Alba DVD113

...DVD player, I choose the Alba DVD113

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MARKET AND PRICE
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I purchased this DVD player a few months back at the low price of £40. Despite this however the player has actually been on the market for a couple of years. Now when you consider the extent of DVD players two years ago, basically your looking at a DVD player and nothing more, it lacks the fancy ...
...out a while I think Alba are gradually fading them out as they introduce newer better models. All I wanted at the time however was a cheap DVD player and after searching around for ages, this was the cheapest at £40 from Argos. Since then however they have had their new summer catalogue so I'm not sure they still stock it. It was the first place that I had seen it although I'm sure you would be able to find it somewhere else providing you shopped ... more

After all the hype calmed down and so did the prices, I decided it was time for me to go out and buy a DVD player, I choose the Alba DVD113

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MARKET AND PRICE
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I purchased this DVD player a few months back at the low price of £40. Despite this however the player has actually been on the market for a couple of years. Now when you consider the extent of DVD players two years ago, basically your looking at a DVD player and nothing more, it lacks the fancy features of the more recent players today and therefore is limited in its capability of playing certain medias. At the time, however, it wouldn't have suprised me if this was a market leader, I would have expected to pay over £100 for it, being the stylish, fancy DVD PLAYER it is.

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AVAILIBILITY
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Because the player has been out a while I think Alba are gradually fading them out as they introduce newer better models. All I wanted at the time however was a cheap DVD player and after searching around for ages, this was the cheapest at £40 from Argos. Since then however they have had their new summer catalogue so I'm not sure they still stock it. It was the first place that I had seen it although I'm sure you would be able to find it somewhere else providing you shopped around, certainly on the internet anyway.

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CAPABILITIES
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The reason I keep emphasising DVD PLAYER is that basically, thats more the less all it is! Because of its age, when it was designed there were less media formats available which means it struggles to recognise many CDR/RW and DVDR/RW formats. Of course, it plays your normal CDs but struggles with home made CDs/DVDs. So far in my experiences the best CDRs to work with this machine are the Memorex, Ritek and Princo dics, most others (including sony, packard bell, TDK, Phillips and PC line) the DVD player just won't recognise. As for DVDRs, it plays the Ritek and Datawrite copies, and the odd Pioneer or JVC ones. This is one major disadvantage of the player, its lack of interaction with certain medias makes it difficult to use as a main dvd player, its perhaps better as a cheap one for the kids bedroom or for occassional use.

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DESIGN
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The design of the DVD player is one of its strong points. It looks sleek and stylish; and despite its age its still one of the best looking players I've seen, would go perfect with a silver TV and video player too. It also has a nice large screen, a criticism I think of newer players which seem to have loads of big buttons and then a tiny little display which you can hardly read!

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FEATURES
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The features are limited, again, purely because its been out a long time. You get your obvious play back features which enable you to skip scenes and go back scenes and selection of scenes. One disadvantage is that picture playback is often poor at times, particularly on DVDRs although this can be expected to an extent. The sound quality is satisfactory but can be hindered by the noise of the player, it makes an annoying buzzing noise while playing, although as you get into the films you tend to notice it less. It also takes time to initially recognise the disc, theres a couple of minutes of ticking before it recognises the disc and starts playing, I'm sure newer DVD players recognise the format straight away and begin playing as soon as you place the disc in the drive.

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EASE OF USE
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Its really easy to use; simply place your disc in wait for it to recognise and then it will play automatically. On my TV, as soon as I turn the DVD player on or enter a disc the approipriate channel is selected immediately so I can watch the DVD without having to switch channels, its all automatic. I should imagine this is the same with most TVs and most players but I couldn't be sure. If not, I'm sure its just a matter of flicking channels, you'll find it on one of the channels! It was easy to install also, I have it installed on SCART and the wire was included which meant I simply plugged it into the back of the TV and then plugged the other end into the DVD player. It was that simple, no programming channels like with VCRs although again, its probably this easy with all DVD players. The instructions are easy to follow and provide you with all the information you need. From the remote control, one can access all the basic functions needed, play, skip, rewind etc.

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DURABILITY/ ROBUSTNESS
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Well since I've bought it, its simply been sat underneath my television as expected so its hardly been through wear and tear! Despite the outer panels being made of plastic, it still sits there in pristine condition looking as stylish as ever.

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IN RELATION TO THE REST OF THE MARKET
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This part is essentially where the DVD player fails. Despite being cheap and cheerful, the actuality is that there are now even cheaper and much better DVD players out there. Okay, its been on the market for two years so its fiar to say that its reaching the end of its consumer life; people want a DVD plays everything in exceptional quality, even some of the cheap players manage to do this; but not this one, essentially it plays limited formats in satisfactory quality.

I'm going to reccomend this player purely because its stylish, cheap and ideal for occassional use and watching the odd DVD. However, its not for the technologically minded with its limited features. I'll be honest; I'll probably go out and buy another player in a couple of months as the limited media formats are particularly annoying; but if all you want is a DVD player (yes a DVD player, not DVDR/RW CDR/RW etc! lol) then this would prove adequate to your needs. Although its likely for the same price you can now get a DVD player which plays all the above media at a price tag nearing £40. Lets be honest, it was good in its day but perhaps its days are over.

 

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