Sony DVP-SR200P DVD Player

Ask anybody...for the money...What's the best DVD player?....What's the best CD player?  Good chance that "Sony" will be the reply.  In the case of the product for review here...the Sony DVP-SR200P...it easily answers both questions!  Okay but what about the price???  Ahh...my friend...there's the rub!   The Sony is a no frills beautifully simplistic black first-rate slim aesthetically pleasing performer that belies its meager asking price!  I purchased mine a year ago at Best Buy for a mere forty-five bucks and no doubt it will be available for even less than that.


I'm not going to get into specs so much in this review but suffice it to say that it will play your homegrown burned cd's and dvd's with amazing clarity!  It is also MP3 & JPEG compatible meaning you can listen to music or watch pictures burned to cd if so desired.  Again...Clarity will be great!


The Sony setup menu is easy as soon as you've connected the multi-media player to your tv using either component RGB patchchords or composite "Yellow" "White"
"Red" A/V ones.  There is a Digital Coax terminal also but take care not to confuse it with one of the component RGB ones.  I was guilty of this on the first try and wondered why my JVC Digital Hybrid tuner/amp wouldn't pick it up.  The unit will sound best of course when this coax terminal is used in conjunction with your home theater receiver.  If you're like me and love just good honest-to-goodness home stereo sound...then use KnuKonceptZ Kharma audiophile cable for won derful three-dimensional audio quality.


The Remote Control is wonderfully simplistic and works with my Samsung 20" old standby in my stereo room.  I feel that it can learn most tv brands once the unit is taught which is a fairly painless process.  The only complaint people seem to have about the remote is that it lacks the control to open/close the disc tray.  Hey...it's neatly placed on top the piano black finished panel next to the "PLay" and "Stop" buttons while a power on/off button sports the left side.  These buttons are rather large rendering yet another great feel.   Personally...I'm not that "Remote Control" lazy and don't care!  But to each his/her own.


Specs:

 Form FactorTabletop 
Width12.6 in Depth8.2 in Height1.3 in Weight2.6 lbs 
Enclosure ColorBlackDVD 
Media Type DVD+R,
CD-R,
DVD+R DL,
DVD,
CD,
Video CD,
DVD+RW,
DVD-R DL,
DVD-R,
SVCD,
CD-RW,
DVD-RWVideo D/A Converter12bit / 108MHz
Audio D/A Converter16bit / 192kHz
Built-in Audio DecodersDolby Digital
Media Load TypeTray
Supported Digital Audio StandardsMP3DVD Feature


REMOTE CONTROL LAYOUT:


The Sony RMT-D187A R universal remote control is included with this particular player.  It is small but not tiny.  It is simply functional and all buttons have a decent feel to them even for my oversized paws. There are two black buttons top left marked "Picture Navi" and "TV INPUT".  To their right are two green buttons..."TV I/O" and the larger "I/O" for the player itself.  Below these are the "Vol" + - rocker, "Audio" "Time/Text""Subtitle" and "Menu" buttons.  To their left are fairly large "Number" buttons. 


To the left are buttons marked "Clear" and "Top Menu".  Mid center the remote are the "Directional" buttons with the "Enter" mid button.  To the left of that is "Return" and to the right is "Display".  Below left to right are "Prev" "Replay" "Advance" and "Next".  Below them we have "Reverse" "Play" "Forward" buttons with the very bottom row as follows..."Fast/Slow/Play" "Pause" and "Stop".

The backside of the remote is cylindrical in shape housing two AA batteries in the typical compartment with pull tab.


Performance:

The load tray is extremely quiet and smooth along with the basic operation of the player.  You load the disc and hit the play button with an accompanying slight beep then everything happens afterwards with such a refreshingly transparent quiet quality.



Much has been stated by yours truly and others about the gorgeous picture quality "Progressive Scan" brings to the table.  In this reviewer's opinion it is the best thing since sliced bread for video and camcorders within the past two decades!  I cannot comment too much on the advantages of "Blu-Ray" as I've experienced little with this format.  What I have seen is truly impressive but not clearly superior to "Progressive Scan".  This is not a Blu-Ray model yet its picture quality is superb!  It is so good that I decided to test it on the main living room's 32" Olevia flat scvreen and again...what a wonderfully rich detailed pleasant surprise...especially with dedicated "RGB" compoonent chords in the mix!


But hang on...I did not purchase this unit for its video purposes.  Nope...I was tipped off by others as to its ravishing sound quality and therefore decided to use it as my reference music CD player!


Surprised?  Don't be.  It has a warm wonderful highend three-dimensional detailed sound that absolutely belies its price point!  Now for the one negative...if your cd is scratched badfly...the Sony will balk mute and pause 'til you "FF" it on the remote.  I'd rather it have this "error of omission" than play the darn thing harshly.  By contrast it handles fingerprints and smudges almost flawlessly.  It even played some of my homegrown discs from years ago that had those doggone colored labels that you could print on your pc back in the day that we found out later were not ideal and could send your player into a frenzy.  Thus...the birth of "Lightscribe" which is a whole other subject you don't wanna get me started on. 


At any rate...some dedicated CD players can't even begin to cope with these sticky-labeled flubs.  So Bravo Sony for even getting them to play...without the scratchy quality of others,...too.  I have a nice cd entitled "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Vince Guaraldi Trio.  This particular disc is very near and dear to me as it is the actual soundtrack to the original Charles M. Schulz classic tv special that sparked my interest in Jazz.  The un-edited soundtrack is actually twice the length of the show!  It sounds glorious!  Still...you can actually hear Vince hit the wrong piano key on "Linus And Lucy".  As Berry Gordy once said to Michael Jackson..."I love mistakes!"  Sometimes perfection occurs where it doesn't exist.


Not even the great RCA, Rotel, Teac, Yamaha and JVC players I raved about over the years could articulate these sounds like the DVR-SR200P.  In fact...truth be told...most others make your CD's sound harsh and too bright by comparison.

The frequency response is astonishingly flat and the full audio spectrum of sounds are heard with great S/N ratio and dynamic range.  "Normalized" homegrown cd's don't distort like on some other players yet the overall output of this player is higher than others.  The higher output isn't necessarily a good thing but some people may find it desireable when hooking the player up to a less sensitive amplifier.  No clipping so Sony must have paid close attention to detail when designing this stage.  The unit immediately replays your disc as if it never finished.  It's really kinda cool...I think! 


With a new year and a newer technology available this festive season...Sony's Blu-Ray model will more than likely be selling at an all-time low price of $59 - $70.  Still one might find my poor man's reference player rendering a $29 - $35 blowout price.  At that price...the Sony 200P is unquestionably the poor man's champ!  Merry Christmas to all!...PJSII


IMPORTANT UPDATE: 4/28/2012:

I restored my original rating of the product as I found that these lightweight players need to have their piockup lenses cleaned every so often.  I had never performed the task with this Sony until recently when placing a good Maxell Cleaning Disc in the player.  Everything was restored to original spec.  My bad.  Live & learn...but at least I now understand that these lightweights need a bit more pampering perhaps than the older types.  My sincerest aplogies for any confusion.  The Sony is a very good player!...PJSII