The retrograde Mico Celo 80

[creaker]

Hello folks

I've had a Mico Celo 80 player for over a year now. No problems. Been fine, does what I want it to do, plays (S)VCD NTSC and PAL. Great.

So I spot one in the local supermarket for £99 and think "great xmas present". I'll be able to produce VCDs for my parents, holiday snaps, kids birthdays, and the like.

I buy one, not paying too much attention to the box. The external packaging looks identical to the one I bought previously. It has pointers to the "What DVD" awards it has received, so I quite naturally assume it's going to be identical.

Oh what a mistake. The cursed thing will not play (S)VCD. The only way to get it to play (S)VCD is to press the "1" key on the remote repeatedly whilst the disc is loading (that is, closing the tray). And then it works OK.

Interestingly, it's not badged under the front panel power supply as playing S(VCD) whereas the one I bought a year ago is.

Hmm, it turns out that the "secret" menu code is different for this player too. Its "2812" on the remote, followed by the enter key (with no disc in the tray). Also, the ability to disable macrovision has disappeared.

So beware! Either Mico is now selling players reduced functionaility Celo 80s with crippled firmware, or some supermarkets have very old stocks of Celo 80's.

Has anybody else experienced this, apart from MongooseTi4600, and can anybody shed any light on this?

[creaker]

Corresponded with the people I bought my original player from and this is their response

We are still selling the MiCO Celo 80, our current price on this model is
£129.99. This is the same model as the one you have purchased 14 Months
ago.

In order to cut the price of the Player MiCO seem to have used different
technology on the newer player, although the model number is the same its
not really the same player., hence not playing SVCD. Since Sainsburys have
started selling the MiCO our sales have increased because all our players
still play SVCD and you are also able to remove macrovision.

So BEWARE WHEN BUYING newer versions of the CELO 80. IT IS NOT THE SAME AS THE ONE MENTIONED IN ALL THE WEB REVIEWS!!!!