The Sony DVD-CX985V, 400 disc changer.

[Bob W]

I bought one of these yesterday at BestBuy. Anyone here have one and care to comment? So far it seems to do it's thing and the only item I can find fault with at this point is the selection of genre in the discs exployer menu is a bit lacking. Also I don't think this player will "Flip" the disc to play the back side like the Sony 300 disc player did. Anyway now I can get all my discs out of their cases in one convenient place for easy viewing.

I wonder if the player is upgradeable via flashing?

[kabanero]

Hey Bob,

I bought this monster in CircuitCity a week ago. I didn't find any info in the manual about flipping double-sided disk.

But it plays every brand, and even no-brand of any DVD+RW and DVD+R disks that I have.

[Bob W]

Hey Bob,

I bought this monster in CircuitCity a week ago. I didn't find any info in the manual about flipping double-sided disk.

But it plays every brand, and even no-brand of any DVD+RW and DVD+R disks that I have.

Yeah I don't think this one will flip the disc like the 300 disc changer did however I wanted the 400 disc changer because it plays SACD audio.

It's going to take me forever to load all these discs but it will be worth it in the end. I have all my DVD movies and CD music discs listed in a data base so when I'm finished I can print out the list which will tell me the title and the slot that disc is at in the changer.

[psycaz]

I am interested in this unit and was wondering if you have tried playing either vcds or svcds in it?
Pal support for dvd's - region free but pal format.

Any more info you have is apreciated.

[streetskater]

Well I'm about 6 months behind the last post here but I just bought this CX985V. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of options for 300 or 400 DVD jukeboxex--even now.

This Sony has unbelievably bad Disc transport control and organization and the remote is total garbage. BUT if you are willing to learn how to program a Universal Remote through your parallel printer point a la JP1

http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/index.php

you'll not only wind up with a far superior physical Remote but you'll discover that there are a whole bunch of additional control codes you can program than are NOT included on the rinky dink remote that it comes with. You won't need to go through a hierarchy of menus to do A-B repeat for example.

A wireless computer keyboard plugged into the front of the Unit makes another nice accessory.

Those additions, especially the customized remote, will make this MegaPlayer infinitively more useful than it is coming out of the box-- but it will never have great DVD control. It's very surprising that Sony brought a DVD juke with these poorly conceived features to market-- because this is an area Sony generally excelled at.

All in all though it wasn't that expressive, all things considered and it does exactly what I bought it for.

Now I'm hunting for anti-macrovision hacks....I swear I'd rather play a downloaded rip than some of the commercial DVD's I have-- with all the crap they stick at the beginning--
This Sony, as it comes, really doesn't let you bypass any of that unwanted "value added content"----another area Sony in particular "excels" at.

[Bob W]

Hmm never had a problem with the original remote but then I programed the changer into my MX-500 remote.

A wireless keyboard is a great idea so I'm off to CmpUSA tomorrow.

I get around all the junk at the beginning of DVD movies by simply only loading re-authored backup DVD's into the changer (movie only).

[streetskater]

Here, for the idlely curious is as complete a list as I can compile of all the possible remote codes that the CX985V will respond to:
It uses 4 or 5 different Sony protocols--ie, sony 26,sub device 73, Sony26 subdevice 98...ect. The "Command" numbers on the right represent OBC decimal codes in the various Sony Protocols. It's what we do at JP1 and not as confusing as it seems at first glance.


Sony:26.73; 26.34; 26.250; 26.18
Command Code Command(s)
0 1
1 2
2 3
3 4
4 5
5 6
6 7
7 8
8 9
9 0
11 Enter (menu select key also)
12 Disc Explorer
13 Set
14 Return
15 Clear
16 Search R1
17 Search F1
18 Input Select
19 Channel Up
20 Channel Down
21 Power toggle
22 Open/Close
25 Record
26 Title, Top Menu
27 DVD Menu
30 Record Mode
31 Program
32 Search/Step Rev
33 Search/Step Fwd
34 Scan/Slow Rev
35 Scan/Slow Fwd
38 Index Rev
39 Index Fwd
40 Time/Text
41 Pause (discrete?)
42 A-B
43 Play Mode
44 Repeat
46 Power On (discrete)
47 Power Off (discrete)
48 Previous
49 Next
50 Play
51 Scan Rev
52 Scan Fwd
53 Shuffle
54 Reverse x2
55 Forward x2
56 Stop
57 Pause
58 Step Rev, Jog Rev
59 Step Fwd, Jog Fwd
61 Record Stop
62 Record Pause
64 Disc 1
65 Disc 2
66 Disc 3
67 Disc 4
68 Disc 5
71 1/All Discs
72 DNR, BNR
73 Load
75 Search Mode
78 Mega Control
79 Memo Input Select
80 Picture Navi
81 TV/DVD
82 Easy Play
83 Menu, Setup, System Menu
84 Display
85 Video Off (toggle video circuitry)
86 Fl Off (toggle fluorescent display)
87 Bookmark
88 DVE
90 Surround
91 Picture Mode, Video Control
92 Replay, Instant Replay, Instant Replay/Step Rev
93 VES
94 SACD Multi/2Ch
95 SACD/CD
96 Slow Rev
97 Slow Fwd
98 Subtitle On/Off
99 Subtitle
100 Audio
101 Angle
107 AV Center
110 Scan R2
111 Scan F2
114 Shuttle Rev
115 Shuttle Fwd
118 Picture Memory
119 Slow Toggle Reverse
121 Up
122 Down
123 Left
124 Right

Sony:26.98; 26.3; 26.11 (DVD megachangers and recorders mostly)
Command Code Command(s)
16 Title List
19 Chapter Mark
20 Instant Search/Step Fwd
23 Tools
24 Cursor Mode
25 Zoom –
26 Mark Erase
28 Timer
32 File
33 Sort
34 Edit
53 Swap Discs
61 Disc –
62 Disc +, Disc Skip
63 Flip
64 Folder All, Folder
65 Folder DVD
66 Folder CD
67 Folder A
68 Folder B
69 Folder C
70 Folder D
119 Synchro Record
121 Zoom +

Actually I have found a few more like "Load" that aren't on this list....

[mariop]

Does this player have a PAL to NTSC converter?

[streetskater]

Well I would think it's multi-synching as most DVD's are. So it should be able to be configured for either. More to the point their are Regional Hacks out there that defeat it's built in limitation to 1 region. I'm less interested in that than I am to finding a macrovision hack.....