Page 1 of Finding a DVD Player in Indonesia/Several Questions

I live in Indonesia and just purchased a Sony DVD/VCD/CD (DVA-S300) player that comes with a big sub-woofer and 5 tiny speakers. The sound quality is high, but may be slightly short on power for my space (about 6 meters by 5 meters).They will install it later tonight so I will know for sure then. I`m a little concerned about the issue of the film industry and DVD manufacturers possibly devising a system/code whereby the multi-regional systems will no longer be able to play DVDs from any region.Various DVD websites advise buying a DVD player that can be manually programmed with the remote control for the region of that particular DVD. The salespeople at the place I purchased the Sony were generally not aware of this situation and said that ALL DVD players in Indonesia are multi-regional. What will my options be if the codes on DVDs are indeed changed so that multi-regional systems wont be able to play them? Will I at least still be able to play DVDs for Region 3? Also, the salespeople said that you can NOT find a DVD player that also plays SVCDs; however, I saw on this website a DVD player described that does play SVCDs. Generally, these salespeople don`t know very much and its making me a bit nervous. I don`t think I can return the DVD player for a refund, but they said I can exchange it for something else. I was also advised to buy a DVD player that can play MPEG3. There were some individual DVD players that had this capability, but not the systems (including the system I bought). So, did I make a big mistake buying a system that can not be manually changed for different region DVDs and can`t play SVCDs or MPEG3s? What can I do? Can you recommend a system that does have these features and is available in Indonesia? Finally, what are your opinions of the Sony DVA-S300 system? Thanks!!

A lot of questions (and you`ve asked some of them again in another thread!)

Let`s take some of the points:-

"The salespeople at the place I purchased the Sony were generally not aware of this situation and said that ALL DVD players in Indonesia are multi-regional."

That`s an interesting statement that they make. Now I don`t know much about your local laws, but I`d be very surprised to find that all players were multi-region, particularly Sony players, which always have to be "chipped" in other countries to get them to play discs from other regions. I have a feeling that the salesman isn`t being honest. Have you tried discs from other regions - 1,2,4,etc. ? That would be the first thing that I would do!

"What will my options be if the codes on DVDs are indeed changed so that multi-regional systems wont be able to play them? Will I at least still be able to play DVDs for Region 3?"

That would depend on whether region 3 DVDs were encoded with this "new coding" system, which is really a bit of a myth. The only moves we`ve seen towards increasing the strength of region coding is the recent introduction of RCE on certain discs in region 1. Lots of players (both modified and unmodified) have got round this, and the general consensus is that it has been a flop. If someone invents a new coding system, someone else will get round it.

"Also, the salespeople said that you can NOT find a DVD player that also plays SVCDs"

Once again they appear to be misleading you, as there are plenty of DVD players that play SVCDs.

"I was also advised to buy a DVD player that can play MPEG3"

Do you have a lot of MP3 files then? You only really need it if you have lots of MP3 files in your collection, or if you are planning to use MP3 a lot.

I think you need to have words with these salesmen!

Rich

Thanks, Rich, for the info! That would be a relief if, indeed, this "new coding" system is a bit of a "myth". I hope so. If this DVD player is "chipped" to be multi-regional then I guess this "chipping" can be changed if need be? That is, in order to play newly protected Region 1 or Region 3 DVDs? Unfortunately, this store (which is one of the best supposedly in Jakarta) didn`t have any DVDs that could play SVCDs. Am I going to be missing out big time here by not having a SVCD-compatible system? I wonder how available these systems are here? No, I don`t really expect to be playing alot of MP3 files. I was just thinking that it would be good to have that option. There are quite a few black-market CDs floating around that use that format. I posted a separate message about the Sony because I wanted to get specific feedback about that system. I thought I`d get more responses if the system was listed in the subject line. Thanks again! Zimmy

"That would be a relief if, indeed, this "new coding" system is a bit of a "myth""

Well, there have always been rumours floating around about stronger region coding. But like I said before, there`ll always be someone who can crack the coding.

"If this DVD player is "chipped" to be multi-regional then I guess this "chipping" can be changed if need be?"

I`m pretty sure it would have to be chipped, as Sony don`t sell multi-region players "out of the box". And I`m sure you could get a new chip put in if the need arose, and if someone made one for your player.

"Am I going to be missing out big time here by not having a SVCD-compatible system?"

Do you have a lot of SVCDs? I don`t know many people who do, and they usually tend to be home-made things or pirate copies of things. It`s never been a popular format commercially.

Rich

Thanks again Rich! They set up the system yesterday and I gave it a trial run for DVDs, VCDs, and CDs. The video and sound quality for movies is excellent! However, I must say that I am not too impressed with sound quality for CDs. You have to choose the sound type you want among automatic formatting; 2 speakers only; normal surround; virtual 3D something or other; Hall; Jazz Club; etc. Not sure which is best, but none are really great for CDs. The sound is just not very full (not sure if that makes sense). And/or not enough bass. In the reviews for these types of systems some talked about getting an "active sub-woofer" vs. a passive one. Maybe I should upgrad? A friend burned some CDs for me (not sure if he used MP3 or not) and unfortunately the system doesn`t even recognize those CDs. I`m thinking maybe I could buy a separate CD player and just plug it in to the system. But then the sound probably wouldn`t be any different? Anyway, thanks again! Zimmy

"However, I must say that I am not too impressed with sound quality for CDs. You have to choose the sound type you want among automatic formatting; 2 speakers only; normal surround; virtual 3D something or other; Hall; Jazz Club; etc. Not sure which is best, but none are really great for CDs."

Stereo is usually best for CD playback in my experience (i.e. leave it on auto-format).

DVD players don`t always make the best CD players until you start to get towards the top end of most player ranges - some perform well, some don`t, it`s something you can read about in most reviews.

"A friend burned some CDs for me (not sure if he used MP3 or not) and unfortunately the system doesn`t even recognize those CDs"

This is another Sony thing - not all of their DVD players will play CD-Rs or CD-RWs. Some play discs from certain manufacturers, others play none at all, whilst some will play all of them. There`s probably a table with this information around somewhere.

"I`m thinking maybe I could buy a separate CD player and just plug it in to the system"

You might get better CD performance this way - can you borrow one from a friend?

Rich

Thanks again Rich! When I choose Auto-Format it only uses two tiny speakers. The sound is really "small" and the left tiny speaker sounds almost like its blown out. Most of the music comes out of just one small speaker. Normal Surround or Studio C are better, but still not as good as an average stereo. I might see if I can exchange this system for the equivalent Pioneer system. It seems to get much higher marks - especially for sound. One reason for this appears to be its active subwoofer vs the inactive one in the Sony system. Zimmy