Pacific DVD-750

[banjazzer]

I got one of these a couple of months back. They are sold by ASDA (UK's Walmart!) and play CD/DVD/MP3/VCD and SVCD (although the SVCD is a bit iffy. They are multi-region with a remote hack and the Macrovision can be disabled by a remote hack. it is a brilliant machine

But

Things have changed. Shortly after buying mine, the manufacturers disabled the Macrovision hack. The latest batch has gone a stage further and disabled the VCD feature! I can't imagine what the rationale behind this last move is, but they have now made this machine unsellable IMO. Do not buy!!! My local ASDA has a large label next to it saying that it does not play VCD (I've never ever seen this sort of thing before). I thought they had made some mistake, until I read reports on the net from disgruntled buyers confirming it.

Best buy in the UK is now, I think, the Cyberhome 528. This plays everything, although Macrovision can not be disabled without a modification, or by using a special scart cable (or similar). These are available from Richers Sounds and at http://www.playstationmods.com/dvd.htm

caveat emptor 8)

[missionmasque]

I bought mine a few months back also and plays DVD,VCD,MP3 fine.

I've tried creating a SVCD for this machine but it played back "jerky".
SVCD comes up on the screen when inserted.

Have you or anyone else any additional findings on SVCD playback before I try a few things out.

CDR's play fine but CDRW are a bit hit and miss.

Cheers.

Tone.

[banjazzer]

I don't think it's too good for SVCD. Some play OK, but I haven't found why some are slightly jerky. I did find that if I created an SVCD with max bitrate ~1850, it played OK. However, that isn't much use, because most SVCDs aren't encoded that way. 8)

What I don't understand is why they altered the capacity to play VCD. It's not like VCD is illegal as such - some people record their home movies to VCD. And as far as I can see, just about every DVD player on sale can play VCD. I wonder if this is some sinister sign of things to come?