Cyberhome ADL528 Any Good???

[Chick]

Hello all, I wondered if anyone had any opinions on the Cyberhome ADL528? I am planning to purchase a DVD player soon and obviously I am looking for a bargain. I saw the above DVD player in a local games shop for £125. What do you think? Anyone.

Checked a couple of reviews on line and they seemed to like it but I need the word on the street man...

Chick:cool:

[Simes]

There is an independant site for the Cyberhome players where you can download firmware updates (if you have a CD writer).

They have a full review of the 528 model.
click here to see review (http://www.cyberhome-help.de/tadl528_english.php4)

Its good for the money (P.S its only £99 at wh smiths or online at www.whsmiths.co.uk ).
It does suffer from really shoddy build quality though (look on the forums on the site i linked to ). MP3 playback isn't great either - so if thats a main use consider something else.One of the main faults reported by users is the noisy drive unit (with the shoddy build quality some players are worse than others).

Also consider the £99 Dansai from Tesco. This is multiregion hackable, plays MP3/VCD/CDR/CDRW etc etc .Macrovision is disabled on this player too (so you could record DVD - VHS if you wished).The Dansai has a quiet drive unit and the MP3 playback is excellent.You don't get the inbuilt Dolby digital decoder that the cyberhome 528 has though.

[Chick]

Thanks for your advice. Sounds the games shop is pulling a fast one eh? The Dansai sounds the biz but can you tell me, does one REALLY need the Dolby decoder? I assume that unless you're going to hook the DVD player up to some surround sound technology then it's not worth having it is it? And then if in the future you want to use surround sound, then you simply buy a decoder amp don't you? Excuse my ignorance on this matter but you seem to know what you are talking about.

Thanks a lot for your help

Chick

[Simes]

You have hit the nail on the head in regards to the inbuilt decoder.
Its only really usefull if you already have an old pro-logic amp that has 5 or 6 channel input (not many of them do).Or if you want to use one of the really cheap 5/6 speaker sets (that include an amplifier but no Dolby digital decoder).

Just about every Dolby Digital or DTS amplifier includes a decoder anyway (and better than the inbuilt ones on cheap players).
If you were going to be buying an amp and speakers you would hardly be buying a £99 DVD player (amps are £150 upwards then there are 6 speakers to buy)
All the players have a digital out socket (either phono or optical or both) to connect to a Dolby digital/DTS amplifier.

[Chick]

Thanks for the advice. I have checked the Tesco website and can't find the Dansai. Do you think they have stopped selling it. Do you know anywhere else that might have it? I presume the hack to unlock the multi region ability is fairly easy to get hold of?

Thanks

Simon

[Simes]

Its not on the Tesco website. Its in store only.
The player must be made specially for Tesco because the start up screen shows the Tesco helpline phone number for if you have any problems.

They sell out very quickly too (well it is nearly christmas).If you do see one in your local store - grab it :D
You can always take it back for a refund if you change your mind (provided you don't open it).If you ponder over it chances are they will all be sold when you go back.

[Chick]

I understand you. Thanks again for the help I will keep my eyes peeled. Mind you is it worth holding out? Or is the LG DVD4210 any good? I saw it at Richer Sounds for about £120 amongst others.

Oh decisions decisions.

Chick:D

[Simes]

The LG4210 is a good quality player (i've got a LG3210 myself).

It only plays DVDs and original audio CDs though.So if you want to be able to play VCDs or anything recorded on CDR consider something else.

[Andy_C]

My girlfriend got the Cyberhome ADL 528 for her parents for Xmas (£99 in Richer Sounds).

I've checked it out and it looks really good. Played all the discs I threw at it (R1, 2, 3 and 4), a couple of MP3 CDs, a VCD episode of Buffy Season 6 downloaded off the net - they all played really well.

And I use really cheap CDs... I've heard of a lot of problems with cheap CDRs in other machines.

I think it's really good for the price. It isn't going to win any prizes for its looks, but it can play discs....

[Chick]

Well chaps, I have followed Simes advice and I am currently sitting in front of my new Dansai DVD player. I took a trip to Tesco and surprise surprise they had some left!!

I have already broken into the factory settings and changed it to multi region. All in all I am impressed, thanks Simes. My only niggle is the silly "chime" which plays whenever you eject a Disk.

I also wondered what the other options in the factory menu are for. Namely "CSS", "Automute" and "Dither" (although I assume that is a display option)

Cheers

Chick

[Simes]

Quite like the chime myself :D
Definately prefer it to a constant grinding noise from the player like many Cyberhomes have.


I'll let you be the one to tamper with the factory settings.I still haven't gone through all the setiings you are supposed to tamper with.I wonder what (if any) difference selecting hi-res or n flicker on the display options does (instead of leaving it on auto).