Sony DVP-SR500H Progressive Scan DVD Player (Black)

The Sony DVP-SR500H Progressive Scan DVD Player (Black) is an amazing value and very much in demand even in these days of Blu-ray and 3-D Blu-ray players. It's popular in both education and business venues but it's especially welcome in the home market. Here's why.

Most families have dozens of DVDs the kids love to watch over and over again. They'll play just fine in a Blu-ray player but do you really want tiny peanut butter-smeared fingers getting anywhere near your brand new Blu-ray player? Of course not. So maybe it's time to get the kids their very own player just like (well, sort of like) that new one mom and dad put up on that shelf in the living room that the kids can't reach.

What you tell your kids is your business but with its Precision Cinema Progressive Technology and upscaling via an HDMI connection to a high definition TV, the SR500H can make an ordinary DVD look surprisingly close to the quality of a Blu-ray disc. (The HDMI cable is available separately.)

Kids can be hard on discs of all types, so it's a good thing Sony built Precision Drive 3 into the SR500H. It can't work miracles on damaged discs but can help discs with some warping or other surface layer issues play more smoothly.

And the remote control helps keep things easy to use. It can operate most major brands of TVs so there will be one less remote to be misplaced.

If your older kids have MP3s or JPEGs they've burned to DVDs they'll be able to enjoy them on the SR500H. This player can play a wide variety of CD and DVD formats.

If your kids have short attention spans (don't worry—they're normal!) they're likely to want to swap out one movie before the one they've been watching is over. Your SR500H has an answer for that too. It can remember where in the movie you were when you popped out the last six discs you watched. Stop The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy is in the cyclone and when you put the disc back in hours, days or even weeks later, she'll still be spinning around when the movie restarts!

Of course for that seventh disc you're going to need to hunt around for where you left off but with your SR500H you can do fast (and slow) playback with sound so even that chore is fun.

If your kids are real young you probably don't want them changing discs themselves. (Remember how they killed your last DVD player by grape jelly poisoning?) That's when the tray lock can save your SR500H from an early demise. (We're pretty sure attempting to play a cheese sandwich voids the warranty.)

Now if you think the SR500H is strictly kid stuff maybe we've gone a little overboard telling you all about its family-friendly features. Pipe this player's audio output into your home theater system and you can enjoy amazing, immersive Dolby and DTS-enhanced audio. It's even got a coaxial digital audio output in case you have an older home theater A/V receiver that doesn't have HDMI input.

We almost forgot to mention Photo TV HD. It works with select Sony cameras so you can view JPEG pictures in Full HD (1920 x 1080p) when you hook up your SR500H to a high definition set via an HDMI cable.

Now you know why this great all 'round player is so popular with families of all sizes. But whether it's in the family room, the classroom or the boardroom one feature is welcome everywhere. Even with all of its advanced features, your SR500H is Energy Star compliant.