Sony's VE7000S Walkman DVD player

Sony continues to milk the Walkman branding with the release of their new portable DVD player line-up. Introducing the D-VE7000S DVD player (pictured) which brings the coveted Walkman branding in a compact package sporting a 7-inch display, a couple of headphone jacks, and a dock with integrated speakers capable of charging the unit in about 3 hours. Also announced is the DVP-FX810 which is just a regular ol’ portable DVD player with two headphone jacks for snuggling up against that 8-inch display for up to 6-hours at a time off battery. Yup, that's it... no DivX, no network, no USB, no tie-in to Sony’s Japan-only Portable-TV service or up-coming HUB PlayStation Network Platform. Just a couple of portable DVD players shipping in June for undisclosed prices. Come on Sony, we’re waiting to be impressed again. More snaps after the break.

[Via Akihabara News]

DVP-FX810

 

[strider_mt2k @ Apr 18th 2006 7:21AM]

I'm sorry to be such a Sony basher, but I've just broken free of the overpriced, proprietary MADNESS that being into Sony stuff brings.

While the units are typically Sony slick, they have the vague look of early Sony CD-ROM based abandonware and are sure to be overpriced.

And will they really last longer than the TONS of cheapies out there for probably half the price?

Times have changed Sony, times have changed.

[Sam @ Apr 18th 2006 7:42AM]

*biiiiig intake of breath* tut tut tut Sony. Surely the inclusion of TWO headphone jacks is encouraging the sharing of music and video with another party who doesn't personally own the content!!!!! ummmmm thats ILLEGAL that is, all that SHARING of music and video with people who don't own the content.

Ok, joking aside, are there not any legal issues here, do correct me if im confused or lost in the murky grey clouds of the law :D when is sharing music not sharing music?

[Special_K @ Apr 18th 2006 7:59AM]

Has anyone considered the possibility of the DVD as an audio format? Imagine a 20-track disc filled with Apple Lossless files- the quality would be amazing! When I saw this headline, that's the first thing that came to mind.

[Digi @ Apr 18th 2006 8:06AM]

nice device...

[PEZ @ Apr 18th 2006 8:10AM]

Didnt Sony call these "Watchman" back in the day of portable video (tv)?

In other news - yawn.

[Joe @ Apr 18th 2006 8:17AM]

Special_K:

DVD audio already exists. You can find out all about it on google. I don't see the point however, as most modern music is so over produced that any available quality is removed so that it sounds good on shit players, over FM broadcast and teenage girl's bedrooms.

Google it.

[Eric @ Apr 18th 2006 8:25AM]

Stop Sony bashing u bunch of Apple fan boys, i don't see stevie J roll out nething like this so far. Shut your hole until he does and if its superior *thats if he ever does*. So, shut your hole and give Sony some lime light!

*Bloody oath its NOICE*

[Hmmmbug @ Apr 18th 2006 8:31AM]

ROFLMAO, Sony'll never catch up to Apple at this rate =P

[Gaz @ Apr 18th 2006 8:33AM]

>Stop Sony bashing u bunch of Apple fan boys

Apple RULES! Sony SUCKS! =D

[Drew @ Apr 18th 2006 8:38AM]

You forgot to mention that it plays mp3's off of DVD's. I think the Walkman player is slim enough as an audio player since it lacks the clamshell design.

[Kamalot @ Apr 18th 2006 9:31AM]

Hey! Stop complaining. At least you don't need to buy your movies all over again on UMD format!

Is releasing this product an admission that UMD has failed?

[gear @ Apr 18th 2006 9:32AM]

These things have been around for several years now. You strap a DVD player to the back of your headrest and your kids watch a movie while you drive.

[Jonbridge @ Apr 18th 2006 9:47AM]

Funny how Apple fans complain about Sony being overpriced & proprietary.

Apple is by far the most proprietary and sue happy companies in the world. Massive hypocricy.

[Barney Farley @ Apr 18th 2006 9:52AM]

If this player has a decent screen with a decent viewing angle then its better than 90% of portable DVD players out there with those crappy dual scan LCDs.

Sony bashers here are kinda sad, I mean really, its a portable DVD player, and a snazzy looking one at that. Nothing to praise, but certainly nothing to bash. People here are absolutely pathetic.

[KG @ Apr 18th 2006 9:54AM]

People still use DVDs?

[Barney Farley @ Apr 18th 2006 9:57AM]

Funny how Apple fans complain about Sony being overpriced & proprietary.

Apple is by far the most proprietary and sue happy companies in the world. Massive hypocricy.

[rex @ Apr 18th 2006 9:58AM]

lol I thought this was going to be a UMPC...when is sony going to get into the UMPC game btw?...oh yeah my sony noise-canceling headphones has decided to shed its skin and leave the wires showing... :(. But yeah, Sony UMPC?

[Gumble to Gumble @ Apr 18th 2006 10:15AM]

This player doesn't use those terrible dual scan LCDs that most portable DVD players use, which is very important because it means it will have a decent viewing angle and look great.

As far as Sony bashers go there is nothing to bash with this product. Its a portable DVD player like all the others, except looks a lot better than the others and has a better screen. Its getting very tiresome to have to read through some loser kid from Slashdot, Digg, or where else daft sites that hate Sony, come to Engadet and make ass remarks that are totally irrelevent and obnoxious.

[EatingPie @ Apr 18th 2006 10:26AM]

Sorry to rain on your Sony rag-session, but this player is nice even for you DRM/Sony Haters.

As mentioned in this thread, it will play MP3s off of DVD-Rs (meaning tons and tons of songs per disc). It will also play ripped/burned DVD-Rs of your bootlegg--er--choosing. So you can DRM-whine all you want (life's more fun when you don't read the specs, I know), but this is about as open as you can get without including DivX and the like.

-Pie

[Stan Yee @ Apr 18th 2006 10:29AM]

Haha, Sony had a line of UMPCs before they were even called that -- I don't know why anyone's mentioned that fact in all this UMPC hype. The first was the U50 (U750P in the U.S.), released way back in 2004.

[Anonymous @ Apr 18th 2006 11:09AM]

I like pie ^^
The player looks really nice and erm shiny :D

[MakeMyDay @ Apr 18th 2006 11:44AM]

If only Sony released the exact same thing , but instead of a DVD drive , it added a 50gb HD and DivX support.

They would own the market inside of a few months. But I guess that is what you get when the people in command are of a past age.

[T.H. @ Apr 18th 2006 11:59AM]

Looks stupid. Looks too bulky to be a DAP. Doesn't seem to have any compelling features (divx for one) to differentiate it from the mass of generic portal dvd players except for the fact that it has a docking/recharging station. I think it's size is just on the side of being too big to be a convenient portable device.

As for Apple fan's hypocrisy. Sony puts out proprietary formats that are not better than what is already out in the market. Seriously, excepting beta vs vhs and maybe blu-ray, I have not seen one proprietary format from Sony that was better than what was already on the market. Pretty much every Sony proprietary format was set to lock you into the Sony Empire. Most of Sony's proprietary formats have been at best equal to formats already out there or in many cases, inferior.

Apple's proprietary formats for the most part at least make sense. The Mac computer with it's user interface was around _before_ Microsoft's Windows. So while it's proprietary it wasn't done just to have a different UI. MS actually copied Apple. For it's iPods, Apple had a unique user interface that was light years ahead of any other DAP out there at the time and still arguably better than any that has come so far. I own a Cowon, iRiver as well as an iPod. The iPod is the best DAP as far as interface goes. iTunes is a pain in the rear end though. Now, the iTunes music store is set to lock you into Apple's products but you don't need to buy from it in order to enjoy the iPod. And it was set up to work seamlessly with the iPod so at least it was a step up from most of what was out there when it first launched. And if you hate iTunes, many different options are now available including a plugin for Winamp.

Just explaining some of the things that, to me, sets apart some of Apple's products with those of Sony's.

[Oliver @ Apr 18th 2006 1:33PM]

I think it looks nice.

I'll never buy one tho.

[funkbass @ Apr 18th 2006 1:47PM]

Special K, DVD audio already exists in a few examples commercially (My brother has a Ramones album on DVD audio) but more specifically in the DVD-R support function. There are plenty of home stereos nowadays that will play DVD-R discs full of music that one could make in iTunes, etc..

That means that yes, a DVD full of compressed music files can hold about 1200 songs. In fact, it's a cheap way to back up your mp3 player library if you have a large library like I do - almost 15,000 songs.

With that in mind though, I'm interested to see if anyone is going to take this further and give support for BD-R discs. Could you imagine if you could burn a group of compressed songs on a BD-R? They could hold a range of song files into the dimensions of current upper level iPods, and all on one disc! That would solve the removable media problem and potentially give flash memory a run for it's money in the mp3 market. The only downside is the size of the disc comparable to the size of a future flash memory chips, but the upside would be price and the ability to change music or data selections without erasing the previous.

I know it could be fairly popular in the home stereo arena. I'd love to have a home stereo that could play Blue Ray movie and burnable discs. I wouldn't have to settle for wireless connectivity issues such as Airport Express which compromise sound quality.

[TIMMAH! @ Apr 18th 2006 7:42PM]

Yeah but it'll play ATRAC like a mofo!

[Dennis @ Apr 19th 2006 12:53AM]

I bet the screen will look nice. But that doesn't mean I don't think Sony sucks. What a messed up corporation. They don't seem to understand that the reason the Walkman was so successful (a must have really) is that everyone already had the tapes. Sony didn't make the music and the tape design and the magnetic audio recording format, they just made a little player that played tapes. The tapes I played the most in the first two years I got a Walkman were mixes recorded from the radio. These RIAA guys are so unbelievable. Nice way to turn people against music. Even though most of it is crap anyway.

[phipscube @ Apr 19th 2006 6:49AM]

Seems Engadget and Joystiq are awash with Nintendo and Apple fanboys of late, and not just the commenters...

Why does everyone seem to hate Sony of late? its really annoying, especially when its coming out in the actual news story.

Its a DVD walkman, so what if it doesnt integrate with other Sony products... why should it? Its JUST a nice looking portable DVD player!! Not everyone wants a crazy piece of kit that can do all sorts of crazy things. Why the hell would it need a USB connector or to even connect to any form of Network server (And one that doesnt even EXIST yet)?? I think the ONLY gripe is that it doesn't support DivX, but thats no big deal really.

Stop getting carried away with the fanboyism Engadget, Its unprofessional.

[Eric @ Apr 19th 2006 7:00AM]

They're both nice looking players, and I'm glad to see Sony not trying to push something down our throats (we can actually use DVD on this device), but... why?

They're a little late to enter the portable DVD market now, aren't they?

[Angela Clark @ Jun 16th 2006 6:49AM]

For someone who likes to run on the threadmill like me the sony dvd walkman is great. But there is one problem, it doesn't play all disk types like it said. I purchase the dvd walkman last week and it takes 5-6min for the walkman to read my disks. Last night 06/15/06 I tried from 1am-6am trying to get it to play a Charmed season disk I ordered from Netflix, I end up getting a co-worker's Philip dvd to watch my Charmed disk. I kept getting Unknown Disk with that plus one that was burned for me. I am taking it back today when I get off. DON'T BUY IT.

[Angela Clark @ Jun 16th 2006 6:53AM]

I added a comment but sony removed it.

[DanoVido @ Sep 13th 2006 3:54PM]

Let the consumer decide by looking at the product and specs. Obviously, Sony and Apple are both successful companies that have done well. People have bought their products because they develop decent products; they are big companies because of sales (case and point).

[diddude @ Sep 26th 2006 7:37AM]

Now for a Sony Lover: I have always loved Sony as a consumer and am always satisfied with with its different products.

Just the other day I was reading about how Sony came about. The story of post-hiroshima Japan and how the different companies were setup from their home garage makes for a very interesting read.

[SLK @ Dec 5th 2006 3:01PM]

Hi Guys,

Does anyone know what cables I need to hook this DVD Walkman to a LCD flat panel? I cant find any online. Appreciate the help,

~SLK

[diansayangkuw @ Jun 18th 2009 12:43AM]

I need to know the price of Sony DVD Portable VE7000S-4.
Thx