problems, I just retained the TITLE, and PERFORMER fields, and set MESSAGE to "". That's not to say that MESSAGE fields that aren't empty don't work, but they don't work consistently.

I had one troublesome disk with COMPOSER data, and the unit could only read the CD TEXT once I burned it without COMPOSER data.

Another disk constantly refused to show the Artist, just the title, no matter how many times I burned it with minimal CD TEXT. Turns out the CX995V was *stuck* on the settings of the last disk in the slot. Perhaps it has some means of checking whether the same disk was removed and reinserted. Though, this was not a problem with other disks that had minimal CD TEXT changes. I eventually inserted a different disk in the slot, loaded it, removed it, and inserted my troublesome one, and lo! It read the CD TEXT fine. Grrr.

This unit is a lot of trouble, and wouldn't be worth it, except for the relatively low price (I paid $300 or so, and I understand that it can be had for $220 these days). Unless you're prepared to meticulously craft your own CD TEXT and DVD TEXT and JACKET_P directories on copies of your disks that lack this information, I would not reccomend it.

My primary purpose in getting it was as a stop-gap measure until I get a media thin client online in my media room.


It has been noted before a few times, the 995 was never really intended for providing any text info on CD's and that it is a poor choice for anyone that is going for mainly CD use. If you wanted it primarily for CD's, you should have bought Sony CDP-CX455 400 disk CD changer instead. Which handles CD Text with no problems. AND when considering that it also has a Control A1/S jack, which means it can be hooked up to a PC to operate it if you add a Slink-E (which is no longer sold) or a SAVR interface which is still sold, and then it can also provide two way communication via the PC and even look up the CD's and even D/L their related cover art when used with a program like Music Library or Music!.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/,INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?CategoryName=hav_HiFiComponents_CDPlayers2&ProductSKU=CDPCX455&TabName=specs&var2=

http://pantherstudioscorp.com/SAVR.htm

http://www.mccain.metaconnect.com/adapter.htm

http://www.mccain.metaconnect.com/musiclib.htm

http://pantherstudioscorp.com/Music.htm

I have 2 CDP-CX455's running on a SAVR that I use for CD's in addition to my 3 DVP-CX777ES DVD changers that are running on RS232 through a PC to control them all. And they all work just fine, the CD changers look up and display the CD with no problem, and the same goes for the DVD changers.




And NO! Before anyone even asks, a Slink-E or SAVR will not, and can not work with a DVP-CX995! We have been through it all before earlier in this thread, it's because the DVP-CX995 does not have the needed Control A1/S connection to work with them. And no again, the needed Control A1/S interface can not be added to the CX995.

My players are full, so I'm getting ready to buy another 995 pretty soon. If Sony is going to update this unit in the next few months, I'll wait. If nothing else, perhaps some of the firmware problems will be fixed.

Does anyone know when the 995 first came out? I'm hoping it is about time for a new revision.

Sean

Has my HDMI on this unit died?

I only get a green screen on my TV via HDMI now. Component works fine. Other components connected to the same HDMI input on my TV work fine. So, this is the DVD player's issue.

Other symptom: the "HDMI" light on the front of the player, to the left of the "SA-CD" and "MULTI CHANNEL" lights does not light up. I can't honestly say that I ever noticed that it did, but it sure doesn't now.

The green screen on my TV seems to indicate that some signal is being received -- since I'm not getting a "no signal" error. There is no sound either.

I have tried changing the HDMI resolutions in the setup menu (including "AUTO"). I have tried the "Reset" option in the setup menu. I have tried unplugging the machine.

Have I somehow turned HDMI off? Is there a way to reset the player?

Thanks for any help!

Guys, I'm having freezing issues with this player. During 'Cars' and 'Black Dahlia' it froze up while playing. It wouldn't advance chapters, scan, anything -- just froze. I had to reboot it.

Any ideas?

Hi,

I just received one of these as a Christmas gift and am having a problem that I was hoping someone on this forum could resolve. I hooked up everything (Component for Video, Optical for Audio) and plugged in the Power cord. I went through the setup and chose all of the correct settings. I didn't get to the point where I was ready to load discs, so I turned off the unit. The problem is, as soon as I shut it off, it comes right back on again, as if the Power button was hit twice. When I hit the Power button it says "Power Off" on the display for a second or two and then it powers down. A second later, it comes right back on again. Does this sound like a defective unit? I have not yet tried unplugging the unit. One last note is that the open/close button does not do anything, whether it is from the player or the remote, but before I move on to that isssue, I would like to find out if I have a problem with the behavior of the Power button.

Thanks,

Ray

I just received one of these as a Christmas gift and am having a problem that I was hoping someone on this forum could resolve. I hooked up everything (Component for Video, Optical for Audio) and plugged in the Power cord. I went through the setup and chose all of the correct settings. I didn't get to the point where I was ready to load discs, so I turned off the unit. The problem is, as soon as I shut it off, it comes right back on again, as if the Power button was hit twice. When I hit the Power button it says "Power Off" on the display for a second or two and then it powers down. A second later, it comes right back on again. Does this sound like a defective unit? I have not yet tried unplugging the unit. One last note is that the open/close button does not do anything, whether it is from the player or the remote, but before I move on to that isssue, I would like to find out if I have a problem with the behavior of the Power button.


I had a similar problem:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8835489&&#post8835489

I took it back to where I bought it and they send it to Sony for repair and now everything works fine. Since you just got yours they might be willing to just exchange for a new unit.

My Sony Experience last night:
Bought a $400 dvd changer 14 months ago. 12 months ago after i catalogged all my movies in it by manually typiong them in its poor interfacce, the IR port dies. I call sony, deal with poor customer service, and was told I need to ship it to texas to get it fixed. I live in MI. Shipping cost about $100. I was very upset, but had no choice. I paid the money and it was on its way. About 3-4 weeks later, I get the repaired unit. I reconnect it, and recatalog about 400 DVDs.

last friday, the IR port died AGAIN. I call support, and chatted with teh online support. I complain to the online rep that I have been on hold for over 30 minutes. He sends me the hours and then tells me to call during non business hours (see attachment).

I finally get through to a rep with a staticy connection. THey take my info, including call back number. 5 miniutes later i was disconnected. I waited for about 10 minutes and never received a return call. So i call back again.

This time i wasited another 30 minutes, get a second rep thats probably in India, with a horrific connection. I repeatedly asked her to repeat what she was saying because of the poor quality. I explaned the situation, and went through the troubleshooting steps. I explained I have a MX3000 universal remote that is progarmmed of r the device and teh factory remote. I just put new batteries in the remote, because i never use it. She then determines i have a dead remote, and she will send a replacement.

I ask for a manager. I explain my situation, and complain about the call quality. He says they are doing upgrades on their system (8PM Eastern), and many people were being dropped. I tell him thats the worst time to upgrade a system, and for an electronics company, they should feel embarased.

He was very polite and sent me to the customer satisfaction group. This guy told me he would open an rma. I asked about prepaod shipping or advanced replacement and was denied. I explained to them that sony is loosing a customer based on the way this experience was going. He said all he could do is an rma for a repair.

I am on the constant upgrade cycle like many people here. I have spent thousands on dollars on HT equipment over the past few years. I would consider adding a blu ray player to my setup, but not after this experience. It will cost me $100 more to send te device back in for repairs. I was considering a 60GB PS3, but not after this. I was able to get the mailing address to the customer satisfaction commitee, but that doesnt cut it. This is the worst product support I have EVER received.

Emailing the CEO of Sony did help some, but their version of "help" is far from adequate. The offered to fix my player free of charge! Call me crazy, but isnt that what the warranty is for?!? They did finally offer to pay the shipping. I am done with sony. They tried to make it sound like they were doing me a favor. I have purchased $1000's of dollars worth of their products including several ES series models. If this is how they feel a loyal customer should be treated, then I will give my business to a more deserving company.

I am looking to sell this player. PM me if you are interested.

Emailing the CEO of Sony did help some, but their version of "help" is far from adequate. The offered to fix my player free of charge! Call me crazy, but isnt that what the warranty is for?!? They did finally offer to pay the shipping. I am done with sony. They tried to make it sound like they were doing me a favor. I have purchased $1000's of dollars worth of their products including several ES series models. If this is how they feel a loyal customer should be treated, then I will give my business to a more deserving company.

I am looking to sell this player. PM me if you are interested.

I can see that you have had unacceptably bad customer service. After you take some time to cool off, you need to consider the offer made by Sony:

1. You've owned this unit 14 months, so the 1 year warranty has expired. The offer to fix your unit for free is a good offer.

2. They also offered to pay shipping. Few companies I've dealt with pay the cost of shipping an item to them for warranty repair. This is an exceptionally good offer--I'd accept it before they change their mind.

Just thought I would post my woes. I removed a DVD from my 995 to play on another DVD player. During the middle of the movie the DVD skipped and the player reported the can't read the disc error code. After looking at the disc, I found there were little odd shaped scratches near the edge of the disc. I remembered reading somewhere that some other poor person had problems with their Sony mega changer. I opened it up and looked at several discs. Many, but not all, had scratches in the same area that looked the same. Most of these disc have only been out of the player for the brief period after I opened them for the first time. They have only been played and been in that player.

I called Sony tech support and they acted like it was a common problem because they were quick to tell me that it was a mechanical problem and would have to be fixed. They quoted me $289.00 plus shipping. It makes me sick. I have around 300 discs in there. It looked like 1 out of 3 have those little half moon scratches on the edge.

I don't know what I am going to do. I don't think spending over $300.00 to get it fixed is the answer. I don't think I want to buy a new one as I am worried that it could have the problem as well.

Any thoughts?

sony extended my warranty after the first issue, since it failed early on, and because it required a month to be returned. I have had some of sony competitors offer local repair on items, and in some cases, in home repair.

to those that have had disks get scratched..did they ask to see the disks? The reason I ask is that it seems there may be a problem, from what i gather in this thread, and there is an apparent fix. IF the fix is truly a fix, then i was wondering if i may be best served by saying I have the problem now, before it exists, and then getting the fix.

I'm assuming they wont replace media that is damaged by their device and if it's a known issue, I feel they certainly should fix it now.

I have a DVP-CX995V and the front display on the unit is off? Is their a setting to turn it back on?

i think there is a FL off button?

How do I lock the front cover? I've followed the steps in the manual and I am not getting the 'LOCKED' msg on the display when the unit powers up.

And just for clarification, 'STAND BY' mode is just the unit powered off, correct?
You should only get the "locked" message when the open door button is pushed, if in fact the unit is locked. Here is a little help from the manual.
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/2328/20070105212653js7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I was all set to buy this unit until I read this thread. I can't believe Sony hasn't fixed these trivial issues by now. Will there be a new version of this player soon or is this it? One can hope the next version will be fixed. But given the fact this is the second revision of this product and it still has bugs I have little faith in Sony ever correcting the problems. Too bad because it looks like a fantastic product.

When I researched the possibility of a megachanger I thought the idea of having a player that would be able to load and catalog my dvd collection was awesome. However, after reading more about all the players and realizing that all the players out there have their own unique issues when loading data from a newly inserted dvd I went on the hunt to find something that was predicable. My search brought me to a few different front-end programs but the one that really impressed me was xLobby. At first because it was free but then after working with xLobby I realized the potential of what can be done with it. IE: total home automation...if you want. xLobby has the potential to control the following changers with some tweaking.

What are your dvd megachanger alternatives?
PIONEER 300+1 DVD/VCD/CD/CD-R File Type Changer (DVF727) Here (http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=552582&JRSource=linkshare.datafeed.PIO+DVF727)
Kenwood DV-5050M Here (http://www.vanns.com/shop/servlet/item/features/483604328)
Sony DVP-CX995V DVD/SACD mega changer Here (http://products.howstuffworks.com/sony-dvp-cx995v-dvd-sacd-mega-changer-review.htm)
Sony DVP-CX777ES DVD/SACD mega changer Here (http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=DVPCX777ES)

I own the Sony DVP-CX777ES and use xLobby to view my movie catalog and play movies from my DVP-CX777ES through the RS-232 input. It is possible to control DVD players via IR control with the USB-UIRT (http://www.usbuirt.com/). I am currently writing a how-to on setting up the player with xLobby. Here is a link to the discussion we are having over at the xLobby forum. http://www.xlobby.com/forum/