In short I loved this device eventhough the muening system sucks. BUT, after a year it stopped working, I've got 250 DVD's installed and it can't READ ONE. What a waste..............

Also, after your player is loaded with disks, don't expect to move it again. A fully loaded player is a heavy thing, and shifting it around could cause the disks inside to dislodge. If that happens, you'll be opening it with a screwdriver to get the disks back in place.

Bought this for my Dad and he loves it - loves the idea of being able to sit down, turn on the on-screen menu and sort/browse for the DVD he wants to watch without ever having to get up and hassle with fumbling to the put it in the DVD player, take it out, put it away, etc. Other reviews said something about their discs getting scratched. As of this review which is about a few weeks post-buying this product, I cannot possibly fathom how the machine would scratch the discs; it must have been careless use and abuse or not knowing how to handle DVDs/CDs by the user.

I don't bother with the built-in disc explorer. Yes, you can enter in titles using a keyboard, and I did this at the beginning, but it just doesn't work very well for browsing through the titles. Mine never lost any of the information I entered in, but since I'm no longer using the player to keep track of that, I wouldn't really care if it did.

The one big flaw this player has is that it starts playing a disc when you first turn it on, every time. This doesn't sound like much, but it is very annoying. To get around it, press Open while the player is off.

Don't waste your money.

I have has mine for a year and a half and suddenly after starting to read a DVD it failed and tried to read each subsequent DVD in turn and failing with each until I powered it off.

This is actually nice visually, and if you want to browse by genre, or title, or even disc number. You can certainly jump by 1 or 10 discs at a time to get to the disc number you want, but random access would be a nice addition. Overall though, for what this product's intended purpose, it's solid, a real time-saver, and quite functional.

That adds up to work. Data entry is mind numbing when you are getting paid to do it. When you are doing it for a 100+ DVDs you will swear it's not worth it somewhere through the middle of the task.

The problem does not appear to be mechanical or due to dust/dirt but rather a failure in the electronics. Eighteen month to failure is very short considering Sony's reputation.

I bought this device from a local store because I was skeptical that I'd really like it and didn't want the hassle of sending it back via a shipper. After connecting it to my system, I started loading it with DVD's. The device only recognized about 30% of my DVD's, of which I have about 150 so that makes for a lot of manual entry.

Features are very useful, including the indexing of discs. As other reviewers have noted, device is a little slow at picking discs, etc., but playback is flawless and sound quality is significantly better than Sony in the past. We always had preferred Pioneer or even Panasonic vs Sony because of Sony's poor sound reproduction and poor video (Panasonic incorporates Faroudja scaling, for example)- but this model Sony has great sound and video quality.

This only works from the front panel, however. To get around it from the remote, turn it on, wait about ten seconds, then press the disk explorer key. It will bring up the list of titles and stop playing the disk.

If you buy cases for 400-DVDs from any brand (Case Logic, etc.) you will spend more monery and you won't avoid the handling of each DVD to take it out from the case and put it in the DVD and viceversa. My children DVD collection is now in this DVD player and no more fingerprints and broken DVDs. Also just 10 broken/unusable DVD paid for this equipment.

I am disappointed that this player doesn't even read the menuing system on most published discs. It takes a very long time to prepare itself.

A standard audio rack will probably not be big enough, unless you can put it on top of the rack. There is a bump that comes out of the left rear side of the player that houses the disc retrieval mechanism. So, the player is even deeper than it appears at first glance.

Yes, it takes a little patience to learn the software but after a couple of days everything is very intuitive. Yes, loading speed is a little slow and Sony in hindsight could have done a couple of things better but come on, it's $300! And by the way, I accidently unplugged it for a couple of days this winter and guess what?

The only problem I have is that I still cannot figure out how to use the remote control to put the actual number of the DVD in and get that one instead of having to push the up and down button to get it.

love this had to get another one....save on space.....only flaw older dvd's don't register you have to type them in......oooohhh yeah please do not stack them on top of each other ....they will read the same remote....otherwise love "em....peace....

The keyboard entry system and on-screen GUI for categorizing, organizing, and editing disc information is a little bit primitive for my taste, but the point is it works.

Also, after your player is loaded with disks, don't expect to move it again. A fully loaded player is a heavy thing, and shifting it around could cause the disks inside to dislodge. If that happens, you'll be opening it with a screwdriver to get the disks back in place.

Bought this for my Dad and he loves it - loves the idea of being able to sit down, turn on the on-screen menu and sort/browse for the DVD he wants to watch without ever having to get up and hassle with fumbling to the put it in the DVD player, take it out, put it away, etc. Other reviews said something about their discs getting scratched. As of this review which is about a few weeks post-buying this product, I cannot possibly fathom how the machine would scratch the discs; it must have been careless use and abuse or not knowing how to handle DVDs/CDs by the user.

I don't bother with the built-in disc explorer. Yes, you can enter in titles using a keyboard, and I did this at the beginning, but it just doesn't work very well for browsing through the titles. Mine never lost any of the information I entered in, but since I'm no longer using the player to keep track of that, I wouldn't really care if it did.

The one big flaw this player has is that it starts playing a disc when you first turn it on, every time. This doesn't sound like much, but it is very annoying. To get around it, press Open while the player is off.

If you buy cases for 400-DVDs from any brand (Case Logic, etc.) you will spend more monery and you won't avoid the handling of each DVD to take it out from the case and put it in the DVD and viceversa. My children DVD collection is now in this DVD player and no more fingerprints and broken DVDs. Also just 10 broken/unusable DVD paid for this equipment.

I am disappointed that this player doesn't even read the menuing system on most published discs. It takes a very long time to prepare itself.

A standard audio rack will probably not be big enough, unless you can put it on top of the rack. There is a bump that comes out of the left rear side of the player that houses the disc retrieval mechanism. So, the player is even deeper than it appears at first glance.

I was a little concerned at first because of the reviews about losing all of the disc explorer information and scratching of the discs, but I have not experienced any of these problems. The only complaint I have with the unit is the load time for the discs, and the load time for the disc explorer (although in reality what difference does an extra 30 seconds really make!). I originally had this dvd player hooked up via component cables, but it is now on an HDMI cable.

Bought this for my Dad and he loves it - loves the idea of being able to sit down, turn on the on-screen menu and sort/browse for the DVD he wants to watch without ever having to get up and hassle with fumbling to the put it in the DVD player, take it out, put it away, etc. Other reviews said something about their discs getting scratched. As of this review which is about a few weeks post-buying this product, I cannot possibly fathom how the machine would scratch the discs; it must have been careless use and abuse or not knowing how to handle dvds/CDs by the user.

That adds up to work. Data entry is mind numbing when you are getting paid to do it. When you are doing it for a 100+ dvds you will swear it's not worth it somewhere through the middle of the task.

If you buy cases for 400-dvds from any brand (Case Logic, etc.) you will spend more monery and you won't avoid the handling of each DVD to take it out from the case and put it in the DVD and viceversa. My children DVD collection is now in this DVD player and no more fingerprints and broken dvds. Also just 10 broken/unusable DVD paid for this equipment.

I like this product - The only issue is that Sony needs to improve their guide for the DVD that are inserted. Maybe they should use the same DVD guide they have with the X-Box 360 for picking movies. I like the keyboard entry for taging the dvds.

Bought this for my Dad and he loves it - loves the idea of being able to sit down, turn on the on-screen menu and sort/browse for the DVD he wants to watch without ever having to get up and hassle with fumbling to the put it in the DVD player, take it out, put it away, etc. Other reviews said something about their discs getting scratched. As of this review which is about a few weeks post-buying this product, I cannot possibly fathom how the machine would scratch the discs; it must have been careless use and abuse or not knowing how to handle DVDs/CDs by the user.

This is actually nice visually, and if you want to browse by genre, or title, or even disc number. You can certainly jump by 1 or 10 discs at a time to get to the disc number you want, but random access would be a nice addition. Overall though, for what this product's intended purpose, it's solid, a real time-saver, and quite functional.

Features are very useful, including the indexing of discs. As other reviewers have noted, device is a little slow at picking discs, etc., but playback is flawless and sound quality is significantly better than Sony in the past. We always had preferred Pioneer or even Panasonic vs Sony because of Sony's poor sound reproduction and poor video (Panasonic incorporates Faroudja scaling, for example)- but this model Sony has great sound and video quality.

I am disappointed that this player doesn't even read the menuing system on most published discs. It takes a very long time to prepare itself.

I was a little concerned at first because of the reviews about losing all of the disc explorer information and scratching of the discs, but I have not experienced any of these problems. The only complaint I have with the unit is the load time for the discs, and the load time for the disc explorer (although in reality what difference does an extra 30 seconds really make!). I originally had this dvd player hooked up via component cables, but it is now on an HDMI cable.

I do regret that the CD/DVD storage is not a changeable cassette type which would extend its library usefulness, otherwise a perfect solution to a big problem in handling all those discs.

I don't bother with the built-in disc explorer. Yes, you can enter in titles using a keyboard, and I did this at the beginning, but it just doesn't work very well for browsing through the titles. Mine never lost any of the information I entered in, but since I'm no longer using the player to keep track of that, I wouldn't really care if it did.

This only works from the front panel, however. To get around it from the remote, turn it on, wait about ten seconds, then press the disk explorer key. It will bring up the list of titles and stop playing the disk.

You install the software on your PC (sorry, no Mac version), and then enter in titles. You can enter using the barcode number, but I prefer to simply start typing the title; it then shows you matches as you go.

This only works from the front panel, however. To get around it from the remote, turn it on, wait about ten seconds, then press the disk explorer key. It will bring up the list of titles and stop playing the disk.

Then I moved on to floor standing racks. As my collection grew, eventually I ditched the cases and went to large folders to hold the disks. This worked really well, but after a while I found I could never find the disk I was looking for, and spent way too much of my life flipping through pages of disks.

Bought this for my Dad and he loves it - loves the idea of being able to sit down, turn on the on-screen menu and sort/browse for the DVD he wants to watch without ever having to get up and hassle with fumbling to the put it in the DVD player, take it out, put it away, etc. Other reviews said something about their discs getting scratched. As of this review which is about a few weeks post-buying this product, I cannot possibly fathom how the machine would scratch the discs; it must have been careless use and abuse or not knowing how to handle DVDs/CDs by the user.

Actually, you don't have to load everything again just because you add a new disc. Allow the new disc to begin playing, hit stop, go to the folder, then you will be able to type in the info for the new disc, or add to what the machine read off of the new disc if applicable. Loading each time is way too time consuming and unnecessary.

The one big flaw this player has is that it starts playing a disc when you first turn it on, every time. This doesn't sound like much, but it is very annoying. To get around it, press Open while the player is off.

This only works from the front panel, however. To get around it from the remote, turn it on, wait about ten seconds, then press the disk explorer key. It will bring up the list of titles and stop playing the disk.

Actually, you don't have to load everything again just because you add a new disc. Allow the new disc to begin playing, hit stop, go to the folder, then you will be able to type in the info for the new disc, or add to what the machine read off of the new disc if applicable. Loading each time is way too time consuming and unnecessary.

This only works from the front panel, however. To get around it from the remote, turn it on, wait about ten seconds, then press the disk explorer key. It will bring up the list of titles and stop playing the disk.

The only problem I have is that I still cannot figure out how to use the remote control to put the actual number of the DVD in and get that one instead of having to push the up and down button to get it.

love this had to get another one....save on space.....only flaw older dvd's don't register you have to type them in......oooohhh yeah please do not stack them on top of each other ....they will read the same remote....otherwise love "em....peace....

Meaning one cannot say "I want to play disc #250", punch in 2-5-0-Enter on the remote and load disc #250. That would be a nice additional feature for those of us with movie library catalogs that we maintain.