It doesn't deliver great performances.
Written: Aug 04 '03 (Updated Aug 06 '03)
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Pros: Simple to Use
Plays VCD/SVCD,MP3,CDR,CDRW
Great Picture/Sounds
Cons: Sensible to scratched DVDs
Poor Remote Control
Long DVD Load Time
The Bottom Line: Stay away from the DVP415U if you rent a lot of movies. You can get a much better player for your money.
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| storm666's Full Review: Hitachi DV-P415U DVD Player |
Why I did bought this unit
I had no point of comparison when I saw the DVP415U from Hitachi in a store in 2001. I wanted to pay around 250.00$(CDN) maximum for a good DVD Player, and if possible, have the ability to decode MP3 files. It was offering the normal features you can expect from a DVD Player(Zoom, Angle), and all outputs necessary to provide a good movie theater experience. Component, composite, and S-Video outputs are available for Video, while you get coaxial/optical outputs for audio. There is no DTS/Dolby Digital decoder built-in, which help to keep the cost of this player low.
Looks
This unit is pretty solid, with a silver finish. It was matching well with my Sony WEGA TV, and the design is really simple. There is only 6 button on the main unit: Power, Eject, Play, Stop, Rewind and Fast Forward.
DVD Playback
If you are able to get a scratch-free DVD, you will be impress with the picture quality. Colors are perfect, and there is no sign of artifact. However, this unit seem to have a hard time changing layers, freezing the playback for 2-3 seconds in the middle of almost every movies. It is even worse with damaged/scratched/dirty DVD, please see the Error Correction section about this.
Video CD, SVCD, CD-R / CD-RW Playback
I tried several VCD and SVCD videoclip (On CDR/RW) and this unit is performing well at this level with any combination, except of CD-RW. For an unknown reason, my unit was becoming unresponsive while playing CD-RW, and it was evident that the unit had a hard time reading the media. But no problem at all with CDR.
Performances
The DVP415U is taking around 10-15 seconds to load a DVD, which is extreme compared to other player in the market. Also, the unit is a little slow responding to commands, often taking close to one second to do a simple FFWD request, but it will not affect your movie experience. The sounds quality is rendered perfectly, and you have also access to a Dynamic Compression feature, which will adjust the playback level across all frequencies, preventing you to change the volume each time a scene change. Read on to the Error Correction section for other details on Performances.
MP3 Playback
This unit can play any kind of MP3 correctly, and can also walk directory structure, however it only read the first 8 characters of filenames/directory, making hard to choose files. There is no "Random" or "Program" feature, making the experience a little frustrating. But again, the sound quality is perfect, which will be sufficient to any people who do not care about the features mentioned.
Error Correction
The weakness of this unit is with the error correction. It just can't play correctly scratched DVD, and on badly damaged one, the unit become really sluggish, showing artifacts everywhere. I cannot remind any DVDs I have rent that did not showed me any artifacts, or any "chapter jumps" because of a single tiny scratch on it. My neighbor go to the same place to rent DVD, he never got any problem with is Panasonic DVD-31 player. We did test with the latest James Bond DVD(Die Another Day). On my unit, I have encounter 8 two or three seconds "freeze", 2 "Chapter Jump" and finally several scene where 10% of the screen was covered with artifacts. The exact same disc as been tried after on my neighbor's unit, and it the movie went like a charm, without ANY glitch whatsoever. Hitachi technical support blame the quality of the disc, however, the Panasonic RV-31 seems to cost almost half the price of my unit. On some disc, however, the unit is able to render a perfect picture even if the disc is damaged, but it tend to make the unit unresponsive.
Remote Control
The remote control is simple to use, but very light and fragile. The button are not really sensible, and you have to push hard to make them work. Also, since the main unit have simple 5 buttons, it will become almost unusable if you break the remote. The Universal Remote Control provided with my Sony WEGA do not have any code of the Hitachi Dvd Players, so I'm not sure that finding a compatible remote will be an easy task
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 200.00 $
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Epinions.com ID:
storm666
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Reviews written: 1
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