CyberHome CH-DVD 300S Progressive-Scan DVD Player , Silver
by CyberHome
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List Price: Our Price: $30.00 You Save: $19.99 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of CyberHome CH-DVD 300S Progressive-Scan DVD Player , Silver
Customer Review: A good budget DVD player? Hardly.
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this CyberHome DVD player as a quick fix, I never bought it as a long-term solution. Even a budget DVD player should have worked better than this has though.
I will say that at this DVD player's most primitive aspect (i.e., playing movies only), it does the job it's supposed to. However, don't try and make your movie experience any more enjoyable by running the sound through your surround sound system. I did and it only created problems.
"Like what?" you may be asking.
Well, somehow--I never claim to be an expert in the way of any electronic device but I do know how they work--the sound stopped coming through. I figured it was just my surround sound so I ran it through to my TV, still nothing. I actually had to buy new RCA plugs just to be able to watch anything with sound. The problem has persistently come back though.
Then there's the random power-offs. The first couple times I figured, "Ah, power surges." When it kept happening I then resorted to thinking I just had a bad unit, so I mentioned it to a friend who has one and he said his was doing the same thing. I know it's possible that both units are faulty but it'd be rare, and after reading a few reviews and further asking around, I've found that, even with the former problem, I'm not the only one.
I don't recommend this DVD player the least bit. If you MUST have one immediately and this is what you can afford, okay, but go in knowing you better save up to get a better one ASAP. The remote and features are all user friendly and take no time to get use to, which is nice. Past that, the bad--at least for me--far outweighs the good.
Customer Review: Nice.
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't have much space or money, so this was the perfect dvd player for me. I wasn't expecting much from a cheap player, but I have been pleasantly surprised.
First, I found out it will support pretty much anything I could possibly desire to put into it. I don't have any PAL or non-region 1 discs myself, but it's nice to know that if I ordered some, I would actually be able to play them.
No complaints about the picture. It's very good for me, though I can't really say how it stands up against others as the TV I use it on is about 15 years old and has monstrous image burn.
The sound is decent. Maybe it's actually excellent and it's just my TV hindering me again. Probably.
Someone said that the remote is useless. I don't really think so. All the buttons are on one grid, all the same size. It takes a little bit to get used to, but now I know where I want to go to find the button I need. Admittedly, I have to turn on the lights and check the remote for buttons I don't normally use, but this has only happened two or three times.
About 8 months after I got it, it started to make noise when I played discs, and would have trouble reading them. I took it apart and realized that this was no electronical error. The adhesive on the contact the disc rests on wasn't sticking, so the disc's rotation speed would slow down randomly, being generally inconsitent with the spinning of the machine. A little spit shine(literally) fixed this up, and I haven't had any problems that detracted from my viewing experience since.
Customer Review: The TRUTH, haha
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this player for a second room because it looked cool and was extremely inexpensive. That being said here are some good and bad I have experienced:
You cannot use a universal remote for this, period. You may be thinking, "no big," but it really is kind of irritating.
Like others have said, there seems to be a heat/longevity issue with this player, resulting in long "pauses" of up to 10 seconds, depending on how long it has been playing. I was joking with my friend that they are really just short intermissions in disguise...
It is loud. I believe one of the things you give up when you go to a small, inexpensive player is that you can actually hear the mechanisms inside- whirring, reading, etc. And when it imposes an intermission, I hear the cute metallic grind-to-a-halt sound the thing makes before it actually pauses- its own little warning system! I didnt notice that anyone else mentioned that- am I just spoiled by my Onkyo?
As for the good, well... It still plays any DVD I throw at it and it plays all of my audio as well, with none of the problems I have gotten with video. Oh, and it has a screen saver (smart) but it doesnt work when you are playing audio, only when you have paused your media (not so smart).
I view all of the good & bad with humor, because as cliched as it is, you get what you pay for. Another reviewer mentioned it being only a matter of time before you encounter a problem with this item and it seems to be true. If you buy it and it works perfectly, enjoy it while it lasts...
Customer Review: Great basic player with a perk!
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I put DVD players through their paces as our TV is used almost exclusively for DVD viewing since we have no cable or satellite service. In the past four or five years we've gone through three mid-priced players; when they were subjected to our rigorous (and disc-after-disc) viewing they soon developed issues with skipping, not reading, humming, and overheating. We also are fans of foreign films and rare editions, but have never been able to afford an all-region player.
We heard tale of a great all-region player that could be found on Amazon for well under $75 and thought it was too good to be true. But as our DVD player at the time sounded like a mini helicopter every time we watched a movie, we were willing to try anything! It arrived super fast and we were pleasantly surprised at how compact the unit is (not as thick as a Harry Potter book, but wider). The first thing we did was set it up for all-region coding (instructions were included) and gave it a test run with a European disc -and it worked! So did a disc from Japan! Wonderful!
Bottom line, it is a great little basic DVD player with a fantastic all-region perk. It doesn't record or have a clock to set (but we haven't missed that), but has held up to our rigorous routine for over a month now and we couldn't be more pleased. Even the remote is nice; simple, not too thin, and all the buttons are clearly labeled. If you've always wanted a basic player and the ability to watch foreign discs but couldn't plunk down the extra cash, this could be the perfect player for you!
Customer Review: Excellent region free capable DVD player
Summary: 5 Stars
The reason I bought this DVD player (bought Dec 2005 at BestBuy) is for the ease with which this player can be made to play DVDs bought from other countries. My family has a number of DVDs with great children's content from our relatives who live aross the ocean -- we used to play them only on a personal computer and hook it up to a TV. Not the most elegant solution, I'm telling ya. I did some research on the Internet and came across this model. Of course, as most (all?) DVD players available at major retailers, this DVD comes preprogrammed as region-1 capable of playing only North American NTSC DVDs (or region ALL DVDs that are supposed to be played on all DVD players). I consider the whole DVD region business to be a nuisance as it prevents me from playing perfectly legal DVDs that I am not able to buy otherwise here in the States. To make the story short, reprogramming the unit to be region free is a breath. Beware -- the 'hack' is model specific, and can vary for units manifactured at different places (with different firmware). For my unit, bought at BB just recently (12/2005), it works like magic. Details of how to do that are widely available on the Internet (e.g. google CH-DVD 300 videohelp and follow the second link thereof).
In short, it's a fantastic unit doing what I needed for little money. If all you care for is a region-1 DVD player then the unit is probably a usual low budget / not bad image quality player. But if you need to play DVDs from other countries -- this player is a sure winner. Get one and see for yourself. Good luck!