Dansai 1010

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Good
Sound Level	Excellent
Range of Features	Above Average
Durability	Satisfactory
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Cheap in comparison to most other DVD players; fits in with mod cons; plays almost anything
Disadvantages:	support (or lack of it); not sure about if it could recover after a knock

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

One of my latest expenditures on extravagant new technology was on, funnily enough, this Dansai DVD player. It caught my eye whilst I was curiously browsing through the new electronic goodies in my local Tesco Extra store, modestly priced at just under £70. Please note, however, that this was a special offer price and, although you may find this DVD player costing around the same price as I paid, DVD players have seriously decreased in value over the last few months and prices are continuing to fall today.

Buying

The DVD player came in a sturdy box with appropriate protection surrounding the actual player. As I bought it from Tesco Extra I just picked up the box and took it through the checkout – it was therefore very simple to buy. If you buy this DVD player from the Internet, however, please be very wary and ensure that your player will be arriving by hand preferably with the relevant insurance, as it does not look like it would withstand the pressure of being dropped.

Included within the box is a standard DVD remote control with all of the most common functions on and an instruction manual. The relevant cables were also supplied with the DVD player, but you should always make sure that they come with it by checking on the box. The box for this specific model was extremely informative and gave me all of the information that I needed to know about the player, including lots of technical specifications that I wasn’t really interested in at the time but which more experienced users may appreciate and take into consideration when mulling over a purchase.

Features

In addition to playing DVDs, it can play VCDs and MP3 CDs (CD-R and RW). It has both fast-fast-forward and fast-rewind features and, coupled with the fact that it has played every single DVD I have put into it, is a very well designed system.

Looks

Even by today’s standards, the Dansai 1010 DVD player looks very modern. All of the buttons on the front of the player are either circular (like the power button) or shaped in a semi-circular pattern, giving the player a stylish look. The actual DVD drive itself is pretty bog-standard; its shape is the normal rectangular shape you see on nearly every DVD player. Below the drive is a row of function logos; VCD, of course, being one of them.

Setting It Up

Setup was extremely simple and required no look at the instructions whatsoever. All you have to do is hook up the DVD player with the TV via a ‘scart lead’ (you need to make sure beforehand that your TV has one of these – most, if not all newer TVs have them) – evidently simple due to the large socket which the scart takes up in both the DVD and TV. Then all you need to do is simply plug in the DVD player and television to a power supply. Once it’s all switched on, a screen comes up by Tesco stating that if any problems are encountered to ring their helpline on 0845 6012549. This is quite handy, although I have never used it so cannot vouch for its authenticity. In addition, this specific player has been out for a while – the telephone number may well have changed since the purchase. Insert a DVD or other playable medium of your choice and you’re away!

Viewing a DVD

Unlike the old VHS, DVDs typically full of special features such as uncut scenes, interviews and unique previews bundled together with the actual feature movie itself. When you first put the DVD into the player, a menu normally comes up through which you can easily navigate using the supplied remote control. Volume can also be controlled this way. The remote control is very easy to work and is, in all honesty, self-explanatory. I was very surprised by both the picture and sound quality; both were crystal clear!

Listening to CD-Rs / RWs

When you pop a CD-R or RW (this player can play both) into the drive, a list of all your files and folders with the songs in comes up. You can navigate through the folders to find the songs you want, and even do things with them like program them to automatically shuffle themselves and play in a random order. This is very simple to do using the remote control as you just direct the highlighter around the different folders, working very much in the same way as a PC would. The songs play with no hesitation and use your television’s own speakers to play the sounds with good quality.

Anything Else?

I have heard (I swear I’ve only heard!! Hehe) that you can actually unlock your Dansai 1010 DVD player to play ANY region (normally DVD players are locked to a certain region so you have to buy certain DVDs to be able to view them properly – sometimes making you pay considerably more than you might usually do) by simply pressing a few buttons on the remote control in conjunction with some on the front of the actual player. Although I am not going to go into detail of how to do this here, there are many sites which will tell you how to complete the very easy steps – a quick search on google will bring up all of the information that you need [sorry, want :P] to know.

Support

Although I have never been able to find a contact address / website / email address for Dansai directly, there are a number of avenues open to go down if you’re stuck. Firstly, there is a vast range of help sites relating to Dansai products, the 1010 DVD player included. It’s a shame that there is no official website (or none that I could find) for Dansai, as a nice support base would have been the cherry on the cake, so to speak.

Overall, a nice little package available for a nice little price. I have to raise my glass to Dansai – they have done extremely well on producing a product that does so much. As I previously mentioned, there is even a sequence which you can press on your remote control and DVD player to unlock it to be able to play any region whatsoever. I can assure you that it has played everything I have wanted it to play, and done its job exceptionally well. The only downfall is the support – or lack of it. Tesco have been nice and supplied a telephone number but I’m not sure if this would be quite the same as talking to the actual manufacturers. Saying that, I have never needed any of the support – including the instructions – as it was all so easy to put together and maintain.

Thanks for reading – I hope it’s helped you decide whether this DVD is for you or not!

Chris