Sony DVP-S560D Review

Overall Rating

Picture quality, Sound quality, remote features.

Manufacturing defect with Fuse overheating causing picture freeze and pixilation for many users after 1-1.5 years of use.

I have had picture freezes and pixilation with my Sony DVP-S560D only after it has been on for 2 hours or more. It is 2 years old & this has been getting worse the last 6 months. It will respond after a few seconds to the remote commands but freezes again in a minute or so. If I turn it off for -1 hour it again plays normally.
During these freezes there is NO error message displayed. Most users report the freezes WITH a C: 13:00 error code.
After reading the other reviews and the repair web site:
dvdfix@benmorris.net
I decided to open it up & see if my 402 fuse was burned out. I saw that the green board was hidden underneath the disc tray & mine has different markings than the picture on Ben's web site. Also, I have poor soldering skills. I was wondering if my player has NOT yet burned out that inadequate fuse but will soon. Maybe the fuse gets too hot after 2+ hours and "trips" causing this freeze problem? After cooling down (by powering the unit off 1 hour) it works properly again. So, I was reluctant to disassemble & rip off the 402 & try to solder. One person on this site had mentioned drilling ventilation holes. I did an experiment. I removed the cover & reconnected my player. I played movies for 19 consecutive hours!

I actually watched the last few hours when it was plenty warm. No freezing at all. It worked perfectly.

So I drilled 56 ventilation holes in 4 rows of 7 about an inch apart measuring so no holes were "wasted" on top of the disk mechanism. Plenty of holes around the green board. I also continued to place the unit on top of a Video tape so it is raised up 1" for air circulation underneath where I can feel it get warm (I had done the raising a few weeks earlier but it would still freeze after 2+ hours.)

Result of ventilation holes - No freezing during 3 consecutive movies! So, it was on about 5 hours straight with me watching & worked perfectly. I think the problem is solved. I had purchased a new DVD player (Toshiba SD-4800 $189 sale Best Buy) as a back up in case ventilation holes failed & my next step fuse bypass failed. I didn't even open the new player & will return it.

Drilling ventilation holes may help some without the more difficult & drastic action of fuse bypass.

I won't buy Sony again due to poor customer service and ignoring issues that affect many users while denying they have ever heard of the problem.

If you already have this DVD player and have had a few freezes -- raising it up and drilling some holes may allow you to avoid the problems so many have experienced.

Members' Comments onSteve.'s Review

• M&M Long Dog. on 11th Mar 2003

  Helpful. Thank you. We are not at all happy with our Sony DVP-S560 DVD Player! We will never buy Sony again! Glad to hear other's out there with the same problems.

• wadunn on 15th Nov 2003

  I too am grateful that others are having this problem (I guess that misery loves company). I am going to give the drill holes a try (it’s out of warranty now). I think that I’ll also use a low voltage fan as well to help the circulation out. I’ keep you posted.

• lecto on 26th May 2004

  Hi there...
  Here in BRAZIL people are having the same problems with Sony DVD players...
  
  I've purchased mine "S560-D" in Dec 2000, and guess what... after exactly 1 year all these problems began to appear....
  
  At the time i bought it, it was the best (and most expensive) DVD available... well... I guess I should have bought a "regular" one from another Brand... maybe LG or Philco...
  
  Sony... I'll never buy anything from them anymore... not even a damn PS2 !!!