good, but there are better ones out there.. (Sony DVP NS305/S)

Member Name: adriang

Product:	Sony DVP NS305/S
Date:	03/01/03 (2183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: price, picture, easy to use

Disadvantages: no easy region hack, strong competition

It was on my shortlist, but was not top.

From reading some magazines, and reading some online reviews, then 305 is a very adequate DVD player in regards to functionality. There is no point in going into the tekky stuff as there are other reviews that has that info.

As with most of the mainstream Japanese manufacturers, it is not possible to make it DVD region free, without a hardware modification.

Hardware modifiation is where the thing needs to be physically opened, and something done inside, usually a special chip added. Some of the Korean, Chinese or European manufacturers make their DVD players updateable through some menu in the players controls, or by inserting a special disc that carries out a firmware update.

The reason to have region free is because DVD have special region codes so that only discs bought in Europe can be played on a European machine.

The manufacturers do this is because movies are released at different times though out the world. It could be possible that something is still being shown at the movies in Europe, but you can buy it on DVD in the US.

With web shopping, it is possible to buy DVDs from overseas sources, usually the US, that are not yer release locally, have extra features on them, or are simply cheaper. (as a FYI, I buy a lot of DVDs onlne at www.dvdsoon.com . They even have free postage to Europe).

Getting a region free DVD player was the top of my requirements. So I needed to find one. I live in the Netherlands, so I could source one from the UK. www.richersounds.com for example, but I needed something sooner rather than later, so did not want to wait for the post.

My first choice was a Toshiba 220, which is still one of the best DVD players available, and is highly rated by the various Audio Visual Magazines. Second was a LG model, which was also hightly rated, and had an easy region free update available. The Sony was my third choice.


The Sony was the only one from my top 3 available for me in Amsterdam with a region free option. There is an electrical super store here that sells them with a region free modification, and the warranty is still intact.

I have to say that it has exceeded my expecations. The quality of the pictures, and the sound is very good. DVDs are digitally encoded, so they need to be converted to the picture and sounds. I am told that reds and blacks are the most difficult. Some movies used to give my previous DVD player (a playstation 2) some problems, with the movie stopping for a split second before restarting. I have even seen this on DVD players at friends houses (The Pacific from Asda Supermarkets, Marantz and Cyberhome). It has only happened once, and that was watching Blade II, which is very dark and has a mega sound track, so is going to stress the decoding.

It was really easy to install and use, and the simple remote control also works the basic features on my TV ( it is a Sony, so I would have expect it to!).

It also plays music CDs, but the quality of sound is terrible. This I knew about before I bought it, and it is not an issue for me. I have never tried any MP3s with it, so cannot comment.

It is a very good DVD player, and it is still on sale, for about 180 Euros region free. Richersounds carry it for a touch more. But there are better players out there right now. The Pioneer 350 model has been rated very highly and the Toshiba is still available.

Summary: