Tesco Value DVD Player

...player she could find: a Tesco Value one. I'd heard from a friend that it worked fine and was great value for money so we brought it home and installed it.
To our dismay it made a funny clunking noise as soon as a dvd was inserted. We pressed 'STOP' on the unit and the clunking got a lot louder, sounding as though the dvd was being ruined. Luckily it wasn't. We dismantled it, packaged it back up and returned it to Tesco.
We decided ...
...seperately. My Mum bought a Tesco Value scart lead which works fine, and is plugged from the dvd unit into the back of the tv.
>>Make sure your tv has a scart lead socket!<<


Remote Control:
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The remote control is slim, not very long, and extremely light. It takes 2 AA batteries, a set of which are supplied with the DVD player. It has all the functions available on the ... more

Introduction:
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My Mum has been looking for an average DVD player for about a year now, but my Dad insisted that he should buy a DVD player with built in dvd recorder. Having not done this for months my Mum went out and secretly bought the cheapest dvd player she could find: a Tesco Value one. I'd heard from a friend that it worked fine and was great value for money so we brought it home and installed it.
To our dismay it made a funny clunking noise as soon as a dvd was inserted. We pressed 'STOP' on the unit and the clunking got a lot louder, sounding as though the dvd was being ruined. Luckily it wasn't. We dismantled it, packaged it back up and returned it to Tesco.
We decided to give the Tesco Value manufacturers a 2nd chance and bought another one, which worked! This is the dvd player I am describing in this review...

What features does it have?
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(I don't know what these mean, I'm just listing them!)
-PAL/NTSC colour system
-Selectable normal/widescreen
-Composite video output
-S-video output
-Stereo analogue RCA outputs
-Dolby Digital 5.1 SPDIF RCA co-axial output (switchable RAW PCM)
-SCART audio/video output
-Multi subtitle, language and angle select
-On screen display menu
-Multi level zooming and slow motion
-Parental control.

What formats WILL it play?
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DVD
DVD+R
DVD+RW
CD-DA
Audio CD
CD-R
CD-RW
Picture CD

What formats WON'T it play?
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DVD discs with region codes different from Region2 (Europe, Japan, Middle East, South Africa) and Region free discs.
The player has built in copyright protection technology, so if a video recorder is attached, the picture will be faulty.

Picture & Sound quality:
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I think that the picture quality of this DVD player isn't quite as good as some top of the range dvd players. However, there is certainly nothing wrong with it, and I have watched quite a few films without any picture trouble. The sound seems as standard. NOTE: I'm no technical mastermind, but I think the quality may depend on your tv as well as the DVD player. Our tv isn't anything special.

Wires going out of player:
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This is just a power cable (with plug that must be plugged into the mains) and a scart lead. Unfortunately the scart lead does not come in the DVD package, and must be bought seperately. My Mum bought a Tesco Value scart lead which works fine, and is plugged from the dvd unit into the back of the tv.
>>Make sure your tv has a scart lead socket!<<

Remote Control:
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The remote control is slim, not very long, and extremely light. It takes 2 AA batteries, a set of which are supplied with the DVD player. It has all the functions available on the actual player unit, and a lot more. From my experience some remote controls work when you point them at the ceiling, at the floor, behind you (anywhere away from the unit basically), but unfortunately this is not one. In order for mine to work you have to hold it in the air so it is pointing directly towards the dvd player, and sometimes you must press the buttons more than once.

Easy to install?
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I set up the dvd player for my Mum, and found it very easy. However, I am 19 and have some basic experience in setting up electrical equipment like games consoles and VCR's. If you are older and feel unsure (as my Mum does) then you might find it a bit more difficult. I didn't use the instruction booklet to set it up, but when my Mum was setting up the 2nd dvd player we bought she complained, saying that they were complicated and not very well explained.

How does it look?
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This is one of the DVD's big advantages. It is tiny! Most DVD players are rectangular...this one is more square. It is 4cm high, 22.5cm wide and 25 long. It weighs 1.494kg, so it is easily transported with little effort. It is a matt silver colour, and the remote control is grey. It has silver 'open/close' 'play/pause' and 'stop' buttons on the front, along with a red LED power light.

Packaging:
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The dvd player comes in quite a small card board box (not much bigger than the actual unit, with the player inside held securely in place by 2 pieces of cardboard. The remote control, batteries and instruction booklet are packaged in transparent plastic bags.

Playing a CD/DVD (is it easy to use?):
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Playing a DVD is very easy. Simply press the 'on/off' button on the front of the player. You will be greeted with a TESCO logo on your tv screen, providing you have the tv on the correct AV channel. Press the 'open/close' button on the front of the unit, or on the remote control, and slip the disc onto the tray. press 'open/close' again and the player will read the disc. You should then see copyright laws, and eventually the DVD's title sequence/screen.

Any Problems?
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Apart from the first one that we bought not working, No...we have not had any problems with the new one so far.

My Opinion:
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This dvd player is fantastic value for money. Our family was looking for a dvd player, nothing else, and this is what we got! The fact that it is small and has little options to confuse older technologically-challenged members of my family is fantastic. Don't be put off by the fact that it is a Tesco Value electronic good. Their washing up liquid works, so why shouldn't their dvd players?? I think that our purchasing a dodgy one at first was just bad luck. My friend has had her tesco value dvd player for months and it works perfectly. She had previously bought a different (recognised) brand one from another store, which didn't work, and decided to buy this one instead. We are both very happy with our cute, simple DVD player, and I recommend it to you if you are looking for a cheap, no-frills player.

Price and Availability:
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We bought ours from the large Tesco store in Newbury for £17.98. They should be available in any large Tesco supermarket which has an electrical goods section. 

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