The Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player is an affordable way to get your DVDs and CDs spinning with a simple to user interface in an attractive sleek unit. As such this made it onto our best DVD players list.
This does upscale to 1080p making it a great way to watch your older DVDs on your newer big TV without the worry about losing image quality.
If you need a DVD player that will play your DVD-R, DVD+R, CD and plenty of other formats too, then this could be the model for you. It's up to date and so covers most formats allowing you to view them over HDMI in all their upscaled glory. And since this is Sony, which specializes in image processing, the upscaler is actually smart enough to make this a noticeable improvement.
So is this the DVD player for you? Read on to find out everything you need to know about the Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player.
Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player: Design and build
As you can see the Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player is a super slender little unit that crams its many features into a sleek finish at just 1.3-inches tall. The 2.1 lbs, 10.6-inch long player has a matte black finish with a high visibility front for a clear display. The top of that front is angled down for easy access to the control buttons, even when in a cabinet. It isn't as small as the Craig CVD401A, but it's nice and slender all the same.
On the top are power, play, stop and eject buttons – keeping it super minimal. Everything else you'll need is on the remote, so aside from changing the disc you'll likely rarely touch the actual player, which is great for keeping that shiny finish fingerprint free.
Round the back you've got connections for HDMI out, SPDIF out, audio line-out, component video out and composite video out.
Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player: Features
The Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player can play a lot of DVD types as well as CDs. The key here is that is supports those which have been burned from a computer. So if you've got old home movies and collections of music and pictures, then this should be able to get them viewable for you on the big screen.
The player supports – deep breath now – CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, SVCD and Video CD. Audio wise you've got support for DTS, MP3, WMA, AAC and linear PCM. Visually, for pictures, you can view JPEG.
The 1080p upscaling is a big appeal here, allowing you to watch any DVD in Full HD format via HDMI. More on how that performs in the section below.
We like the ability to resume disc on up to six discs, so you can jump between them and the player will recognize the movie, for example, and let you play on from where you left off.
All the audio of Dolby Digital can be decoded and output by this player meaning you can get up to 5.1 channel surround sound for immersive movie experiences.
Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player: Performance
The Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player is all about that upscaling since it's Sony which is well known for its image processing. As such the smarts at work here is able to take old 480p DVD discs and add in pixels to fill out a 1080p display. This is done intelligently enough to avoid it looking soft but also without any jagged edges either.
The end result is a genuinely better quality experience of a DVD that might have looked poorer on a big screen before this player performed its magic.
The multi-disc resume is a genuinely useful feature. We like to jump between discs, especially if watching a series, so being able to jump right back in where we left off is a top option.
Tracking at 1.5 times speed and slow motion are great, especially in the case of the latter with sound too. You can rewatch a sporting moment or listen to a spoken sentence with far more clarity at this speed.
We like the JPEG slideshow option, allowing you to go through a disc of photos easily. There's even an option to add background music with an MP3 file, making it a proper show.
Our only gripe was that it did take a while to go from inserting a new disc to playing as Sony must be working its upscaling magic which, apparently, takes time. If you want quicker speeds, our top pick - the Panasonic DVD-S700 has you covered.
Should I buy the Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player?
The Sony DVP-SR510H DVD player is a great way to watch your DVD discs at full 1080p quality with the smarts of Sony upscaling genuinely enhancing the picture. That does mean a longer load time but we felt it was worth it. The addition of a slideshow mode with audio adds to this sleek player's appeal.
At the price this is a really great DVD player that also comes with a one year limited warranty. It's easily one of the best.
