You know, we never thought that it was that big of a deal to change CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs by hand. Seriously, if you're too lazy to walk two feet to your entertainment center you probably didn't want to see
Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch that badly in the first place. On the other hand, we
are gadget fiends and part of us can see the logic in something like
Sony's 400-disc Mega Charger. Hell, if a Blu-ray player is good, one that holds 400 discs must be
400 times as good, right? Well, maybe. As far as players go, this guy does pretty well, according to the reviewer at
Electronic House. In fact, video quality was deemed "excellent" and on-screen navigation was a snap. And you can't find fault with any player that supports Gracenote (especially if you're going to store hundreds of discs in the thing). On the other hand, the lack of Netflix and DLNA integration, WiFi, or even memory for BD-Live functionality (you'll have to supply your own USB thumb drive, it seems) just might cramp your style. So what do you think? Do you have 400 Blu-ray discs? Think you ever will have 400 Blu-ray discs? Then hit the read link and check out the sordid tale for yourself.
posted Sep 2nd 2009 4:53PM
Just how many DLNA devices do you need in a system?!?!?! Seriously, we now have TVs, Blu-Ray players, game consoles, A/V recievers, TiVo boxes, Motorola DVRs and everything else with DLNA built in! So friggin' what if Sony didnt put DLNA in this beast, I have 5 other options for streaming PC content (in addition to being able to just HOOK UP A DAMN PC to my TV!). However, I will hold Sony's decision to not include a measly 1GB of storage in the player against them. Even so, the person looking at this product is a dyed-in-the-wool videophile, and will probably load his entire collection into one or more of them, then distribute the video throughout the house. Make no mistake, people have been WAITING for this for a LONG time...Sony will have no problems selling it. Hopefully, though, someone at Sony will WAKE UP and decide to include the 1GB USB stick for free in the box!
Just go down to Wal-Mart. They have 8gb flash drives for $20 by SanDisk.
Pre-iPod I could see the purpose of a CD changer like this. But I could never see the purpose of a DVD changer. How often do you need to change a DVD? It's not like you use "shuffle" with DVDs--I'll watch the first scene from Ferris Bueller, then the 7th scene from a Few Good Men?
It's set up with RS-232 so you can run it into a home control system and then select a thumbnail image of the movie you want to watch. And if you have a home control system then you're likely not in the same room as the player. I personally wouldn't want to walk over and pick a movie and then have to walk down the hall to put it into the player and then walk back (that is, if I ever had the money to have a set up like that).
Maybe your watching the simpsons and want to watch all of season 6 in one sitting or maybe you want to watch an episode on disk 1 and then jump to disk 4.
Or maybe you own ALL the simpsons dvds then you wouldn't have to touch the boxes ever again!
you could jump from season 1 to season 10 and back to season... say 4.
CraigWB, if you want to watch a complete season of the Simpsons in one sitting with this thing, you still have to wait for load/unload, selection and swapping time between discs anyway. So it really doesn't save you a whole lot of time. With a regular player, I can still change between any discs in my collection in just a few minutes.
I think it's a nifty idea, but not nifty enough to buy. I might never own three digits of Blu-Rays, and I don't have a problem with just loading the disc manually. A typical movie is 2 hours, if someone can't be bothered to take five steps over to the player to insert the disc for two hours of duff sitting, then they have problems.
I forgot to mention, I think the idea of offering a stick for expandable BD-Live support is nice. They should have included a 16GB stick for the price of this unit. Preferably, a recessed area so you don't have a long stick possibly accidentally being pushed down or to the side and breaking it.
Just get a PCH C-200 and a Couple TB in a WHS .. No need for Discs
You don't need to have 400 Blu-ray discs to buy this: it also plays CDs and DVDs. But why someone would pay so much for what is basically a disc player with a "shelf" is beyond me.
Just another sony excess for the niche market.
can these players be linked together to make a set of 800-disc player (or 1200, etc)? I already have more than 400 discs making it moot to have 400 discs on one player and another on a different player IF those players can't be linked together.
Sony's previous machines could be linked - we'll see if this one can. I also think people are missing the point - it is for DVDs AND Blu-Ray discs. Previously, they sold these to the DVD market, but you still needed a separate BD player. Not any more.
The addition of Gracenote is pretty cool - earlier DVD units needed to have titles entered manually. GACK. At least a keyboard was supported. But does Gracenote support cover images? That's the cool part - being able to navigate this machine like a cheap Kaleidescape!
They didn't add internal memory for BR-Live for a good reason - it's cheap, and you'll likely want to add your own anyway.
TK
For $1900, this thing should have included DLNA, WiFi, and built in memory. There's no excuse for not including it. I've seen enough custom whole house systems to know that there is a market for a 400 disc Blu-ray player
i call that a bit pile of shit from sony (shitny) why on earth would you like to get a such ugly blu-ray player can hold 400 dics may for lazy people can''t be bother to stand from the sofa come sony you can do better that this crap blu-ray get more creative we live in 2009 not in 1990 old technology
The comments about "too lazy to get up" are missing the point. 400 DVDs in regular sleeves takes over 15 feet of shelf space. This box takes a small fraction of that. If you have that many disks, this is a much more efficient way to store them, and a better way to flip through them.