Page 1 of Anyone seen the light in this DVD player jungle?

Hi!
I have tried various DVD player offerings including the Alba by ASDA, the Schneider 511 (also ASDA), the Samsung 511 (Dixon), and I apparently am not selecting the right machine so far... What I wand is a machine that has (hackable through the remote as necessary)
-Multi region... So far that is easy..
- CDV so far not too difficult
- CDR (copies) Only the Alba did that
- Remote standby (The alba had all but this so far..)
- Hackable macrovision, preferably through the remote
-Ideally able to get past RCE restrictions.
I guess this is a tall order, but if there is a machine that can do all this without grief, giving it`s name in response to this thread will no doubt suddenly increase the sales of this(these) machine(s).
After all, when it is all said and done, that is what we are all looking fo, the best offering should curt through the dross of the "buying/trying/returning" cycle.
A million thanks to all of you in advance,
Yvan.

Pretty much most of the "el cheapo" players will do these things (and more in some cases), but it seems you`ve come unstuck in a few areas on some of your chosen machines.

Macrovision hacks continue to get rarer, in no small way due to the pressure put on retailers to avoid this accessibility, with threats of lawsuits and the like from Macrovision itself, or from the big players in the DVD Forum (the conglomerate of big hitters in the studio/hardware world).

The latest threat to Far Eastern manufacturers is that if they continue to release players that are multi-regional (or very easily hackable) their players will be stripped of the DVD logo, which brings into the equation the whole issue of software compatibility, a problem which has reared its head more than once on these forums.

Occasionally players slip through,sometimes without the retailers even being aware of it. The recent hoo-hah over the Bush 2004 is a classic example : a multiregional player with a no-hack entry to disabled Macrovision - woops ! Unfortunately, only a few players slipped thru the net when Bush realised their mistake.

The best advice is to plough through the Hardware Forum entries (you may like to take a week off work to do this !) and see what the owners themselves say. A lot of the earlier players that had all the features you ask for have either been superceded by less generously appointed players (eg the Wharfedale M5 is a great player, but the only way, seemingly, to defeat Macrovision, is to buy an external device like the Sonel Macmaster, or pay a company an extra £50 to modify it, whilst earlier models such as the now-withdrawn Encore DV450 had access to Macrovision via a remote hack).

Sadly, this is likely to be the way forward. Sampo, manufacturers of the Wharfedale player, have now started towing the line and releasing players with non-hackable firmware, although they know, and we know, there is enough independent support to ensure that earlier firmware versions are available to enable users of these players to retain this access, albeit by maybe sacrificing the ability to play some of the more troublesome, memory-buffer eating discs.

Good luck in your quest - there are machines that meet your requirements (eg the Scan SC2000, I believe), it`s just a question of digging around and trying to find something that does everything you want - not as easy as it sounds, is it ?!

As Clatys says, the SC2000 will meet you needs, as will the DIGIQUEST (www.cardmania.it), Daewoo 2000, DiViDo, Grundig 130, Logix 3000, daewoo dhc 220k.

they are all the basicly the same player with one or two minor changes made each of them such as the casing or number of scart sockets fitted to them.
the cheapest one is the Logix 3000 from LG this can be found at Asda / Richer Sounds / www.bigsave.com / www.jungle.com. £139 inc VAT and P&P at Bigsave, £125 at Asda if you can find it. £179 at Jungle.com, icludes 4 DVDs.

If you would like more info on the join the user group at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scan2000

ask your questions there with nearly 3000 members some one will know the answer to your question.

This item was edited on Friday, 17th August 2001, 09:27

Thanks guys!
I had a reply from Steve at DVDchips, and followed his advice for a machine from Tesco (though they only guarantee it for 1 year) .
So I now have a Wharfedale 750S clone badged Minato G1
I have to get the chip to get the mac off.
Thanks for your answers to the problem, I am sure others will hae read thoses with much interest too!
Happy watching!
Yvan