CyberHome CH-DVD 500 Progressive-Scan DVD Player
By: Cyberhome Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 87
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 On: 2008-07-07
This was purchased from Best Buy 5 or 6 years ago (maybe even a bit earlier). It was cheap - not inexpensive but downright cheap. It has given me my moneys worth without question. Plays DVDs that I have burned - music that I have burned to CD from Vinyl on my computer.
But now it seems as though it is ready to give up the ghost. Fond farewell - it has been a good ride.
New Samsung LCD to be delivered this week from Amazon. Time for a new DVD player to go with that unit and the Onkyo 606 I bought (but not yet installed).
 On: 2006-04-28
Progressive scan, DTS, Dolby 5.1, Auto PAL or NTSC, region free (set it to Region 0 via the remote), component video output, selectable aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9), composite video and audio cables included.
Put in any disc from any country and it plays. Beautiful picture and sound. What could be easier?
 On: 2006-04-09
That about says it all - it broke within 6 months of purchase. Im definitely not happy about that. Cyberhome charges for labor for any services after 3 months, so it might just be cheaper for me to get another player from a more reputed manufacturer (probably shouldve done that in the first place).
I dont think I mistreated the player in any particular way. I did often pause DVDs mid-way and leave the player on. Not sure if this shouldve caused any damage.
 On: 2006-03-24
recently I bought this for my friend but I am not happy with this one, I have cyberHOme 300 thats very good and very cute.
On: 2006-03-23
I think CyberHome CH-DVD 500 Progressive-Scan DVD Player is very good. Its not you $30 basic payer. It has progressive scan and outputs, but sold for a reasonable $50. Pretty good so far
On: 2006-03-21
The is the 2nd CyberHome DVD player I have purchased. I use them to play DVD-R disks I burn at home. I have 3 combo VCR/DVD players, and find they will not play most of my homemade DVD-R (or +R), but the CyberHome works fine with them.
On: 2006-03-17
I bought this machine to play PAL dvds. It does a fine job. Much better than apex. My only problem with it is the fact that you cant turn off the control icon when it is zoomed. So it would be useless to watch those narrow wide screen dvds on a regular tv zoomed up. Also there are no adjustments for contrast and brightness etc. Otherwize a good PAL player for a cheep price.
On: 2006-03-03
I have bought 2 of them and neither one worked.
1st one remote did not work.
Second one played one DVD then stopped playing.
Product is no good.
On: 2006-02-09
Hi folks,
I notice a lot of the reviews for the region free
players are old and, while reading them, wondered what
kind of experiences buyers have had with their players after
some time has passed. As a fan of asian cinema I do come
across the occassional need for region-free capability,
so these players are a must. I bought a cyberhome 500
player back in 2002 and it worked until about halfway
through 2005, at which point it rapidly faded until it was
useless. While it worked it was GREAT, but these
wonderfully cheap players should not be expected to last
for the long haul. Having said that, and considering how
cheap the players are, youre more or less getting your
moneys worth.
On: 2006-01-16
I purchased couple of ch-dvd 300 players from amazon before.
I could not resist the look of the ch-dvd 500 and got one. But I did not find any advantage over the lower end model. Actually the 300 series could play some DVDs which were not readable in this model.
On: 2006-01-14
I bought this DVD player after my CH-DVD 300 bit the dust (after about a year of use). I was wary of purchasing anything else from CyberHome, but was swayed by the positive customer reviews, such as the one titled "No More Pauses and Skips....."
My main reason for buying this model was its ability to play PAL format DVDs. The player performs this function admirably, until it breaks about two months later. It starts with minor pauses and skips. Then, one day, itll just freeze your video altogether (on both PAL and NTSC format DVDs).
When I initially received the CH-DVD 500 from Amazon, it didnt work at all. Its replacement worked for about two months. I tried the repair hacks recommended by some customers on this review page, but they didnt work.
All the frustration resulting from the problems described above, however, is nothing compared to the aggravation of dealing with the CyberHome customer service department. I sent the second player to be serviced/replaced (before the 3-month warranty was up), and I didnt hear from them for almost a month.
When they finally contacted me again, it was only because I sent them an email. I had to pay a third of the cost of the player just to mail it to the companys repair department, and Im still trying to get them to reimburse me for postage. They also want to charge me $35 for labor, and Ive had to remind them quite forcefully that I owe them nothing, since the unit was under warranty when I sent it back to them. Oh, and I have yet to receive the repaired unit, or any word on when I should expect it to be delivered.
Please, if you read this, dont purchase this player. If youre looking for something that plays PAL discs, buy a more expensive model from a more reliable comany. Youll actually be saving yourself a lot of money in the long run.
Im never buying anything from CyberHome again.
 On: 2005-12-23
I bought CyberHome CH-DVD 200 Progressive-Scan DVD Player. It is good DVD player for $29.00. This model does not play DVD +/- R you can not burn MP3 songs or video or JPEGs in to DVD +/- R and play in this player. The buttons on the player have to be pressed hard to function.
It is JUST OK.
On: 2005-12-21
CyberHome = Worst quality products.
Email CyberHome three times. No response.
They dont support their products.
I used mine 15-20 hours over the year I owned it and it died.
Didnt really die, somehow its codec disappeared and
it just cant play anything now. Re-programming via the remote
control doesnt work for more than a minute on a Region Free or
at all on a Region 1 (USA/Canada) DVD. File on their website
couldnt be downloaded. Email went unanswered.
On: 2005-11-19
With the good reviews at Amazon.com bought this piece of cr*p. It worked well for a few hours, after that, it just froze. Initially thought that it was my DVD, so bought a brand new DVD. It would read the menu and again it would freeze. This piece of junkie is already packed to be returned. So, Good Luck in believing the good reviews in here.
On: 2005-10-26
The price was right, it looked good coming out of the box. The problem was it wouldnt play DVDs very well, if at all. I tried five different DVDs in the player and only one would play. The others got a couple of minutes into the program and the player stopped - just freeze frame. No matter what the cost, I wouldnt use this if it was given to me free.
On: 2005-10-21
I bought this dvd player based only on the reviews I read here. I wouldnt be surprised if it turned out those reviews were planted by Cyberhome. This dvd player locked up and froze one or more times with EVERY dvd I tried to play. This might very well explain the low price. Suggestions: (1) Spend a few more bucks and get a dvd player that works; and/or (2) if, like me, youve already bought this turkey, wrap it up and give it to your mother-in-law for Christmas.
On: 2005-10-18
Great value for the money! (I even see that now its even cheaper than when I bought it a month ago). We were mislead by Circuit City that these DVD player are multisystem in the sense that they translate PAL into NTSC. They do not. They are multisystem in the sense that you can play the different formats but you still have to have the corresponding (or multisystem) TV.
On: 2005-09-15
I bought this DVD player as a backup/additional DVD player to my existing Sampo, mainly because my Sampo has a problem with playing some copied DVDs. I wasnt planning on spending a lot of money, but I did want it to have some "basic" features. What I got for the price (about 40 bucks after rebates) was a lot more than I hoped for. This thing will play everything you throw at it. And I mean Everything. Virtually all formats are supported, including PAL/NTSC conversion, which allows you to play DVDs from other countries (a simple multi-region remote control hack is required for that). Ive heard some complaints about reliability and support, but I have never experienced any problems myself in over 2 years that Ive used this player. Also, I think the problems are only existent on 300 series models, as this is a higher end model, and Cyberhome might have addressed previous issues. The bottom line is Im very happy with it and would highly recommend it to other people.
On: 2005-09-03
After purchasing this item from amazon.com and waiting two weeks for its arrival, I set it up only to find that it will not power on. The companys website offers advice to check the a/c connector and thats it! No other advice, no help at all. This machine is a waste of time and money
On: 2005-09-01
The global video scene is changing the face of civilization. Dont miss out!
On: 2005-08-14
On many past DVD players, certain discs would never play. Others would also skip in a certain chapter.
With this player, all of that is gone. It works great.
Im also digging the S-video output and digital audio output. Older DVD players wouldnt feature these things, but now I can take advantage of my nice t.v. and watch DVDs in 5.1 surround sound.
On: 2005-07-17
I bought this a year ago, probably used for 25 hrs max (since I had another DVD player also). This is broken already.
I dont advice people to buy this.
On: 2005-06-23
Easy to hook up. Great picture on my flat screen (not HD). Has played, so far, all music and video I have burned to disc with my PC. Great, economical price also.
On: 2005-05-06
Buy at your own risk. I got it since it was multi-region, great output options etc. and it really was great in all other usability terms. However, Cyberhome sells bad quality. I know of 3 friends of mine that had CH and the unit stopped loading DVDs after less then 12-16 months. I thought I am ok since I had this 500 model, and they had the 300... no luck.
I got it sep-04, it was pronounced dead on apr-05... that is just 1.5 years of life time, which apears to be the going rate for Cyberhome.
here is the reply I got from them when I complained:
"
Sir, we appologize for the inconvenience and do really wich that you are under warranty but policy is policy and we have to be fair to everybody as well. Since we do not offer any refunds and we no longer have any parts or unit for this model. You would need to get it repaired possibly at a local repair shop. Once again, we appologize for the inconveneince.
regards,
jerry
CSD
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
good luck.
On: 2005-03-30
I bought one two years ago and it went out of service 13 months later. I could see only 15 DVDs. It was impossible to find any spare part of that player. So, I lost all I paid for it.
On: 2005-02-28
If it quits working do this! Open the disc tray and enter STOP-2-0-0-2 on the remote control. This will reset the factory defaults. IT WORKS!!!
On: 2005-02-12
This unit will not play DVDs that are coded for other regions than region 1, even if it does read PAL format DVDs. It is apparently illegal to sell DVD players in the Americas that can read DVDs coded for other then region 1. I thought this unit would allow me to see a DVD that a friend sent from France, but no way!
On: 2005-01-03
I bought this player two years ago, mainly based on information Id researched online. The PAL->NTSC conversion, region code and Macrovision loopholes, and price were the deciding factors for me. This is the first (and only) DVD player Ive ever had, and hopefully itll stay that way for a while longer.
This player can play just about anything I put in it. I have the region code set to "All", via a hidden menu accessible by a code on the remote. PAL DVDs convert to NTSC format perfectly. Home-burned VCDs and SVCDs seem to play fine. Some DVD-Rs have not been able to play on this machine. And it apparently doesnt support DVD-Audio, but you cant really expect that from a lower-end model from 2 years ago. Considering the price, Im sure the audio and video quality arent top-of-the-line, but for my purposes, it looks and sounds great. Then again, I do only have it running through a VCR, as my TV only has a coaxial input. (for a while, it was connected through component inputs on a former roommates TV, and the picture quality was considerably better) The stereo audio outputs are connected to my home stereo receiver. Another nice feature of this player, is that it can down-mix Dolby 5.1 and DTS audio tracks to 2-channel stereo, so I can listen to DTS tracks and not miss anything.
The only problem Ive ever really had with this, is that its freezed up on a couple of discs. The culprits being "Little Nicky" (freezes up on deleted scenes) and a Spanish R2 "Torrente" (freezes up on the warning screen). Oh, it also wont play enhanced audio CDs (CDs with data/multimedia files), but since I dont use this as a CD player, thats not really an issue for me. And, as previously mentioned, its picky with DVD-Rs. Other than that, its worked just fine for the entire time Ive had it. Seeing how many people have reported problems with this player, I guess Ive just been lucky.
On: 2004-11-23
i cant sing enough praise for this player.i have had mine for 2 years,and still going strong.i purchased originally as a back-up player,but now use it as my primary dvd player.the feature that many may not know about or understand,is the ntsc to pal conversion(and vice versa).this allows you to view dvds from ANY region/country in the world!!to do the same thing back in the vhs days would set ya back around a grand!
On: 2004-11-22
i cant sing enough praise for this player.i have had mine for 2 years,and still going strong.i purchased originally as a back-up player,but now use it as my primary dvd player.the feature that many may not know about or understand,is the ntsc to pal conversion(and vice versa).this allows you to view dvds from ANY region/country in the world!!to do the same thing back in the vhs days would set ya back around a grand!
On: 2004-09-29
I have this player for about one year. It plays
all kind of DVD/VCD/CD disks, and it can be made region free.
However, The player started to overheat and frozen recently , and it has problems reading some disks. I cleaned the player with a lens cleaner disk, but it did not help.
Looks like it is dying. My Old Pioneer player still works after more than 3 years.
It was a nice machine, but it did not last.
On: 2004-09-06
I experienced the same as many previous reviewers. And just like one of them, I bought two of these units. One quit working after about 6 months of VERY LIGHT USE. Ill bet I played less than 15 movies with it. It said "Bad Disk" with any disk I loaded.
The other lasted a bit longer but after having a baby we used it less than the first one. Now this one turns on, but there is no response from the buttons on the bezel or the remote.
I bought these after reading great reviews. Dont make the same mistake! Check out the reviews on their other products. Do not buy ANYTHING from this company.
On: 2004-08-18
I have not had any problem with this player. So far it has been great. At first, it wouldnt play all regions but I went to videohelp.com and found the region-free crack. Now, it plays any region dvd even bootleg copies burned to DVD-R/+R. It is well worth the 50 bucks I paid for it.
On: 2004-08-02
Ive used this player off and on for about a year and have no complaints other than the sub woofer channel apprears not to work. Tried every possibility and after reading these reviews, I think it is the player. If anyone has had a similar problem, please contact me. Ill probably buy another player and see if the problem corrects itself.
On: 2004-06-13
We bought two of these DVDs from Sams Club because of the great price that they were. We loved them at first, and thought they were very user friendly compared to another higher priced DVD player we had in the past. The first one quit working after about 7 months, and the second one literally "BLEW UP" after 9 months! Sparks, popping and everything. I wish I had read these other reviews before buying. BUYER BEWARE!
On: 2004-05-17
I bought this player about a year and a half ago and havent had any complaints. Its not the best player in the world, but for the price its worth it. My only complaint has been that the display on the front is starting to dim after about an hour of play but thats the only problem Ive had. And for the $50 I paid...I cant complain.
On: 2004-05-10
Ive had this DVD player for over a year. I have upgraded the BIOS twice. I have it set as region 0 (in other words, region free). There are tutorials on the internet on what you need to do to make it region 0. Its just in a hidden menu.I play this thing to death, and have only ever had one problem with it. The problem was with "Anger Management," but I flashed the BIOS the the new version, and everything was perfection again. The new BIOS is available from Cyberhomes official web site. All you need to do is download the ISO (disc image), use an ISO burning program (nearly every popular CD burning program will do this) to burn the CD, put it in your DVD player, follow some instructions, and there you go, BIOS flashed. Easy. The only complaint I could have with this is the lack of DVD-A support. But, it came out before that was available. I play US DVDs, imported Asian and European DVDs, mp3 CD-Rs, audio CDs / CD-Rs, VCDs, xVCDs, SVCDs, xSVCDs; all of them play beautifully.
On: 2004-05-05
My Cyberhome CH-500 worked great for about three months. Now it refuses to properly mix audio on certain DVDs, typically leaving out the center channel, so no voices! This problem manifests itself no matter how the audio is connected-amplifier, receiver, or directly to tv. Not to mention that the player has the habit of switching on sub-titles by default.Theres FAR too MANY reviews here on the CH-500 malfunctioning after your 30 day warranty expires. Consider this player to have the plague: Avoid it!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-04-25
I had this for about a year and I was satisfied with it. I liked the MP3 player interface compared to my old Apex player.
Last week, it just stopped reading my DVDs. It could still play any CD format (VCD,SVCD,MP3 CD). I tried to contact Cyberhome several times through their website and I never got a response back so I would caution those who are thinking of buying any of their products about Cyberhomes poor customer support.
On: 2004-04-18
Your player only plays one type of dvd that I have. I brought it here to Belize thinking that it was a good player..I wont advise anyone to purchase one. Please correct your scanner to be capable to scan any dvd disc. Jacqui
On: 2004-03-05
Worked wonderful for 9 months. Well 8.75 months. Then some screen lag and synch errors with the sound for a week before dying. Dead Dead and Dead. The cost of repair is more then the value of the unit, under their warranty. Id advise against getting this unit unless you dont need one that lasts for some reason.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-02-21
Died after 11 months of service :(
didnt expect that for todays electronic products.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-02-14
This unit was 19 days in transit from Amazon (who was surprisingly uncaring about it) arrived nearly non-functional. The remote would turn it on, and illuminate the OPEN and CLOSE words on the display. No other functions worked. The DVD tray never moved. And the on-cabinet controlls did nothing. No open/close, not even on/off. It may be cheap, but it is also cheaply made.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-27
I have a collection of foreign PAL DVDs, and CH-DVD 500 is a true find for it accurately renders anamorphic PAL DVDs and overall is a nice unit for that low price. It certainly has a few minor drawbacks... Like a remote control with unlisted codes.
On: 2004-01-07
I bought one of these just over a year ago because I wanted to watch DVDs from anywhere in the world. For $60 or so, it was a steal. I dont dig the silver case, the remote layout is awful and some discs seem to take inordinately long to load, but those minor issues are far outweighed by the features. A quick remote hack gave me all-region compatibility, I can watch NTSC or PAL discs, and Macrovision is disabled on most discs. This machine will play discs (particularly DVD-R) that my more expensive Philips player wont. And a feature that came in handy just this week is .jpg viewing: I burned a bunch of digital pictures to a CD, popped it into the player and voila--instant slide show.
I have had absolutely no mechanical problems with my player. (After reading the negative reviews, however, Ill keep my fingers crossed.) I liked mine so much that I just bought another for my parents for Christmas.
Update, 8/12/05: Problems have cropped up. The machine refuses to load some discs, and will only play the intro on others. No rhyme or reason to it as far as I can tell. You get what you pay for, and I think I at least got my moneys worth. Still, my next player will be a *quality* all-world model.
On: 2003-12-27
We were happy with this feature loaded DVD player - until it went and died after ten months. Anyone else notice a theme here? Yes it would have cost $40 for the repair under "limited warranty" and the company was fairly responsive. But still. A great product that does not last might not be all that great a product. Hello? British motocars anyone?!?Until it died it played beautifully. Had trouble getting it to play an SVCD - hmm, someone else had the same problem. Just wish it could have lasted longer.
On: 2003-12-08
My personal experience with this product has been very good. I dont watch hundreds of DVDs, but Ive never had a problem with any DVD Ive tried to watch. The progressive outputs to my HDTV are very good, especially considering the price. I dont use the on-board 5.1-channel audio decoder, as I let my receiver decode the digital signal from the player, but that might be a great option for someone with an older or less-expensive receiver that cant do digital decoding, or cant decode a DTS signal.My only complaints are with SVCD playback, which may not matter to a lot of people. I occasionally record video on my computer and burn it to CD-ROM in SVCD format so I can watch it easily on my TV. However, sometimes those SVCDs exhibit very jerky playback, and are irritating to watch. Ive learned that by tweaking some of the settings in my video conversion programs, I can minimize or even eliminate the jitter, but I dont need to do that for the SVCDs to play just fine in other players. In all, thats a very small complaint given the price and other features, but its why I gave it only 4 stars instead of five. Cyberhome also has provided firmware updates through their website to address some problems with this player. If youre having trouble with your player recognizing discs or freezing up during playback, you might want to try a firmware update. Go to http://www.cyberhome.com/downloads.asp?Product=500 .
On: 2003-12-07
I had the same problem that many other people had.
I bought this DVD player about 8 months ago and it died.
The warranty is for parts only and you have to pay for shipping back to them and pay $40 for labor.I will not be buying anything from Cyberhome ever again.
On: 2003-12-03
i get this free when i bought my big tv from best buy no wonder why is free, retail was 79.99 dollars. i use it briefly and one night i watched dvd and i full sleep in morning i tried it but not working just green lcd lights out no function, i know electronics so i opened it and looked not repairable easy
i emailled cyberhome they would charge me for labor
not worth it stupid me to buy chinesse product communism products sucks
On: 2003-12-02
It plays some DVDs, but refuses to play others (wont play Cats or Finding Nemo). It sometimes freezes for up to 30 seconds and then continues. It is very slow to start a disc or select any options. The remote buttons are small and poorly placed.I would like to get my money back for this piece of junk but I did not take it out of the box and discover its shortcomings until after 30 days ;-( I would avoid this product at any price.
On: 2003-11-10
I have had this DVD player for about 8 months and it died. It was great while it worked, but now it will only read audio cds (I have cd players for that!). With the product PARTS ONLY under warrenty for a year, it will cost me as much or more to have this player repaired as it will to buy a new one. Next time I go with brand-names I know and pay more attention to the warrenty!
On: 2003-10-26
Brief History.Purchased unit in December of 2002
3 days later it died, took it back and had it replaced.
Now 10 months later it has died again. Note: The parts warranty is 1year but the labor warranty is only 90days. This player has some reliability problems so think carefully about the shortness of that labor warranty. I can either pay $40 to have it repaired (luckily I live near the company and wont have to pay shipping too) or just move on to another player. Its a shame the build quality is so poor, but thats what you get when you pay $80 for a player I guess. Technically its great - the way it could play Mp3 discs, and once you do the hack, any region DVDs, and having progressive scan and component outputs. And this is since late 2002 - many other players can do this now and at a low price but this was one of the first.
On: 2003-10-23
I read so many reviews about Cyberhome and thought Ill jump on the deal, but Im not impressed at all. Seems it doesnt read the disc too well or makes my DVDs skip alot. I watch my movies on the Sony DVD player and its fine! Also, the disc tray is a bit slow on opening. Im gonna jump in on the Norcent DP-302v and see how that goes.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-10-03
The main reason I bought the cyberhome 500 was because of reviews stating that it can be switched to region free (search on google for info). Ive been buying DVDs from amazon.co.uk and after switching the unit to region free via the "secret" menu, it now plays those DVDs with no problems, and also plays PAL version DVDs on an NTSC
tv. Ive also upgraded the firmware, downloaded from the cyberhome website, and had no problems afterwards.
I have only had it two weeks, too early to see if it will have
the lockup problems others have reported.
Ive also played SVCDs and VCDs without any problems.
It does appear to be cheaply made, not the nicest player out
there. But menu response is good, especially compared to my
Samsung player (721) which cost twice as much.
On: 2003-09-27
I agree with the other negative reviews. The picture and sound quality are good on this machine WHEN ITS WORKING. Many times it does not accept new DVDs (Bad Disc message). Its a Catch 22 though. Not worth paying shipping and possible upgrade charges to send it in for repairs because it was so cheap. I think Ill just cut my losses and move on. Anyone interested in a used Cyberhome DVD player that works half the time?
On: 2003-09-26
When its working the picture looks great on my 50" Pioneer Plasma TV throught the component video out, and the optical DTS/Dolby digital connection sounds beautiful through surround sound.
I am on my third unit so far, though. The early units had a defect in the hardware which caused on-screen distortion with bright scenes requiring a mail-back to the company ($15 postage! They wouldnt pay for that!)
Even with the firmware upgrade offered on the web, the unit was locking-up with some scenes, requiring a hard reboot via the hard power switch on the back of the unit. Eventually, it just started to lock up after 2 - 20 minutes of watching any DVD.
This required an exchange for another unit.Well see how long this new one lasts! Things I like:
DTS sound
Optical and component connections
"screen saver" mode if you pause too long (good for plasma TVs to avoid "burn-in")
Firmware upgrades
Inexpensive price
3:2 pulldown for film movies on DVD Intuitive remote with good button placements
Audio compression via setup menu for night-time viewing (keeps the volume more constant to avoid overly loud scenes if kids are sleeping in the next room.)
Ability to be controlled via a universal remote (though the website claims it cant, I found a code to program my Universal remote by calling the help desk for the remote) Hope this helps!
On: 2003-09-16
I have this player for more than 6 months now. I love it. works great.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-08-01
This unit came as a giveaway when we bought our new TV, and is our first DVD player. We have it hooked up to a Toshiba flatscreen conventional TV using component video, and I must say that the video quality is just amazing. Colors are deep and the picture is sharp. Its easy to use as well. Weve had ours for eight months with no problems.
On: 2003-07-19
Bought this 3 months ago, thought it was a good deal. Now 3 months later its been in the shop twice and this last time I was told theres no hope. Not only that, but I have to pay them to dismantle it to remove a rental disc. *sigh*
by: Anonymous On: 2003-06-24
Yes its the best product in its class.! I have one, works great. Suggesed to three others. They are also very happy with this all in one DVD player..!
by: Anonymous On: 2003-06-11
Bought this at Best Buy (who doesnt carry it anymore due to the possible number of returns/complaints they received, which I thought was premature, and now RadioShack offers the 300 model, a more compact version of this one). For someone on a budget who wants the latest features, this is a great player. Ive only experienced the black screen maybe once in the 6+ months Ive owned this player.Two issues I found, however: 1. You cant switch on text commentary while watching movies that offer it. It tends to switch to the subtitles after a track switch. While this is a minor inconvenience, it tends to get annoying after a while. 2. If they only made it in black. Then Id get another one for my main setup and transfer this one to my bedroom! Bottom line: If youre tech savvy enough and can deal with a low-tier name, get this player! Your wallet will thank you!
On: 2003-05-11
I needed the player to play PAL DVDs from Europe and this player handels the task perfect. It looks good too and seems much more durable desigh than Apex models in this category. If you need to find about features not stated in the manual or in the official description, just do the search for the CH-DVD 500 on the net.
On: 2003-04-05
This is headed for the junk pile. It rejects brand new dvds as "bad discs." Save yourself the trouble.
On: 2003-03-29
This review refers to the Cyber Home CH-DVD 500.....I am extremely happy with this DVD player. I am a DVD junkie and use it just about every day. The player I had before this one was good, but there were just certain DVDs that didnt play all the way through on it. I would get about an hour in and all of a sudden there were skips and pauses for several minutes at a time, that would totally interupt the flow of the movie.(I never could figure out any similarites on the DVDs themselves). All of the DVDs that skipped before play beautifully now(except one that I think may be the DVD itself). That was my main reason for upgrading to this DVD, but I have found many other perks I didnt have before as well. The sound is now filtered through my home theatre system much better than before.It works great with either Dolby Digitial or DTS and my tuner is now indicating the exact sound I am getting whether it be 2.0 or 5.1 or 4.0 . It never did that before! And the picture and sound are beautiful! I also didnt think I would get much use from the other features such as the MP3 player, but now that Ive learned how(and if I can learn how, anybody can), and realize how many tracks I can put on it, I can unhook my CD player and have one less thing plugged in! You can also just play one CD at a time. The music sounds terrific as well.The player automatically adjusts to whatever type of disc is in use, and when listening to music you can program it any way you want the songs to play. Now my TV is not Progressive Scan ready and I am using the S-Video(and someday when I get a progressive scan TV Ill be all set)and it still looks great. The remote is nice and has many useful features(zoom, bookmark GOTO, etc) and the owners manuel is simple to follow. There are just a couple of little things you should know. When the tray slides out to insert the disc, there is just a smidgeon that is not all the way out(on mine anyway) and you need to be careful inserting and taking the disc out. The other little thing I noticed was that after pausing a movie and then restarting it, it sometimes comes on with subtitles for a couple of seconds but then corrects itself. Just thought Id mention those, but hardly worth taking a star off. I see some other reviews here on the more technical aspects, that may be of more help. This review is just to let you know that I am really getting my moneys worth from this purchase and that I am thrilled with the way my movies look and sound as well as my music. It came with a Limited Warranty...Three months on Labor and One year for defective parts(this did not cost extra!) A great buy...enjoy...Laurie
On: 2003-03-01
I like that I can make a CD of photos and it plays and you can have separate directories play. It plays all dvds I have and you can change some settings with the remote.
Update. One does not play disks well and remote is not as good as sonys remotes. Reduce to 3 stars as you can hack it to all region.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-02-26
I read a while ago that the 500 model offer the posibility of changing the region code. I am interested in sending one unit to Latin America but do not know how to make the change using the remot contrrol. any suggestions?
On: 2003-02-21
This player plays any DVD-R you can throw at it. The remote is a little wierd but you get used to it. Unbeatable price especially for progressve scan!
On: 2003-02-18
As-received, the unit did not perform exactly as the owners manual described. After a software upgrade, everything was OK. The slide show picture quality is good. One limitation is that only the first 999 JPEG images on a CD can be displayed. Even if the files are distributed across several directories, only the first 999 on the disc are usable. If there are several hundred files in the root directory, only the first 299 can be listed on the display (but all 999 work in slide show mode). It would be nice to have track titles displayed for music CDs. In spite of the limitations, I would buy this unit again.
On: 2003-02-14
I bought this unit for several reasons. I am replacing a vintage 1998 Toshiba DVD player. Im using it with a 50" standard TV and a surround sound system. I was always bothered by digital affects I saw on my TV when using the Toshiba DVD. Specifically, when there was a gradient of color say from light blue to dark blue, you could detect distinct bands of color. All of that has disappeared with this unit. The picture is great. The colors are sharp and saturated. My previous DVD would not play CD-R/RW disks. I am converting all of my CDs to MP3 format. This unit plays my homemade MP3 CD-R/RW disks flawlessly, plus the sound is great. I dont imagin I will need my 60 disk CD changer any longer since I can put 250 songs on one CD. I also record video CDs (VCD & SVCD). Ive transferred many camcorder tapes to VCDs and now I can share them with family and friends. I highly recommend this unit.
On: 2003-02-12
OK... I admit that I bought this DVD because it was dirt cheap. But I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. Ive been using Panasonic DVD-RV30 (Amazon rating=4.5 stars) for about two years and I can confidently say this DVD player is as good as Panasonic. Pros)
1. It has component video, S-Video and RCA video output. Not many DVD players do. And if you have latest HD TV, this one is ready for it with Progressive scan and component video output. By the way, if you have regular tupe TV, you dont need component video but S-video does such a good job.
2. It also has optical audio and coaxial audio output. If you have a killer home theatre system, wouldnt you want to use it to the maximum capacity? By the way, this supports DTS, DOLBY 5.1.
3. It plays DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R,RW, MP3, VCD, and JPEG files on CD. I moved my mini audio system from the living room because this machine can play all kinds of medias. (I do have a Sony receiver for AM and FM)
4. Excellent support - I contacted them with a stupid question but they responded with excellent answers and reasonable delay. They promptly provide BIOS update on their website as well. CONS)
1. Material is not as good as those expensive brands but the player itself looks quite nice with my other decor. I hope they have a black casing though.
2. Information on LCD panel can be better. It shows basic information.
3. Start-up is little bit on the slow side. It takes longer than other brands to read the content at the beginning. Well... Thats it... For $, you cannot get a better deal anywhere! I guarantee it. Ive been thinking about APEX because it is hackable and cheap but for about the same price, they lack component output and other outputs. If you are going to use it with a TV only, you can go for it but if you have a theatre system this is much better deal. By the way, this one is also hackable. (whatever that means...) Bye~
On: 2003-02-10
The kid at Best Buy originally was told not to get this item unless I hated the person I was getting it for. He kept telling me to get the Toshiba. Well I did some research and decided to get it anyways...I am very pleased. I have had it for a couple months now and it has worked flawlessly. Great for MP3s, JPEGs, VCDs, CD-RWs and oh yeah DVD-Rs. I have tried all of these formats along with standard DVD playback. If you want to use the super output you must change it to super from compnent for it to work properly.
On: 2003-02-09
Bad news... These players aparently suffer from a hardware flaw involving the Progressive Scan. Many users report problems involving video quality issues after activating the progressive scan feature (including myself). To solve please go to CyberHomes website and click on support to RMA your player. Unfortunately a firmware upgrade will not help this.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-02-02
This player produces a mediocre quality image at best, nowhere near the level in terms of color accuracy and overall video quality that my other player (Toshiba SD-1600) is capable of. My main reason for this purchase was to be able to play the few PAL discs that I now own. It is capable of doing this fairly well, so I guess it was still a good way to go, considering other players out there that perform this same function are considerably more expensive...I will continue to use the Tosh for everything but the occasional European and import discs that require the CyberHomes conversion capabilities and would recommend it to others for this same specific purpose. I would not recommend it as an "everyday" player however. For a bit more money there are better choices out there.
On: 2003-01-31
Got this as a second unit for my 5 yr. old son to watch his DVDs upstairs on. It works great. In fact, it looks so good that Im considering changing it out, for my older one that is downstairs w/ my bigscreen. For the money, you cant go wrong. Very nice.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-22
Wow! Wow! and also, Wow!This baby IS all that they say it
is! After reading all the hype (nerd-out.com), I
took the plunge and all Ive got to say
is: "wheeeeeeeeeeeee"
.....
.....
....
....splash! p.s. that and the fact that I saved a BUNDLE of cash!
On: 2003-01-22
I purchased this unit after reading the reviews. Thanks to you all that have one! This unit was all that I expected and more. Extremely east to set up and use. I havent had any problems. I have an older TV with the RCA connections- connected player with no problems including connecting through stereo. The instructions to me were easy to understand. This unit is a plus for the money. Also this was the first DVD, CD player purchase for me
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-20
...I bought this Cyber Home DVD... The price was so low that I did not expect much, although it is advertised to be loaded with features. How does generic brand survive? Lower price and more features. However, when I tried it, its performance amazed me. The video and sound quality of DVD is exellent (I am not a hard-core sound & vison fan, so dont take this comment too seriously since DVD always has good sound and video quality). It handles MP3 disks with folders and other files very well. I dont have HDTV so progressive scan is a feature for future. I do have some problems with it, though. [On some discs] I could not see or hear anything, What is mroe, quite some pictures on my JPEG disk I tried were not displayed completely. In summary, it is not a perfect player. But I would like to strongly recommend it if you want a good value with a tight budget.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-16
I brought this unit after reading the other great reviews on this product. I am so impressed the overall functionality of this unit, it was a good buy. Cyber Home has produce a good product at and affordable price.
On: 2003-01-15
I have 5 DVD players including the major and very famous Japanese manufacturers ones. I think this player is the best quality considering the features of this players.
Now, this is my main DVD players instead of others.
On: 2003-01-15
Gread player.
Had August release and updated the Firmware as described in the CYBERHOME Website.
The player reads VCD, SVCD and DVD just fine.(Using also CD-R and CD-RW disks)
Also MP3 are a pleasure, together with the JPG slideshow module, add the Integrated 5.1 DTS decoder, PAL/NTSC conversion... GREAT Deal. ...However, I did not get it to play MiniDVDs. Maybe a future firmware upgrade will solve this ? Clearly recommend it Romain
by: Anonymous On: 2002-12-31
The other reviews about it being a good value are true. One little problem - if you want to use a universal remote with it, you are out of luck - does not work with any universal remote per their web site.
On: 2002-12-31
This is THE best low cost DVD player on the market. I cant believe the specs on this thing. Not only did I buy one for myself, I bought one for my parents and my girlfriend. S-video/component/composite outputs, digital out, 5.1 channel analog outputs (with DTS/Dolby decoder inside the player!!!) and thats just the beginning. Here are the three best reasons to buy this thing:1) It can handle both NTSC and PAL (European) DVDs. That means that this will play an imported anamorphic DVD from England or Asia on your American TV set. Normally, you have to pay big $$$ to get this option. 2.) By accessing the system menu with a few clicks of the remote, you can change the region restrictions on the player, allowing you to watch movies from anywhere on the planet. (Only to be used when moving to a new country, of course -- wouldnt want to get in trouble with the MPAA ;-] ). 3.) And third, well, I cant tell you what the third bonus is. It has to do with Macrovision. Go to Google to learn more. Unfortunately, the player doesnt come in black, and the eject button has a slow response time (you have to hold it a beat longer than usual) but picture and sound quality are great. Would look even better if I had a progressive scan HDTV, but my old CRT suffices. Highly recommended.
On: 2002-12-01
I had a Philips DVD-825, an old DVD player, for a long time. It served me well and all, but it was time to upgrade, and now that DVD prices have dropped substantially in comparison to 2 years ago, I figured I would take the initiative.For me, a DVD player has to:
1 - play VCDs
2 - play CD-R media (kinda goes hand-in-hand with 1)
3 - connect easy
4 - look good externally. That having been said, I went to Best Buy and saw this DVD player. It was advertised for [a relatively low price], and I was skeptical at first, but Id brought a CD-R-based VCD to test it. Sure enough, it passed the test; passed #1, #2, and #4 so far. Bought it, got it home, and set it up. I had wanted to connect it through component video,[but due to a lack of funds], I wasnt going to buy that wire. So Id gotten an S-video Monster cable. Hookups were easy as can be, and the menu is simple and easy. DVDs play with unbelievable clarity, and the sound is tremendously clear, especially on 5.1. This even plays MP3s and JPGs from a CD-R!! So you could copy like 120 MP3 files to a CD and play them on this player, and if you have a surround system, you could run a party with this!! Amazing!! There are two negatives to this player, which are small or large, depending on how you look at it. 1 - Its VERY picky about its inputs to your source (receiver, TV, etc). My TV only has one pair of audio RCA jacks that have to be shared between the S-video and the Component Video, so I got two Y-splitters to connect both the audio from the DVD and my PS2 (which I had on the component side). The PS2s sound came through fine, but the DVD refused to play any sound. It would only play when directly input into the TV. I had to use a device switcher ... to get the PS2 and the DVD both operating with S-video. 2 - Its very iffy on DVD playback. There are times (and this is fresh out of the box) when you press play and it will sit at a black screen. You cant stop it, you cant do anything. You have to power it off manually using the switch in the back. Also, there are times when youll press a button on the remote and the DVD will respond late. For example, I could press Play, and it wont actually start playing until like a minute later; almost as though it were processing something. It doesnt happen often enough to be a big problem, but it is sort of a nuisance. This might be just my ignorance about the product. Besides these two things, this is a great product for the money. Buy this if you need a DVD player or you need to upgrade.
On: 2002-12-01
The feature list of this player would indicate it to be very high end, but its incredibly low-priced. I bought one and so did a friend (on my advice). The one I bought was defective (drawer did not open), but the replacement was fine.The other DVD players Ive used are 2+ years older, so either the state of the art has improved tremendously or this model just has an unusually good menu system and great handling of MP3s. Earlier models were clumsy at best in many areas, but this one is quite excellent. The menu system is clear and logical, and the MP3 handling is very, very good (support for long filenames, subdirectories, browsing titles while playing a song, instantaneous starting of a song, and decoding a wide range of bit rates). I can also vouch that it "plays" JPEG files, letting you rotate then and zoom in & out & do a slide-show. And folks, it decodes Dolby Digital and DTS into 5.1 analog outputs, does progressive scan, and has all the expected types of connections! (I wish it came in black, but thats minor.) Really, the number and strength of features makes this a no-brainer .... (2 of these is still less money than people spent on a decent DVD player a couple years ago or a decent CD player 15 years ago or a high-end MP3 player even today.) Oh, and by the way, they have a great web site ... and you can download and install (via CD-R/RW) the latest firmware into the machine, which I did successfully. The company even lists what they fixed/improved in each update. Refreshing for a audio/video product!
On: 2002-12-01
Ita an amazingly feature-rich product for the price. Its based on a new DVD chip (CS98100) developed by Cirrus Logic, which packs all the functions of a DVD player in a single chip. This chip was introduced in the early 2002 and my guess is that the CH-DVD 500 is the first product to use it in the market. The use of this chip is instrumental in bringing down the price of this product. All the features you can ask for in a high-end DVD model including progressive-scan output are offered in this model. Truly amazing how they can undercut the competitors price almost by half. The picture quality is excellent on a traditional TV, but I havent tested it on a HDTV for its progressive scan feature. A progressive-scan out would be a must-have if youre considering a HDTV. It basically eliminates the flickering of traditional TVs and improves the smoothness of motions (watching a movie in a movie theater is a good example of a progressive scan; all computer monitors nowadays are in progressive scan, so if you watch a DVD movie through your computer, thats a good example of progressive scan.)Low price doesnt always come without some sacrifice. Build quality is about the same as other bargain brand/product, which is ok at best. Especially the search dial is very flimsy feeling. I was afraid of buying a completely unknown brand here and reviews for this product were almost non-existent, but its already popular in Europe, so I decided to give it a try. It seems like they rushed the product from the factory to the market because I could smell the unpleasant paint odor on the outside the silver casing for many days. So if youre sensitive to harsh chemical, make sure you air it out before using it. In summary, it has some flaws, but the good features it offers more than make up for its drawbacks.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-11-27
This model probably has the best video quality among the [lower cost] players. The best kept secret of this player is that it can play the anamorphic PAL DVDs in their proper aspect ratios on an NTSC 4:3 TV, if this matters to you.Unlike most other cheap brands, CyberHomes technical support does try very hard to answer and solve the issues encountered by their customers. It may not be a perfect player for everyone, but you wont regret it if you care about the video quality and not just playing all the disc formats. Although it is compatible with DVD, VCD, SVCD,MP3, and JPEG. Dont confuse this model with 505 (which is a European model) or 402 (which uses a different video processor and without P-scan function)
by: Anonymous On: 2002-10-14
CH-DVD 505 Features - Disc Formats: DVD,CD,MP3,CD-R/RW,VCD,SVCD
- Dual-Lens Technology
- PAL/NTSC,PAL60
- Shows Bitrate onScreen
- Aluminium Front
- YCC Connector
- Program Menu for MP3/Audio-CD
- Bookmark Feature
- 2/4/8/15x Quick back and forward
- 05/08/12/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90% Slow-Motion
- MP3 Playlist letters - No Limit
- Multi Language On Screen Display (OSD)
- High Color Backround-Picture
- Multi Language Operating Instructions - 8 languages A/V Character - 10 bit Video D/A Converter
- 96 kHz / 24 bit Audio D/A Converter
- AC-3 / DTS Digital Output Connection
- S-Video Output
- Composite Video Output
- 5.1 Analog Channel Output
- Prologic Stereo 2 Channel Audio Output
- Optical / Coaxial Digital Output
- SCART-RGB Output Special Playing Functions - Repeat Section A to B
- Rating Level
- Multi Language (depends on title)
- Subtitle (depends on title)
- Multi Angle (depends on title)
- 16:9 / 4:3 TV Screen Selection
- Program Edit
- Playback Repeat
- Close Caption (depends on title)
- 3 Color Graphic OSD
- Infinitely Variable Zoom Function Power Supply
AC 110-220 V, 50/60 Hz
by: Anonymous On: 2002-10-14
CH-DVD 505 Features - Disc Formats: DVD,CD,MP3,CD-R/RW,VCD,SVCD
- Dual-Lens Technology
- PAL/NTSC,PAL60
- Shows Bitrate onScreen
- Aluminium Front
- YCC Connector
- Program Menu for MP3/Audio-CD
- Bookmark Feature
- 2/4/8/15x Quick back and forward
- 05/08/12/20/30/40/50/60/70/80/90% Slow-Motion
- MP3 Playlist letters - No Limit
- Multi Language On Screen Display (OSD)
- High Color Backround-Picture
- Multi Language Operating Instructions - 8 languages A/V Character - 10 bit Video D/A Converter
- 96 kHz / 24 bit Audio D/A Converter
- AC-3 / DTS Digital Output Connection
- S-Video Output
- Composite Video Output
- 5.1 Analog Channel Output
- Prologic Stereo 2 Channel Audio Output
- Optical / Coaxial Digital Output
- SCART-RGB Output Special Playing Functions - Repeat Section A to B
- Rating Level
- Multi Language (depends on title)
- Subtitle (depends on title)
- Multi Angle (depends on title)
- 16:9 / 4:3 TV Screen Selection
- Program Edit
- Playback Repeat
- Close Caption (depends on title)
- 3 Color Graphic OSD
- Infinitely Variable Zoom Function Power Supply
AC 110-220 V, 50/60 Hz
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