cyber-home 528 your views please

[twohats]

thinkin of buyin a macro chipped cyber-home 528
for £133 - need a macro hacked dvd player thats good with vcd/svcd
cdrw etc
anyone got one?
comments please
thx

[banjazzer]

I've got one, and so far it does everyhing I want. I'm not sure I'd bother with the macro mod, though. I would just get one of the macro-busting scart leads, then you won't invalidate the manufacturer's guarantee.

The only thing I don't like is it doesn't automatically detect PAL/NTSC when playing (S)VCD. I have to change it manually. If I choose the wrong one I get jerky playback. This is a small point, though, and I would certainly recommend it.

[energy80s]

I have had one since Christmas and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. There are a LOT of problems with them. They don't like NTSC, they jump a lot with TMPGenc coded VCD's, they cut the first second of audio off playback, sometimes they just freeze for no apparent reason, you can't switch the subtitles off permanently - on my Star Wars disc they come on automatically every 15 mins! At least it does have its own hack site. Check out www.cyberhome-help.de

There are better machines out there for a similar price and I heard that Richer Sounds has stopped supporting them after receiveing so many faulty units back.

[twohats]

can you recommend one then

[banjazzer]

I would still recommend the Cyberhome. 8) Admittedly, I haven't had one since Christmas, but I have been more than happy so far. It has played everything I have thrown at it fine. Of course, it may break down next week. As to not liking NTSC, that is total rubbish IMO. You do have to select NTSC or PAL to suit what you are playing. I worked that out myself.

[energy80s]

I'm afraid that the NTSC comment is correct, even Cyberhome in Germany will concur with this! Yes it does play Region 1 discs, but the picture shudders and flickers a bit. The latest firmware is supposed to correct this (and the 1 sec audio cutoff) but it seems to have more bugs in it than it actually fixes, so best to stay away from it.

As for an alternative, I read in a DVD mag that a machine that Safeway/Sainsbury's are selling is damn good. Can't remember the name (it's not Reoc) but they say that the pciture quality is as good as £250 machines and it will play all discs ... as do really all of the cheap DVD players as they are all based on PC DVD-ROM drives ... price was around 100/120 quid.

[twohats]

cant make my mind up
ive heard tha the yelo 800 is pretty good as well
so which 1 to go for
yelo or cyberhome?

[Dragonsf]

have a look at the cyberhome-help forum.A lot of isssues are discussed.MV and mp3 proobs should be solved with the latest FW.
I using a CH ADL 528 since last September with no real probs.