Well it's my first DVD player so don't expect too much, and it is only connected to a portable colour set. My massive dvd collection can be counted on one hand, and three of those are childrens titles.
Evita, Walking with dinos, Flumps, Tigger Movie and Tarzan 2CD. All region 2.
Comes with everything, (except amp & speakers of course ;-) Scart and Phono cable, even batteries for remote.
TV only has UHF in, so it had to be SCART to SCART on Nicam video. The output of this is connected to a Dolby Pro Logic 5 speaker HiFi. Having read some postings, I wasn't sure if this would work.
Works, just great, picture is brilliant, mind you cartoon animation does seem to stress system less. I think it is because the level of detail and colours tends to be lower, and of course I am used to VHS. I know what I will be buying in future though! I think you can guess from this that Macro must be off, out of the box, well put it this way, it makes VHS backups ! (but why would I want to !?).
Takes about 6 secs to load, feels like longer (oh just think of the days when they had to loop the film through the projector for stuff like this), Zoom X2 and X4, does anyone use this? Great way to miss the film and X4 is crap. I suppose OK if you freeze frame and then zoom in on the interesting bits (I said bits!!). X2, X4, X8 & X16 Fwd & Rvs, pitty the sound cuts off. Slow 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16. Goto - Title, Chapt, Time. Repeat A-B & 1/ALL, Subtitle defaults to on. (heard of that before!)
It has DTS & 5.1 coax and optical out, not much use to me though, but it does down-mix to twin phono which is OK. The simulated surround modes are great, that is if you want it to sound like you watch TV in the bathroom or the albert hall. It also has a graphic equaliser. Lots of fun to be had, just not while the kids are watching disney films, they get quite nasty.
Basic navigation and playing can be done from front panel (lots of buttons) which makes a change these days, great if you lose the remote, I am sure the kids think it is funny to hide them and see how long it takes me to find them. I do have a 4 in 1, but it never supports all of the functions. Anyone know how they cope with DVD players. I don't have the dosh for one of the all singing dancing variety that connect to a PC and cost more than a basic VCR, (more than a basic DVD player for that matter).
Remote is OK, probably just above average, not too cramped, main buttons made from that luminous stuff that glows if you take it from light to dark, oooooohhhhh.
I am still having fun getting used to the controls. First problem is that I keep pointing the remote at the telly, Doh! It can be frustrating the way buttons aren't always active, you get a little symbol in the corner of the screen like a no-entry sign to indicate this.
CD Audio no problem, CD, CD-R and CD-RW. Sadly just a boring splash screen. Could have been much cleverer, No text title or track info options. Very basic but no worse than any of the other CD players in the household. X2 and X8 Fwd and Rvs amusing. MP3 even more basic, only limited trials using CD-RW and root directory, just shows total tracks and plays in order. You can skip fwd, but not back! I did try Adaptec Direct CD at first as an experiment on the CD-RW tests, but player didn't recognise it, (Surprise, surprise).
Sorry not into VCD yet, I really must get a capture card for my PC (ATI ones look good). Should support VCD & SVCD but not tested. It does warn you not to try Photo-CD or DVD-RAM, as problems may occur!
Only offered in black. (Great the rest of my kit is black and her in doors said definately not Gold, or is it Champagne ;-)
Did I miss anything? I think I have just re-written the user manual (Mines Better ;-). No I am not affiliated with CyberHome or Jungle.
Oh yes, hack code (thank you DVD Reviewer for Hack Section), same as AD-N212. System menu is "Argus 3" ?, lots of info about firmware and drive revision, etc. Two pages and several codes that can be changed. Region (preset to 2) tested on 1 - (refused to play reg 2 disc), and 13 - (played disc OK). Error correct - OFF ?, Macro, etc. Also from German web-site it looks like you can upgrade code from a download + CD-burn, etc.
I notice that Jungle still haven't put it back on the web site yet ? but if you phone orderline and quote CYB044 they can give you stock position !! and take an order from you (they did try, didn't mention I had one on order already, well if CS hadn't kept on messing me about.... blah,blah..).
I paid £182 cos of my jungle jewels (don't ask!), normal price is £199.95
Free delivery.
In summary, Congratulations if you got this far! Based on limited testing and IMHO, looks OK, picture great, sound OK, Audio controls could be much slicker for DA & MP3, but it does play them and sounds OK to me.
It has crashed twice and needed cold restart, once from standby to on and navigating Tarzan Bonus disc (disney really pushed the boat out on this one, it has early demos of Phil Collins sound track!! This is what bonus stuff should be like, I take my hat-off, Sorry slipping into a DVD row ;-) It also locked during an MP3 test, but ejecting the disk cleared it.
Manual is OK but a bit short and just runs through basic features falling short on detail on more complex issues. I like to know why? As well as How. No mention of service menu ;-) What I would really like is the documentation for that!
David Adams
P.S. If you want to have some fun, ask a sales assistant in any high street electrical store about HDCD, and if it is like MP3.
(Sorry if you happen to be one;-)
