Info and forum posts by 'martin d'

Movietyme update

If you are still waiting for a copy of CTHD like I am then you may like to know that the movietyme website has been updated again -

Please note there is now a delay on this title due to studio shortages in Hong Kong. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon will be shipped as soon as possible! Supply of titles from Hong Kong is not as efficient as obtaining from distributers/studios here in the US. We shall be shipping out the next wave of this title late next week
Please note this title is Region 3, Chinese Language (English, Chinese & Korean Subtitles), (Features include: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, DD 5.1 surround sound (Mandarin & Eng Dubb), audio commentery by Ang Lee and James Schamus in English with Chinese subtitles, costumes galleries & behind the scenes photos, talent files/weblink, conversation with MichelleYeoh + more. Also this is a Columbia Tri Star release so the Region 1 version may have RCE coding upon release!

RE: Which Player to buy Scan , Encore 450 or LG3350

I would say the LG3350 if you do not want to play VCD, but why have one of these when the AIWA 370 is much better!. I have had from the end of December and I haven`t had any problems, and it plays all my Region 1 discs and VCD`s.

MartinD.

Will the AIWA 370 play Region 3 discs (after a region hack)??

I am considering buying this new film `Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon` and wondered if my `region hacked` AIWA 370 will be able to play it OK.
Does anyone have any thoughts on if it will or not?

Thanks

MartinD

Where can i buy a cheap S-Video cable online?

I am interested in trying out the S-Video connection from the back of my AIWA 370 to my TV as I have read on previous threads that it gives a brighter picture. Can anyone recommend a website that sells S-Video cables at a budget price as I don`t want to spend alot of money incase there is not much difference from my current Scart cable.

Thanks

MartinD.

RE: HELP!!! VCD problems with AIwa 370

What software are you using to make the MPEG-1 files? try using TMPGEnc as I have not had any problems using this and playing the VCD`s on my AIWA370.

MartinD.

RE: Bye Bye Alba 103 - What next????

I would suggest trying to get hold of an AIWA 370 either by contacting your local COMET stores or trying their website as it is definitely worth the wait. I recently took back a Wharfedale 750S with brightness problems and have now got an AIWA 370 which is much better picture quality (especially for R1) and for MP3 playback (Great On-Screen Menu!).

MartinD.

RE: Wharfedale 750S problems with X-Men R1.

Looks like it was a problem with the disc as a mate of mine tried it on his SCAN SC2000 and got the same problems, although it played alot better on my new AIWA 370! but even this couldn`t play the `scene selections` feature properly, so I have sent the disc back to PLAY247 for a replacement.

Thanks for all the replies.

MartinD.

Another AIWA 370 happy customer (at the moment!)

I have just purchased an AIWA 370 from COMET (Lakeside) after returning a Wharfedale 750S with brightness problems. I am pretty impressed with the picture quality from the AIWA compared to the Wharfedale especially on R1 discs (eg Fight Club). I was able to region hack it with no problems although when I first played a R1 film my TV screen was flickering like mad. I checked the `pseudo PAL` setting which should be ON (and it was) but for some reason my TV will only work with it in the OFF position!! (very strange). Other than this teething problem which has been rectified I have been able to play my R1 discs and an NTSC VCD of Nutty Prof II with no problems.

If you are thinking of buying a budget player of around £200 I would seriously consider this player as it looks nice and has alot of features (eg MP3 on-screen menu!) and does a good job of converting NTSC to PAL50.

Thanks for all the feed back from all the forum users who replied to my quuestions as they did help me in deciding which player to buy.

MartinD.

RE: What causes the picture to flicker?????????

It is probably due to the transfer from NTSC to PAL50, have you checked the setup menu and tried changing it to PAL60? this will only work if you TV can handle it.

RE: Which player will play X-Men R1 without problems.

A friend of mine has tried my copy (that didn`t work on my Wharfedale 750S) on his SCAN SC2000 and he had problems with it jittering and hanging in places, it looks like the disc is faulty (bummer!), so I will be returning it to PLAY247 for a replacement.

Is the AIWA 370 Spec on the COMET website correct??

The following spec for the AIWA 370 DVD Player is from the COMET website, can anyone tell me if the last section about the 5.1 outputs is correct?.

Thanks

MartinD

AIWA XR-DV370KN
dvd player

DVD/CD/VCD compatible playback will play dvd video, audio cd and video cd titles.
DTS compatible output
compatible with digital theatre system surround sound.
CDR/CDRW compatible playback will play recordable and re-writable cds.
Virtual surround sound simulates a surround sound effect without the need for rear speakers.
On screen display
on screen options, such as menus.
Supports multiple language options allows playback of audio dvd tracks in various languages.
Remote control enables you to operate your equipment from a remote handset
Scart socket for easy audio and video connection.
S-Video output for high-band video output to any s- compatible tv or video.
Optical output for connection to a dolby digital decoder for surround sound
5.1 channel audio outputs for connection of 5.1 surround speaker system: left, right, center channel, rear left, rear right and subwoofer.

This item was edited on Friday, 29th December 2000, 10:36

RE: Which one to buy - AIWA 370, SAMSUNG 511 OR PIONEER 535

Can the AIWA 370 convert NTSC to PAL50 well just like the LG3350E? and can it handle RCE disks??.

MartinD

RE: Which one to buy - AIWA 370, SAMSUNG 511 OR PIONEER 535

Thanx for the reply lievn,

I think that has clinched it for me the AIWA 370 does seem to be the best buy, thanx for also clearing up the RESUME STOP query as that is a nice feature.

MartinD.

This item was edited on Thursday, 28th December 2000, 12:04

Which one to buy - AIWA 370, SAMSUNG 511 OR PIONEER 535

I have just returned my Wharfedale 750S as it wouldn`t play X-Men and had troubles with Fight Club R1, so I would like some advice on what
to buy next. I have seen some good reports on the three players in the heading but I am not sure which one to go for. The AIWA 370 seems a good machine by all accounts but it doesn`t have bookmark features that I like (eg RESUME STOP), can anyone tell me if the other two players have this feature and if they will play MP3 files and VCD

Thanks

MartinD.

RE: Wharfedale 750S problems with X-Men R1.

I`m not too bothered about the colour of the player, I would rather have one that plays the two R1 disks I have at the moment X-Men and Fight Club. I have since found out (I think!) that the AIWA does a
good job in converting NTSC to PAL50, as I think my TV uses that as
it cannot handle PAL 60/60R from the setup menu on the Wharfedale.

MartinD

RE: Wharfedale 750S problems with X-Men R1.

Looks like I will be taking my Wharfedale back today and getting an AIWA 370 then, I just hope that my copy X-Men is not faulty, presumably it`s a software problem on the chip in the Wharfedale??.

MartinD

RE: Wharfedale 750S problems with X-Men R1.

Do you know if the AIWA has any problems with playing Fight Club R1 as this seems to play OK on the Wharfedale?.

Thanks

RE: Wharfedale 750S problems with X-Men R1.

Thanks for the reply

Will the AIWA 370 solve my X-Men R1 problems???.

Which player will play X-Men R1 without problems.

I have already started a thread on this but I am desperate to sort this out as I cannot play the DVD on my current Wharfedale 750S. Can anyone tell me which player can handle X-men R1 without any problems and one that has the same functions as the 750S, eg MP3 playback from CDR/RW and VCD playback, as I am probably going to take mine back and buy something else?. One thing that worries me is that my TV without only except the standard PAL setting is this causing the problem with the disc?.

Thanks

MartinD

Wharfedale 750S problems with X-Men R1.

I have just got a Wharfedale 750S for Xmas and also just got my first R1 disk X-Men, I was able to change the 750S to Region Free without any problems but when I tried playing X-Men it plays the FOX trailers OK but does not display the menu correctly and will not play Chapters 1 and 2. If you GOTO Chapter 3 it starts to play it OK but then it hangs in different places and parts of the screen go `blocky`. Is this a problem with the disk or the player? and is X-Men going to be a `problem disk` like The Matrix. I have tried changing the TV Output to PAL 60 or 60R but my TV just flickers very badly, does this mean my TV can`t handle the different signals?. Also I have noticed that the picture on R1 & R2 discs is quite Dark so I have to change the brightness on the TV everytime I play a movie, should I return the player for another one, or get a refund a buy something completely different?

Any help would be appreciated

MartinD

RE: Wharfedale 750s(Early Model) and the X-Men region 1 DVD

I have just got X-Men from Play247 and get the same problems on a newly purchased 750S (NOV 2000). This is my first R1 disk so I am a bit disappointed, is X-Men going to be another `problem disk` like The Matrix, and will I be able to play other R1 disks on my Wharfedale? as I will need to exchange X-Men for something else. Do you know if Toy Story 1 & 2 R1 plays OK or not?.

MartinD.

RE: VOLUME LEVEL SWITCHING FROM SKY TV TO DVD PLAYBACK

Try checking the sound level on your SKY Digibox (in the SERVICES menu) and DVD player (SETUP menu) as you may have the Digibox set too high or may need to adjust the DVD player setting. You might have to try it out a couple of times to find which one needs adjusting, but I think this should solve the problem.

Martin.

RE: Dixv conversion

TMPGEnc will convert DIVX AVI`s to MPEG-1 format for you, without the need to split the files.

Hope this helps

Martin.

RE: Dixv conversion

Try using the TMPGEnc software from www.tmpgenc.com, and printing out the instructions for converting the files from www.vcdhelper.com (that`s if you can access their site!). I am trying this software out at the moment and am a bit confused on how to work out which format to use, eg PAL or NTSC. I have a AVI movie in SMR format which claims to be in 60fps and 352x288 frame size, can you tell me if this can be converted straight into PAL and at what fps?.


MartinD.

Another VCD question

I know from previous messages that it is better to create VCD`s using their original format ie PAL or NTSC. But I have got an AVI movie which claims to have been created with 60fps and 352x288 frame size which I would like to convert into MPEG-1 format using TMPGENc but I`m not sure what format to convert into. Can anyone suggest which one to use?? and which frame size eg 4:3 or 16:9?.

Thanks

Martin.

RE: Region 1 to VHS

NTSC to PAL conversion, and the ability to disable the dreaded `Macrovision`.

Video CD`s

Does anyone know if when making Video CD`s it matters if they are in NTSC or PAL format?. I am currently playing around with TMPGEnc to convert AVI`s to MPG and am wondering if my Wharfedale 750s will be able to handle Video CD`s if they are NTSC format. Can you change the setup menu so that it converts an NTSC Video CD to PAL?.

Any help would be appreciated.

RE: Gladiator - RRP!!!?!!!!

If your quick you can still get one of OPEN on SKY Digital for £12.49 plus postage!!, excellent value. Got mine two days after the release date.

RE: PLEASE HELP....NEWBIE...CHEAP PLAYER ??

I`m also looking for a budget player, can you disable macrovision on the Wharfdale 750s, if you can I will be out looking for one tomorrow!!.

MICO A980 vs SCAN SC2000

After reading many responses on this forum I am down to two DVD players which seem to be the best in my price range (sub £200), the MICO A980 or the SCAN SC2000. I am impressed with the SCAN reviews and also the spec they give you on their website, but I cannot find a full spec for the MICO A980, I know it can disable MACRO, but does it have RGB through the scart?. Does anyone have a full spec for the MICO and is this the better buy between the two?.

Thanks

MartinD.