Showing posts with label defective. Show all posts
Showing posts with label defective. Show all posts

7/27/2011

Toshiba REGZA 47ZV650U 47-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black Review

Toshiba REGZA 47ZV650U 47-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV with ClearScan 240, Black
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Ordered on Monday night and received on Thursday with FREE shipping from TigerDirect! The box showed a weight of 50 lbs which is pretty light for a 47" flat panel. The picture and colors are really excellent. I'm too cheap to spend $300 on a Blu player but Time Warner HD and standard DVD's look very nice. Can I say the image is better then an LG, Sharp, Samsung etc?? I think with any one of those brands, I'd probably be saying the same thing. Toshiba quality is hard to beat and I really wanted the USB/SD card slot for showing pictures. I've played MP3's from my thumbdrive and even viewed some AVI files. The JPEG picture display from my memory stick was excellent but their 'browser' seems to be a little buggy because now I'm having some trouble trying to get it to recognize the image files again.
PROS:
Not too heavy
USB/SD card slot (for JPEG, MP3, AVI etc)
4 HDMI
Swivel stand
Beautiful colors & picture
CONS:
may need a firmware update for the picture browser
this is not a 'narrow bezel' model

6-1-09: I'm a bit disappointed because the picture viewer from an SD card or USB flashdrive still does not work. I've contacted Toshiba and they say they are 'still working on it'. If you go into the store to buy one of these, take a thumbdrive (or SD card) and test this out first.

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The ZV650 Series takes LCD TV to the next level of picture quality, design, and features. ClearScan 240™ raises the bar for picture clarity with fast motion video, the Deep Lagoon™ design creates a new level of design elegance, and the long list of new features and nextgen connectivity are more than you could ever expect.

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7/09/2011

Sony BDP-S500 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Review

Sony BDP-S500 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player
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It lacks support for streaming DTS-HD Master Audio over HDMI. It downgrades that signal to regular DTS.
It supports BD-ROM Profile 1 only, although the player started selling after October 31st, so it should support Profile 1.1. I don't think that can be upgradeable by changing the firmware.
Load time is very slow. Around 1.5 minute from pressing standby button to the moment you see an image on the screen.
Remote is not backlit. If you don't memorize where the buttons are on the remote you have to turn on the lights to operate it when watching a movie in a dark room.
The Display function only shows time elapsed of the title, but not time left.
Cover is not as blue as the picture suggests, but almost black.
As I have noticed in different audio/video stores, picture quality is the same than cheaper model Sony BDP-S300 and Samsung or Panasonic players.
BRAVIA Theatre Sync (HDMI-CEC) is very useful, very nice feature, but I don't know if it works with TV and receivers that aren't from Sony.
Picture quality from regular DVD's is about the same compared to a DVD player with the ability to upgrade signal to 1080p. Picture quality from a Blu-ray disc is 10% to 25% better than regular DVD (upgraded to 1080p via HDMI) but noticeably worse than HDTV at 1080i coming from a terrestrial antenna (over the air).
If cost is important, I would recommend that you wait a little bit longer for a new model to be released, since it will cost less and will come with some of the things this BDP-S500 lacks.
My TV: Sony KDL-40XBR5. My receiver: Sony STR-DA5300 ES.


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See and hear a whole new world in high definition with Sony’s BDP-S500. The crystalline clarity of 1080p Blu-ray Disc™ movies and DVD upscaling that can bring your DVDs to the highest possible quality, mean your favorite movies have never looked or sounded so good. Add to that Sony’s 24p True Cinema and Cinema Tuned picture presets, which allow you to see any movie just the way its director intended, and all you’ll need is a little popcorn to lose yourself in an HD world. Better yet, now Sony’s BRAVIA Theater Sync™ means that now you can control your compatible TV and AV systems all from one remote.

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6/26/2011

Onkyo TX-NR807 7.2-Channel A/V Surround Home Network Receiver (Black) Review

Onkyo TX-NR807 7.2-Channel A/V Surround Home Network Receiver (Black)
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I've had the Onkyo TX-NR807 for about a month now. It replaced a 10 year old 70W Yamaha Dolby Digital surround receiver. I listen mostly to Jazz vocals, some light pop, and the occasional action movie. My priority is two channel (stereo) music, secondary is surround for movies. Other set-up details: Infinity main and center speakers(see below), small Paradigm surround speakers, Rotel CD running analog outs, Denon DVD, Windows Media Player on PC as music server. Overall satisfaction is high.
Before buying, this unit was demo'd in a showroom against a comparable Denon. The sound was similar on Def Tech floor stand speakers and both performed well. The Denon had a slightly warmer sound, which many prefer. The Onkyo had slightly better clarity, albeit a bit on the brighter side. The issue with a brighter sound is that it can be fatiguing for longer listening periods. This was a problem I was having with my current setup. Tough choice, but I decided to try the Onkyo as clarity is important to me. I like to hear the subtle parts of the music. The Onkyo, after discounts, was also about $500 less.
At home with the Onkyo, immediately I could pick up more details in the music and noticed better mid-range and bass. Not unexpected given I was going from 70W in the old receiver to 135W.
However, after listening for a while, I realized the better sound coming from the Onkyo was now actually revealing limitations of the speakers that were less evident with the slightly muddier sound of the old Yamaha. The vocals were a bit tinny and I was still dealing with the issue of the sound being too bright, although this aspect was a bit improved from the Yamaha. At this point I also looked around the room and realized it may be partially to blame for the brightness. High ceilings with bare walls cause a lot of reflections of high frequencies. There were three viable options: 1) Spend a lot more on a surround receiver or separates in an attempt to get clarity and less brightness ($$$), 2) try room treatments to tame the brightness (costly and usually unattractive), 3) try new speakers. I opted for 3 as the old Infinities were probably outgunned by the new receiver anyway (and I really wanted new speakers).
One of the high-end stores in the area sells B&W speakers and I'd always wanted a set. They have an overnight demo program so I lugged home a pair of mid-range 3-way B&W's to try out. With the B&W's I could hear even more detail in the music, the mid-range was richer, and the bass fuller and cleaner. They did exactly what I thought I was looking for. They made the music very detailed and they were very fast. For those who don't hang out in speaker review forums, this means they respond to changes in volume very quickly. For instance, each snare drum strike might be individually discernable, a cymbal brush stroke may consist of individual strands of the brush hitting the cymbal instead of a constant "whoosh". However, I discovered that after listening for more than 1/2 an hour at a time, that level of detail resulted in a feeling of having my head inside a drum rather than sitting in the audience. The vocals were also a bit harsh. Detail fatigue. So it turned out what I thought I was looking for wasn't what I really wanted.
The B&W's went back and I ended up with Wharfedale Opus speakers for mains and center. These use fabric dome (rather than metal) tweeters and mid's. With these I gave up some of the speed and a tiny bit of clarity, but gained beautiful vocals. They also tamed the brightness. I can listen to these for hours and just smile. A great fit for me when paired with the Onkyo.
Now that the music criteria was taken care of, it was on to movies. I had not really considered the Audyssey calibration tool that comes with the Onkyo to be very valuable. After all, I had managed to set up the surround on the old Yamaha manually. What a pleasant surprise. After running the Audyssey calibration, the surround timing and levels were vastly improved. Note that minor tweaking may still be appropriate. For instance, I needed to manually adjust the level of one of the main speakers by about 1 decibel because the Audyssey settings resulted in slightly off-center results when listening to two channel sources such as CD's.
One of the other criteria I had for a receiver was its ability to stream music stored on my home computer and preferably also from Pandora. Although I knew the Onkyo would do both, I got lucky here. It turns out the Onkyo is the only receiver in this range that will stream music stored in lossless formats. For those who may be lost at this point, music downloaded or ripped from CD's is usually compressed in a manner that removes some of the information (lossy compression). When listening on an ipod you may not know the difference, but on a nice home system there is a difference. Music can be ripped from CD's in a lossless format. However, only the Onkyo will use all the information. For instance, the Denon says it will play lossless formats, but in a small footnote it tells you the streaming software on the computer has to compress the music in a lossy format (192kbs max) in order for the receiver to accept the stream. Not good. What this all means is that I have now burned CD's on my computer in full resolution (no lost information) and can access and play them on my Onkyo receiver with easy on-screen menus. No more swapping CD's for quality sound. No more messing with ipod docks playing compressed music. In case you are wondering about sound quality of the streaming, I've compared the quality of the full-resolution streaming (which uses the Onkyo's digital to analog conversion) with the analog output of the Rotel CD player noting almost no discernable difference. Very good. Actually, excellent. Pandora streaming also works flawlessly.
In summary:
Advantages
- Great sound quality for this level of receiver
- Technologically ahead of competition. Onkyo tends to throw in lots of bells and whistles.
- Lossless streaming!
- Easy to use considering all the features
- Pandora
- Audyssey works well (most at this price have the same or similar)
- Price, especially if you find discounts
- Ability to bi-amp speakers (unit also seemed to run cooler after I did this)
Could be better
- No surround pre-ins for outboard processing (it does have pre-outs)
- No video or picture streaming from home computer or internet
- Sound character slightly on the bright side
Hope this info helps any prospective buyers.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Onkyo TX-NR807 7.2-Channel A/V Surround Home Network Receiver (Black)

The TX-NR807 brings together the very latest mid-range home-theater functionality and adds one major upgrade: networking capability. An Ethernet port on the TX-NR807 allows it to receive and output audio files playing in real-time on your PC. Alternatively, you can bypass your PC and enjoy a direct connection to streaming internet radio stations such as Pandora and Rhapsody. Naturally, the TXNR807 also handles all of your high-definition audio and video sources—courtesy of six HDMI 1.3a inputs—and upscales any video input to 1080p via Faroudja DCDi Cinema. This powerful THX Select2 Plus Certified receiver also comes with Audyssey DSX and Dolby Pro Logic IIz, two new surround-sound formats that expand the spatial dimensionality of games and movies. Meanwhile, Audyssey room-correction and equalization technologies help ensure a convincing and detailed audio performance, regardless of the volume level or the shape of your room. An intelligent customizable remote controller puts the finishing touch to what is another benchmark-setting all-round performer from Onkyo.

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6/12/2011

Panasonic PT-AE700U High-Definition Home Cinema LCD Projector Review

Panasonic PT-AE700U High-Definition Home Cinema LCD Projector
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Don't be fooled by the low price of this projector. Until DLP HD+ Projectors drop to this price range there is nothing that can come close to beating this projectors value for money. The new breed of LCD projectors have come a long way in displaying BLACK close to true black with high contrast ratios.
I shopped around a lot for projectors and seen projectors from Runoco, Sony, Sim, Marantz, etc which vary in price from 3k to well over 15K. I wouldn't say this Panasonic is the best but for the price I am paying, I am really not losing much of quality gain. I project the picture on 100" screen from Carada (another value/quality company) and it did nothing less than 'WOW' many of my friends who watched movies on it.
The picture looks very bright and sharp and colors are very vivid. The build quality of the projector is also excellent. You will not go wrong with this purchase. With little tweaking, the picture quality can be improved a lot. You can find intructions to do that at avsforums another well known Home Theater forums. But, please make sure you know what you are doing before you attempt the tweaking.

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Panasonic's PT-AE700U high-definition LCD projector is equipped with advanced digital picture-enhancing features to transform your living room, basement, or bonus room into a small (or not so small) scale theater for viewing everything from movies to sports to your favorite HD television programs. The tiny projector is capable of displaying an ultra-sharp, ultra-clear widescreen picture up to 18 feet in diagonal. How's that for big-screen?The PT-AE700U's three 16:9 LCD panels (each with a native 1,280 x 720 pixel count) produce a phenomenal picture with 1,000-lumens brightness and beautifully saturated colors, even in well-lit rooms.Incorporating the expertise and artistic creativity of the Hollywood colorist David Bernstein, the PT-AE700U's a wealth of image-optimizing features include a color-correction system with Cinema Color Management (CCM) technology to ensure super-faithful color reproduction and a Dynamic Iris optical system incorporating AI technology to produce a best-in-class 2,000:1 contrast ratio. The projector's Dynamic Iris constantly adjusts its light volume and gamma curve in real time, so the picture always looks its best and transitions between scenes are amazingly smooth and natural.A newly developed 2x optical zoom lens allows image size adjustment to accommodate your room layout and screen size. For instance, the PT-AE700U can project a 100-inch diagonal picture from a distance of less than 10 feet or from a distance of more than 19 feet, depending on where it's most convenient for you to place the projector. A joystick-controlled optical system permits easy vertical and horizontal lens shifts so you can easily adjust the screen without having to move the projector and without distorting the onscreen image.Other innovative PT-AE700U features include Smooth Screen technology that effectively eliminates the "screen door effect" (visible spacing between pixels), 10-bit digital processing and 10-bit gamma correction (which accurately reproduces subtle changes in brightness and hue and quadruples the number of displayable colors to more than 1 billion and over 1,024 gray levels), and improved Dynamic Sharpness Control (which adjusts video signal enhancement based on the difference in brightness of adjacent pixels).The PT-AE700U also performs 3:2 pulldown detection and reversal, a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. Digital video mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture.Weighing just under 8 pounds, the projector is light enough for you to move it between rooms as desired and light enough for you to have it permanently installed in the ceiling using an optional mount. A screen trigger terminal facilitates the opening and closing of an electronic screen when you turn the projector on and off.The PT-AE700U's range of inputs includes an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) that accepts all high-definition digital sources, a component-video input to connect to analog HD sources or progressive-scan DVD players and DTV set-top boxes, a PC input to connect multimedia computer sources, and standard composite- and S-video jacks as well.Further, the PT-AE700U is quiet, with an operating noise level as low as 26 dB. Additional features include omnidirectional digital keystone correction that minimizes distortion when projecting at an angle of up to 30 degrees; contrast, brightness, and gamma level adjustments across 7 picture modes; memory storage of up to 3 sets of picture adjustment settings; a back-lit wireless remote control; 7-language onscreen menu selection; and manual zoom and focus.What's in the Box Projector, remote control, remote batteries, an AV cable (10 feet), an AC power cord, a user's manual, and warranty information.

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5/24/2011

Toshiba SD-3990 Progressive Scan DVD Player Review

Toshiba SD-3990 Progressive Scan DVD Player
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First of all, let me say that this unit is very well worth the money. As "just a DVD player" I give it FIVE over FIVE points (or ten/ten if you wish).
The unit comes as Region Free DVD Player. Professionally modified to play any region out of the box. This feature makes it most versatile player as this player can play any region 1,2,3,4,5,6 PAL or NTSC on regular American TV just out of the Box It just works.
Good things:
it can play NTSC and PAL DVD, VCD. and when it plays PAL VCD, it will fit the image so that the image is not out of proper aspect ratio. You can even easily choose the left or right audio channel which is typical of VCD. Further, this DVD player can play DivX, MPG, mp3, jpg. It can play DivX with subtitles. When fast forwarding, it can go up to 30x and 100x (seems like not 100x but maybe 50x). When you step frame by frame, it works flawlessly. It's a great player for the price, considering all the media it plays (ours played DVD+RW too) and the quality of sound and picture it produces.
As a straight DVD player, this player excels. It has an absolutely brilliant progressive picture, with rich colors, and no prog-scan artifacts whatsoever. There are also a couple of nice digital touch-up controls, sharpness and brightness which can come in handy to boost dark images.
As a DIVX/Xvid player, also excellent. Highly compatible with divx 4/5 and vxid, not at all with divx 3.11 or ms mp4 v2 - according to my testing. plays ac3 audio on these files too. Interesting problem with divx subtitles. Very compatible, yet places them in the middle of the screen, which is weird, but oddly workable. The menu system for avi files is intuitive, but only captures the first 16 characters of the filename.
As a dvd-r player, it's also solid. It has played all media I've thrown at it (-r, -rw). The only problem is that it's picky about flaws. In fact, I have dozens of labeled dvd-r's which will break-up and not play past a certain point. unfortunate, but after I removed the labels (not an easy process) they played to the end.
Now for my favorite feature, the coup de grace: auto aspect-ratio. I have a 16:9 set. When I enable this feature (default), anamorphic titles will fill the screen, 4:3 titles will be in the middle (though zoomed in ever-so-slightly) and non-anamorphic letterbox titles will be zoomed in to fill the width of the 16:9. It makes this adjustment for dvd and divx content. And it gets it right 95% of the time - the other 5% you can adjust manually.

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Nicely affordable yet packed full of powerful video and audio playback features, the Toshiba SD-3990 single-disc, progressive scan DVD player has a stylishly silver, super-slim profile that measures just 1.65 inches high. It's also compatible with a wide variety of disc and digital file formats, including DVD-R/RW, CD-R/RW, and VCD discs as well as MP3, WMA, and JPEG (Kodak Picture and FujiColor CDs) content burned to disc. It's also DivX Home Theater Certified, meaning that it's compatible with video burned to disc using both the DivX video format.
The SD-3990 performs 3:2 pulldown detection and reversal, too--a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. To adapt 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video, frames in the original movie must be duplicated; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this duplication by removing the redundant information to display a frame-accurate picture.
With the JPEG Viewer, you can easily display your favorite digital photos and create custom slideshows with a few simple clicks of the player's remote control. The interactive Digital Picture Zoom feature allows you to select an area of the video from a DVD and magnify it. Other DVD playback features include fast scan, slow motion, multi-angle selection, multi-subtitle selection, and parental lock.
You get vivid, realistic sound, thanks to Toshiba's 24-bit/192 kHz pulse code modulation (PCM) audio processor. PCM audio translates digital signals from your DVDs and CDs into warmer, natural sound. The DVD player offers Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, and you can connect to a multi-channel home theater surround sound system via the coaxial digital audio output. It also produces 3D virtual surround sound from two speakers. It features the following video and audio connections:
Composite A/V: 1
S-Video: 1
Component Video: 1
Digital audio: 1 coaxial

Tech Talk DivX is a compressed digital video format (like MP3) that's based on the MPEG-4 video compression standard. It can reduce the video from a DVD (MPEG-2) to around 10 percent of its original size while still retaining good video and audio quality, enabling you to store several two-hour length movies on burned DVD media.
Component video (also called Y/Pb/Pr) features a three-jack video input, which provides separate connections for luminance (Y), blue color difference (PB) and red color difference (PR). This results in increased bandwidth for color information, resulting in a more accurate picture with clearer color reproduction and less bleeding than you would get with S-Video or composite (RCA yellow video plug) connections. You will need a separate RCA left/right audio cable for sound.
What's in the Box Single-disc DVD player, remote control (with batteries), printed operating instructions

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4/17/2011

Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Review

Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player
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I recently reviewed my Sony BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player, which gave me an insurmountable amount of quirkiness. In that review I commented at length about firmware updates (and more updates and more updates) to which finally spelled doom for my player. I also commented on replacing my Sony S300 with my newly purchased Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player. At this point I must say that this Blu-Ray player is exceptional - Dolby True HD Sound, HDMI output to 1080p video, etc - all the extras without the cost (without a HDMI cord included of course, but most players come without it).
Out of the box, this needed no firmware updates to play even the newest movie I owned (i.e. Superbad [Blu-ray]- released the same week as this review) - which my Sony BDP-S300 tried to load for 15 minutes before locking up (and this was with firmware 2.6 installed already - firmware 3.30 was needed but it couldn't load due to a system error - now my old player sits in Pennsylvania at a Sony service center). The load time on the Sharp BDHP20U for SuperBad was about 1-2 minutes, not too bad as you might know some players take much longer. The boot up time from off to on was only about a minute also.
The entire system seemed quick, and not to mention quiet. From the beginning I was completely happy. The system startup was simple enough - I connected my HDMI and opened the setup menu to finalize my preferences. In less than 10 minutes of opening the box I was watching a movie that my previous Sony BDP-S300 died attempting to do.
For the money, this is a great player with fairly speedy load time. Compare that to the $440 I paid for the Sony BDP-S300 which I bought and now loathe.
12-29-07 update - Player finally needed an update to play The Simpsons Movie [Blu-ray] - not a problem though! Unlike the Sony S300 I mentioned before, the Sharp Aquos BDHP20U uses a USB port via any ordinary thumb/flash drive loaded to the back of the player to deliver the update files. No more senselessly throwing away DVD-R's and waiting 30+ minutes for updates, my Sharp Blu-Ray player updated in about 8 minutes. That little USB plug on the back and the 8 minutes are two good reasons I'm glad I purchased the Sharp Blu-Ray player. Honestly that's the real reason I like this player... it's design (inside and outside) is well thought out.
02-03-2008 update - Encountered my first glitch problem. While watching Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] my player froze up. I stopped the disc and checked it for scratching or debris - nothing, looked great. So, I instead checked the Sharp website for a player update since this Blu-Ray disc set was so new. The website showed that I had the most recent update already. I then decided to restart the disc. The player froze up again at a different point on a different episode. This time I knew something was wrong. I attempted to eject the disc and the player would not respond, it just powered down. But, it had no response to re-power on or anything else for that matter - only thing that was happening was that the Standby light was flashing - no other lights or responses. I checked the SharpUSAdotcom website, but it had no real error response information. So I checked the handy dandy manual that my player came with. There was information on the very last page of the English section which described power / static electricity / lightning strikes / other interference scenarios. I followed the steps by holding the power button down until RESET appeared on the front LED section. It then re-powered on perfectly - another simple solution that was unavailable on my Sony S300 Blu-Ray player when it froze up.
Sure I might truly be comparing apples to oranges with this problem and my Sony problem, but when I originally asked the Sony customer service rep for help on my S300 - she replied with this for resetting my system. She told me to unplug the AC chord and wait 2 minutes. When that didn't work, she said we could try it a few more times or possibly leave it off for a longer amount of time. She also mentioned that this system reset could cause my latest firmware updates to reset also (as well as my player preferences). With my Sharp Blu-Ray player, the reset only rebooted the system (within 20-30 seconds) - all of my preferences and my latest firmware update were still intact. I must say this was much easier than I would ever guessed. Maybe Sharp needs a newer update for playing Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] and it plans to release it soon, who knows? Well not me. But I DO know this, the reset feature on my Sharp Blu-Ray player was better than sending my Sony S300 to Pennsylvania for over a month.
For those of you who have asked and those of you who are wondering, yes I did finish the entire season of Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] without any other problems. I am still not sure what caused the freeze up, but believe me - I tolerated much worse from my Sony S300. I use this player usually three to five times a week and this has been my first "hiccup" since buying it. So all and all, I am still very pleased with my Sharp player and consider it among my smartest purchases of 2007.
04-14-2008 - New problem that as of now is unfixable. When playing 30 Days Of Night [Blu-ray] there is no dialog in either English or Spanish, all of the background sound works and the other languages work as well. Apparently this model has had some trouble with the True HD sound on some of the newer discs - and the only language tracks on this particular movie in True HD were English and Spanish, so in other words - turning to any other non-True HD audio language fixed the problem... if you listened in Korean or French or whatever then you would have no problems. I went to the website to get any updates, which the latest firmware update claimed to address True HD problems (so Sharp is aware that something is wrong). But, the newest update still didn't fix the problem. I tried the disc on my Sony BDP-S500 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player and on my Playstation 3 40GB - both of which played the audio perfectly. After contacting the Sharp customer service via email they emailed me 3 days later with no answers. So, maybe there is a new fix coming and maybe not, either way this makes the Sharp BDHP20U closer to a 3 1/2 star or 4 star until new firmware fixing the True HD audio problem is released. Personally I didn't mind watching the movie in another room, but not everyone has that option.
04-30-2008 - There was another update listed on the Sharp website, this update again addressed the True HD problem. Fortunately this time was the trick to finally fixing the problem I had with 30 Days of Night. This movie now plays perfectly, so now everything seems perfectly once again. Back to 5 Stars!
04-07-2009 - It's been a year since anything out of the ordinary has happened. The player recently started having trouble with some of the newer Blu rays we were renting. At first it wasn't a big deal, but eventually I decided to check for updates. The newest update (Oct 2008) was loaded but somehow it refused to accept the new firmware. So we had to call Sharp for help. They walked us through a few steps but soon realized that there was something wrong with our BD drive. We shipped our player to Sharp and they emailed us to keep us updated through the process. They had my player fixed, updated, shipped back to us within a week. They shipped it back via FedEx overnight and we were watching movies on the player within 8 days of my original phone call. I can't say that this player is perfect, but I can say that I feel very lucky to be dealing with Sharp. The Sony process for returning my player was very complicated and ended with me spending over $200 to receive a completely different Sony model. That was never an issue with Sharp. The woman at Sharp said what was going to happen and politely assured me that this was going to be a painless process. She was right. Thanks Sharp!
More updates to come...

Click Here to see more reviews about: Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player

Now you can enjoy the best of 1080p video on your Sharp AQUOS HDTV. Especially designed to work with AQUOS LCD TVs, the BD-HP20U AQUOS Blu-Ray Disc player provides seamless operability via the AQUOS LINK™ function, through the HDMI connection. Performing as if it were all one system, the BD-HP20U's Quick Start feature lets you begin enjoying gorgeous Blu-ray Disc video with the touch of a button in less than 10 seconds.* The BD-HP20U provides outstanding versatility and is compatible with a wide variety of formats including BD-ROM/RE/R, DVD Video, DVD-RW/R and DVD+RW/R.Additionally, the BD-HP20U plays audio CDs as well. With eight terminal outputs including HDMI inputs and 1080p as well as DVD up-conversion to 1080p, you'll enjoy full digital high-definition video and high-fidelity audio. The piano black finish and slim profile design make it the ideal HD source for a large screen AQUOS TV.*Quick Start time may vary depending on movie content, type of video connection, and type of monitor being used.

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4/11/2011

Coby TFDVD7009 7-Inch Portable DVD/CD/MP3 Player (Black) Review

Coby TFDVD7009 7-Inch Portable DVD/CD/MP3 Player (Black)
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(More customer reviews)
This is a great compact and light dvd player for the price. I was in the market for an inexpensive portable dvd player for my 2-year-old son. I also have the TFDVD7008, but my son kept touching the inside of the player that dvds don't play properly anymore. However, because I liked it so much, I decided to buy another one. I can't comment on all the technical features because I basically use it to play my son's favorite dvds, but I like that it's small, compact, and light. I can fit it in my bag and take it with me wherever I go. The battery life is about 4 hours, which is plenty! I like that it has a rubber grip on the bottom, so the player doesn't slide around on a table (the 7008 didn't have that). I only wish there was a menu button on the player itself and not just on the remote because I don't really use the remote. I also wish there was a way to store the remote in the player itself. That would be nice. Other than that, I really like this dvd player.

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DVD, DVDR/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, JPEG, and MP3 compatible; Compact portable design with anti-skip circuitry; Dolby Digital decoding.

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