CyberHome CH-DVD 300B Progressive-Scan DVD Player (Black)

Rating:
Summary: You can't beat it for $30!
Review: I bought two of these for less than $30 a piece, brand new. I use one in my high-end home theatre to play DVD-R media. (my Toshiba SD-9000 will NOT play and burned media, even though it was $700!) The other one is in my smaller TV room. I used the component video out and optical audio out in the home theatre, and s-video, and stereo out in the TV room. Both ways provided great video and audio. Of course, the SD-9000 KILLS this thing in audio/video quality, but like I said, it was $700.00. What do you expect? I've had these units for a few months, and have had no problems with either one. The only real complaint I have is the lack of any lcd display on the unit. Although it really doesn't matter. The on-screen display is adequate. The remote is a bit confusing. All of the buttons are the same size and shape, which makes it hard to navigate in low light. But, then again, a replacement remote for my Toshiba costs more than this whole package! Again, you get what you pay for. But I've seen far worse units at a higher price that this one. I would definitely buy another one if mine broke. It's well worth the $30-40. The built in MP3 player is nice too.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth $5
Review: This unit proves the old saying, "You get what you pay for". It only lasted 3 months before the sound starting coming and going and by 5 months the sound was gone. My son bought one too, and his is also on the frits and is only 6 months old. No more CyberHome for me at any price.

Rating:
Summary: Not totally PAL compatible
Review: I had received a DVD from France and had hoped this unit would play this DVD and others I might have received from there. Despite the product description, this unit will NOT read any DVD that is coded for any other region than Region 1 (the Americas)no matter if it's PAL, NTSC, or whatever. It is apparently illegal to sell DVD players that can read other than region 1 because the Motion Picture industry wants to control release of movies. The only exception is if a DVD is coded for all regions.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money
Review: I would rate this item less than one star if possible. Don't waste your money on it. We've had ours for about 6 months and have not even given it heavy use. It just stopped working! The unit refuses to power on at all.

While set up was fairly easy, the manual could use some work. And forget the remote. It's the worst I've ever seen. The buttons are too small (even if you have small fingers), there are too many buttons too close together and the layout is terrible.

The playback was not even that great. The picture is very grainy. And we're using it on a new TV.

All in all, I'd stay away from this one, even with its low price. It's just not worth the hassle.

Rating:
Summary: Size does matter
Review: Like most of you, I purchased this DVD player for 2 reasons. It was cheap, and it was one of the few DVD players that were small enough to fit next to my TV on my chest of drawers. Great deal, right?

Well, I've had this thing for about 5 months and I can tell you, it won't last. Often times the DVD that's playing will just freeze, forcing you to restart the DVD player. Other times it won't even read the DVD when you put it in, and just gets stuck on the "Loading" screen, which forces you to restart the player. I've also noticed that if I stack more than 4 DVDs with cases on top of the DVD player, it also effects the playing. It just seems to be a very fragile cheaply made item.

If it's worth it to you to fork out $35-$50 on a DVD player that will last you about 6 months, then this product is for you.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT MACHINE BUT UNFORTUATELY IT DOES NOT LAST
Review: You may notice that all the people who love this machine have not had it very long. When I first got mine, I was singing it's praises to all my friends. However, I am now in the same boat as most of the other reviewers who gave it a negative review. I had it for 5 months and one day it just stopped working. It suddenly and inexplicably became unable to read a disc. Believe it or not, my brother's actually caght fire out of the clear blue. I was pleased to take his old remote, only to have mine die 2 weeks later. anyone need extra remotes?

Rating:
Summary: Overall good
Review: I bought this DVD player because it was the cheapest one available. Some bad reviews made me very hesitant, however. I have had no problem playing scratched disks (perhaps because I have not tried to play any that were very scratched). I have played mostly rental DVD's. My one complaint is that some sequences of rapid movement in movies seem to be choppy--as if they were missing frames. Perhaps this has nothing to do with the DVD player, but rather has to do with my TV (which is old), the machines used to film and edit the movies, or something like that. However, I have noticed this anywhere else. That aside, it is a sexy DVD player because it is small, cheap, and reliable. Why these other people had problems I can't say.

Rating:
Summary: Disposable DVD Player
Review: After 6 months of use,this unit would freeze while playing a DVD and I would have to turn power off and then back on to play a DVD. This would work for a while and then it would freeze again. After a year the unit quit working completely. I could not find any information to contact the company about the problem.I would not suggest buying a Cyberhome unless you want a disposable DVD player you are going to replace every year.

Rating:
Summary: Plays Everything!
Review: I make short independent films and burn them on DVD's. The CyberHome CH-DVD 300S DVD player has no problem playing them. This is in contrast to some of my other friend's DVD players (usually some older "name-brands" that took sides in the DVD+R or DVD-R format debate), would have problems playing my home-recorded movies (skipping, hiccuping, freezing, popping of the image or sound). With the price under $40 how can you go wrong? If the CyberHome CH-DVD 300S performs, that's the bottom line. Forget the name brands unless you want a 5-disc multichanger, or advanced features. For those that complained in other reviews about quality issues with this unit, All I can say is that there will always be some percentage of 'dead-on-arrival' or 'infant mortality' with ALL electronics. That's why you have 15 to 30 days to return the product to the store for a full refund. All I can say is that I have had mine for a year with no problems. I also have read in the reviews about this unit's multi-region capability. This is very critical if you are an art-house movie buff, considering that some cool films can only be found overseas. Now with the Internet and outlets like eBay, you can get films from all over world delivered to your door, and then set the proper 'region' with this DVD player - and you're all set.