Sony DAV-SC5 Review

Overall Rating

This is a fantastic system which is reasonably priced.

DVD player is occasionally sticking in the middle of a movie.

The Sony DAV-SC5 is a fantastic system which is reasonably priced. I bought mine in December 2003 and have been really impressed with the sound quality. My X-Box games really come alive when connected and action movies are awesome. The Bourne Identity and Swordfish are particularly good with the sound up. I am not a tecky, just an ordinary user who appreciates good sound in a movie and the CD playback is great also. Don't mess about with the sound field effects there is no need at all for this. The system picks up what sound field should be used so stick to it.

Unfortunately, after 10 months the DVD player is occasionally sticking in the middle of a movie. At this point all the remote buttons and those on the front of the unit become useless! If you switch the system to standby it can take up to 5 mins to happen!! Really annoying! The only way to get round this is to take the power out at the socket. Then joy of joy, the movie cannot then be scene skipped so you have to start the thing again even though you have only missed the crucial last 5 minutes at the end. This is an intermittent fault and the Sony Centre where I bought it from said it would be away at repair for a month and as it was intermittent wasn't worth sending back. If the fault is not seen on the one and only test they send it back as "no fault found." This is a pain. Recently the fault has not re-occurred only because I have not used the system for every day television use. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do?

Members' Comments onstevefisher's Review

• batscarer on 11th Jul 2005

  hello I too have a similar problem with my Sony DAV SC5 player
  
  When I switch it off using the button it will not switch back on, On Standby just flashes up and the only way to get it back on is to switch the power of to the plug and switch back on again
  
  In the book it says could be a short ciruit but looks OK, and as it is reproducible everytime maybe it would be worth sending to a centre

• scot1e on 18th Aug 2005

  I've had my sc5 for a year. It started locking up as you described and I sent it back for repair, one of the boards were shorting out. If you don't get it fixed it will get worse. If you turn on the unit and very gently move your fingers across the top of it you will find that you will get a very mild electrical current sensation from it. Dont put anything on top of it like a sky system or a video as this will cause the problem in the first place.

• ta5gdu on 10th Dec 2005

  I have had the same problem and found that a DVD cleaner helps, but the problem has come back. I originally contacted Sony and they weren't interested in repairing for free.