All such ergonomic griping aside, however, the Sony CX850 delivers an awful lot. In fact, because I don't have the space to discuss all of its functions, I'll focus on the most important ones. A few changers, like the CX850, can also display each title picture as a thumbnail image within a list of loaded or searchable discs. DVD Text, as you might expect, works just like CD Text, reading out title or chapter names depending on what play or display mode you use. You can assign the other four folders, initially labeled A to D, to any mixture of CDs and DVDs.
Discs can reside in multiple folders.
Once discs are loaded and categorized, Sony's Disc Explorer becomes your best friend. Unfortunately, you can't view the Disc Explorer or categorize discs while a disc is playing. If you want music while you tackle these chores you'll have to listen to the radio. The CX850 can also show alternative camera angles on suitably encoded DVDs. Plain old stereo from the Sony's line outputs was outstanding, and decoded Dolby Digital from its 5.1-channel outputs was just as good.