Goodmans GDVD161

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Cost and features you get for your money .
Disadvantages:	displays file name not tag information on MP3s

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Model : Goodmans GDVD161DX

The first thing to say about this unit is it is very nice looking, with chrome knobs, buttons and facia and the case is silver. Quite thin but rather wider than I would have liked, however it does fit in to my TV cabinet so I'm not too concerned.

It has two headphone sockets with an independent volume control knob all front facing. This is a really nice feature, the volume control knobs are flush fitting and if you press them they smoothly pop out for rotary adjustment of the volume. The headphone sockets accept the large headphone jack plug.

Technically you get a lot for your money. It plays all the formats most people are likely to need and more:
DVD single / double sided,
DVD single / dual layer,
DivX movies on CD or DVD disk - which is really useful because most full length films will fit on to a CD when in DivX format.
Windows media files,
Mpeg 1 & 2 (.mpg, .mp4, .mp2, .dat, .vob etc.) movie files
Mpeg (.mp3) audio files
Audio CD
Video CD (VCD)
Super Video CD (SVCD)
Kodak picture CD
.jpg pictures

I have not listed all file extensions but basically it will play any of the Mpeg standard formats. And what is a real bonus is you do not have to author your DVDs, VCDs etc. Some players will only play a DVD movie if the disc has been created to the standard format, that is the video file is in a folder called "video_ts" and the movie files are .vob. This is easy enough to do, however because this player is so flexible you can put DVD movies (eg small ones from a digital camera) on to a CD and the Goodmans player is quite happy to play it. Obviously to create your own VCD, DVD, DivX discs you need a pc and suitable software (there is lots of software available that is freeware) and you must remember that in most countries it is illegal to copy copyrighted movies and music discs.

The outputs are impressive: Dolby digital 5.1 (six channel outputs) unfortunately this needs a separate amplifier, composite video out, s-vhs video out, red - blue - yellow video out (useful for projectors), optical audio out, coaxial audio out and scart socket. There is also a rear on-off switch.

The picture and audio quality is fine although if you are a connoisseur, you would most likely go for a more expensive model.

The bits I did not like: When playing mp3 music files it displays the file name rather than the mp3 tag name. This is a problem if the file name is to long because it will then only display a fraction of the name e.g "my best rock album ever - fleetwoodmac - go" for example would be displayed more or less as "the best rock album" and the rest not visible. The CD/DVD drive is a bit noisy for my liking.

With most people owning DVD burners on their home computers, you have to ask if there really is a need for DivX and the reduced video quality compaired to DVD.

One point to note, this unit does not like to be left unpowered in cold rooms with possible condensation inside the player. When this happens it does not read discs and you must wait until it has warmed up and the condensation has evaporated before it will start playing again.