the £99 dansai in tescso

[eric]

Has anyone bought one of these in the last 2 or 3 days as i read on another forum that the latest stock in tescos do not have the same features as the models in tescos in october/november, in particular macrovsion was not disabled and the region hack didn't work, anyone able to confirm this?

Also do these tape R1 dvds?
cheers.

[Paul Buglass]

Eric,

I bought one yesterday (Saturday 8th) from Tescos at York (Askam Bar), and it has all the multi-region and macrovision disable options in the 'hidden' factory menu system. Comparing it to my Wharfedale 750S it produces just as good a picture, and the sound seems better too being more distinct and directional for both DD and DTS.

In terms of other features it is lightning fast compared to the 750S with chapter moves, and disc start-ups, being much faster. It's also quieter than the 750 by a long way with the only spin noise being when chapters are changed or the disc is first read. Normal playback seems very quiet.

The colour system options seem to be PAL and NTSC only with no PAL60 option. This is just my assumption judging by the slight jerkiness I can see when playinjg R1 in PAL. My TV does native NTSC and in this mode the picture is smooth so I'm using the auto mode all the time (PAL for R2 and NTSC for R1). No PAL60 could cause problems for those with no NTSC capable TVs, assuming I'm right about it being PAL at 50Hz only. Interestingly you can also select NTSC for R2 DVDs and the NTSC o/p seems to work OK, vut I can't tell if it's 50 or 60Hz, (I suspect 50Hz as 60Hz would need too much framerate processing). The R2 to NTSC could be interesting for some US members who want to watch R2s on their US TVs if the 50/60Hz thing isn't an issue. Do US TVs accept 50Hz NTSC as readily as most UK TVs take PAL at 60Hz?

So far all DVDs have played fine although I did notice some short sound drop outs on the R1 Shrek disc 2 (WS disc) only in the Karioke feature and the making of documentary. The main feature plays fine in both DD and DTS. I don't know if it's a dirty disc (looks clean) or a potential problem with the player? I've tried about 20 R1 and R2 DVDs so far and they all play fine.

Overall the player looks good and performs well. The build quality seems good and the disc tray slides in and out with style thanks to a slow start, not a mad rush like some cheap players. I also like the 'chime' it gives before opening the tray just to alert you it's about to open.

Looks like I will be passing the old 750S to my Dad.

Best wishes

/Paul B, York, UK.

[stranger]

bought one for a present just a few days ago at horwich store set everything including macro using hack. very easy.

[Simes]

I wonder if the unhackable rumour was started by a **** off Cyberhome owner :D
I bought mine last week on the day the store got delivery (they sold out that day too) ands the hack works without problems.

Just tried taping Region 1 to VHS and it works fine.So it must be outputting PAL50 and the macrovision off does work. :clap:
I thought it was going to be PAL60 cos the quality seems very good.I can't notice any picture jerkyness that you can often see with the conversion from 60fps NTSC to 50fps PAL50.
The player has an auto option for PAL/NTSC so if left in that mode you get the best quality picture.

The Dansai (or Naiko from Makro) seems to be the best £99 player out there.

[Paul Buglass]

Simes,

Do you by any chance have a copy of Chicken Run? If so, could you try it in your player. I just played my copy (R2) all the way through and the last 15 minutes started to drop out for a second or less every minute or so. Sound loss was accompanied by a slight picture pause or frame rate slow down. Appeared with all 4 sound tracks (pressed the 'language' key to dynamically swap between them).

I'm starting to get a little worried this player may have some serious problems with some DVDs.

Any info you can supply will be useful. At the moment after being very pleased with it, I'm starting to think about returning it and keeping the 750S.

Cheers

/Paul B, York, UK.

[Simes]

Paul, i have Chicken Run but on Region 1 ,so i can't really confirm whether its a player problem with that disc.I have played the last 3 chapters of the R1 without any problems.
I would have said it sounds like a dodgy or dirty disc, but seeing as you had problems with Shrek too, it sounds like your player is at fault.
It does not sound like a design fault - more likely a faulty DVD drive unit on your player.I kind of get the impression the laser is losing the track causing sound drop outs and frame jumps.
If i were you i would take it back and swap it for another.If you had the same problems with that player, then i would start to worry.

I have not had any problems with any discs so far with mine, nor read of anyone else having problems.

[puddleduck]

Paul Buglass - I'm pretty sure the R2 version of Chicken Run was re-pressed due to sound dropouts on the original release, so its possible this is the cause of your problems?

[eric]

what are the hacks as i buying one tomorrow, thanks/

[Simes]

Dansai hack (also works on Naiko from Makro)

open disc tray
press "set-up" on remote
then press "stop", "previous", "next" on the player.

A factory menu then pops up with the options to set the region (set it to bypass as it even plays RCE discs in this mode).There is also an option to disable macrovision.
Press set-up to exit.

Job done :)

[ihenry]

Does anyone know which Tescos have stock of these?

I checked out my local store in Amersham, which is pretty big and they had other dvd players but none for under £180.

I was thinking of trying the hoover building on the A40...???

[hokers99]

Hi guys
Forgive my ignorance, but has this player got an optical output?
I see DTS mentioned above, but I dont know if that guarantees one, or if the player is DTS compatible?
If it is, I'm calling Tescos
:)

Hokers

[jim60]

Goodmays (Ilford) had some last week but it's the other side of London from you!

[babbsy_uk]

Can the dansai copy r1 dvds to video,i bought a dansai the other day but i dont have any r1 dvds yet to confirm this,can anyone help,also can it copy region free dvds to video,thanks.

[Paul Buglass]

Hokers - Yes it has both a co-ax and optical digital out which carried DD/DTS to a suitable amp. I've only used the co-ax so far and both DD and DTS work fine.

Babbsy - If you look a few posts up you'll see that Simes has already verified R1 DVDs can be successfully recorded using PAL50 output. You may notice a slight jerkiness in some motion but it will be eminently watchable.

Cheers

/Paul B, York, UK.

[jim60]

Paul,
The Dansai has a "PIC MODE" button on the handset that can be set to "HI-RES" or "N-FLICKER"
Could this have anything to do with the frequency?

Hokers,
The box states "Compatible with DTS digital output"
It has both optical and coaxial digital audio out although I cannot comment on the quality of the signal as an amp is on my crimbo list.


Jim

[ihenry]

Me and my mate picked up a couple of these from Tescos in Slough, seems a great xmas pressie for the parents.

100 quid for MP3, Multi-Region DVD, SVCD, VCD... and seems fairly decent quality compared to some I've seen, with scart and S-Video out. At least I'll be able to watch some of my DVDs while at their house now :)

Can also burn some MP3s to CD so they can hear them too - what great value!

[Paul Buglass]

Jim,

I haven't worked out exactly what the Hi-res and N-flicker options do yet, but the PAL o/p is definitely PAL50 as it records on a VCR OK. If it was PAL60 it wouldn't record to VCR properly. I'll read the manual more and see what it says about these modes.

Simes,

I hammered my player with more DVDs yesterday and then tried Chicker Run and Shrek again and guess what? They both play fine now. I'm putting it down to it being new and having a 'sticky' laser servo which has freed up as it wore in. Provided it doesn't misbehave again, it has a home on my shelf and my Dad is inheriting my old Wharfie 750S. I'm smiling again :D

Best wishes

/Paul B, York, UK.

[ihenry]

Forgot to say the multiregion hack works perfectly, isn't great when all it takes to make a player perminately multiregion is 4 buttons on the remote control :D

I also tried chickenrun UK with no probs at all, the player seems much quiter than some, obviously not as good as my NSDV-55 :) but for 100 quid its a bargin and beats many other more expensive players I've seen and used.

[Shoom]

Picked one up today from my local Tesco.

Hacked no problem, already tried DTS, vcd, svcd, R1 all work fine.

Now playing mp3 cd. Not sure how all the playback options work using the repeat button.

Burnt the cd with EZYCD 5 using mp3 option that makes a .m3u playlist.

Folder seems to just play first track
Floder R plays all tracks in folder
Random ? did'nt seem to work

I like the way you can set pal/ntsc and rgb from just one press of the remote =]

Must say for £100 you can't go wrong alot better than some budget players that sound like a sack of suds being poured into a tin bath when you put the disc in.

Now this is ment to be for my sister for xmas.... or do I give her my old pioneer 545 ?

[LooneyJetman]

Questions...

How's the layer change?

Does it handle DTS okay (thought I saw this mentioned, but just double checking)?

Can the angle icon be turned off (my only gripe with the LG 4710 I use at the moment)?

Is the drive quiet?

Cheers
Andrew

[Paul Buglass]

Andrew,

The layer change seems OK to me and that's comparing it to my old Wharfedale 750S. It seems to cause just a slight picture and sound pause of 1/2 a second or less in the worst case. On a well authored DVD where the change is 'hidden' in a scene change or fade to balck, you won't notice it.

DTS works fine. I've played a few DTS DVDs, i.e. U571, Shrek, Chicken Run, Sheryl Crowe, and all work fine and sound great. (Yamaha DSP A5 amp btw).

The angle icon can be disabled from a set-up menu option. If you press the angle button it appears on the screen to show which angle you are viewing and can only be removed by pressing the OSD button on the remote to cycle through the titel and chapter time displays, and the final press to remove the OSD info also removes the angle icon too. Don't know if this method might happen with your LG, but it's worth a try if you haven't played about with it already.

Best wishes

/Paul B, York, UK.

[Shoom]

Ok who knows how to turn the chime off ?
Funny to start with now I want it off:rolleyes:

[Simes]

Now playing mp3 cd. Not sure how all the playback options work using the repeat button.

Burnt the cd with EZYCD 5 using mp3 option that makes a .m3u playlist.

Folder seems to just play first track
Floder R plays all tracks in folder
Random ? did'nt seem to work

I didn't even know it would recognise a .m3u playlist.
If you just burn into logical folders
e.g album-name/CD_1or2/track_name.mp3
Then you will get a list of albums.Selecting one then brings up the CDs (CD1 ,CD2 etc) selecting one of them then brings up the list of tracks .This list of tracks is the folder that the options refer to.
So pressing the repeat button allows you to select random and play the tracks on that album in a random order.

If you wanted to have a full MP3 CD played in random order then i guess you would have to burn all the tracks into the same folder.
eg. longfilelist/track_name.mp3

[LooneyJetman]

Does anyone know if this player switch TV modes correctly when connected to a widescreen set? I'm starting to get tempted!

Any more on the sound-dropouts that were reported here earlier?

What about seamless branching - have you tried the Matrix, The Abyss, Independence Day - any of the discs that are regarded as potential trouble-makers?

[Ron Hill]

Got one of these as a Christmas present for my parents.
Set it up last night to see it was working and do the deregioning.

Not a bad bit of kit for £99. Knock off the naff Dansai logo and it would do a passing impersonation under the TV as a budget Tosh or low end Sony.

Anyone know what turning off CSS in the menu will do?
I thought that CSS decryption is essential to playback.

[sharkey0903]

Just bagged one of these. Took a trip down with my mum and she bought it as a present for my dad for chrimbo.

Looks like a pretty decent bit of equipment. We got two tescos here, the one was sold out and said they may have more in on moday, the other had two left and we bagged one of those!

Good spot, have to see if it lives up to your reviews now! :D

[Simes]

Originally posted by andrew_lee
Does anyone know if this player switch TV modes correctly when connected to a widescreen set? I'm starting to get tempted!

Any more on the sound-dropouts that were reported here earlier?

What about seamless branching - have you tried the Matrix, The Abyss, Independence Day - any of the discs that are regarded as potential trouble-makers?

It does not send the signal to switch your w/s set into 16:9 mode :(
Its the only thing so far that i have found to dislike.
The sound drop-outs reported turned out to be not there on playing the discs again.So probably dirty discs or drive needed bedding in :D
No problem discs so far. I wouldn't expect Matrix or seamless branching to trip up any current players on sale.

[Paul Buglass]

I can definitely confirm the sound dropouts I experienced have gone. Both offending discs were spotlessly clean, so I believe it was simply the servo mechanism needing to "wear in". I've played about 40 DVDs through it since and all work perfectly now.

An excellent player all round.

Best wishes

/Paul B, York, UK.

[philippa]

well i have just picked mine up from tesco in pontefract and can say it is a winner i am really pleased with my purchase and a bargain at 99 quid.

in fact it has put my pioneer to shame so my son will be getting that one in his bedroom (sorry son)

[cjbarker]

Thanks to all the folks who reviewd this player, just got one for my sisters Christmas present.

[robbiejm]

'What Hi-Fi' reckon the best of these budget players are the:

Minato DVD-G1 (Tesco - £130)

And in the latest issue:

Reoc A3 (Safeway - £100)

Both of those players got 5 stars.

[culabula]

Fraid I've found a weakness of the Dansai for those as may be interested.

As a source for digital audio recordings it ain't too hot; I had it hooked up to my MD portable via the Digital Out and Toslink to make a copy of a CD and it chopped off the 1st few seconds of every track and in at least one case failed to conserve the track marks.

Ah well.

[sharkey0903]

Originally posted by culabula
Fraid I've found a weakness of the Dansai for those as may be interested.

As a source for digital audio recordings it ain't too hot; I had it hooked up to my MD portable via the Digital Out and Toslink to make a copy of a CD and it chopped off the 1st few seconds of every track and in at least one case failed to conserve the track marks.

Ah well.

maybe so, but then if you want high quality audio digital recordings you dont use a budget dvd player....;)

[culabula]

Guess not but I just wanted to test that aspect of it. I'm re-recording it using my top-flight standalone Sonys instead. Still very happy with the Dansai for everything else that it does.

[Simes]

It does not cut any of the track when playing MP3 tracks through the digital out sockets (i use it with a Digitheatre)

I have not tried regular CDs though. Thats what my HiFi is for :D

[ought]

My Naiko one has just died I think... keeps grunting as if it is tracking, trying to find data and then most of the time fails!! ;o(

Has anybody else's failed already?

[internetuser]

I have had 3 of these, all 3 died in a few months

[phelings]

The Dansai range has never given out PAL 60,its always been PAL 50 or NTSC for Region 1 discs.
If your Dansai menu is set correctly,in the menu there is an option for 4:3,Letterbox,or 16:9.Once set to 16:9 it should switch between widescreen and 4:3,but remember your tv needs to be set correctly too.Auto on Panasonics,and variations of that on other brands.
In case you are interested,the first Dansai,the 852,had no copy protection circuitry in it at all.Even though Macrovision was on the hidden menu,it did not work.What was even better,was that the CGMS digital copy protection was absent too.allowing perfect dvd-dvd recorder copies.If you can find one-grab it.

[yogi]

ought : the naiko one i have is going like that, wont read cdrs very well anymore and vcds etc skip so they are unwatchable, my actual dansai player is fine and still going strong, think ill be putting it on ebay soon as i am upgrading all my kit.

[Q]

Someone must have done some searching for this thread.Been it back from the dead after 19months.I bet that took some searching to find after 19 months:D