Hitachi DV-P250e

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Excellent playback and simple interface
Disadvantages:	Perhaps not ideal for an entry level machine

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Having purchased my Hitachi DVP-250 back in November 1999 I don’t have any real complaints at all. At the time I purchased the player it was exceptionally good value for money as not only can it handle Dolby 5.1 it is multi-regional and has DTS capability something not widely available at the time.

The main attraction was the multi-regional capability as films are one of my real loves and I wanted to buy Region 1 DVD’s for two main reasons. The first was the early release dates and the second was the extra features on the Region 1 DVD’s.

The only downer was that I had to have the player in a brushed chrome/silver colour but that was a small price to pay for the quality of the machine. It has the normal SCART connections and more than sufficient input/output ports to satisfy all but the most picky of people. The actual chassis of the player is a little oversized for my liking but I would rather have a bigger player than one with less facilities.

One word of warning though there is a known fault with the LCD display which I fell victim to after ten months of ownership. What happens normally is that on insertion of a disc to view the actual disc tray can become stuck. This can then trigger the display to either partially or totally fail. Your supplier should have the upgrade kit in stock and be able to apply it within a three day period which thankfully is what happened to me.

I would certainly recommend this player to anyone out there looking for a good solid machine that is easy to use.