Ever since the we first heard about the
Sony 400 Disc Blu-ray changer we wondered what it must be like to try and navigate through 400 movies to find something to watch. Sony was quick to tout its award winning XrossMediaBar interface, but you really never know until you see it first hand. We stopped by Sony's booth at
CEDIA and we have to say it's pretty sad. We can't even imagine paying that much for something that is frustrating. The fact is that one user interface design does not fit all, and while the XrossMediaBar works for many applications, it is hard to beat the good ol' tile view for browsing movies. The Sony representative giving the demo was quick to remind us that you can use another piece of equipment to browse your movies, which will in turn control the changer, but that's no excuse. The good news though is that the big guy did manage to change discs pretty fast.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
BarkingGhost @ Sep 13th 2009 11:57AM
Was this the $2500 version or the $800 version?
Fargus @ Sep 13th 2009 12:55PM
there isn't a $2500 version. Its $1900... No clue which one they are using though. For what they showed in the video, it doesn't matter which version since they both are the same for those purposes.
Peter F @ Sep 13th 2009 12:30PM
Ben, take me with you next time. I'll behave, I promise Though I will be tempted to run around like a kid at a candy store
Starkenator @ Sep 13th 2009 12:55PM
Another piece of equipment....like.....a Media Center PC???
TRT @ Sep 13th 2009 1:14PM
No..No..No..I'd rather buy 3 Oppo's and place them in three different rooms.
Covarr @ Sep 13th 2009 1:54PM
Give it USB keyboard support and a search feature, and it'll be much better.
Or, allow for some sort of custom sorting. If you've got DVDs owned by multiple family members, give them each folders and allow sorting like that.
But damn, there's no good reason to scroll one at a time through a collection of 400, EVER. Wanting to use XMB is not a good reason.
Hill country av @ Sep 13th 2009 3:30PM
Can this player be controlled with an Ecient?
thewarm @ Sep 13th 2009 3:54PM
I've been a huge fan of Sony products through the years, but they never have managed to get their "mega-changers" to work properly. From the "Explorer" interface to XMB. I hope this new unit doesn't decide to chew up someone's 400 disc Blu-ray collection... that would be quite an expensive meal!
img eL @ Sep 13th 2009 8:32PM
Shucks no sacd playback:( Never the less I like it alot. I really hope that the disc changing hardware is dailed down smooth.
zparsons @ Sep 13th 2009 10:08PM
Why does the guy asking questions sound like a mouth breather?
Also, grouping discs by genre doesn't sound all that bad. As long as the interface is responsive it shouldn't be a problem. Then again, I don't run something like WMC so I don't really have a preference as far as "tiling".
jetfxr27 @ Sep 13th 2009 10:21PM
2 Words
Batch Rip.
Script in 3.2..1...
Aedile @ Sep 14th 2009 9:53AM
Geez.
Is it that hard to look at Kaleidescape or XBMC to see how a movie jukebox should work? For frak's sake this is just a train-wreck. Although, I will say it was better than the festering turd that was the 995 from last generation (which, if it read a disc automatically, wouldn't let you change the title no matter how badly it was labeled).
-aedile-