Thanks for the link. Any idea what sort of price this might be? Also (forgive my newbieness here) is there a risk of the player going nuts like PS2's have been known to do following chipping?
I think you generally get a years warrenty so if anything goes wrong they'll fix it. As to cost I'm not sure but it used to be in the order of £50 which if it's the case now you'd probably be better off buying a new multiregion player anyhow.
No worries. Definately a help, thats sort of the decision you see. I have a cheapy region free from Amazon which sits above my Sony and i'm pretty happy with it. Only thing is there's no DD5.1 or DTS like the Davs.
However, it does (apparently) have 5.1 capability and has the red & white output/input plugs at the back. Can i connect this to my Sony and run both through one scart to get 5.1 from whichever one i decide to use?
That went a bit off topic there! maybe i should get the model number and see if someone can actually decipher what i'm on about
If your sony has a digital in (either optical or coax) then you should be able to connect the other multi region player to it and let the sony decode to give you 5.1. If you use the anologue connection then you'll only get stereo or prologic I'm afraid.
The other player is a Yamada DVD 5520. I guess that would need a digital 'out' then? (and are these marked on the back if they're there)
Would this mean i don't need to connect the Yamada to the TV with a scart, just the Sony via these digital in/out connections?
You'd have to connect the scart from the multiregion player to the tv as that'd be processing the video signal. The digital out should feed the sony with audio which it will decode to the relivant format (5.1dd, dts for digital signals or prologic, stereo for anolog signals).
You can get digital cables from any hifi/electrical shop but you'll only be able to use if the sony accepts a digital signal from an external source.
I have used these before for some cheap interconnects:-
You've been a great help Hawklord. If this works i can also get rid of my stupid multi-scart box which seems to reduce quality massively anyway.
I'll give it a try at the weekend and let you know how i got on.
Why not think about getting an av receiver?
these can be picked up relatively cheaply nowadays (from about £120). This will allow you to connet lots of different sources (dvd, cd player, tv, PS2,xbox etc) and give you all the relivant sound formats you'll need in one box. You could pick up some better speakers than the puny sony's and have a great sounding home cinema catering to all your audio video needs
the problem with Sony dav systems and all in ones is they don't offer an upgrade path
still if your not up for that the solution mentioned should keep you going.
How does the receiver connect to all the sources exactly, via cables?
Good point about the Sony speakers, the sub seems to give a good kick but the surrounds are way too girly. Can i just connect different speakers to the current wires to give a better performance or does it all come from the actual player?
Yes you connect to the receiver via various interconncets (digital and anolog dependant upon the souce ie cd player, ps2 etc). You can use it as a video switch too so whenever you select a source that has video and sound (eg ps2) it changes both video and audio over to it.
You could connect alternative speakers to the sony but you may find that the amp in the dav is a bit puny and doesn't drive them too well, if you used an av receiver then that would be completely different
Crazy! when i first bought the Sony it was second in their range to the s700 i think and cost me a whopping £500 notes...madness. Especially now that i need to spend that sort of cash to get it performing nicely.
Think i'll have to give the receiver a miss, not sure that i could get it sanctioned by she who must be obeyed!
Nice to have a dream though