Sony DVP-NS330 DVD Player - page 3
Reading Tests
When it comes to a DVD player, the main focus lies in the reading performance
of the device. Technical performance tests could include detailed testing of
the performance of the player with various video
and audio input signals (MPEG-1 /2 Video/Audio, VBR High/Low switch, CBR, AC-3
implementation,
LPCM multichannel audio, A/V synchronization navigation commands, transitions
etc). However, such detailed testing is out of the scope of this review
in an attempt to offer testing procedures directly resembling the average
user's needs performing the usual, everyday tasks. Thus, the performance
of the DVD player
can be described in terms related to reading speed, reading accuracy,
compatibility with various CD/DVD recordable/rewritable formats as well as
data/audio playback
support, stored in any common medium.
DVD support
The
Sony DVP-NS330 we have in our hands is a region-2 drive, which means that the
player
is able to decode (play) only the pressed DVD-Video discs coming
from
the European
region. However, the player is widely available in the European market through
retailers as region-free, meaning that you will be able to use it with any
disc regardless of the regional restrictions applied on it.
The next question would be whether the player supports both PAL and NTSC
transmission formats. The answer is yes, although the player is already
restricted to region 2, so it originally supports the PAL transmission
format used throughout Europe. Unlike some multi-regional players,
the DVP-NS330 has an internal transcoder that will
automatically modulate the source signal to a derivative of PAL or NTSC. Of
course, the player will recognize only the region 2 NTSC DVD-Video discs. What
we would like from Sony is to make this feature adjustable through the setup
menu, in order for users to manually set it to PAL, NTSC or to Auto select.
In
case
you have purchased a modified (multi-region 1-6) DVP-NS330, you must refer
to your supplier in order see whether the modification covers
the PAL/NTSC issue.
It is important to realize that to play a region 1 disc you require that your
television be capable of handling the NTSC 3.58MHz signal (North American broadcast
system). A Multi-Region player will allow you access
discs from all over the world but your television in turn must be able to
support the different transmission standards (PAL/SECAM/NTSC). When choosing
a player and you know that your television doesn't have the ability to play
NTSC
3.58,
look
for the
Pal 60 ability in the specifications. In case you get a black & white
picture
despite the PAL/NTSC switch, you should try to resolve the
problem through the DVD player's setup. Choose the Video option and set the
player to output RGB to the television, ensuring that you are using Scart # 1
from
the
player
to Scart #1 of the television. As a second thought, user can check for any switch
located on the back panel of the player, or in the setup menu
options.
We
connected the DVP-NS330 through the Scart interface with the corresponding
cable, which was unfortunately not included in the player's package. Of course,
the player supports the DVD-Video format. We recorded a 4.35GB DVD-Video file
on various DVD+R/-R, DVD-RW/+RW
media. The recorders we used are some of the latest dual-format available on
the PC market, as well as some 1st generation recorders. Pressed
single /
dual layer DVD-Video discs were also included in the test. Here, we
remind you that the Sony DVP-NS330 supports DVD±R/RW and DVD-Video
playback. However, the player does not support the Variable Recording (VR)
mode for DVD-R/-RW.
VR Recording offers extensive editing features and the user is able to select
from among the different picture quality settings. However, such discs are
only playable on "RW compatible players", and this recording mode
is not available on PC recorders we used for this test. All the test discs
were
created with the same PC /software in the DVD-Video mode.
We checked the player's disc recognition as well as smooth navigation
and playback. The results were very impressive, since all the discs were
read completely. See the drives and media we used in the table below:
Recorder |
Media |
Speed recorded |
Recognition |
Playback |
Sony
DRX-500UL v1.0c |
TDK DVD+RW 2.4x |
2.4x |
OK |
Sony
DRU-530A v2.0h |
Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD+R 4x |
4x |
Taiyo yuden DVD+R 4x |
4x |
N-Tech DVD+R 4x |
4x |
Philips DVD+R 4x |
4x |
Pioneer
DVR-107D v1.05 |
JVC DVD-R 8x |
8x |
MKM DVD+R 8x |
8x |
CMC DVD-R 4x |
4x |
CMC DVD+R 4x |
4x |
NEC
ND-2500A v1.06 |
JVC DVD-RW 4x |
4x |
Maxell DVD+RW 4x |
4x |
Ritek DVD-R 4x |
4x |
Mam DVD-R 4x |
4x |
TDK DVD-R 4x |
4x |
Plextor DVD+R 4x |
8x |
Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD-R 4x |
8x |
Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 4x |
8x |
Optorite
DD0401 v1.30E |
MKM DVD+R 8x |
8x |
Hi-Space DVD-R 4x |
4x |
Verbatim DVD-R 4x |
4x |
BTC
DRW1008IM v0.55 |
Pioneer DVD-R 4x |
4x |
LiteOn
LDW-811S vHS0K |
FujiFilm DVD-R 4x |
4x |
|
|
|
Single layer pressed DVD-Video (4.7GB) |
- |
- |
Dual layer pressed DVD-Video (8.5GB) |
- |
- |
The results were nevertheless to be expected from a newly released
player like the Sony DVP-NS330. A DVD player offers limited features by its
own nature,
meaning
that it lacks
the DVD recording capabilities and advanced video authoring/editing features
found on DVD recorders. Thus, reading reliability as well as compatibility
are the key factors which will encourage most users to run out
and buy a player. What is really interesting in our
case is that the Sony
DVP-NS330 did
not face
any
problems reading even the latest 8x DVD±R and 4x DVD±RW discs.
The Sony DVP-NS330 does not support reading of DVD-ROM discs, even if they
hold MPEG-1/2 video files or MP3/WMA files. This is usual for most DVD players
since native DVD-ROM format is not supported.
The Sony DVP-NS330 supports AudioCD, CD-R/-RW, VideoCD and Super-VideoCD playback.
The *.cda files of any audioCD are recognized flawlessly, even when the disc
is factory pressed or is a CD-R/RW. In addition, CD-Text is supported.
In our case, when talking about data CD (CD-R/-RW), we refer to either
audio compressed audio files (MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis..) or pure *.wav files,
or to
VideoCD and
Super VideoCD.
In case of pressed AudioCDs the player recognizes and plays all the tracks,
offering additional features such as CD-Text reading and navigation between
tracks, as already mentioned in the previous page. This also applies to
CD-R and CD-RW discs. The device played audio files of the CD-R, 10x HS-RW,
24x US-RW and 32x US-RW discs we inserted in the disc tray.
In
addition, no problems were noticed when we played 8cm CD-R/-RW (185MB), 90/99min
CD-R as well as CD business cards, as long as they are round shaped.
The player's tray is not designed to accept any other media shapes, as is sometimes
the case with smart
cards or business cards.
For anyone that has purchased any protected audio discs from
your music store, Sony DVP-NS330 will not let you down. The discs we tested
were "Natalie
Impruglia - White Lilies island" protected with Macrovision' Key2Audio
system, and the the "Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come" protected
with Cactus Data Shield 200. Both titles were recognized and played flawlessly.
After all, those protection schemes
are designed to discourage PC users from copying them and as such
are not playable on PCs only.
The Sony DVP-NS330 does not support Super AudioCD.
-
Compressed Audio (data CD)
Let's
see now how the player reacts to various compressed audio files stored on data
CD-R/RW. Although the specifications of DVP-NS330 clearly indicate
MP3 support, it is not sure whether the drive can handle all MP3 compression
modes. CBR or VBR encoding mode and variations in the sampling rate could be
hard for
any reader to decode. Below is available the reaction of the player to various
MP3 and WMA files.
Compression type |
Compression settings |
Recognize / Play |
MP3 |
CBR 20kBit 11025Hz Mono |
No |
CBR 20kBit 11025Hz Stereo |
CBR 32kBit 11025Hz Stereo |
CBR 32kBit 22050Hz Mono |
CBR 40kBit 22050Hz Stereo |
CBR 48kBit 22050Hz Stereo |
CBR 48kBit 44100Hz Mono |
Yes |
CBR 56kBit 22050Hz Mono |
Yes |
CBR 56kBit 44100Hz Mono |
No |
CBR 64kBit 22050Hz Stereo |
No |
CBR 96kBit 22050Hz Stereo |
Yes |
CBR 96kBit 44100Hz Mono |
Yes |
CBR 96kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
No |
CBR 112kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
Yes |
CBR 128kBit 44100Hz Mono |
CBR 128kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
CBR 160kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
CBR 192kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
CBR 224kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
CBR 256kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
CBR 320kBit 44100Hz Stereo |
VBR - High compression |
VBR - Highest compression |
VBR - Low compression |
VBR - Lowest compression |
VBR - Medium compression |
Windows Media Audio
(WMA)
|
WMA 48kbps |
No |
WMA 64kbps |
WMA 96kbps |
WMA 128kbps |
WMA 160kbps |
WMA 192kbps |
WAV |
WAV |
The player supports decoding of the most popular CBR and VBR MP3 modes. All
the files sampled at 44.1 KHz CBR were playable despite the quantization resolution
(112-320 Kbits). An exception to this was the 96kBit
Stereo and the 56kBit Mono files, which were not recognized. It appears that
the player is rather picky with lower sampling rates.
In case you are keen on using the WMA format for your audio files, the player
will disappoint you. In addition, we were surprised the device did not accept
the uncompressed *.wav audio files.
Note that the DVP-NS330 is equipped with a 192 kHz 24 Bit Digital to Analog
Converter for audio.
As presented in the player's specifications, both VCD and Super Video
CD formats are supported by the player. The discs are recognized and played
by
the drive
without any particular problems.
