DIAMOND DVD Player for $199. Any good?

[Watcher]

Someone at work said that Strathfield (in VIC) have a DIAMOND brand DVD player for $199.
Plays DVD,VCD,CD,MP3,CDR/RW.
Dolby Digital & dts decoder.Composite & video out.

Anyone have one or know anything more about them?
The person has a $30.00 voucher and wants to know more.
Thanks in advance.

[euryalos]

There is a thread in the old forum on this player:

http://www.eyo.com.au/dvdstuff/posts/857.html

[Watcher]

Ah! Thanks! :)
I had a quick look over there, but saw nothing on it.
I'll remember you when I win the lottery.:p

[haos]

The current Diamond DVD at Strathfield is the 201D (not the 101 reviewed earlier). Strathfield are handing out the Region free code details with them. I just picked up one at Modbury SA, and they'd already sold 22 that morning.

Instructions as follows:
Open tray.
Press 2918 Enter. (Manufacturers manual appears)
Go to country code and press enter.
Enter 13 for all regions. Enter
Press setup.

[haos]

Tried out the Diamond 201D last night. Some observations:
-No problems playing assorted VCDs.
-Played most CDs, including some CDR and CDRW, only one that I tried wouldn't play. Hotel California that I bought 6 or 7 years ago. It's in perfect condition, but it locks up the machine! (Had to turn on then immediately eject to get the CD out)
-The Manufacturer's menu (see last post) includes a setting for Macrovision! It is initially set to "1", and can accept up to 4 digits. I haven't tried it out yet.
-The remote was labelled "Singer" rather than "Diamond".
-MP3s played fine on CDR & CDRW, and in nested directories, but the 8.3 (DOS) file names are an annoyance. It's best if you configure your machine to avoid "~1" naming when burning the CDs so the titles are slightly more readable.

I haven't actually tried any DVDs yet!

Danny

[millsy]

haos, I'm interested to see if Macrovision can be disabled on that player. I've been meaning to pickup a cheap dvd player for the bedroom, and want to play it through a vcr.

[haos]

Changing the Macrovision setting from 1 to 0 does disable Macrovision, but the setting resets to 1 when you turn off the machine. So if you want to play Macrovision protected DVDs through your VCR, you need to change the setting every time you turn on the machine.

[ariel]

does it support SVCD?

[pezman111]

Does anyone know the region free code for the 101D ? "2918" doesn't work for the 101D so I assume it's for the 201D only.

Any ideas ?

[linton]

Tried on the stathfield web site? thev'e got a few codes for the dvd players they sell under customer service menu.

[kwiji]

I've seen the Ad for this player but Im not sure I know the Model.
Is it the 201 in the Stores????

Cause I went to the Strathfield Website and they are saying that they are still selling the 101??

[pezman111]

I never actually asked whether the 201 was available for sale although there was one in the Artarmon (NSW) store on display. I was told the same thing from the rep and at first I figured it was just some sort of sales push to get the 101's out the door but since I could get it a little cheaper I just bought the 101. It's been okay so far not that I've used it a lot but other posts/emails say it's quite okay for a basic unit.

[haos]

The 101D uses code 999 to access the region change setting (rather than "2918" for the 201D). I don't have one, they just showed me the setting in the shop.

Another question for someone with a 101D. Does it display the track names for MP3s any better than the 201? That always shows them as DOS short file names.

I'm still tring to find out if you can disable macrovision on the 101D as you can on the 201D. If anyone knows, please let me know. (Maybe someone who has one, and a lot of time, can keep trying 3-digit codes until they find the setting?)

[emajor]

OK I have both a 101D and a 201D now. :) The 101D is at my parent's place.

I think the code for region on the 101D is 9999. open the tray, then enter 9999.

I really want to know if there is a macrovision hack for the 101D!

The 201D does play SVCDs. Tested it yesterday. Haven't tested SVCDs with the 101D yet.

The 201D only shows 8.3 names for mp3's, so yes it is the same deal as the 101D. The 201D, however, seems to have no problem with mp3s at bitrates over 192, and also can play variable-bitrate mp3s fine as well. Very happy about that!

Also the 201D has a lot better response when searching either forward or reverse on DVDs, VCDs and SVCDs. Responds as soon as you press the button, unlike the 101D which has a pause. Also the 201D has smoother forward search, and handles reverse-slo-motion a lot better. I think the 201D has a faster DVD-Rom in there.

However the 201D won't let you zoom in on a VCD, and also I think the zoom is not as well-implemented on the 201D. It zooms too much and becomes all pixelly. You can't use it just to watch a widescreen movie on a 4:3 TV (although I just got a video projector, so I won't be needing to do that anymore! :).

They are both great machines, but I would definitely get a 201D if I got the choice. They were both $199 for me (101D from HiFi Corporation in Auburn, 201D from Strathfield www.strathfield.com.au).

emajor (emajor@optushome.com.au)