[J80FAB]

Originally Posted by WGLOVER

It is a cheapy from Woolworths. I will try other leads to see if this is the problem. I think I tried it with this cable on my other son's LCD, but I'm not positive. This same son uses this brand with his PS3, and the picture is superb.

Thanks for your suggestion.

ps. I'm a believer that decent HDMI cables do make a difference, but a cheaper cable should not be this bad, unless somehow faulty.

If you say the picture is problematic on 720p & 1080i but seems OK on 576p then it could well be the cable playing up & not being able to cope with the latter 2 resolutions.

On a general note most short HDMI cables whether cheap or expensive should perform just as well unless there is a problem with the cable. Then again apparently some HDMI cables - including expensive branded ones - struggle with a 1080p signal.

[WGLOVER]

Swapped the lead with my other son's same brand, and, no sparklies.
Put the errant lead on his PS3, and all OK.
Decided to leave well enough alone and not reverse the operation.
Could it be the actual HDMI connections or the screening in the TV being dirty or tarnished, giving an initial poor connection?
Again, thanks for your advice, glad it wasn't the TV.

[the_sas_man]

is this model still considered the market leader in terms of performance at this price?

I was planning on getting one of these over a year ago, but it still seems to be going strong?! I thought there would be a better model out there by now at a similar price.

[J80FAB]

Was in Currys today having a butchers.

Probably depends on the store, but the one I was in still had a fair few boxed NS76Hs out on the shelves.

Can't remember the price but I think it may have been £79.

[mat060572]

I still get very impressed with the quality of this player.

Watched Charlottes Web with the kids on Sunday - as near to HD as possible IMO

[pzz5jp]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me. I've got one of these dvd players and have it connected to a Benq W100 projector. In the projector manual it says that the compoenent video sources supports 1080i. So I have it connected to the dvd player via componenet. I've got my sony to output ypb(cb)pr(cr) at 1080i but the signal displayed by the projector is only 480i. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Maybe the upscalling is only via the hdmi source? Any help much appriciated. Thanks.

[Avalan]

Originally Posted by pzz5jp

Maybe the upscalling is only via the hdmi source?

Indeed, this player only outputs upscaled content over HDMI. The component output is 576i or p only.

[Avalan]

Has anyone else noticed that when upscaling with this player, the subtitles start looking pretty awful ? They became very jaggy which is very noticible in characters with a rounded bottom part such as 's', 'o' and 'e' ?
BTW, did the HQV test now with my new Pana PV70 but the results are still rather poor for this DVD-player.
My PS3 on the other hand gives an amazing picture, especially with upscaling at 1080p. Too bad its fan is so noisy .

[fish99]

Originally Posted by Avalan

Has anyone else noticed that when upscaling with this player, the subtitles start looking pretty awful ? They became very jaggy which is very noticible in characters with a rounded bottom part such as 's', 'o' and 'e'

Yep, the subtitles look horrible.

Hope someone can help. Had this Sony for some time but only recently tried the HDMI connection to my Panasonic 26LXD60. Blue light came on but the picture was worse than via Scart lead and even via my son's PS2. Granted, I didn't pay alot for the HDMI cable ('Ovaco' 1 metre, on E Bay) but I expected a better picture than via scart. Tried with the HDMI setting to 'Auto' and also tried the other 1080i, 720P and 576p settings but no luck.

The HDMI cable spec is shown below:-

FEATURES
HDMI 1.3 specification and is compatible
with all HDMI devices Up to 10.2Gbps
Full 1080p HDTV with backward compatibly
24K Gold-plated connector
ensure maximum conductivity
High quality Multi shielded cable
Highest-grade oxygen-free copper
The ultimate audio & video cable
100% uncompressed digital transmission
Fully patented attractive pearl
alloy head shell design assembly

Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks.

[McKinley]

Can someone please confirm if this player will correctly output 4:3 material over HDMI with the resolution set to 480/576 and the TV setting set as widescreen? All the other players I've looked at will only do this when upscaling.

[J80FAB]

Originally Posted by daveywavey

Hope someone can help. Had this Sony for some time but only recently tried the HDMI connection to my Panasonic 26LXD60. Blue light came on but the picture was worse than via Scart lead and even via my son's PS2. Granted, I didn't pay alot for the HDMI cable ('Ovaco' 1 metre, on E Bay) but I expected a better picture than via scart. Tried with the HDMI setting to 'Auto' and also tried the other 1080i, 720P and 576p settings but no luck.

The HDMI cable spec is shown below:-

FEATURES
HDMI 1.3 specification and is compatible
with all HDMI devices Up to 10.2Gbps
Full 1080p HDTV with backward compatibly
24K Gold-plated connector
ensure maximum conductivity
High quality Multi shielded cable
Highest-grade oxygen-free copper
The ultimate audio & video cable
100% uncompressed digital transmission
Fully patented attractive pearl
alloy head shell design assembly

Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks.

Was just looking at the '100% uncompressed digital transmission' statement.

Sounds a bit odd as how would a HDMI cable 'compress' the transmission In effect all it's doing is sending a series of 1s & 0s down the the wires isn't it ?

Can you not get hold of another HDMI cable to try with the Sony if you have investigated all other possibilities. It could be the case that this cable has compatibility issues with the Sony if it seems to work fine with the PS2.

[tech2002]

Received my NS76 today (able to get a display model - last one in the store). I opted for this over an NS78, to use with my Panasonic LX700 LCD TV.

Just to add to all the great things said on this forum...

my unit plays Everything in my collection........ including a music DVD of the Carpenters I'd picked up in Marianas Islands - created with Japanese labelling no less! None of my 7 other DVD players would display so much as a first screen, with a few even locking up after multiple attempts to load the DVD.

This is one stellar player!

[tech2002]

Testing in both 576p Component and 780p/1080i HDMI, there were jaggies clearly evident when freezing the picture using the Pause control.

I had gone with the NS76 over the Pioneer 400VK, because the 400VK was reported to have jaggies during Pause. But I had not found any report of this on the NS76.

Thankfully after experimenting, I found a solution. In the Custom menus there is an item entitled Pause. It has two options: AUTO (the default setting), and FRAME.

I changed the setting to FRAME, and the jaggies disappeared! -- in Component and also in HDMI!

[Avalan]

Originally Posted by tech2002

This is one stellar player!

Either your standards are very low, or I must be having a different 76H. For the money, it is a good player, but it surely has its flaws.
* upscaling hardly leads to a better/sharper image.
* upscaling leads to butt ugly subtitles. I therefore turned upscaling off.
* player scores very poorly on the Silicon Optix HQV tests.
* player is very susceptible to moiré. It totally fails that test on the HQV, but I've seen it several times while watching movies (the worst example is the outdoor Claude vs his dad scene in the beginning of Ken Park - the roof/wall in the background wobble constantly).

I'm now just using it as a progressive player, while being on the outlook for a player that can match the PS3's performance.

[fish99]

Originally Posted by Avalan

* upscaling hardly leads to a better/sharper image.

I would say that would depend on the quality of the upscaler in your TV. Versus the upscaler in my LG, the ns76 definitely produces superior upscaling and better picture quality.

[tech2002]

Avalan, I'm not doubting your test results with your system, nor that the PS3 may also have its strengths.

My search was for a reasonably priced and good performing upscaling DVD player. The NS76 matches up well with my Panasonic 32LX700.

I can't see purchasing a PS3 or Xbox for my home entertainment system. I'd also ruled out looking for a more expensive high performance upscaling player as, for me, the money will be better spent on real HD discs + player at some later date. I see an improvement in clarity, most obvious with more recent SD DVDs. I find, as fish99 has mentioned, it does provide a better picture quality.

[Avalan]

Ok. Well, I just felt like I had to react to the "stellar" statement . I must admit I'm a bit frustrated with the performance of this DVD player, especially after having read such raving things about it (most notably in this very thread).
BTW, I'm not saying it's a bad player. But it's just not as exceptional as a lot of people here stated it was.

Edit: if you say you see an improvement in clarity, do you mean vs another player, or vs the same NS76 without upscaling ?

[tech2002]

I guess when this model doesn't meet your personal expectations, that can be a bit of a letdown.

I'm comparing it with my two other progressive players - a Panasonic ES30V and Panasonic EH55, and also with the progressive mode of the NS76.

The upscaling absolutely provides increased clarity on the digitally remastered Star Wars IV, and other more recent DVDs. I also prefer HDMI upscaling mode, even if the improvement is only slight for older DVDs.

Just to note, the reviews contained more unresolved issues with other players, which led me to this one.
My next upgrade will eventually be full HD - for a hopeful improvement on upscaling.

[Avalan]

I have another example DVD which shows that the NS76H has quite some problems with jaggies. This time it's a DVD that probably a lot of people have in their collection: Star Wars Episode I.
First of all I noticed that this DVD looks really soft. This is probably a problem with the DVD itself, since other DVDs so far looked really sharp on the NS76H. However, numerous times, I noticed heavy jaggies in this movie. Just to give one example: there's a chapter that starts at around 20'. In the first few seconds, you see tanks moving across the field left to right. Of one tank, you can see the full length of the canon (right half of the screen). Well, that canon is just one long line of jaggies!
Before someone says it is a problem of the TV: I have these jaggies with just about every possible setting of the NS76H (tried component connection and all HDMI resolutions). Yet, if I play the DVD with my PS3, I have no jaggies at all.

If anyone with this DVD could test the same scene and let me know whether or not they have these jaggies ?

Tnx!

Hi, I have notice horinzontal stribes in dark scenes, spec. in Titanic, Lord of the rings and lots more. I have try in 576p, 720p and 1080i but nothing helps me. My Tv: Samsung LE40F71BX (1080p).

Hello to everyone.
I have one simple question, is NS78H better than NS76H???

There are some disadvantages - no optical out and no dynamic noise reduction, but not considering this, what would you say???
Which is better.

I have read, that NS76H had problems in screen size / aspect ratio when connected through HDMI.
Or picture-shift it was called?
Is this bug fixed in NS78?

Thankx for all the answers.
Martin, Prague, Czech Republic

[phat.sam]

Does anyone know if this player omits 5.1 through HDMI?

[robgreen]

I believe so yes, my amp picks it up as 5.1 when I'm using it, but I only have two speakers up front in my small flat so I've never really tested it.

[pembssurf]

Hey there iv had my dvo-ns76h for about a year now and am more than impressed with the picture quality imm getting from it even when comparing blu-rays played via my ps3 the image still looks sharp but evidently lacking the detail of bd..

Anyway my question is this..iv just upgraded from a 32" HD ready BUSH LCD that ran at 720P to a philips 37" with full 1080p HD resolution. Is it now better for me to change the ns76h's resolution to 1080i as it will closer match my tv's native of 1920x1080 all be it it will have to transfer it to progressive rather than interlaced or should i stick with the 720P in which case there isnt much point in using it as my tv will only have to scale it to 1080p anyway if ya get me.

Iv tried both and to be honest 1080i looks a bit better...i was just worried about the screen refresh rate when showing a interlaced picture conversion.

On another note this player performs aswell as my ps3 does when upscaling DVD's the main reason im not using my ps3 to upscale is i watch so many DVD's i dont fancy having my ps3 switched on for that, and the fact my ns76h is connected in conjuction with a sony bravia theartre sycn amp which is a great combination sound wise.

[pwood]

Must say I'm suprised you find the Sony 76 dvd player as good as the PS3 as I found the PS3 far better upscaling. I take it your PS3 has the latest firmware.

As you have a totally different screen it may be the Sony has a better scaler than the Philips as I found 576p better than either 720p or 1080i into my Panasonic PV500. I would suspect the PS3 upscaling to 1080p would be better than any DVD player bought for under £400. Albeit the fan noise can annoy during quiet bits.

[pembssurf]

yea i suppose when u fed 576 into your panny the panasonic just ended up doing all the scaling work anyway, imm not sure how it scales a 1080i picture whether it just stays the same and turns it into progressive or whether it just image process's the whole thing in the tv either way 1080i looks slightly better....i seem to get better colours and saturation from the the ns76 than i do from the ps3 although the ps3 does have a slightly sharper and fuller image than the ns76h its not enough to justify having the ps3 running that hot with a fan for every dvd i watch there is really that little in it. Yup ps3 is running latest firmware and im using a slightly more expensive monster lead now for the ns76

[seyes2]

hi I just bought one NS76 today immediately I tried my Divx discs on it. it say the discs are dirty. I just wrote on these discs a day before. they are quite new and no marks on it. i am very frustrated.....can anyone help with this.....Thanks in advance

[marskeman]

Originally Posted by seyes2

hi I just bought one NS76 today immediately I tried my Divx discs on it. it say the discs are dirty. I just wrote on these discs a day before. they are quite new and no marks on it. i am very frustrated.....can anyone help with this.....Thanks in advance

you have to register the DVD player with Sony, put in the dvd or cd you have burnt on your computer with the codes you get from the Sony website.

[blackobsidian]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but has anyone had issues with (seemingly!) the HDMI Port on their DVP-NS76H? Mine's been as good as gold for two years or so since purchase but today it seems to have given up the ghost...

I switched channel as normal and no picture so I assumed the cats had pulled out a wire etc but no dice, it was all fine. Then I figured my Ixos cable had an issue but it works fine in my PS3 on HDMI so the only thing that can be the issue is the Sony'd HDMI Port (the scart to phono works fine!)

It's been a great little workhorse though so I can't complain; just don't fancy shelling-out for a new player if there's a workaround of temporary fix