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Official Sony BD Mega-Changer Thread: BDP-CX7000ES & BDP-CX960 - Page 7

post #181 of 3244
9/7/09 at 10:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by uw69 View Post

I got this response from Sony:

Hopefully my contact will get a more acurate answer from an engineer at Sony than the CSR who replied to your question... Of course I'm more interested in knowing if any info can be pulled from disc not in the internal player, but the daisy chaining did make my list of questions...
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post #182 of 3244
9/7/09 at 12:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by uw69 View Post

Sounds encouraging....I got this response from Sony:

Thank you for contacting Sony Support. I understand that you wish to connect the multiple Sony Blu-ray/DVD Players together. Unfortunately, you cannot connect the multiple units as daisy chained. Thank you for understanding. The Sony Email Response TeamCHS4Frank


I was specifically asking about the MegaChanger.

What a bunch of bull. First, that you cannot connect units together that cost $1,800, second, the weak ass response from Sony. Even though I'm happy with my 995 and 455, it's this kind of stuff that make me not want to buy Sony ever again. They never go the extra mile if they don't have to. I wish there was another company that would come out with a blu-ray changer, but I don't see it happening.
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post #183 of 3244
9/7/09 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joedok View Post

What a bunch of bull. First, that you cannot connect units together that cost $1,800, second, the weak ass response from Sony. Even though I'm happy with my 995 and 455, it's this kind of stuff that make me not want to buy Sony ever again. They never go the extra mile if they don't have to. I wish there was another company that would come out with a blu-ray changer, but I don't see it happening.

Pioneer used to be into changers, but I suspect their financial situation would preclude a move into the changer market.
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post #184 of 3244
9/7/09 at 1:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by uw69 View Post

Pioneer used to be into changers, but I suspect their financial situation would preclude a move into the changer market.

If changers prove to be much of a force with the custom install industry, other manufacturers can't feel comfortable leaving the market wide open to Sony. But that's what they did with DVD (after Pioneer and Kenwood tried), so who knows?

D&M Holdings owns Denon, Marantz and Escient. If anyone would have a leg up, I'd think it would be them.

Marantz once put out a rebadged Pioneer DVD changer, and Denon made a "high-end" CD changer about a thousand years ago. No real heritage from either, except of course from Escient.

Thanks,

Nick
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post #185 of 3244
9/7/09 at 3:10pm
Well, I for one, am just holding out for the $800 unit. And if a method materializes to integrate mulitple non-ES changers in the next year or so, great, I'll buy a couple more at half the price (very likely btw, in the next 18 months).

If not, I'll sell my non-ES for XXX dollars and perhaps pick up a up a couple of sure-to-be greatly discounted ES's 12-18 months from now.

Either way, a win-win for me.

James
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post #186 of 3244
9/7/09 at 3:13pm
I don't if I can hold out that long! I'm going to need more shelf space at the rate I'm buying movies!

I got the tape measure out today, and in the media room, that is never a good thing.
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post #187 of 3244
9/7/09 at 3:33pm
Hello,
That is awesome that the CX7000ES is able to pull up the vast majority of titles without having to manually enter them in with a keyboard.

After spending more hours than I want to admit entering in disc information in my CX995V only to have it break, at least if it stops working you will not have lost all that time titling discs.

After my experience, I am 50/50 on whether or not to purchase another Sony megachanger. While it was unbelievably convenient to have that many discs on demand, the time it takes to load, the seemingly unavoidable scratches from loading, and questionable reliability of past changers, give me pause.

Hopefully, the mechanism is redesigned and thank goodness most disc information shows up without user involvement.
Cheers,
AD
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post #188 of 3244
9/7/09 at 3:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fonceur View Post

If you look at the protocol's limited documentation, when addressing the unit over the serial port the PDC (Product code) supports BD1, BD2 and BD3 (80/81/82), so you should be able to send commands to up to 3 changers daisy chained... Now how would you actually daisy chain them, that I have no idea... Either that or they are planning a version with 3 internal players...

I would think to "daisy chain" them each player would have two RS232 ports in a host/slave configuration. Otherwise, a serial hub of some sort could be used.
All that would be needed after that would be firmware to shut down the un-used HDMI port of the changers not in use and a auto sensing HDMI switcher.
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post #189 of 3244
9/7/09 at 4:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stefuel View Post

I would think to "daisy chain" them each player would have two RS232 ports in a host/slave configuration. Otherwise, a serial hub of some sort could be used.
All that would be needed after that would be firmware to shut down the un-used HDMI port of the changers not in use and a auto sensing HDMI switcher.

I too was also puzzled as to how to daisy-chain multiple units. The owners manual I reviewed had no mention of the subject. I also concluded that multiple RS-232 ports would be seem logical or perhaps control via the network port. I would like to purchase 2 units but I don't have the budget for additional third party control. Has anyone seen any documentation supporting multiple players without third party control?
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post #190 of 3244
9/7/09 at 5:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by netroamer View Post

I too was also puzzled as to how to daisy-chain multiple units. The owners manual I reviewed had no mention of the subject. I also concluded that multiple RS-232 ports would be seem logical or perhaps control via the network port. I would like to purchase 2 units but I don't have the budget for additional third party control. Has anyone seen any documentation supporting multiple players without third party control?

I would take some hope in Escient's comments, quoted earlier in this thread, that they may yet introduce Fireball support for the BD changers. Their earlier party-line was that, since only Vision had HDMI switching, it was the only unit that could be so upgraded. It's not for me to say, but I have to believe that this is something that Escient could find a workaround for overnight. Even if it meant adding a 4-in 1-out HDMI switcher, I have to believe that it can easily be done.

I'd also count on prices across the board dropping. It will happen.

Nick
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post #191 of 3244
9/8/09 at 6:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Audiodork View Post

After my experience, I am 50/50 on whether or not to purchase another Sony megachanger. While it was unbelievably convenient to have that many discs on demand, the time it takes to load, the seemingly unavoidable scratches from loading, and questionable reliability of past changers, give me pause.
AD

Do the new MegaChangers damage disks?
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post #192 of 3244
9/8/09 at 6:40am
Hello,
I am wondering that myself. Has the way which discs are stored changed? On the 995V, the discs stand upright placed between plastic guides.
AD
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post #193 of 3244
9/8/09 at 6:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Audiodork View Post

Hello,
I am wondering that myself. Has the way which discs are stored changed? On the 995V, the discs stand upright placed between plastic guides.
AD

it is essentially the same loading system in the new changer
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post #194 of 3244
9/8/09 at 8:11am
i have 1200 CD's and 300 DVD's loaded in changers and never had a damaged disc that did not work.
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post #195 of 3244
9/8/09 at 8:17am
I have been using the mega changers too and have not seen any disc damage from my own experience: have read reports as in this thread though

Not trying to defend the changer design, but at least this approach avoids the possibility of damage due to [ humans ] handling individual discs, loading them and removing them from a single drawer player: not sure which is worse for the disc
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post #196 of 3244
9/8/09 at 9:21am
Any hints on where a Megachanger can be purchased for less than those on E-bay?
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post #197 of 3244
9/8/09 at 10:28am
I have had a Sony DVD changer for over a year now and can not figure out how it would cause damage to a disk? You just lay it in the slot, the same as you would a regular dvd carousel but vertical instead of horizontal. The slots are wide so the disks are not in there tight.
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post #198 of 3244
9/8/09 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noah Winter View Post

I have had a Sony DVD changer for over a year now and can not figure out how it would cause damage to a disk? You just lay it in the slot, the same as you would a regular dvd carousel but vertical instead of horizontal. The slots are wide so the disks are not in there tight.

I'm certain that if any damage were to occur, it would likely happen when the disc is switched into/out of position for playback.

And while I wouldn't anticipate the player to damage discs, it's not completely unreasonable to think that it could happen if the player was not functioning 10/10.

Surely moving parts move the disc and that inherently opens the possibility for error.

All that aside, for every one complaint I've heard about the players damaging discs, I've heard at least 10 more who report damage-free playback. And since those with problems with any product speak much louder and more often than those who don't, it's probabaly safe to assume that even more enjoy damage-free playback than my aforementioned estimate.

My $.02

James
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post #199 of 3244
9/8/09 at 12:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noah Winter View Post

I have had a Sony DVD changer for over a year now and can not figure out how it would cause damage to a disk? You just lay it in the slot, the same as you would a regular dvd carousel but vertical instead of horizontal. The slots are wide so the disks are not in there tight.

I have had the Sony BDP-CX7000ES for about month. I use it almost every day and its operation has been flawless.
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post #200 of 3244
9/8/09 at 2:06pm
I just received a CX7000ES on September 4 and I set it up that same night. It was a snap to hook up and I am very pleased with the unit.

The picture and sound quality are excellent. The GUI interface is ok but could be much better. The cover art is too small and extremely hard to see. Gracenote picked up most of my DVD collection (325 DVDs) with the exception of 4 or 5 DVDs so that is not bad. However, Gracenote did not return the art work for quite a few DVDs. Any thoughts as to why this is?

I have a Harmony 1000 remote but could not find the BDP-CX7000ES in the device database so I had to use BDP-S2000ES device instead. Anyone know when Harmony will have the CX7000ES device stored in their database?

Overall, this unit is the answer to my DVD/Blu-ray storage and access needs. I would definitely recommend it.
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post #201 of 3244
9/8/09 at 3:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdkavs View Post

I just received a CX7000ES on September 4 and I set it up that same night. It was a snap to hook up and I am very pleased with the unit.

The picture and sound quality are excellent. The GUI interface is ok but could be much better. The cover art is too small and extremely hard to see. Gracenote picked up most of my DVD collection (325 DVDs) with the exception of 4 or 5 DVDs so that is not bad. However, Gracenote did not return the art work for quite a few DVDs. Any thoughts as to why this is?

I have a Harmony 1000 remote but could not find the BDP-CX7000ES in the device database so I had to use BDP-S2000ES device instead. Anyone know when Harmony will have the CX7000ES device stored in their database?

Overall, this unit is the answer to my DVD/Blu-ray storage and access needs. I would definitely recommend it.

I had the same issue with the cover art, only about half were found even though it found the titles for most of my discs.
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post #202 of 3244
9/8/09 at 5:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Satullo View Post

I'd also count on prices across the board dropping. It will happen. Nick

Escient or Sony Pricing?
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post #203 of 3244
9/8/09 at 6:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by netroamer View Post

Escient or Sony Pricing?

Both. History will, yet again, repeat itself. The changer prices will probably take a hit when the non-ES version gets released, and I'm betting that, by Christmas, you're going to see both reduced by another 15 to 20% from current levels.

No, I'm not claiming I know, but the price of the DVP-CX777ES went way down until they were discontinued, and then started to go back up.

Nick
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post #204 of 3244
9/9/09 at 3:58am
Didn't see it mentioned, but amazon has the preorder up on the 960, but no date listed yet.
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post #205 of 3244
9/9/09 at 5:32am
About half my DVDs and BDs are concerts and with my current Escient SE-D1/CX777ES combo I have to input many of them manually. I know it is early days yet, but has anyone any experience with concert discs in terms of Gracenote finding the information. I am not so bothered about the cover art, but I really would not want to input all the titles manually.

The Vision VS100 is also not an option for me since it does not have 5.1 or 7.1analog pass through, though I guess I could pass the analog audio directly to my Anthem D1 and the HDMI video through the VS100 to my DVDO VP30. The extra money for the VS100 is still a problem though.
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post #206 of 3244
9/9/09 at 5:33am
Perhaps an odd question, but has anyone noticed elevated black levels with the 7000es? I have a calibrated RS-20 - when watching quality 1080 DirectTV content, the black levels are excellent - I was watching Watchmen Blu Ray the other night, and noticed the black levels were higher with poorer shadow detail, forcing me to open the iris up on my JVC to see more detail. I noticed similar in darker scenes of Ocean's 11 Blu Ray.

The BDP is set to 4:2:2 color mode, 1080p - connected, as is the Direct TV, through my Denon A1 processor, pass-through video settings.

I don't have test equipment to see if the BDP is doing anything funky or it happens to be the mastering on these discs...I'll look at a few more to see if its a more consistent issue....
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post #207 of 3244
9/9/09 at 6:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrang View Post

Perhaps an odd question, but has anyone noticed elevated black levels with the 7000es? I have a calibrated RS-20 - when watching quality 1080 DirectTV content, the black levels are excellent - I was watching Watchmen Blu Ray the other night, and noticed the black levels were higher with poorer shadow detail, forcing me to open the iris up on my JVC to see more detail. I noticed similar in darker scenes of Ocean's 11 Blu Ray.

The BDP is set to 4:2:2 color mode, 1080p - connected, as is the Direct TV, through my Denon A1 processor, pass-through video settings.

I don't have test equipment to see if the BDP is doing anything funky or it happens to be the mastering on these discs...I'll look at a few more to see if its a more consistent issue....


How does the source look on your other blu-ray player?
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post #208 of 3244
9/9/09 at 6:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stepmback View Post

How does the source look on your other blu-ray player?

Unfortunately, the 5000es has been boxed up awaiting sale since I received the 7000es...

I need to look at some more discs to see what's happening, but was curious if any others noticed this..
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post #209 of 3244
9/9/09 at 7:02am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by thrang View Post

Unfortunately, the 5000es has been boxed up awaiting sale since I received the 7000es...

I need to look at some more discs to see what's happening, but was curious if any others noticed this..

It doesn't necessarily have to be the 5000ES, but you do have to A/B it to another BD player to determine if there is anything different about the image from the 7000ES.

Nick
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post #210 of 3244
9/9/09 at 7:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Satullo View Post

It doesn't necessarily have to be the 5000ES, but you do have to A/B it to another BD player to determine if there is anything different about the image from the 7000ES.

Nick

I have a PS3 elsewhere in the house - I'll relocate it this weekend and see....
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