Pause/Stop mode won't hold with Coby DVD-755

[JohnnyBob]

I just purchased and setup a Coby DVD-755 home theater system a couple of days ago. I like it, and it works generally OK, except...

In the past, with my prior DVD players, I have been in the habit of pausing a DVD movie in progress and resuming the next day or maybe after several days. Pressing the "pause" or "stop" button on the remote is ordinarily the way to accomplish this, then the movie can be continued later from the same place by pressing the "play" button. However the "pause" or "stop" mode will not hold for very long with this Coby DVD-755 DVD player. After about 30 minutes it automatically resets itself as if the power had been turned off, for example the sound volume is changed to maximum, then it automatically starts playing the movie from the beginning again. I've tried this several times with different DVD movies and it is repeatable. I've also tried unplugging the DVD player for 30+ minutes as suggested in the manual's troubleshooting section, but that doesn't change anything. The same settings are retained, and it doesn't affect this problem.

Do I have a defective unit? Is there a fix for this problem?

[Krispy Kritter]

Sounds defective to me. You could try contacting customer support, but since it is new I would just exchange it. If the new one has the same issue, then get something else. It isn't worth the hassle of trying to "fix", especially on a low tier brand such as this.

[JohnnyBob]

Thanks for your reply.

It took me several hours to unpack it, lay out all the wiring, connect everything, and arrange the 6 speakers around the room. It would take me a long time to disassemble, repack, take it back to Kmart, get another unit (if they have one in stock?), then setup everything again, not to mention the gasoline expense. So it's not like a simple single unit which you can pop back into the box and take it back, get a replacement, then setup again -- all within a few minutes. A lot of work and time is involved with setting up a home theater system!?

I like it, and want to keep it if possible, so I'm trying everything possible to figure it out as well as contacting their tech support. They didn't reply to my email, but I talked to someone on the phone this morning who seemed helpful. He said that he would send it to their testing department then get back to me within a few days. Of course if it turns out to be a defective unit, I'll take it back for exchange. But it's possible that this is a bug in the firmware/software in the Coby DVD-755 DVD player, so every unit will have this problem. I don't know, of course, but believe it's a tossup -- a 50:50 chance either way.

In the meantime, I've discovered a workaround which is fairly satisfactory. If I turn off the screensaver (a bouncing ball) under their Setup options, this problem doesn't happen. In that case the "pause" mode holds indefinitely. I've tried it overnight, and it still resumes play from the same position in the movie. Of course with the screensaver turned off, I have to try to remember to turn off my TV to avoid burn-in.

This is my first experience with a home theater system, and I'm already spoiled. I couldn't go back to the primitive sound from my TV. So if not this one, then I'll get/have a home theater system from now on. Almost all DVD movies have Dolby D 5.1 sound now, so that's the only way to go...

[JohnnyBob]

For the record I took it back to Kmart for exchange. The new Coby DVD-755 works exactly the same so I didn't have a lemon. That's how it's designed.

A few other quirks...

Turn the unit ON without a disc in the drive and press a Volume button on the remote. It freezes completely and must be unplugged to recover.

There's something peculiar about the Volume buttons on the remote, in general. Sometimes they're slow to respond. Sometimes after pressing a Volume button, then pressing a different button such as Setup, it acts like you're pressing a Volume button again! The Volume is adjusted, not the other function. It's also possible to crash the system while a movie is playing (must unplug it to recover) by pressing the Volume +- buttons rapidly and alternately. So the volume must be adjusted slowly and sparingly, taking care not to press Volume+ too soon after pressing Volume-, and vice versa.

I would also suggest that anyone who buys a Coby DVD-755 remove the large paper label that's glued to the top of the DVD player. It may harm it by preventing proper heat dissipation (cooling).

There are occasional loud popping sounds from the speakers when a movie is not playing, as well as a loud "umph" noise when turning the speaker system ON or OFF. After reading a bit, this may be caused because that electric outlet does not have a ground. I need to have a grounded electric outlet installed at that location. Alternately a cure might be to plug the speaker system into a different electric circuit than the DVD player, which I haven't tried.

The remote control is small with buttons which are hard to push. The second remote control works a little better than the first one I had, however sometimes the buttons are unresponsive for awhile. It's like if you press them too often, they get sluggish for awhile. Sometimes they stop working completely then return to proper functioning a few minutes later. Strange. Yes, I've tried putting new batteries in the remote.

Despite these quirks, it's possible to generally avoid them, and have a reasonably good theatrical experience with this system. I doubt if there's anything better out there for $60 or less. So it's a keeper until/unless it crashes completely.

[JohnnyBob]

I'm sticking with it. Kmart doesn't have much of a selection of home theater systems, at least nothing else I want to try. I looked at Walmart the other day and they have some attractive home theater systems for $150-$250, like a Sony, but I'll stick with my $60 Coby DVD-755 system from Kmart despite the problems.

The sound quality is good, I think, at least vastly superior to my TV's audio, and the actors' speech/dialog is generally easy to understand. I still have occasional problems with the volume range, like I must scramble for the remote control when loud special effects or loud music kicks in, in movies. Also occasionally the spoken letter "s" comes across as a loud shrill hiss, which shouldn't happen with properly filtered/controlled audio. Those aren't things I can control with the Coby, insofar as I'm aware, although some systems may have settings that help.

One necessary trick I've discovered is how to reset the system if it gets into a non-standard state. The instructions say to unplug it for 30 minutes, then it should reset itself automatically when you plug it back in. That doesn't work. Once mine got into a non-standard state, like the onscreen text display was garbled when you use the remote control. There were broad black vertical lines through the text, which was barely legible.

Here's the trick to RESET the system...

(1) Remove disc from the DVD player then turn it OFF.
(2) Turn it back ON, and do not insert a disc. (This procedure won't work if there's a disc in the player.)
(3) Press a volume button (VOL+ or VOL-) on the remote control.
(4) That causes the system to freeze up completely, so nothing works.
(5) Unplug the DVD player for a few seconds then plug it back in, and it resets itself automatically.

Strange Don't ask me why, but it works.

So those on a limited budget who are looking for a cheap home theater system might try this one if they're willing to live with the quirks I've mentioned.