The first reaction most have to these Sony megachangers hasn’t changed over the years. Just insert the name of the appropriate physical media. But yes, some people do own that many discs and so these changers make sense for them. Plus, while digital downloads are great and the future of the average consumer, there are still some folk that demand the absolute best picture and sound which only Blu-ray can provide. Electronic house had a chance to sit down with the ES Blu-ray changer and sent it through the paces.
We won’t ruin all the surprises, but they found the audio and video to be up to the ES standard. But they also came to the same conclusion as a lot of us when the BDP-CX7000ES launched: why the hell isn’t there built-in memory for BD-Live and DLNA support even though less expensive models offer both? Plus, the lack of WiFi is strange for a $1,900 Blu-ray player. It couldn’t cost more than $15 per player to build the right stuff in. But then we would find something else to complain about, so Sony probably can’t ever win. Ah well.
This is the most useless piece of electronics I’ve seen in awhile.
Who listens to compact discs anymore? As for movies, who watches more than one move at a time?
Does the mega also play DVD I have more than 750 DVD, I recently started buying Blue Ray and only buy Blue Ray but I do not want to purchase the other 750?
Let’s see, 1.5 terabytes hard drive is about $100.
A blue-ray disc is about 25G.
25GB*100=2.5TB
2.5TB*4=10TB
10TB=1.5TB HD * 7 = $100 * 7 = $700
Of course if you throw in the cost for the computer that houses these drives and plays these videos will probably run up another $1000.
But hey, you have 10.5TB space to put whatever you want on it instead of lousy discs.
I understand this is going to get ripped up by guys on the net, who don’t understand the proper application or think they can build a PC to do the same thing, but for those of us in the Custom Install industry we have been waiting for this product.
This changer isn’t meant for CDs, most installers have converted those to Hard Drive already, which is legal. They are for movies, and specifically for a mix of Blu-Ray and DVD, neither of which are legally copied on computer. Kaleidescape just lost their court battle, companies like Escient are now pulling their products, and Real DVD can’t even get their product to market. I know many will still copy movies anyway, but for those of us making a living installing entertainment systems, we have to play by the rules. Of course you only watch one movie at a time, the point is that if you have 400 discs, this holds them in less space than their cases, and makes it far easier to sort and access especially in a multi-room AV system. Something you wouldn’t be paying attention to if you aren’t the right customer for the product.
As to the math on the Hard Drives. You are forgetting the inclusion of at least a Raid5 redundency, since a 1.5tb drive for $100 is pretty much expected to fail at some point, plus the additional cost of new Hard Drives, and the time and labor required to build and rebuild a system say over a 3-5 year window.
I agree with the author that built in memory for BD-Live and WiFi would have been nice, but commentors blasting the product because a PC version could be made for about the same money isn’t a fair comparison. It’s like comparing a generic PC with one built to be a server, and saying they will both run windows. Probably true for a while, but I wouldn’t bet my business on the stability of it over the long term.
Sorry for the extra rant, but it’s too easy for people to blast a product when they don’t understand it’s application, or they decide they can make something illegal for the same or less money and that everyone else should do the same. I don’t agree with the current copyright laws, but they are law so most of us follow them and work within the system to try and get them overturned.
My two cents.
Brett
Need not say anymore…YOU NAILED IT Bret
Exactly Brett. People that do no own a high end multizone system with a rack in the basement will never understand these type of products. I just wish Escient would interface with it.