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Excellent DVD player, but only for careful people
I got this DVD player last christmas and before that I had read some of the comments here at Amazon, saying that it was crap, and it broke about a month after you bought it.....but whatever. I got it, and until now it has worked perfectly. I use it EVERYDAY, since it's the only DVD player I have at home, so I use the charger everyday, and the wire to connect it to the TV everyday too. Since last december, I have listened mp3 discs, VCD, DVD (original and copies), regular music CD's and photo CD's (including CD-RW). All of them have played excellent. The only disc I've tried to play on this player and didn't work the wai I wanted is a karaoke CD that came free with the "Shark Tale" DVD sold at Walmart. The lyrics were supposed to appear on screen but they didn't, the music played only... Still, I have also used the wire to use it in the car, and once it spent 8 hours on, without turning it off once, because it was on a car trip... I would say that this is NOT a recommendable DVD player to people who don't take care of things too much. It's a delicated device, and you have to treat it nicely, otherwise, it'll happen what other people wrote here: it won't play the discs, the battery won't be useful anymore, but I have to say that you have to take care of it and you'll have it for a lot of more time. Other thing I have to add is that it takes about 4 hours to charge the battery completely, and you can use it while you charge the battery. And the battery also lasts something like 2 hours without turning it off at anytime. To end with this: a perfect player for careful people, but if it's used by a child or a "violent" person, of course it won't last much, as everything else. That was my comment, I hope you make a good decision. Bye. Tips for junk lovers It's a piece of junk, but it's mine. I love it. The biggest problem - it doesn't play any disc. Honestly, I turned it on before I took off the protective paper disc. It could hurt a little. But if 1% of buyers do that, they need a huge return department. The trick to make it play is to press the edge of the inner hole of the DVD disc down firmly, with two or four fingers around the hole. Rotate say 30 degrees and press again, until the disc is evenly and firmly in place. If the disc plays today, and you leave it in the drive as it is, still it may not play tomorrow. You have to repeat the ceremony again. So this player would be unsuitable for children and seniors. When it plays, DVD-R, DVD+RW, VCD, CD discs are all OK. The battery is 12 mm thick, and slightly smaller than the player. So it's rather bulkier than the look of the player alone. The first time without charging it, it plays less than 3 hours, with low battery warning after 2.5 hrs, all approximations. The 2nd time after charging over night, it went dark about 2.5 hours. The volume is maximum, so it may make a difference. For cars it's OK, there's a cigarette adapter. For planes, I have looked at extra batteries, which sold at > $60. This is silly. So I went to Radioshack, brought an 8AA battery holder with 9V battery type terminals, 9V battery clip, and a power plug. If you don't want to do any soldering, there's some universal power plugs, and 'wire screw caps' to join the wires. Then buy 8 or more NiMH rechargable batteries, 2600 mMh, for less than $2 each. If you can wait, there's some 2800 and 3000 mAh from the far east. The rating of the original battery is also 3000 mAh. I don't think the external battery pack will last 2 to 3 hours because of different technology, and the external cut off voltage seemed to be higher at 9V. But for $60 I can buy many AA batteries from ebay. The 8 battery pack is slightly heavier than the original battery, but AA batteries are very easy to pack into your hand carriage. The screen resolution is about half that of standard DVDs. So it's not like viewing the DVD on your ultra high resolution computer monitor. It's like watching a small TV. Somehow it make sense, do you want perfect resolution when you are on the go? However, the resolution is definitely not good enough for a portable photo album. The good thing about the audio is that there are two head phone outlets. The bundled head phone is rather strange - it's not an across the top of the head headphone. It's across the back of your head, so I guess I have to sleep on it while on the plane. If you search around videohelp.com, you can find the instructions to play disc from all regions. I tried the instructions and the player responded as expected. I haven't tried any foreign region discs yet. Don't Waste Your Money Oh sure it was great in the beginning.....then the portable power cord had to be replaced; to the tune of $30.00. Not 2 weeks later the entire unit decided to stop working; getting what appears to be a software error so it comes on but will not play a thing; it did not even last 1 year. The Coby on-line "tech support" was NO HELP what-so-ever but they'll be glad to LOOK at it (not fix it) for $31.00. Well we are not willing to sink any more money into this thing. Won't be buying a COBY next time! Spend your hard earned money elsewhere Bought this product last summer due to it's fair reviews. It has been nothing but a PIECE OF JUNK. We bought it for our then 16 month old twins for a plane trip we were taking and then for the car. This is what has happened with it in less than one year. It worked great upon arrival with the cords or the battery. Prior to the trip we tried using it in the bedroom with the tv cords-10 min. into the movie the movie went black and white. Changed movies, unplugged the cords and replugged, tried days later-same thing black and white picture. Then a couple months later the car charger died. Then soon after the battery died. Then the ac/dc charger died. Every replacement cord (not from manufacturer) dies within minutes-so obviously it is the machine. Now we have a cord killing dvd player that in less than one year has become useless. If we buy a new one I'll be sure to get a different brand. poor Coby customer service! My son went a year without candy to earn $100, and after much thought decided to spend it on a portable DVD player. When it came, he was so excited and really enjoyed it for about six weeks. Then it stopped working. He would put in a movie and it would just say "no dvd". So we emailed Coby detailing the problem. The only email I ever received from them was to tell us to send it in for repair. It was still under warranty and we sent it to them priority mail, with all the info and the $6 cash they require. Then nothing. I made numerous inquiries via phone and email and could never get a straight answer. When I finally got to talk to a real person with any knowledge of the matter, I found that their customer service office isn't even in the same state as their tech support or repair office. They kept telling me to email tech support which I did numerous times, but was ignored. After several frustrating attempts over many weeks to get this resolved, we finally realized that they had probably kept our returned DVD player and just not bothered to tell us. (I realize now I should have insured it, although I thought Priority Mail was sufficient. I'm sure it was properly addressed, also with a return address.) I am totally convinced that the Coby repair office is responsible for our "missing" broken DVD player. This was the most horrible customer service experience I have ever had. And once I got online and read other customer reviews (not necessarily on Amazon) about Coby, I see that we are not alone in our experience. I would warn anyone away from purchasing a DVD player (or any product for that matter) from Coby. It's just not worth the hassle and headaches should anything go wrong. We have since purchased a Zenith portable DVD player from Best Buy for our son, and it is superb quality with no problems whatsoever. | |
