The Power is in the Remote

Most of the functionality of the player is controlled from the remote. Even the funky (or cheesy depending on your opinion) graphics that pop up with any audio CD are controlled from the well laid out remote. Our only concern here was with a central button on the remote that acts somewhat like a joystick. Located in the center of the small circle it controls the on screen cursor during menu selection and such.

The button can be depressed, or moved to one of the four corners depending on what you choose. During our used of the remote we found it a bit difficult to engage every time - but it's difficult to say if we weren't pressing hard enough or just in the wrong way. Anyhow it proved to be a little awkward to use during our tests.

The rear of the DVD-N501 has jacks for a host of outputs, including: Digital Audio, Analog Audio, Video, S-Video, and Component Video. Interestingly the player even has a hook-up for a fiber optic digital audio output. The optical connection is one that we've never used on any sound equipment in the past, but if you have a Dolby Digital or DTS decoder in your Amp it's a bonus.