Info and forum posts by 'steve 1056'

RE: Sony DVP-S725 any good?

I got my 725 back in December. It`s superb - great picture - great sound - easy to use - and most importnat, plays every disk I try without problems. I paid £349 for mine from Richer Sounds. It`s chipped and can bet set for auto region or manual region, and so can play RCE disks as well.

Go buy.

RE: dvd rce problem

I have a 725 that`s chipped (Techtronics Multimod). With RCE disks, set the player to manual region select and set for R1. You can then play the disk. The really wierd thing that I don`t understand is that you can then set the player back to auto region and it will always play the disk OK. It seems that you only have to do the manual region switch the fisrt time you play each RCE disk.

I have managed to play all RCE disks that I have tried so far, including Charlie`s Angels.

Hope this helps.

P.S. If you need instructions on how to set the player to manual region select, check out the Techtronics web site and download the instructions for the 725.

RE: 4:3 on Widescreen TV

Black bars down the side.

RE: sony 335/336 pausing in middle of film

Nick,

It`s nothing to worry about - simply the player changing layer on the disc. Some discs are dual layer because of the length of the movie. When the laser finishes reading the first layer, it re-focuses to start reading the second layer. The pause is simply the time it takes for the player to re-focus.

Beats getting up to change the disc over.

Hope this helps.

Steve

RE: yamaha dsp-e800

Gareth,

I`ve had one since October 2000. It sounds great, is easy to operate, and rates as superb value. I paid 249 for mine, so 239 is a very good price. I don`t think you will regret it if you buy it.

Cheers,

Steve

RE: Subwoofer grief......

Just keep the signal cable to the sub away from mains leads. mains leads radiate tons of noise that is picked up by the signal leads to the sub and this can cause all sorts of noise, including hum.

Good luck with REL - they are great subs.

RE: is my dts working

If you are getting sound and your amp is displaying DTS, you are OK.

RE: Subwoofer grief......

Fecker,

How do you have the sub connected to your amp?

If via the sub-out phono connection, you should use a screened cable (good quality) and keep it as far away from any mains cables as possible.

I suffered the same problem with my REL until I did the above. No more hum after that.

Regards,
Steve

RE: Sony DVD 725 - Converted to multi Reg, but wont play RCE disks

Marc,

Try this:

Put player in Standby (via remote control).

Press "Shuffle" then "Enter".

Power the player up.

The player should now be in manual mode.

Put player in Standby mode again.

Press "1" then "Enter" (for Region 1).

Power up player again.

You should now be able to play the RCE disk.


To go back to Auto-Region again, do the following.

Put player in Standby mode.

Press "Program" then "Enter".

Power up player.

On my player, you can continue to play that RCE disk without having to constantly switch back to manual mode. Don`t know why, but it`s worked so far on all the RCE disks I have tried.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Steve

RE: Can anyone help...TV`s and Sub Bass

Gilesy,

If you still suffer boom after you move it to next to the TV, try changing the phase switch to the "Out of Phase" position. You`ll probably find that it will integrate better with your main L&R speakers, and also significantly reduce boom.

Steve

P.S. If you have a DVD with the Optimode feature (T2 Ultimate Ed, X-Men, Toy Story, etc), use this to set up your sub levels. It really makes it easy, accurate and quick (takes less than 15 minutes). Just don`t have the volume too high when you run the test.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 11th April 2001, 18:48

RE: Can anyone help...TV`s and Sub Bass

Giles,

Richard Lord, the owner of REL and chief designer, told me that none of the subs are shielded (I met him at a Hi-Fi show years ago). However, I have been using a REL Storm sub for the past 5-years sited about 12" away from the screen of various TV`s, including a 29" Sony and 32" Sony. Sub is placed on the right hand side of the TV (as you look at it), and I have suffered no problems at all - no staining or any other picture problems.

I also talked with some guys at Arcam (the UK Hi-Fi and DVD manufacturer) who used various REL subs and they confirmed they had never seen any problems with various TVs.

Sorry for the long-winded answer, but hope it helps.

P.S. If you haven`t used a REL sub before, you`re gonna luv it ! Tight, (very) deep bass.

Cheers,

Steve

RE: Proline 1000 players, won`t load films I like!

Xenon,

I`m pleased to hear you haven`t had any problems. Hope you don`t get any in the future. However, I did ! This was with a player purchased in May 2000 and it was an upgraded version (the previous one would not play The Matrix). I`m not alone in encountering the problems, judging by the bug reports at http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk and the fact that I tried a number of the R2 DVD`s on other machines at my local Comet superstore. Feel free to check out the DVD Times site if you don`t believe me.

RE: Proline 1000 players, won`t load films I like!

I`m afraid mine was. I also checked all of the R2 movies that I mentioned on other units in Comet and they all suffered the same problems. I ended up just writing it off as a bad mistake on my part.

RE: Proline 1000 players, won`t load films I like!

Sorry to hear that you encountered the same problems as me with this player. After 7-months of use, I gave up at Xmas and bought a Sony 725. I gave the Proline to my kids, but it won`t even play half their discs.

Where should I start? It won`t play Gladiator (R2), Saving Private Ryan (R1), Toy Story 1 & 2 (R1), Dinosaur (R1), X-Men (R1), The Abyss (R1), Independence Day (R1), Terminator 2 (R1), End Of Days (R2), Drive (R2), MI:2 (R2)......

Basically it`s a piece of crap! If you can afford it, I`d recommend ditching it and replacing with a quality player.

By the way, Comet were terrible in respect of support. All I got was "we are not aware of any problems", despite showing them the bloody thing going wrong in the shop and then showing the same problems on their in-store demo! Never again !

RE: THE ABYSS...........

No problems at all on a Techtronics chipped Sony 725. Both versions of the movie play perfectly (Region 1).

RE: Problems with Play247

For what its worth, I have ordered two DVD`s (on separate days) from them in the last week or so. Both disks arrived two days after I placed the order. Sounds as if you were just unlucky.

RE: Predator ?

Absolutely NOT true. The quality is superb - both video & audio. The opening 20th Century Fox logo looks rough, almost as if it was taken from a VHS source, but as soon as the movie starts, the quality is excellent. I haven`t seen anything but excellent reviews for the disc, so don`t know where the rumours come from.

By the way, I have seen this on a 32 inch screen and 50 inch screen, so I would expect any quality problems to be very obvious - they usually are.

Buy it - you won`t regret it.

RE: Are Region 2 disc prices about to fall dramatically?

£14.99 has been their price for standard R2 discs for a while. They tend to only charge £17.99 for Special Editions and 2-Disk sets, e.g. Gladiator, Fight Club, Terminator, etc.

As for Little Vampire, £11.99 is an excellent price and lower than anywhere else I have seen, so I ordered for the kids. Experience with Play247 suggests that they will honour that price.

Digimon Movie Cheap

I know it`s sad, but I have 2 kids who love this s*** !

Just found the latest Digimon The Movie Disk (R1) at DVDboxoffice.com for £11.44, including P&P. Not bad for a movie that just got released in the UK yesterday.

Hope my kids are happy. The pain........

RE: Predator ?

Not on my R1 copy as far as I can tell.

RE: Predator ?

Apparently it`s being released in the UK in June. Supposed to be same version as the newly released R1 except that it may not have the DTS soundtrack. I received my R1 copy last week and can highly recommend it. Forget the extra features, the remastered picture and DTS sound are awesome.

RE: Problems with Disney`s Dinosaur R1

Plays perfect on my Sony 725.

RE: Pre-Ordering, do you get your DVDs on realse day?

Sammy,

It depends on whether Play 247 receive them before release day. If they do, they generally ship them straight away. As an example, I received Jurassic Park (R2) 3-days before and Dinosuar (R1) 7-days before the official release dates. If they don`t receive them earlier, worst case seems to be that you get them a couple of days later.

Hope this helps. I still reckon Play 247 are the most reliable of all the sites selling DVD`s. Good prices too.

RE: Sony owners unite. Any disc that won`t work ???? or regions.

I can live with it - saves getting up to change the disc over - always was a lazy sod.

Seems to depend on the disc with the worst so far being the Eurythmics Peace Tour concert disc. They put the layer change about 1 minute into a song - assholes! Movies seem mostly OK.

Finally, Sony seems to always get criticised for a slow layer change, but when I was buying mine, I checked out numerous other players from Pioneer, Toshiba and Denon, and they didn`t seem any faster.

I still think Sony are the best! So far nothing seems to defeat them and they generate a picture and sound that is awesome!

RE: Sony owners unite. Any disc that won`t work ???? or regions.

No problems on any of my 80+ discs for R1 & R2 on my modified 725. Even plays RCE discs.

Also plays the latest Dinosaur disc perfectly, which apparently is causing major problems to many other players, including the top models from Pioneer.

RE: R1 or R2

Generally R1 tend to be better due to almost no censorship cuts being made. The best site I have found for comparisons is dvdrumble.co.uk

They seem to always get it right and it`s a cool site for reviews as well. Check it out.

RE: www.Play247.com FANTASTIC

I fully agree - superb service. I have now purchased around 40 DVD`s from them without a single problem with their service. Wish all web purchases were so reliable!

RE: Richer Sounds

Got mine (a Sony 725D) just after Xmas from the Reading branch. Everything was excellent - the service, the price, cost of additional 2-years warranty with guaranteed buy-back price. I`d strongly recommend them.