Have to get rid of my DVD shelves and want to store all my DVDs in a 400+DVD player. The Sony HDMI is the only player out there I have seen - problem is the unit is 2 yrs old and there are alot of negatives with it that should be corrected with a new model.

Anyone know if there is a new model out there or another unit that deals with the issues like: better index; go to particular disc, memory function; speed; etc.

Thanks!

I have/had the Sony 995. I really love the 400 disc. Some people say it is slow, but it is a lot faster than going to a cabinet finding a movie, changing out the old movie and hitting play. Plus you get to sit on the couch. The Sony was hooked up to my bed room LCD directly and my Living room receiver so I had access to 400 dvd's off of 2 TV's.

Last week my Sony starting dsiplaying can not read disk. And it would not play any disk. I tried to see the problem by taking the unit apart but failed. I do not want to pay $150 plus to fix a 2 year old unit so I am looking for a new one also. I left the player on 24 hours a day for 2 years, so I got my $350.00 out of it.

There are really only two (2 1/2) choices for mega DVD changers: Pioneer's ancient (circa 2000) 300 DVD changer and the Sony 985 and 995 400 DVD changers. The 985 was released in 2003. The 995 was released in 2005. The major difference between the two units is the inclusion of an HDMI port on the 995, although there are also some small menu and interface differences as well.

The 995 is a great machine, and it's unlikely that Sony is going to release another standard DVD jukebox unit anytime soon. I think that most of the flaws described by other people are greatly exaggerated. I find the load times of discs to be very reasonable considering the number of discs that must be cycled through. Indexing could be better, but if you hook up a keyboard and learn the key press patterns for entering titles it becomes better. It gets even better still if you have a Harmony remote, program the disc titles in the remote, and follow the directions in the main thread for setting up the remote to have the player cue up a disc simply by selecting the disc title on the remote.

The machine has great picture and sound, and even though it's the size of a small car, it's still pretty sleek looking. HDMI is great too, because not only does it result in a great picture, but in combination with a digital audio hookup to a receiver, it makes it very easy to switch between listening to sound through the stereo or through the TV. (Don't want to wake the neighbors during late night DVD sessions.)

If you live near a Sony Outlet store, they sell refurbished 985 and 995 units for an incredibly low price. That's where I got mine, and it looked brand new and has worked like a charm. The price was so low I even splurged for an extended warranty on the unit, which I NEVER do. But it was worth it this time.

Does this player actually come in a region free setup?
OR does it play all regions out of the box?

I just purchased the 995 to replace my 300+1 Pioneer which died and I didn't like it and only for this reason and I sent it back.

On my Pioneer I could walk up to it and jog the dial and as the carosel turned the information panel on the front of the player would display the titles and press the button in the jog-dial and play the CD. On the Sony for some reason when you turn the jog-dial it displays only the CD tray number. When you press play and then the text button it will show on the player what is being played. It means that you have to have your TV on and find what your looking for through the GUI. It takes so much more time and for the most part I want it for CDs but I also have DVD music which made it seem like a good unit.

I'm now considering the more expensive Pioneer which only holds 301 CD/DVDs.

John

Is the expensive Pioneer a better product than the sony?

Read nightmare reviews on the sony as to titles (30 minute memory wipe; add a new disc and they all wipe, etc) - can I just input the DVDs into a slot and use a master list to track which movie is where instead of inputing titles? Is it possible to go right to an assigned slot on the player without scrolling through one at a time?

Shocked that there hasn't been a better mass storage playr on the market - so many people own a ton of DVDs that a nice mass player with updated digital storage and functions would sell like hotcakes!

Figure I am buying one of these simply to holdme over for a year until something better comes out...

It is strange that there arent more players on the market.

I have been waiting for a better product for 2 yrs now.

Nothing new came out of CEDIA this year...besides that insane BD player from sony...so I guess we have to wait for a while.

It is strange that there arent more players on the market.


The demand for megachangers just isn't there. DVD enthusiasts love them, but your average Joe is satisfied with a cheap one disc player.

I have 3 sony 777s in my equipment closet hooked up to my Control4 system...though they don't have hdmi, they do have rs232 and what is nice about C4 is that its interface bypasses all the FBI warning crap, and menus, and gets right to the movie itself. I love the onscreen navigator that Control4 has, and it basically functions as the poor man's Kaleidascape. I have players number 1 and 2 for adult/teen movies, and player 3 is dedicated to kid movies. Works like a charm. Quality is pretty good (component RGB), but would love to see a hidef version (bluray/hd dvd) with serial control. I will still use them for video distribution to the house, and hope to have a dedicated HD player (for Christmas...looking at the new Samsung 5000) for the home theatre...next item...upgrade to 1080p projector, and hd video distribution.

12 pack of brewski and a hammer

video camera would be nice too, for youtube.

I have the Sony 985 and am considering getting the 995 to take advantage of the upconversion. Has anyone done this and is the quality difference between the two worth the additional cost?

I suspect you'll be disappointed if you buy a 995 just for that. I bought my 995 when my old 860 (the first Sony 300 disk megachanger) started having troubles loading disks. And IMHO that old 860, which only output 480i, put out a marginally better picture than the 995.

But if you wait till you need the extra 400 slots, you'll probably be really happy with it... :D