Looks like my DVD player is on the fritz.

It started about two months ago.  Whenever I would start to play a DVD, squiggly lines would fill the screen.  They would last about 2 minutes at first, then over time they would last 5 minutes, then 8, then 15, and finally, over the last week, they would just stay around the whole movie.  They are really, really distracting.  Imagine watching the beautiful images of March of the Penguins with blue squiggly lines all over the place.

I have a SONY DAV-C700 Dream System.  It’s one of those “Home Theater In A Box” setups where the DVD player and receiver are all in one, and it came with 5.1 speakers.  For my small Manhattan apartment setup, it’s great, especially because it’s only one unit and doesn’t take up that much space.

I considered getting it fixed, but it would probably cost at least $50 and a new player would cost $100.  If I got it fixed, there would be no guarantee that it wouldn’t come back again in 6 months.  So at this point, I think I decided to get a new player, and plug the audio output from the new player into one of the inputs on the DAV-C700.

The downside to this idea is that I have no idea if the DAV-C700 will trans code the 5.1 it gets from the standard L-R RCA inputs.  Obviously it trans codes the 5.1 from the DVD, but I can’t find anything that says it will or won’t from an external source.  I might as well give it a try and see what happens.

I think I have settled on a Sony DVPNC80V/S.  The key feature I want is a multi-disc changer.  I’m surprised how few multi-disc changers there are in the sub-$150 space.  It was either the above mentioned Sony or a Panasonic.  One feature killed the Panasonic.  Apparently, when you are watching a DVD on the Panasonic and you want to stop watching a disc, but want it to “remember” where you were so you can start back at the same spot later, you have to hit a memory button and then hit stop.  On the Sony, you just hit stop and it automatically remembers (you hit stop a second time if you don’t want it to remember).  Because I have been using a Sony for a long time now, I can’t tell you how convenient that automatic memory feature is, especially without having to remember to use it.

If it turns out that the DAV-C700 will not trans code the 5.1 from the audio inputs, then it looks like I will need to go get a new receiver.  I can’t imagine not watching a movie in 5.1 anymore.