Sony DVP-NS57P/B Progressive Scan DVD Player, Black

NOTE: This review is a copy&paste of my review for the 2005 SKU/model/version of this player ... Sony DVPNS50P. After that it became the "55" model before this year when it became the "57" model.

DECEMBER 2005: I have only had this item for about three weeks or so. I am hoping that it "holds up" over time, unlike a lot of other DVD players on the market that apparently fail so quickly they are practically disposable in nature.

The "pros" on this item (so far) are:

* sleek, slim, uncluttered look of the unit

* comes in either black or silver, so you can match it up to your other devices.

* easy set up. There's a electrical plug, trip-RCA jacks and an S-video jack. Hook-up is a snap. Hardware-wise, the device, then, is really uncluttered.

* seems to be a good deal for the price.

The "cons" (so far) are:

* as said elsewhere by other reviewers... it IS slow. Slow to boot a disc. Slow to...Read more

I've had this DVD player a few weeks now and have watched a couple dozen DVDs. None have given me any problems, including scratched DVDs and DVDs burnt on cheap media which would freeze and skip on my old econo DVD player.

The pros: The user interface is excellent. It seems solid, quick to respond, and well made. I love the speed up/slow down feature, very cool. It's sleek and compact looking, excellent remote control response range.

The cons: The remote will not program for too many TVs, there's only about a dozen codes and none of them work for my older TV. I'm sure it's fine if you're TV is from the last 5 years or so, or a very common older one though.

This model is one of very few DVD players I looked at that wasn't made in China, definitely a plus in my book (although many other Sonys are).

I can't yet speak for long-term use, but overall, I'm very impressed.

My old Sony DVD player, which was the same model started getting some problems after 7 years of performing an excellent duty. I decided to by the same model again and was amazed that the price dropped significantly. I paid less than half what I paid the last time. DVD players got cheaper, but not that much cheaper.

Compared to some other DVD players that are around the same price and which I know personally from own experience or from experiences by friends of mine, does the Sony provide a much better quality in picture and sound than those.

You can certainly buy a more "fancy" DVD player with a lot more gimmicks for a much higher price, but if what you do is just playing back your DVD movies, from the original disc or DVD-R/DVD+R backup (single and dual layer), this Sony will do just fine. It does not have the ability to play back MP3 Cd's, but I honestly never used such feature, even when I had it with a different DVD player.