Page 1 of Best (cheap!) machine without macrovision?

Friend of mine is so impressed with my lg3200e that he is now wanting to buy a machine. However, he really wants one without macrovision around the same price. Is this possible or will he have to pay more?
Would really appreciate your suggestions.

what price range are they looking at?
what features are they looking for? (other than no Macrovision)

Price Range - Around £200
Features - Not that important, as long as hackable/good playback visuals and audio
Thanks..

in that case i can recommend the Scan SC2000. but only if they have a Cd writer.
Out of the box it does have macrovision, but it can be disabled with a firmware update. you need to make a CDR to update the firmware.
Scan will also post the firmware updates out if required.

With all budget players and some more expencive ones there are problem discs that dont work.

On a player that the firmware can be updated by the user, the user can resolve the issue them self. Other wise it meens returning the player to a dealer (if there is one) to resolve the problem.

If your mate does not want to have to update the firmware when a new problem disc is relased, another way would be to go with a more expencive player and get a external MV remover, do your research though as expencive does not meen you wont have problem discs.

No cdr I`m afraid. What do u suggest maybe between £200 and £300?

eclipse 595 from richer sounds. 159 no macro multi region and dts and dd 5.1 outputs.

records to vhs out of the box and plays r1 r2 and r4 plus disney etc with no problems.

had one since oct with no problems and no firmware updating

well i had the goodmans g100 dvd player for £150 from currys and macro can be disabled aswell as regions 1-8 or region 0

RS are doing a sony 335 for £240 this with a MV remover (£50) is in your mate price range. just want to point out Firmware discs for the scan can be posted to you by scan at this point.

problem discs reported on this player are

Disc Ghost in the Shell
Problem Audio is delayed by a few tenths of a second. Extras work fine.

Disc Walt Disney`s Jungle Book (Region 2)
Problem Movie stops right at the beginning, player freezes after 19 seconds.

now the goodmans, i wouldnt go any were near it. i have no ider what the player is like but it is the brand name for the retail group that sell it.
if any thing goes wrong with it they will repair it or replace it. but if its a design fault, they wont do any thing about it. this goes for all the product they sell. stay clear of their shops.

The Eclipse 595 is a rebagged alba here are some of the problem discs reported. I do not have the firmware number that these faults happend on, so many may have now been resolved. but there may still be new one as discs get released.

Disc Charlie`s Angels (Region 1)
Problem The disc is region code enhanced and won`t play
Disc Cherry falls (Region 2)
Problem Slows down and jerks
Disc Girl Interrupted
Problem skips to extras menu and will not play film or enter Main Menu
Disc Gone in 60 seconds (Region 1)
Problem will not load, states no disc
Disc Go
Problem As soon as you play DVD it goes straight to the menu and then gets stuck there
Disc Hollow Man (Region 1)
Problem Will not load on multi-region machines.
Disc Jaws (Region )
Problem Main feature pauses, picture pixellates, distorts etc mainly at beginning.
Disc Lock stock Directors cut (Region 2)
Problem The picture is foggy in places and is not crisp. Is this deliberate to depict the gangster lifestyle?
Disc Patriot (Region 2)
Problem The `Extras` will not play. Main film will on pressing the `Resume` button on the remote at the `Extras` screen.
Disc Poor Picture (Region N/A)
Problem poor picture on many dark films ie batman, blade, lock stock
Disc Rocky horror picture show 25aniversery ed.
Problem Will not play root menu on second disc - screen stays blank.
Disc Sixth Sense and Others (Region 2)
Problem Slight pluse action in the picture at times. Very Annoying espcially once you`ve noticed it.
Disc Sixth Sense and Others (Region 2)
Problem Small Pulse which is continuous in the backgrounds of the films. Very noticable on the dark sceens in the films.
Disc Summer Of Sam (Region 2)
Problem Slows down and jumps at parts of the film
Disc Terminator 2 Ultimate DVD (Region 1)
Disc The Abyss
Problem Seamless branching causes scenes to repeat
Disc The Patriot (Region 2)
Disc Tigger Movie & Chicken Run (Region N/A)
Problem Freezes about half hour into film and wont restart unless turned off & on again several times
Disc Toy Story Ultimate - 3rd Disc (extras) (Region 2)
Problem After brief introduction by John Lassiter - the system will not go to root menu. I get a Parental Violation message and am locked out. Any suggestions?
Disc all (Region N/A)
Disc apocolypse now (Region 2)
Problem cannot access the root menu
Disc most region 1 discs (Region 1)
Problem lip sync problems varies throughout.
Disc numerous/matrix (r2)frequency(r2) (Region N/A)

This item was edited on Wednesday, 4th April 2001, 17:43

There can be only one!

HITACHI 505!

Problem disc with the latest firmware on a Scan SC2000 and these are the only reported problem discs form about 400 user`s in my group.

When using the Video Essentials DVD (R1) pressing the prev/next button on the remote control sometimes causes the picture to be shown with bad Blocky areas.

Blues Brothers DVD - Sound seems to fade in and out.

Spaced DVD - sound fades in and out occasionally. This has not happened on previous firmwares.

but as i said before if all they want to do is play dvd`s and wants the best video and audio ouput, then go with the sony for the extra £110. but then this option is no longer cheap.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 4th April 2001, 20:35