Sony Next Generation Blu-ray Mega Changer Anticipation Thread - Page 20  

Nick, Just in case you're inerested, Crestron has already developed a module for the 7000ES in RS-232. I don't know what you have for Crestron equipment but there are even sample touch screen designs to look at. I have not had time to look at the module but if it has the ability to control multiple changers it would be the cats meeeeeeow

Can anyone tell me what the minimum amount of Crestron equipment would be needed to control one of these changers?

Thanks,
Jim

The following is from the first page of the BDP-CX7000ES service manual.

"Model Name Using Similar Mechanism DVP-CX995V"

lol

And the programmer I use has already quoted me a price of $600, just to add this module, simply to take the place of the Panasonic single-disc player that I have.

While I will probably opt for it, I am simultaneously working on my programming for a Pronto Professional TSU9800. It's not infrequent that I swap things out in my system, and I miss the days of being able to do it myself--that's why I'm learning the new Pronto, as I used to always do it myself with Pronto units.

I think my programmer smells that I'm not far from being able to take or leave him, and the price for this add-on is way higher than the last--when I swapped out a Sony BD player for a Panasonic, the charge was $175. Now we're talking about the same type of work, but the price is just the kind of incentive I need to complete my Pronto programmiing, and say goodbye to the Crestron.

I'll keep everyone posted on my progress. The arrival of the BD changer is incentive enough to keep plowing away. But I'll hedge my bets by biting the bullet on the Crestron add-on.

Thanks,

Nick

I'm not sure if Barry is planning on selling his creation or not but I'd wait to see what he comes up with before spending the $600 your programmer wants.

Does anyone know if the MegaChanger can read both sides of a two sided DVD? I own a previous version of a Sony 400 disc DVD changer and it could only read the movie on one side of the two sided DVDs?

Thank you

No it will not.

Hey,

For those who are looking to control multiple 7000ES units. I'll be willing to bet that Cinemar will be supporting multiple 7000ES in the same application just like they did with the 777ES.

-T.Wells

I program my own Pronto and I have the Sony on order, so depending on what you were after, I may be able to help you out.

I am not planning on selling what I have, I am offering the version that runs with the Pronto PAL for free. It is not a complete control system, but rather the DVD librarian module as I described before.

I am also willing to provide (free, but object only) the RS232 test routine that I will be using this weekend to chck out all of the commands to drive the changer. It is written to allow the user to get familiar with the RS232 controls and see how they operate. It runs on a PC (I use Windows XP) and will completely exercise all apsects of the RS232 interface showing you what it is doing.

Depending on how busy I get I might find the time to do a complete implementation Librarian Plus Control, however it will be via the PAL so that it will require a PC with an RS232 port. Shouldn't take more than a few days as I will have all of the code. I am pretty busy with family right now so it will probably be in September at the earliest.

That sounds great Berry. I am really interested in giving it a try when it's ready.

Thanks,
Jim

Can someone speak to the DVD upscaling on this pup yet? I'd be especially interested to learn how it compares with the PS3 in this regard. I'm anticipating that it has to be at least a bit better, even though the PS3 does a pretty admirable job to begin with.

Again, if I only had to update my most fave DVD's to BD, that would be a big bonus.

thanks,
James

Depends, as it's all up to the consumer. 5-$600 is nothing to sneeze at, and even a significant repair would likely not exceed that amount of savings. Mind you, that's IF you ever need it repaired.

For me, I probably WOULDN'T do it for $500, but if it starts to become available for even less (which it almost undoubtedly will) the decision becomes much, much, tougher.

The fact that Sony changers seem to have a extremely clean service record doesn't hurt your chances of picking up a discounted player and recieving years of problem-free playback either.

What to do, what to do? Seeing I'm almost certainly going to be purchasing the CX, it's a non-issue for me.

James

I love harrygordon's post! Very interesting as this is precisely what I have done with my own application that I wrote to control a cx777es: parse the dvdprofiler info to build the collection, display cover art (front and back), show ratings, descriptions, etc, AND control the player. Basically, it allows you to browse your library and command the changer to play the disc when you find one you like. You can also view the collection in a table and sort the titles by various criteria for easier navigation... Oh, and it supports multiple changers too. So if a disc is numbered 403, it will go to slot 3 on the second changer... I've also made it able to work with other DVD library apps like DVDpedia for OSX... Since it's written in Java it'll pretty much run on anything (no mobile version yet though, hmm).

If anyone wants to see screenshots, I can post some. I'm pretty excited that the protocol hasn't changed much. I would LOVE if you would post the protocol somewhere "by accident"... :-)

I bought it from that dealer in Ebay at a good price and free shipping. I ordered on Sunday and got it on Wednesday.

I already installed all the Blu-rays and DVDs and here is some feedback:

Pros
-DVDs indeed look sharper here. If you have a lot of DVD, I believe is worthy.
-The GUI navigation is very fast
-It is built like a tank, looks sturdier

Cons
-The changer depth is almost as twice of my receiver. I was prepared for the height, but not depth. Heads up!
-About the GUI: I wished the pictures of the movies were bigger. Just like Netflix in Xbox360
-Gracenote is not 100% accurate. Out of around 30 Blu-rays I have installed so far. It does not add the pic for Madagascar and Pirates of the Caribbean 2. And for pirates of the Caribbean 3 it gave me a like a Danish tittle of the Movie. ???. For DVDs there were multiple dvds that were not recognized.
-CANNOT add pictures to the GUI for the movies that Gracenote was not able to recognize. This sucks!. However, you can edit the name of the movie.
-The load is up to 30 seconds when you select a disc on the other end of the tray

Overall, I consider is a good purchase. I have a 3 year daughter. No more Disc Cases all around the entertainment center! Definitely makes your life easier.

When is the CX coming out?

^ Fairly certain within 2 months now.

James

And, of course, I had never heard of the movie called "Il Padrino" until I put it in the changer. In English, this means "The Godfather."

Thanks,

Nick

I went the eBay route as well. Purchased on Sunday and the unit was here Wednesday.

A couple quick observations.

As far as a player/changer goes I have no issues or complaints - in fact I'm very happy. Load times are acceptable and it took about 3 minutes to set-up. I'm not the best at this stuff, but I had everything working (including TrueHD, etc.) in a matter of minutes.

The interface is better than prior Sony changers by a mile. That being said, it still really could be a lot better. Discs took about 30-35 seconds to load cover art, etc. I would say 85-90% were supported (of 380+ blu's). As others have mentioned I had some listed in foreign languages which you can edit. Typing with the remote is time consuming, but it can be done. As far as I can tell each disc is allowed 1 genre, 1 actor, etc. - which you can then sort by. I haven't seen any way to add cover art if Gracenote does not supply. The cover art is also quite small, and I can only see 6 covers at a time. Not a big deal, but there is plenty of screen available to make the cover art larger and add more covers per screen. Limiting the covers to 6 per screen does not make much sense for a 400 disc changer. Gracenote also files "The Haunted Mansion", etc. under "T". I had to manually delete "The" and now the movie is in the "H" section. Again, not a big deal, but I had to do this 30 or so times.

Overall I'm very happy with the purchase. I had a 777 with an Escient Fireball at one point (before blu-ray). Gracenote is nice, but it is not Escient. I just can't justify the Escient price ($4K?). Gracenote will have to do until Escient comes up with a $2K solution...

Nick,
Did you get my PM last week???

Gracenote is nice, but it is not Escient. I just can't justify the Escient price ($4K?). Gracenote will have to do until Escient comes up with a $2K solution...[/quote]

they do, escient vision vc-1

they do, escient vision vc-1[/quote]

That seems to be a zone player with no RS-232, so how would you control the 7000es?

Could you please post pictures of the cover art from Gracenote you get on the 7000es? Secondly, does the 7000es store the information in the unit so if it is not hooked up to the web it isn't lost. Thanks Greg

I'm an AMX programmer, not Crestron, but I still feel like I can chime in Changing the protocol for a single disc player using IR would be much easier then implementing a module with feedback. There's no way they would require the same amount of work. I think the difference in the prices is warranted.

In reference to the Pronto, does this unit have discrete power codes or is a toggle? Thanks in advance.

If he's going from IR to RS-232 then yes, more time is required. It is my impression that he would be sticking with IR???
He was/is planning to go the universal remote route.

Got my unit yesterday and tried it briefly (loaded about 20 titles).

A couple disappointments:

- UI is exactly the same as a PS3. This means you vertically scroll through the items but the cover art is SMALL. I pretty much have to rely on the title text. Sony took an obvious shortcut here, but considering they could have made the art MUCH bigger (each cover takes about 1/20th of the screen), it's very disappointing. Much of the fun of picking a movie is the cover art imo.

- Loading is very tricky. Most of the time I end up skipping a slot and I find it hard to insert discs without getting fingerprints on them. I also seem to only be able to load about 7 or 8 at a time (but this could be me not cluing into something).


Picture quality seems good - on par with the Oppo I recently got. Loading times aren't too bad.

Got mine yesterday. It has an excellent picture, even upconverted DVDs. It read several DVDs, with no problem, that failed to work in the DVPCX777ES. Load times seem about the same, not including the additional Java load time. The Java load time seems about the same as my Pioneer BDP-95FP.

I agree that the cover art is too small to be useful, but the GUI is much better than the DVPCX777UM, which was woefully inadequate.

It appears to remember the disc info even if the power is lost. I experimented by unplugging it after loading several discs, everything was still there when I plugged it back in. Can't speak to an extended power outage, but for 10 minutes it did remember.

For those looking to interface with the Escient Vision, it is a definate NO at this time. I have a VS-100 and tried to get it to work. The Vision does not even know the BDP-CX7000ES is connected. You will have to wait for Escient to issue a firmware update, which is currently promised for 4th qtr.

Overall I feel this is a significant upgrade to the previous changers.

AFAIK all Sony gear has discrete Power on and Power off codes even if the remote does not. In fact they use the same function code numbers for all devices (46 and 47)

My Player just arrived. I will be checking out the RS232 protocol this weekend and then post the test program on my web site (code only no source). next week I will integrate it into my Theater and then look into a Pronto PRO based version to control it.