LG LDA-530 - General Questions

[Warlock_THR]

Looking at these 3 DVD Players... but debating

LG LDA-530
Toshiba SD4980
Pioneer DV-588A-S

Going through forums I see a few Pioneer deals with the Region Free, no easy way to do it yourself type thing and haven't seen any for sale locally that are region free... so if there is an easy remote let me know.

Toshiba I read in here has issues and dies after 6 months...

LG I read a lot of good things on, but have always had back luck with LG computer parts... but $50 cheaper than the other two...

Anyone who owns these or have owned them have any good feedback?

Other thing as well... I had a Philips 642/37, sold it off and got a Curtis that was supposed to be better from what the reviews said but far from it... had many glitchy avi's that worked fine with the Philips, menu was bad, it didn't auto play the next file unless a music file, region free code had a few issues with some store bought movies, etc...

Does the LG auto play the next AVI? does it replace the spaces and dashes with underscores like the Curtis did? (made it hard and messy to read). Region free easy to do? Load files relatively fast? Remote work with Universal Remotes (Curtis has no universal remote codes at all, so stuck with the one that came with it).

Thanks

[WadeG]

I don't know the answers to any of your questions but I'ed like to piggyback on your message.
Does the LG LDA-530s DVD reader always have a "Clicky-Clacky" sound when accessing the disk? Just curious.

[Grain]

I have the LG 530, and like it a lot. Downloaded a firmware patch to make it region0, and haven't looked back. Had it about a year, zero issues. Haven't noticed it making any clacking noises. Has a very thin tray, but so far has held up fine. One great thing about it is it's PAL to NTSC conversion, just throw your European dvds in. Haven't used it for divx, so not sure about it's abilities there. Plays burnt +R DLs perfectly, as it has all recorded discs I've thrown at it. My only complaint is that it's display won't show remaining time, nor is there any possible way at all to do this. Universal remotes? that would depend on your remote, not LG. I have a 5 year old learning Sony remote, works it fine. Loads fast, has an auto play option(switchable on/off) that will skip all warnings/menus/trailers and will autoload the largest file. Will output to both component and composite connections simultaniously, even when in progressive scan mode(pro scan component only obviously), which is handy if you run 2 zones.

[MJ]

I have the 531 and the DIVX playback is excellent and much better than the Philips. I like how you get 16x9 enhancement on digital or HD XviD material.

Jeff

[Romeo-maestro]

Where can I download a firmware patch for LDA-530 to make it region 0.