This evening, I picked up a pair of CyberHome CH-500 DVD players -- one for me, one for a friend.
It plays US Region 1 DVDs out of the box. With a one-time code twiddle, it plays ALL regions. It CONVERTS PAL TO NTSC ON THE FLY -- no added hardware required to play PAL discs on NTSC TVs. Hello, EUROPE! It plays VCDs, SVCDs and XVCDs. It plays JPG photo CDs. It plays CDRs, CDRWs, DVD-Rs, DVD+Rs, DVD-RWs and DVR+RWs. It plays MP3 compilation CDs. It plays MiniDVDs. I'm having a hard time finding anything that it WON'T play. It has S-Video, Component, RCA, Optical, Coaxial, Dolby 5.1 surround, and probably a couple of other forms of output I'm forgetting. With a code twiddle on the remote control, it KILLS MACROVISION DEAD, so I can run it through the VCR and finally have a DVD player in my bedroom.
And it's under a hundred bucks.
Holy flirking SHNIT.
"...Also, living in NYC, to stop any terrorists from braking into my home I've crammed pickles in the gap between the front door and the floor - try and brake past my juicy green wall of defense." -- commenter on FARK
What's this "one-time code twiddle"? Is that anything like shipping your unit out to get a new chip in it like I used to have to do with my PSX to get it to play imports? :)
More like "turn the player on, open the drive door, hit STOP, hit four numbers on the remote, select a region (or ALL) from the menu, turn it off and on again, play anything from anywhere."
Yee-farkin-HAW.
"...Also, living in NYC, to stop any terrorists from braking into my home I've crammed pickles in the gap between the front door and the floor - try and brake past my juicy green wall of defense." -- commenter on FARK
Amazon.com has them for $99.99, but apparently Best Buy had them on sale as low as $69 recently.
Better yet, it's a Progressive Scan player. So if you're thinking about going wide screen in the not too distant future, this sounds pretty good.
Progressive Scan Video (480p) with 3:2 pulldown support Selectable NTSC or PAL Output Compatible with DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW & CD-R/RW Media DTS/Dolby Digital 5.1 Analog Outputs On-Screen MP3 Player Inferface View JPG Images on your TV Optical and CoAxial Digital Audio Outputs
Full specs at cyberhome.com
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Originally posted by CRZYou're not going to tell us WHERE you got it?
(I'm still happy with my Sampo + firmware CD but I'm always looking out for extras...especially if they're cheap!)
I got mine at Best Buy for $64.99 on clearance. Unfortunately, they're vanishing quickly from shelves there, so call ahead first, and they're no longer available on the web site. (Link provided for store-locator purposes.)
Argus Electronics has them online for $89.99 (plus shipping). They're reportedly reliable, and the Best Buy players I got had Argus stickers on the box.
You might try other techie retailers like Fry's, if you have one nearby.
And if you can't find the 500, check your local Suncoast Pictures, which carries the 402 for $69.99. The 402 doesn't have the Macrovision hack or Progressive Scan, but does everything else (region-free, PAL, MP3, etc.) that the 500 does.
"...Also, living in NYC, to stop any terrorists from braking into my home I've crammed pickles in the gap between the front door and the floor - try and brake past my juicy green wall of defense." -- commenter on FARK
Quick followup: I got my first test disc in the mail yesterday from amazon.co.uk (The Fast Show Live, Regions 2-4, PAL). It played flawlessly on the CyberHome, with the region-hack applied.
"...Also, living in NYC, to stop any terrorists from braking into my home I've crammed pickles in the gap between the front door and the floor - try and brake past my juicy green wall of defense." -- commenter on FARK
Originally posted by The ThrillDoes it play DVD audio? Super audio CDs?
DVD Audio... well, I'll give you CyberHome's Knowledge Base answer: Yes and no.
Super Audio CDs: no. Hey, it's a $65 player!
(EDIT: non-jacked URL)
(edited by vsp on 7.3.03 1221) "...Also, living in NYC, to stop any terrorists from braking into my home I've crammed pickles in the gap between the front door and the floor - try and brake past my juicy green wall of defense." -- commenter on FARK
Originally posted by piemanI have been in the market for a DVD player recently. Actually, a combination DVD/VHS if possible. Any ideas where to start?
Update on the CyberHome CH-500. Amazon is out of them now, too.
word of advice. stay away from the combo units until you do research.
many custs at my video store have macrovision/copy protection issues on combo units, because the VHS unit is where the video out goes through. if the DVD player has a macrovision breaker, you're good to go....SHOP AROUND....
i'd hate to get stuck with a library of DVDs I couldn't watch because of a faulty unit...
I think there are crocs in the sewers. Great big honking ones...
My mom bought TWO of those combo units, and was distressed both times when she couldn't play a DVD and record it on the VHS side. (You might be able to do that with home-burned DVDs, but just about anything you've bought in a store will be copy-protected.) I explained it thoroughly after she bought the first one, which limited my sympathy when she bought the second.
I don't know of any combo-units that can disable Macrovision, though that doesn't mean that some company in China or Japan hasn't built one yet...
"...Also, living in NYC, to stop any terrorists from braking into my home I've crammed pickles in the gap between the front door and the floor - try and brake past my juicy green wall of defense." -- commenter on FARK
I bought my mother a TV/VCR/DVD combo for Christmas, and she hasnt had any macrovision/copy protection problems while watching DVD's. I don't know anything about taping them, but there is no problem with viewing them like if you linked a DVD player through the VCR to the TV. It is more expensive than just a VCR/DVD combo though, but works great for a room that didnt initially have a TV.
Originally posted by KeeperI bought my mother a TV/VCR/DVD combo for Christmas, and she hasnt had any macrovision/copy protection problems while watching DVD's. I don't know anything about taping them, but there is no problem with viewing them like if you linked a DVD player through the VCR to the TV. It is more expensive than just a VCR/DVD combo though, but works great for a room that didnt initially have a TV.
usually the problem is with the "no name" brands...
also, all the best buys in the DC area are out of the ultra cool player vsp bought, and they don't plan on getting more, hence the clearence sale...
I think there are crocs in the sewers. Great big honking ones...
I bought the Broksonic 810. Very low price, but it had all the features that I wanted but wasn't so expensive so that when one of the pie-lettes breaks we can just get another one!
He's Rolie Polie Olie - and in his world of curves and curls, he's the swellest kid around.
I bought a Sylvania DVD/VCR Combo at Best Buy last October or so for about $150? I dont remember the exact price. Anywho, I was kinda scared of buying anything American (Sorry.), but I said to myself "Hey, it's a SYLVANIA for crying out loud. It's not like I'm buying an AC DELCO or anything crazy like that!", right?
One week after I bought it, all of the buttons on the bottom half of the remote control stopped working for No Good Reason. I tracked down their website and discovered that Sylvania is owned by the Funai Corporation (Along with Emerson! So much for buying American). I also found out that Funai's corporate US headquarters is only about 20 minutes from my house, so I took my P.O.S. remote control over there during my lunchbreak to see if they'd sell me a new one. They were nice enough to give me a brand-new replacement (no questions asked), but gave me a stern warning NEVER to return products to their corp HQ again.
Whatever. Moral of this story? I forget. But what I really posted for was to ask why DVD players are so cheap ($70-$80), and regular old VCRs arent like $20 each yet?
I had almost the same problem with my Oritron I bought three years ago, except none of the buttons on the front of the unit worked anymore, just the remote.
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