No comments about JVC XVN372S Progressive Scan DVD Player.

5 comments about Mac Vision M510 10 Inch Portable DVD Pla.

1. I received my refurbished unit from Tigerdirect 3 days ago and so far the unit has performed flawlessly! It arrived with all oem cables, remote, charger and even an original owner's manual. I don't often purchase refurbished products but since I was in the market for a DVD player and didn't want to spend $250-$350........why not take a gamble!!! The only people who win the lottery are the ones that actually play!!! Jackpot!!! I got a great 10" player at a price no new 10" player could be purchased......no scratches or dents, all oem parts, manual, 1yr warranty card(not worth the paper it's printed on, 4 sure). I also picked up a nice Targus case to cuddle this little puppy and tote some DVD's as well. Don't expect superlative sound from the built in speakers but this can be said of all players in this category.....a pair of decent headphones are the way to go. I use a pair of Sennheiser HD555 phones that are simply superb!!!! This is one refurb purchase I'm glad I made and I'm not looking for the other shoe to drop either!!! I figure it was repaired to better than new condition when it got refurbished. I'm a happy camper after 3 days of ownership.......Okay, that's not nice.......I can almost hear you snickering!!! :-)
   
   JM2cents
   -Paul



2. the service was very quick. when i received the dvd player there was no battery and the dvd player was refurbished. the item was a gift so i had to return it. the return transaction was very quick and i was pleased with the service. when i reread the item description there was no mention of a battery or that it was refurbished. i have dealt with tigerdirect. ca before and not had a problem.



3. The product I received did not work. I did though receive a quick refund.



4. I purchase this product on line though Amazon. Com, they advertise this product to be NEW, so I could not beat the price they sold it for, we'll when I got the product, it was used, it did not have the remote controller in it, and it did not work. Of course I am sending it back to Tiger Products, they told me that it was used, I think that is false advertizing, people should really check out the company before they buy product from them on line.
   Ben D. San Diego, Ca



5. This was a reconditioned dvd player. Advertisement is false when it says new. It plays fine, does not play both through TV and dvd at same tome.

5 comments about Toshiba D-VR600 Tunerless 1080i Up-Converting DivX Certified DVD Recorder VCR Combo.

1. Unfortunately, the negative reviews turned out to be correct. I just bought it and I am returning it! It's awful. I then went out and bought a Sony and it is SO much better! It does whatever you program it to do -- there are no "failures" like the Toshiba had. What a pleasure.



2. the software for this machine is poorly designed. The user guide is disorganized and probably written by a person whose primary language is not English; and worst of all the recording feature did not work.
   
   I gave it to a neighbor who has too much free time in order to avoid the inconvenience of taking it to the land fill.



3. This product is great for being able to view AND record on video or dvd and serves the purpose for which I bought it - to accompany my new 37" Toshiba Flat screen for movie viewing, and also to record shows that I might not have time to watch in real-time for later viewing. The only thing that is a little frustrating is that the response time from remote to machine is delayed. Also - even if you push the buttons on the unit itself, it doesn't respond quickly. You have to wait for a few seconds for it to do what you tell it, so just make sure you don't press the buttons a whole bunch of times if it's not reacting fast enough - and learn how to be patient with it.....



4. I bought this unit with the intention of dubbing some of my VHS and Hi-8 tapes to DVD and have never reliably able to do it with the D-VR600. I think I have wasted a couple dozen DVDs and only successfully dubbed anything several times. I get the cryptic, undocumented message "Can't record. TV system of input video has changed." When I emailed Toshiba for an explanation I received none, but instead was told to unplug the unit for about a minute so the system could reset. Needless to say that did not work.
   
   I read in another review that Toshiba said this problem was due to a noisy signal from the tape. But I have had the problem whether dubbing the tapes or recording them from external VCRs, including commercial S-VHS and Hi-8 VCRs. At the same time, using a Canopus ADVC-300 analog to digital converter I am able to load every tape into a computer without it ever dropping a frame. I think the problem is the D-VR600 has a crappy analog to digital converter. (Why do do reviews nowadays only tell about the features that appliances have and not how well they work?)
   
   In summary, the D-VR600 was a complete waste of money for recording DVDs. (I was very disappointed, because I have an old Toshiba DVD player that works great.) The bottom line is that I will never buy another Toshiba product (although I am sure other consumer electronic companies are just as bad). And unfortunately in the future I will have to fork over the extra money to buy commercial grade equipment even when it comes to performing simple, routine tasks like recording a DVD.
   
   Also, I cannot recommend the Canopus analog to digital converters highly enough. I have tried many analog to digital converters and have always had problems with them dropping frames. But after hundreds of hours of use, my ADVC-300 has yet to drop any frames. And you can adjust the picture too. It's great.



5. but a basic product that performs a few basic functions laboriously-but still a good buy,at that price...

2 comments about Coby TF-DVD5005 5-Inch Portable DVD Player.

1. I have been dissapointed by TWO portable units so far... a Coby 3.5 inch I bought at Suncoast, the screen is horrible for subtitles and I'm a HUGE Anime and Japanese Music Video buff (although the unit played burned DVD's, and MP3's on CDR and DVDR) and a $200 10 inch Nortech that was permanently stuck in 16:9 and wouldn't play MP3's (which is stupid, cuz I only played $99 for the Coby and it does everything the Nortech won't!)
   
   So I am quite happy to finally see a portable that does MP3 discs, and has a relitively decent sized screen that isn't in crappy widescreen format. And for only $65 dollars? That's a steal. Now the real test will be if it plays my burned DVD's, considering most standalone home DVD players will play burns (I watched a burned DVD of "Moonchild," the movie with Gackt and Hyde in it, on a friend's older-than-the-hills home DVD unit) it probably will. I'm taking the Nortech back and I'm getting this!
   
   My idea for the perfect portable DVD player:
   
   1) Hasta have a good size screen that can show subtitles and ISN'T permanently stuck in 16:9 widescreen view ratio. (Sorry but this format is for THEATRICAL MOVIES, and i watch burns of TV SHOWS, Knight Rider just doesn't look right when everyone's head is smushed downward. It also helps if that LCD screen has a shield to keep kids from making "trails" on it.
   
   2) Should be able to display ID3 tags and scroll them. On alot of these DVD players they waste alot of screen space that could be used for more. My Rio Volt from 5 years ago does scrolling ID3 tags, and it was $50.
   
   3) Hasta be able to play burned DVD's with .SRT subtitles. And since Nero does a pretty good job of authoring DVD's, that shouldn't be an issue. Divx support would also be cool, but I guess that's asking a bit much.
   
   4) Treble and Bass adjustments! See, what I'd like to see is an all in one travel sized unit that is a hybrid of MP3 player and DVD player. Most HOME dvd units have bass and treble settings, so why isn't this on portables?



2. Great service, fast, wonderful product, will continue to buy from this seller. Ria Concetta

3 comments about Yamaha DVD-S1700 DVD/CD/SACD/DVD-Audio player with 1080p video upconversion.

1. I've had this unit about a month, and have played commercial (personal and Netflix) DVD's all day long with no problems, i.e., playing warm or cold, pristine or slightly used, through an HDMI connection. It has a very sharp "upconverted" picture, displays deep color, presents no motion problems (blurring), I've noticed absolutely no layer-change pauses through several disks, and have noticed no CUE or macroblocking issues, either. It also has a myriad of picture controls to fine tune the picture, although I've used my Sony XBR LCD to do most of that. And, in what Yamaha calls NL Stretch mode, 4:3 aspect ratio DVD's look pretty darn good when filling the screen; it basically stretches mostly the edges, so something like 80% of the center is relatively intact - that is, people don't look like blobs. So far it's played everything I've thrown at it, although I have yet to try every format. Also, it seems to be very well made and is very quiet. Some minor complaints: menu response times are slow (although DVD menu's seem to be okay), in that it takes a couple of clicks to get the menu to move; also, when you change DVD picture settings the player pauses the DVD to make the changes, then resumes where it left off, so you can't see it on screen as you're making them; and, the dimmer seems to have only two settings - bright (although it's not very) and dim - with no "auto" setting, as advertised. Overall, unless you're ready to camp with HD DVD or BlueRay, I recommend this pretty impressive DVD player.



2. Good DVD player, but a little bit big for my limited space. I would prefer a slim line for my space, but wanted the 1080p upconversion feature of this model.



3. It is an universal DVD player. It is not a High Definition version.
   
   I did test it with DVD,DivX, SACD, MP3 and CD. And the performance with this kind of media is acceptable. I did test the DVD-Audio (see a possible bug detail at the end)
   
   The unit takes some time to load a disk, but in my opinion is acceptable. I also have a Pioneer DVD player only with DVD/CD/MP3 and it takes the same time loading the media.
   
   The multichannel output works very well. I did connect it with a Yamaha receiver RX-V861. DivX sounds very good.
   
   The only detail I should mention is that the HDMI interface is not 1.2 then it doesn't pass DSD across high definition interface. I need to connect the 6 analog cables to listen SACD multichannel. But in my case it was not a problem.
   
   UPDATE:
   DVD-Audio possible bug:
   I discovered a possible bug with some DVD-audio media.
   The unit has problems with DVD-audio which has the audio track(AUDIO_TS) between the two layers.
   
   The DVD is formed by a VIDEO_TS zone and a AUDIO_TS zone. When you have a video DVD. The AUDIO_TS zone is empty. When you have a only dvd-audio, the VIDEO_TS zone is empty. When you have an hybrid DVD. You have both zones. Therefore only a few hybrid DVD has more than 4.7GB. If the size of both zones is bigger, the manufacturer needs two layers to fix the media. If the audio zone goes next the video, them is possible to have the transition layer inside the AUDIO_TS zone. Only in this case I have problem with the S1700. It is why is difficult to detect.
   
   When the last track in the layer 1 ends the player never changes to the next track which is in the layer 2.
   
   The track at the end of layer 1 ends and the player keeps in silence. If you set OSD on TV screen you can see the time up-counter goes on counting and the down-counter keep in zero. But the player keeps there forever. Some times at 6 minutes of silence the player stops but the resume option start the disk from the begin.
   
   It is necessary to press the skip button in order to continue in the next track.
   
   "The Beatles LOVE" DVD-A has this condition. It is a hybrid DVD with both a video zone and a audio zone. The video zone has DTS, Dolby and PCM. The audio zone has a DSD version. After listen the track 21 the track 22 never begin, unless you press the skip button.
   
   I build a DVD-A disk to verify this possible bug using the evaluation version of DVD-AUDIO SOLO with the same result at the transition layer.
   
   I also check other two players in a Yamaha Dealer. I did test a DVD-S657 and another DVD-S1700.
   
   Only the DVD-S657 works OK without any problem. The other S1700, has the same problem.
   
   I sent my unit to Yamaha for a test. They verify my report and transfer the results to the engineer staff in order to evaluate the origin. It should be a firmware update in future.

No comments about Initial 8.5" Personal DVD Player - IDM-8510.

5 comments about Samsung DVD-HD841 Up-Converting DVD Player.

1. I've had this player for a year now and it's a real dud. It's got a terrible remote pickup, bad menus and worst of all, it resets some of its settings while your watching a DVD. Stay away from this disaster.



2. Earlier this week I received the factory referbished Samsung HD841. I have had a few days to use it and compare it to my other players, mainly my Philips 642, which have been excellent players for me. This Model does well. I don't understand why this model has such a rough reveiw. Note, this model has the DVI output, If your TV has an HDMI port, you will want to check out the Samsung HD 850 (identical otherwise). First, this model has component, composite and S-video hook ups, as well as the DVI port (still have to run seperate sound out with DVI). Also, this model does feature digital coax sound out and optical sound out as well for systems that can handle 5.1 THX. Many upconvert models do not have the digital outs on lower priced models. The picture quality is great, at 480p comparable with my Philips. Again, The upconvert works well out the DVI hook up to my TV, but to be honest, it is hard to tell any difference between it and a good 480p progressive scan player, at least on my tv which is a 23" 720p LCD. Menus also are a bit difficult to figure out at first as well. The user manual is less than impressive at explaining thing, in fact, it does not have an index. But, it the main thing is that the player is does perform well, and is a name brand product from samsung (I have had some offbrand experience and have had perfomace problems). THis player also appears to have DivX available on it, not noted in the product discription, so that was a suprise as well. This will allow the use of MP4 movie files. The remote again is bigger and at first more difficult than my other players, but after a day or so it actually is better because many of the features are available to change at the push of a button instread of going through the menus. In all, I will continue to explore this new player, but in all it seems to be a quality product that has received some bad flack. So give it a chane, the prices are good currently, quality has been good, and it is a Samsung.
   Note to the technosavy: I have not had luck using the component upconvert code that is available on other web sites, so I am using my DVI input for upconvert. Also, the new Blue ray (HD 1080p) DVD players are out, so if you have the expensive hi res tvs that can handle this, you might want to wait and save till you can get the new DVD players.
   Note 2: the factory referbished models come with a DVI cable, a 20-30 dollar value that many don't come with.



3. I purchased this player for around 70 bucks shipped from an Ebay vendor last week. It was packaged as a recondition and arrived with new remote batteries and a DVI cable to boot. It was easy to setup with my Westinghouse 37inch LCD using DVI cable provided. I am no expert, but the picture looked fine to me and appeared to look sharper than an older non-upscaling DVD player we have for the old tube tv. With output settings at 1080I for the LCD and the HD841 it looked very good. I use a Harmony 880 remote for everything, so I cannot comment on the included remote.
   
   I think this was a resonable choice to fill the gap until HD discs and players come down in price and become more commonplace.



4. I had difficulty with this unit. It would play DVD's I made myself, but not any store bought DVD's through the DVI Cable. I called up Samsung support and found out that unless your TV is HDCP compliant then it will not play store bought DVD's through the DVI Cable. This unit only up converts through the DVI cable, so unless your TV\Monitor is HDCP compliant, do not expect it to work properly. (HDCP is a copy protection built into your hardware to prevent copying of the Movie).



5. Just as a note, the DTS skipping problem I was able to resolve by updating the firmware on the unit. You can download the firmware from Samsung's site. After that, DTS sound worked great and I didn't have anymore skipping.
   
   The problem I have is that it doesn't seem to want to output Dolby Digital to my receiver...it's sending a signal that gets detected as Dolby Pro Logic by my receiver which auto-detects the correct surround format. It's not my receiver as my comcast box sends out digital 5.1 and the receiver detects it correctly.
   
   This dvd player has been okay, but it's just clunky. I haven't had too many problems with the remote and not had any problems with the display. It works on par with any DVD player, but nothing special.
   
   When you can buy an Oppo-Digital DVD player for about the same price or lower, it just doesn't make much sense.

5 comments about Toshiba RD-XS54 DVD Recorder with 250 GB Hard Drive.

1. I'll try to get as much in as short a space as possible"
   
   (1) All these DVRs use the same Gemstar TV Guide On Screen (TVGOS) system. Selecting a program is easy but setting it up is a very poor process with no backup capability. SAME ON ALL DVRS.
   (2) This is a very feature heavy machine. AWESOME for power users. Not for the beginners or those who only understand TIVO. Get a crappy Sony that does little except record with the same quality and functions like an old VCR.
   (3) Unless you have an extremely quiet room, you'll never hear the fan when the TV is on or if there is even a small amount of background noise, where there usually is. Never put ANY DVR in your bedroom that uses the TVGOS or else you'll hear the hard drive spinning as it updates itself at night. I don't mind it or would get a case with glass doors.
   (4) This is by far the most feature rich DVR to come out. It does a slew of incredible things. The manual is over 120 pages for good reason. It works and I've done a lot with mine. It's a geeks paradise.
   (5) If you are buying a DVR, make sure you do the research. This one has the ability to watch a program and put cue markers in. The Pioneers currently do NOT, which is rather remarkable. The Pioneer editing is OK but finished product to present to friends is not impressive, even though they are good quality recording machines. They are a different DVR.
   
   EDIT - FIVE STAR REVIEW
   
   It has its quirks but now that hard disk DVD recorders are out of production, we can all cry about perfection. This unit is far and away the most versatile recorder of all. Dumping video, editing, burning, you name it. It's not the easiest one to use, for sure, but it's not that difficult with a little time investment. The power of this little unit is amazing - you can even broadcast your video to PCs around your home network. Want to watch while you work but on your monitor in another room - it does it! Record a show by sending an email? Does that too. Has more features to record regular TV shows than any other unit and also does a fantastic job with recording and burning 16x9 properly. It's one of a kind and you're lucky to find one if you can. Easily worth the original retail price and then some.



2. The fan is noticable, but the benefits of this machine far outway the slight noise you'll hear in the still quiet. 250 GB hard drive lets you record regularly on several programs and not have to worry about deleting right away. Free TV Guide downloaded within hours and I don't have to pay for TIVO monthly service. Plus... my girlfriend and I have countless hours of camcorder footage that we wanted to edit onto a DVD. The onscreen editing feature allows you to record the segments you want to the hard drive and then transfer easily to the DVD. It's everything I ever wanted in a DVR. I highly recommend it.



3. I hate this machine with a deep and abiding passion. Has been back and forth to the factory authorized service center three times now and still doesn't do what it's supposed to.
   
   Being a bit of a techno-geek, I thought I could figure it out with no problem. Right!!!! Set everything up using the instructions and then turned it off and let it set for 24 Hours so the TV Guide system could program itself. 24 hours later, it had identified about 20 channels, most of which I do not get, missed three local channels and loaded about 4 hours worth of schedule. Tried again. Same result. Called Customer Service, who walked me through exactly what I had already done the previous two times. 24 hours later, same exact "setup" as before. More phone calls. Same results. Sent to service center. They couldn't find anything wrong with it and sent it back. And so forth and so on. The hard drive has "corrupted" itself on an almost weekly basis. I just moved it into a spare bedroom and hooked it up to a TV to function as a very, very, very expensive DVD player.
   
   If the damn things weren't so expensive, I would start buying them and giving them as gifts to people I really, really don't like.



4. First - Toshiba has stopped making this model. Anything you buy now is left over stock.
   
   I have had mine for a year. I like it but am not happy. I am connected
   to Comcast cable. They do not pass the TV Guide data thru their digital
   Motorola box. The TV guide on the Toshiba is usless to me because I
   can't get the data from the digital box.
   
   Once in a while it locks up. You have to unplug it and plug it back in to get it back to working again. As I understand you can call Toshiba and complain about the lockup and they will mail you disk with a firmware upgrade that MIGHT fix the problem. 1-800-319-6684 I called and got mine sent yesterday. If you go to the setup menu and select the last option on the top right of the menu (has an icon of keys) look down at the bottom of this list and there is a software revision number. If its 1100 or above the firmware upgrade is of no use to you.



5. I bought this over a year ago and it has proved to be one of the best purchases ever.

1 comments about Polaroid 7" Mobile Video System with DVD Player - Pdm-2737.

1. to start off this reveiw, the product is great, it has good digital quality and audio as well. I wanted to use it to play X-Box 360 in the car. it does NOT have the AV inputs that it says it has. it does however come with 2 layed-back style head phones, and a total of three head phone jacks. IMPORTANT although it did come with a rechargable battery you also need to plug the second screen into the wall or car plug to get it to play on both screens. there was a small humming noise when I used the player but not loud enought to matter. it seems to be of pretty good make and is a good buy if you are looking to watch movies in the car without distracting the driver.

2 comments about Protron PDV-808 8 Portable DVD Player.

1. Pros: Nice size screen for the price with nice clear picture. Takes movement without skipping. Battery lasts for about 2.5hrs. Comes complete with carry and carseat mount case, home and car adapter. Has worked with purchased and recorded (dvd-R) movies. Battery charges quickly.
   
   Cons: Volume without headphones is very very low. Volume is ok with headphones. It comes with earbud headphones with a splitter so two people can watch at once but I have not used the ones that came with it. With my own headphones the volume is fine and the sound quality is good.
   The dvd door is pretty flimsy. Due to this alone I would not recommend this unit for operation by a child. As long as you aren't abusive it should be fine though. The unit itself seems as sturdy as any of the name brands that I've checked out in stores.
   Some features (like fast forward and turning on/off captions) only seem to work by using the remote even though there seem to be buttons on the unit itself. I do admit thought that I haven't bothered to read the manual and I simply may not have set up some features properly.
   
   Overall I am satisfied with my purchase and it seems good value for the price.



2. SpectronIQ has a 90 day warranty. How bad would your electronics have to be to break within 90 days? My DVD player lasted about 5 months of light use, then the battery bulged and would not stay in the unit. Look at the companies web site before you buy. To me, it seems they are counting on making money off the people who will buy non-name brand because it is super cheap. In the case of this company, I would say definitely think twice.