Price, Reliability, Plays anything, Lots of special features
Disadvantages:
Fiddly remote .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Cyberhome CH-DVD 402
Cyberhome have reputation for producing solid, reliable cheap players with features only normally associated with high end kit and this one is no exception. This player was bought before Christmas for £80 and I am delighted with its performance and impressive list of features. It’s my first DVD player so I have nothing to compare it to but video and I have to say that watching video in comparison is like looking at TV through net curtains.
VIDEO SETTINGS The 402 has many video settings, multi-angle support, multi-speed slow motion 2x, 4x, 8x 16x forwards and backwards and multi-speed searching. It is also adjustable for brightness, contrast and screen format, 4;3, 16:9 widescreen and audio settings which you need to set up to match your TV and audio gear. Once all these are set you don’t need to bother with them again, unless you buy that huge TV you’ve been promising yourself later on. The picture quality is excellent and can be connected to the TV by S-video, SCART, RGB SCART, or composite video out connection and the on screen menus are simple and easy to use. It also comes with a full set of leads so you can connect it up right out of the box.
DISC TYPES This player will handle any type of disc, being compatible with DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW & CD-R/RW Media and has a great feature of being able to play JPEG images as a slide show on your TV. Simply burn your digital photos onto a recordable CD and follow the on screen display to view your holiday snaps. I’ve yet to put a disc in that it wouldn’t play.
AUDIO It also features a DTS/Dolby Digital decoder which outputs digital bitstream audio via coaxial or optical ports, or analogue left and right for stereo so it’s simple to connect to a Dolby 5.1 amplifier or digital theatre system for the full theatre effect. You can also play all your audio CD's including any 'backup' copies you've made for yourself.
REMOTE Although the unit itself is excellent there is a slight problem with the remote. The buttons are rather small, oddly laid out and the main play button is difficult to find, on the wrong side (upper left) of the pad for a right-handed person. But this is more of a niggle than a major problem. On the up side the important remote keys glow in the dark, useful when watching with the lights out!
MULTI-REGION The 402 comes as a single region player set to region 2, but this can be over-ridden by entering the code supplied with the instructions and it can be permanently set to multi-region allowing you to play DVDs from anywhere in the world if you’re that way inclined. Mine is now region free but I don’t have anything but region 2 discs to try yet!
PLAYING FUNCTIONS LIST Quick and Slow Forward / Backward Play 2x, 4x ,8x 16x Repeat Section A to B, 1/All Rating Level ( including parental lock) Multi Language (depends on title) Subtitle (depends on title) Multi Angle (depends on title) 16:9 / 4:3 TV Screen Selection MP3 Playlist Playback Repeat Zoom-In and Zoom-Out Function Jpeg Slide Show
OVERALL With electronics goods like DVD players things move on very quickly and if you’re in the market for a entry level DVD player there are suddenly lots to choose from. Coupled with recent price drops (Argos are selling a player for less than £40) it’s difficult to decide. This player is currently available (1.8.03) for £69 inc post at Gameloaded. There are more stylish models available but not all are reliable and not all have this many features packed in to them. At 79mm high it’s not the slimmest player around, but based on my own research prior to buying this and it’s performance over 10 months, I’d buy it again. It’s simple to set up, easy to use, great performance and reliablility.
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