Hi, I am thinking of buying a couple of DVD megachangers (at least 300 capacity each), and I am wondering what models are available out there, and what people think of them?

Christopher

I have the Sony DVP-CX985. I am very pleased with it's audio and video performance. The only problem with it is the on screen disc explorer. It works - but is VERY slow and clunky to use. I have a pronto remote that I use to control disc selection and navigation so that is not a problem for me. I have a friend who has no pronto and he actually keeps a printout of all his DVD's and what slots they are in at his seat so he can just go right to the disc number without having to use the built in system. Overall I am very happy but if I did not have the pronto to do my disc selection I would probably have a different opinion.

There have been a couple threads on this in the DVD forum you might want to read thru. Right now I think there are still only 2 available. The Sony and the other Sony. The ES model costs twice as much, has better video and other features.

Pioneer DVF-727 is still available.

Not progressive scan, but I've had good luck with the product. Have one in my personal system, and it's been going along for several years with no issues at all.

I own 3 of the Sony DVP-CX985V changers myself. I could not be more pleased with their performance. I've had them for a couple years now. They have not skipped a beat.

Recently I reworked the macros in my .pcf file which load each changer slot and cue the rest of my system up accordingly. If you have one of the Sony DVD changers already you only need to relearn 2 of the IR codes buttons specific to your own receiver and A/V switch (if you have one) on what I call the setup page. The slot loading macros use IR codes on a single page under each device, so there is no need to retain anything other than these three pages for each device if you don't want. As a result, any one of these DVD changer devices can now be merged into your existing .pcf file with no retrofitting required. You'll be up and running in no time. I've posted a download link here to my current pcf file if you are interested. Enjoy!

-Lowpro

This message was edited by Lowpro on 05/06/05 06:16 ET.

It will be great when a DVD megachange will become obsolete just like CD megachangers are, and replaced with a hard disk system that allows instant and random access of media in a small package

I understand the theoretical advantege of a hard disk system, but with the unreliability of computer systems I would not feel very comfortable entrusting a PC with the equivalent of a thousand DVDs, which I guess I would have had to pay for somehow, and possibly also spend a lot of time getting!

Also, wouldn't it require vast amounts of storage space, relative to what is commercially available on the consumer market, to store a thousand DVDs?

Christopher

Let's say a standard DVD movie uses around 8GB of data space on a dual layer disc. (probably less for most movies, I'm being conservative) You would need around 8TB for 1000 movies. Drives are currently at what, 400GB for the biggest single ones? That's about 20 drives with today's stuff. CDW has a 20-pack of Hitachi 400GBs for about $7500. Or you could get 40 200GB drives for around $5000.

Course, then you'd have to run them with something, too. Then there's the copy protection laws, that really don't allow for this, although there are a couple commercial databanks that have licensing agreements or something. Isn't there one for $27k or so?

Does anyone actually make a silver colored one to match the rest of my AV equipment?

Ask and yea shall receive. :-)

[Link: crutchfield.com]

Just to chime back in as well ...
I contemplated going the media server route. Out of the 1121 DVD's in my collection right now I owned 885 at the time I put all this together. It was not cost effective for me to build a media server large enough to handle this many DVD's, much less factor in room for expansion. There was also the time involved had I gone this route in encoding all my DVD's to hard drives. A backup solution would certainly not be cheap, and over time, there would be additional costs involved in the event of hardware failure.

The solution for me was simple, 3 Sony 400-disc DVD changers, an A/V switch with IR control, and the ProntoProNG TSU7000. Total cost came to $2000, including 5 year service plans on each of the changers. It's a very functional, flexible, cost effecient solution which requires no up keep really short of a changer needing repaired. To date my changers have been performing flawlessly. In the event I do have problems my service plans have me covered. Another bonus of going the changer route is storage. I now have permanent storage for 1,200 DVD's. Now that I think about it, I wonder how much I could get for a thousand or so empty DVD cases with original cover art. I'm sure someone would be interested. :-)

A side note per my earlier reply ...
I just started adding the ability to browse my collection in the TSU7000 by genre as well. Nothing spectacular about that, however I did do something pretty cool with this. I created a menu system which allows you move a selection cursor around the screen via the directional pad to whatever genre you want, then enter that genre to browse a to z. It took many devices to simulate a simple working menu screen utilizing the directional pad for navigation, but it was worth it! It has allowed for 24 genres to be selectable from one page (well it creates the illusion of that anyway), without the need to touch the lcd screen to make your selection. Talk about getting the most out of the 240x320 screen area!

-Lowpro

This message was edited by Lowpro on 05/06/05 06:17 ET.

You would keep the DVD's for backup, but the library would bemuch easier to acces on HD, and much more convenient to source. Granted , the storage capacity isn't there yet, but it won't be long the rate the technology is evolving. It's also possible that you will eventually purchase DVD's over IP, and once purchased, you will always be able to get a backup copy the same way with proof of purchase if you have a HD failure. perhaps all of your media will be eventually purchased and owned this way

Lowpro,

Impressive layout, might to to steal parts of that idea, although not for genres, as I don't really use these to classify movies (too difficult for me to either agree with other people's views or to come up with better ones myself...).

I agree with your thinking on changers v hard discs (obviously!), but still think the changers lack something in user friendlieness, which is why I thought the Kenwood Entré might be a good solution. This would allow me to control and daisy chain upto 3 400DVD changers, with component video and progressive output, with what seems like an elegant user interface. Sounds great, but I have been unable to find much info on how they work in practice.

Christopher

For the Entre:

[Link: avsforum.com]

In and of themseleves the changers do lack user friendleness. Prior to my purchase it was clear this was the case from the research I had done. I was not willing to go the changer route unless I did find a solution apart from the changers themselves for disc selection. This led me to my purchase of the TSU3000. I have since upgraded to the TSU7000 for the color support and additional memory.

I programmed my TSU3000 prior to purchasing the changers. I also had my DVD collection lined up and ready to go as well. Once I put the changers in place I simply had to load them up and learn the IR codes to the IR code buttons for each changer already in my configuration file. Talk about a smooth transition!

To this day I have never seen the user interface in these changers for disc selection. I just browse my collection via the TSU7000 by cover image and tap away. The thing I really like about using the TSU7000 for this is that I can browse my collection without interrupting what may be playing on my projector already. I was not interested in an on-screen solution. I was also not interested in solution which required I purchase a secondary display if I did not want my primary display to be used for the interface. I needed a good remote for my home theatre anyway, so it fits the bill for both now.

One of the primary advantages with using the TSU7000 for disc selection is that there is no database to rely on. While databases make things easier and less time consuming for setup, having to rely on one also holds you hostage to the speed at which the database can access and refresh your screen. As the TSU7000 only uses page jumps the interface is very fast. All other solutions I looked at were much slower in comparison as they rely on databases. Some horribly slow in my opinion. With the TSU7000 you are also not limited to what changers you can use. You can mix and match if you want.

"The Kenwood Entré might be a good solution. This would allow me to control and daisy chain upto 3 400DVD changers, with component video and progressive output, with what seems like an elegant user interface."

This sounds very interesting Christopher. I will have to check this out. If you find some good links on this let me now. I will have to google this up. :-)

Oh, I see a link was posted prior to mine here. Thanks! Good stuff.

-Lowpro

This message was edited by Lowpro on 04/27/05 10:33 ET.

LowPro,

Thanks for the heads up..Steep price, but well worth it. I just upgraded my TSU-6000 with the TSU-7000, just for the extra space. I had already started integrated my DVD's, roughly 200, but with the DVD jackets and movie summaries, it quickly took up my space. The 7000 should do nicely.

I was also thinking about doing the whole media server thing and found that the storage would be too much, even by shrinking the movie, it would be too expensive. I too have a projector with which I watch MOST movies. However, I'm curious how you handle this? Do you just remove the movie from the slot and take it to another room or do you have some sort of distributed system?

BTW, VERY cool interface. I, too, will be separating by genre, right now it's just a bunch of pages in a macro device. I can't wait for Daniel to come out with the color version of his pcf.