Customer Reviews:
 It is a good product (three stars not five) February 22, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is an universal DVD player. It is not a High Definition version.
I did test it with DVD,DivX, SACD, MP3 and CD. And the performance with this kind of media is acceptable. I did test the DVD-Audio (see a possible bug detail at the end)
The unit takes some time to load a disk, but in my opinion is acceptable. I also have a Pioneer DVD player only with DVD/CD/MP3 and it takes the same time loading the media.
The multichannel output works very well. I did connect it with a Yamaha receiver RX-V861. DivX sounds very good.
The only detail I should mention is that the HDMI interface is not 1.2 then it doesn't pass DSD across high definition interface. I need to connect the 6 analog cables to listen SACD multichannel. But in my case it was not a problem.
UPDATE:
DVD-Audio possible bug:
I discovered a possible bug with some DVD-audio media.
The unit has problems with DVD-audio which has the audio track(AUDIO_TS) between the two layers.
The DVD is formed by a VIDEO_TS zone and a AUDIO_TS zone. When you have a video DVD. The AUDIO_TS zone is empty. When you have a only dvd-audio, the VIDEO_TS zone is empty. When you have an hybrid DVD. You have both zones. Therefore only a few hybrid DVD has more than 4.7GB. If the size of both zones is bigger, the manufacturer needs two layers to fix the media. If the audio zone goes next the video, them is possible to have the transition layer inside the AUDIO_TS zone. Only in this case I have problem with the S1700. It is why is difficult to detect.
When the last track in the layer 1 ends the player never changes to the next track which is in the layer 2.
The track at the end of layer 1 ends and the player keeps in silence. If you set OSD on TV screen you can see the time up-counter goes on counting and the down-counter keep in zero. But the player keeps there forever. Some times at 6 minutes of silence the player stops but the resume option start the disk from the begin.
It is necessary to press the skip button in order to continue in the next track.
"The Beatles LOVE" DVD-A has this condition. It is a hybrid DVD with both a video zone and a audio zone. The video zone has DTS, Dolby and PCM. The audio zone has a DSD version. After listen the track 21 the track 22 never begin, unless you press the skip button.
I build a DVD-A disk to verify this possible bug using the evaluation version of DVD-AUDIO SOLO with the same result at the transition layer.
I also check other two players in a Yamaha Dealer. I did test a DVD-S657 and another DVD-S1700.
Only the DVD-S657 works OK without any problem. The other S1700, has the same problem.
I sent my unit to Yamaha for a test. They verify my report and transfer the results to the engineer staff in order to evaluate the origin. It should be a firmware update in future.
 Good DVD Player November 25, 2007
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Good DVD player, but a little bit big for my limited space. I would prefer a slim line for my space, but wanted the 1080p upconversion feature of this model.
Great picture, fairly minor issues January 25, 2007
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
I've had this unit about a month, and have played commercial (personal and Netflix) DVD's all day long with no problems, i.e., playing warm or cold, pristine or slightly used, through an HDMI connection. It has a very sharp "upconverted" picture, displays deep color, presents no motion problems (blurring), I've noticed absolutely no layer-change pauses through several disks, and have noticed no CUE or macroblocking issues, either. It also has a myriad of picture controls to fine tune the picture, although I've used my Sony XBR LCD to do most of that. And, in what Yamaha calls NL Stretch mode, 4:3 aspect ratio DVD's look pretty darn good when filling the screen; it basically stretches mostly the edges, so something like 80% of the center is relatively intact - that is, people don't look like blobs. So far it's played everything I've thrown at it, although I have yet to try every format. Also, it seems to be very well made and is very quiet. Some minor complaints: menu response times are slow (although DVD menu's seem to be okay), in that it takes a couple of clicks to get the menu to move; also, when you change DVD picture settings the player pauses the DVD to make the changes, then resumes where it left off, so you can't see it on screen as you're making them; and, the dimmer seems to have only two settings - bright (although it's not very) and dim - with no "auto" setting, as advertised. Overall, unless you're ready to camp with HD DVD or BlueRay, I recommend this pretty impressive DVD player.
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