Sony DVPCX995V 400-Disc DVD Mega Changer/Player

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description Conveniently store your entire DVD library (or all your favorite CDs and Super Audio CDs) in the Sony DVPCX995V 400-disc, progressive scan Mega Changer--the perfect tool for organizing your media library as well as providing extraodinary high definition sound and video to your home theater. It up-scales video to high-definition (1080i/720p) resolution and transmits high quality audio through a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI). It also features a redesigned Disc Explorer on-screen graphic interface, providing intuitive and easy access to the expansive disc library. With the ability to conveniently house and sort through 400 media discs, this cool player can eliminate the need for racks and racks of CD and DVD storage.

It features Sony's Precision Cinema Progressive circuitry, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 channel outputs, and also offers coaxial and optical digital outputs. It's compatible with DVD-RW/-R/+RW/+R, MP3, JPEG, CD-RW/-R, VCD and SVCD formats--so it can play just about any disc you have from movies and video to music. Other convenience features include multi-disc resume (40 discs), custom parental controls (on all 400 discs), playback memory (400 discs), background graphics that display on your TV while music plays, and a multi-brand remote control.

Tech Talk
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface).
This is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link any audio/video source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or AV receiver) with your TV or monitor.
Sony's Precision Cinema Progressive. This feature detects image changes at the pixel level versus other types that detect image changes at the scan line level. Separate algorithms are used to process the moving and still parts of an image to achieve sharper backgrounds and moving objects that are free from motion artifacts.
SACD (Super Audio CD). Super Audio CD is a high-quality audio disc standard in which music is recorded in the DSD (Direct Stream Digital) format (where conventional CDs are recorded in the PCM format). Using a sampling frequency 64 times higher than PCM and with 1-bit quantization, the DSD format provides both a wide frequency range and a wide dynamic range across the audible frequency range, providing music reproduction that's extremely faithful to the original source.

Sony's 3:2 Reverse Pulldown
DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 reverse pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture. Composite- and S-video outputs bring compatibility with nearly any television.
Film and video use different numbers of frames Conversion from 24 frames to 60 frames can cause motion blur, horizontal lines that flicker on and off, or an unnatural shimmer.
3-2 pulldown The traditional method for converting film images to video for television: Take one film frame and split it into three video frames. Then take another film frame and split it into two video frames. The video frames are classified as odd or even. DVD players and other electronics then take the 60-frames-per-second video, and send it to a TV for viewing.
3-2 reverse conversion The process of converting 3-2 video back to movie-quality images at 24 frames per second. This allows the DVD player to combine the correct film frames, reproducing the film's original picture quality and texture.

Sony's Precision Cinema Progressive technology
Precision Cinema Progressive technology uses a 12-bit video DAC (digital-to-analog converter) with high-bandwidth, 108 MHz processing to detect image changes at the pixel level, rather than at the level of whole scan lines. That makes this player's picture more faithful to the source--whether film or video--because it uses separate, optimized algorithms to handle different pixel behaviors. Separate algorithms are also used to process the moving and still parts of an image, resulting in sharp backgrounds with moving objects that are free from motion artifacts.

What's in the Box
DVPCX995V DVD player, remote control, batteries, AV cord, printed instructions

Product Details

• 400-disc mega DVD and SACD changer; measures 17 x 7.8 x 21.1 inches (WxHxD)
• Up-converts video to high-definition (1080i/720p) resolution
• Compatible with SACD, DVD-RW/-R/+RW/+R, MP3, JPEG, CD-RW/-R, VCD and SVCD formats
• Outputs: 1 HDMI, 1 component, 2 S-Video, 2 composite, 1 coaxial audio, 1 optical audio, 1 multi-channel
• Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1-channel output

Customer Reviews

Keep It Simple

Review Date: April 4, 2006

Reviewer: Old Jon, Los Angeles

I've had my CX995V for a month and give it 5 stars for what it's best used for: conveniently storing and beautifully playing up to 400 DVDs. Forget CDs. The Sony CD carousels are much better for music CDs. They negate much of the criticism leveled at the CX995V. At $300 on Amazon, the CX995V is worth every penny for just your DVDs. And forget displaying disc information, the Disk Explorer, folders, searching, sorting, etc., etc. It is essential that you create a simple spreadsheet on your computer as you load your DVDs. Disc number and title are really all that is needed. Don't bother with entering disc information on the CX995V, with or without a keyboard, and the real danger of losing everything with a power dropout or Sony hiccup. Using your spreadsheet and the DISC/AMS knob, you can dial up your DVD after powering up. Press in the DISC/AMS knob and your DVD (eventually) begins to play. Is that too much trouble to play a 2-hour movie? I don't think so. When you're finished viewing, just turn the power off. Your movie will resume where you left off when you turn power on again. Yes, it will start over automatically if you've gone to the end, but just push stop and use the DISC/AMS knob to dial up your next selection. The only thing the remote is good for is to navigate around menus, pause, fast forward or reverse, etc while you're watching a movie. Forget the myriad of other complicated, needless functions. How difficult does it need to be to store, select,and play DVDs? Just don't forget to make the spreadsheet! I'm sure we're going to watch a lot more of our DVDs now that we don't have to go through stacks of boxes to find what we want, struggle with the "press here to not release", and try not to drop the DVD on the floor. Update October 18, 2007 We've had our CX995V for 18 months now, and i haven't changed my opinion. It's great.

WONDERFUL, But set up is a little time consuming

Review Date: December 27, 2005

Reviewer: Lawrence Kuszmaul, Seaside, OR United States

I purchased this unit to safely store my collection in a dust free, scratch free environment as we have small children who wreak havoc on DVD's. The sound and picture quality is incredible. I thought that it was a little extravigant to buy until I realized that I had already spent more than the cost of this unit on leatherette albums (25 DVD's to an album) as I have collected 300 plus DVD's over the years. When I fill this one up, I'll get another. My only concern is the Filing of the DVD information. I filled the unit with my 300+ collection and proceeded to hit the "LOAD" button. The unit spent a couple of hours loading and unloading each disc to "READ" the Disc info. (This can be done with the power in standby while you sleep). That amount of time is very reasonable considering I just piled over 300 DVD's into it all at one time. When all was done The unit only read the disc file information from about 1/4 to 1/3 of all the Discs. The process for manual labeling is very simple but time consuming. And I would HIGHLY !!!! recommend using a keyboard. Doing so saved alot of time. When I first loaded the discs I did not know exactly how many I had so I placed them into groups in about every 50 disc slots to "balance" the weight around the turntable. I had them in alpha order in their albums but messed that up when I loaded them around the turntable in my unecessary balancing act.Then when it was time to manualy enter the disc file info for the Discs that did not have the file info imbedded from the manufacturer, I had to manually view many of the discs to see what they were.(we're talking HOURS now) KEEP A LIST And write what number slot you put them in. It will save alot of time. Especially, if a long power outage erases the explorer info you just spent hours typing in. Once you have typed in the disc onfo into the explorer temporarily run the video output through the VCR and scroll through the folder menu as you record it. You cannot normally run the lines through the vcr as the anti copy softwre on the DVD will think you are trying to pirate it, but since you are only copying the folder menu screen it should work. When you power up the unit, The last disc viewed WILL auto start. This has shown to be very annoying to many but if you hit the "Folder" button the disc will stop and the Folder menu appears. The remote is a little hard to use. Having to slide the switch back and forth between the explorer and the DVD mode because some of the tiny buttons are multifunction is annoying. Having to start from Disc Explorer even if you know the number of the disc you want to view is just plain sad. Overall I am very satisfied with my purchase and as I wrote earlier,When this one fills up (which won't be long) I'll get another.I do like the option of showing the disc info in the explorer menu in alpha order by using the "sort" button but it took me a few tries to figure it out. P.S. Measure your space and make room!! It's bigger than it looks in the picture,and extra deep. the actual player part sticks out the back of the changer about 2 inches extra. I had to cut out the back of my shelf

Control changer through PC

Review Date: February 6, 2006

Reviewer: Rizzo, Washington

Here is the short of it. There are three things that are prevelant in almost every review. everyone is happy with the video, the user interfce is complex and finnally the auto resume feature is a pain. Sinch the video is not a complaint, i will address the cataloging feature. I have never entered in the disc information in my sony. What I did was load my disc in and, on my computer, I created a excell sheet ( a Previous reviewer also listed this method) My computer monitor is on my coffee table, so whenever I want to watch a movie from my changer, i would refer to my excell list, and enter in my number. The same would be said for printing out the sheet. This proved to be a very good catalouging system. until..... I found out an even better way to catalog. The review guidlines say not list urls, but if you where to do a yahoo search for panther studios, you will find a product called SAVR. It is really cool. Its catalogs, sorts, and displays your entire DVD collection and controls the changer from your computer. A single click plays the desired movie, so you dont need the remote. if you go to there website, there is more info on it. I dont work for them - it just love the product. I loce that i can browse through the movies based off a minture movie poster, instead of a big list. The auto play feature. When you finish a movie, you press the stop button. Press it again and you should not have a problem. Also, another piece of advice is if at all possible, keep your old dvd player connected. If you are purchase this changer, you probably have an existing single disc player. This makes life so much easier for playing rented or borrowed dvds. Trust me. It took me a half hour to find a rented movie that i had put in the changer, becuase it wasnt catalogued and i had viewed other movies before ejecting the rented one. i have sinch re implemneted my single disc player back into my system. Once the changer is set up and you either make a printout sheet, or the savr program instead, it is a great product.

Read the manual

Review Date: December 16, 2005

Reviewer: John P. Hayes, Buffalo, NY

I recently purchased the unit, despite the complaints in several reviews. After reading the manual and going to Sony's site for their FAq on the machine, it appears to me that several of the reviewers have not explored fully the options on this machine. To speak to a couple of the issues: DVD's start automatically despite the setting of the AUTOPLAY feature. This is built into many DVD's. You can easily overide the autoplay without having to wait for the DVD to get through the FBI warning, etc. Just press the folder button. Not very intuitive, but it works. The disc explorer is then brought up on screen. Another issue: DVD text info is not picked up on many DVD's. Again, a function of the disc itself, not the player. Issue #3: No page up or down function to page through the discs. Incorrect, there is a page up/page down function, but the switch on the remote must be set to the explorer setting for it to work. All-in-all, I am very happy with the unit. It does everything it advertises, produces a great picture, and best of all, puts all my discs in one place. Despite what some others say, I believe if you buy the unit and take the time to really understand how it works, you'll be very happy. Hope this helps bring some balance to your research on the unit.

Excellent!!

Review Date: March 9, 2006

Reviewer: Norman Fernandez, Chatsworth, CA, USA

I just got starting hooking up the Mega Changer so this is a preliminary review. ** Positives I literally had DVD's and CD's scattered everywhere. I have one of those huge DVD racks. It was full and I even had DVD's stacked on top of that, plus hidden in my book shelves on top of books. I would tend to grab a DVD to watch, and leave it out in the living room, go grab another, etc. Eventually I would have 5 or 6 stacking up in the living room until my fiance put them back into my rack. Sometimes I would even leave them outside of the case. Then I would misplace the case and have a bare DVD sitting around. You get the picture, I am lazy when it comes to instant gratification!! I read the reviews before getting this device. I basically wanted to create a state of the art home theater at my house. I purchased a BenQ projector, ceiling mounted it. I built a 9' wide by 6' high screen. I purchased a Yamaha 7.1 HTR5860 receiver with a full 7.1 speaker setup. After going to the store and looking at this device which was retailing for $399.99 plus California Sales tax, I purchased it from Amazon for $319.00 with free shipping. Before the device came, I ordered a digital optical cable for the connection to my Receiver, and I am using component connection through the reciever to the BenQ projector, with a seperate switching setup for RCA to a standard TV if for some reason the bulb blows out on the projector and I have to wait a few days for a new bulb. Anyway getting to the Mega Changer. After reading the reviews, I created an Excel Spreadsheet and put each and every DVD, home made DVD, and CD into the spread sheet. This took many hours, however the upside is that I now have a catalog of all of my media. Heck, I found stuff that I forgot I had!! The hookups to my media center were a snap. I am not running HDMI but the research I have done on the subject lead me to the conclusion that Component was just as good as HDMI. My projector takes 1080i and my receiver will upconvert S-Video and Composite to 1080i anyway so I do not need HDMI. The video out of this unit is awesome. The sound running through the optical link through my Yamaha is mind blowing. I purchased one of those DVD cleaning devices. I inspected each DVD and cleaned them when necessary before putting them into the changer. As I inserted each DVD into the changer, I wrote down the slot number. After doing 50 at a time, I would go back to the computer and update the spreadsheet with the slot number and then print out that revision of the spreadsheet and to the next 50. I am glad I did it this way because after a while I made a few mistakes on the slot numbers. I now have all of my DVD's catagorized in my excel spreadsheet and printed out and put into the changer. (I am purchasing another changer because I have already run out of room.) I literally have stacks of empty DVD cases piled up in my room right now. I am going to put them into boxes, and put them into the garage!! It is awesome to be able to have my entire collection put into one device. The benefit of being able to have your entire collection in one device, and not get lost, scratched, damaged, or broken, substantially outweighs having to wait a few extra seconds for the changer to load your DVD!! A couple of the other positives I have seen is that you can put a parental lock on each and every DVD if you want. Now my children are all grown up and not living with me, but there are certain DVD's that I might now want my fiance to see if you know what I mean!! This device will allow you to put a passcode into the DVD's you do not want others to see. Secondly, there is a lock for the front of the unit that cannot be disabled by powering the unit down. You must enter the right key sequence to unlock it so that it opens. This is another huge plus. ** Negatives I am going to buy a battery back-up system because there is no way I am going to want to re-program this thing once it's programmed!! They should have put a simple battery in the device to retain the config in ram just like in your computer. They should have put in a USB 2 port and provided a simple PC program to download and upload configs!! Kind of like the iPod! My first impression is that this unit has so many bells and whistles that it is going to take a while to figure them all out. If you are like me, you are going to want to know all of the in's and out's of the unit. I know I am not going to want my fiance messing with it! I am going to use my X10 system to create macros on an X10 learning remote so that she can easily load up whatever DVD she wants with a couple of pushes of a button. This will take some time to program. One of my big concerns is; what if someone breaks into my home and steals the thing? The cost of the device is nothing compared to the $8,000.00 worth of DVD's in it!! I am probably going to create backups of all of my DVD's that are in the system just in case. I am contemplating building a hidden and locked area to place these mega changers in just like you do in your car. I would then use an X10 IR repeater to bounce the remote signal to the hidden and locked area where the changer is located. It does not make sense to have something like this out in the open for burglars to rip off. It will be a top priority for me to get these devices hidden. Anyway, I am just getting to learn this device. I am sorry for the long post. I will supplement this review if anything of significance comes up!