Durabrand 1002 DVD Player

[markyl]

I have just bough a Durabrand DVD Player model 1002 from Walmart built July 2007, none of the Region Hacks I have found on this site seem to work, anybody found a hack that works for this version of the 1002

Thanks

[Krispy Kritter]

Quite often the manufacturer will lock the firmware in new versions of a player to prevent the hacks from working.

[JohnnyBob]

Can I hijack this thread? I'm not interested in region hacks, just this model of DVD player (Durabrand DVD-1002).

I picked one up at Walmart a couple of days ago for $28 and am happy with it. The video and sound quality are excellent. I particularly like the facile pause-resume with screensaver operations, which works fine (but doesn't work right with various other DVD players from China I've tried recently). I've played perhaps a half-dozen DVD movies so far and it works fine. No skips, freezes, or other problems as reported here by other users.

One slight shortcoming... The user guide fails to mention how to remove a DVD from the player. It's not obvious, at least not to me, because it doesn't have an automatic disc tray like most players, rather a clamshell design. You lift the lid and push the DVD down onto the spindle til it clicks into place. I figured out (on my own) that by pressing down on the spindle very hard, it will release the DVD, and apparently no harm done. But I asked their email customer support, and this was their prompt reply:

"To release the disc from the spindle you simply just pull up on it and it will snap out."

That method works too. With either method, the disc is flexed quite a bit, and I feared damage to the hub. However repeated removal of a sample DVD did not produce significant visible damage to the hub under a magnifying glass. So maybe it's OK.

Did I just get lucky? Mine was manufactured in June 2007 by Lenoxx Electronics Corp. Googling and reading, after the fact, turned up some positive vibes for Lenoxx manufactured stuff. Some other things manufactured by Funai Corp under the Durabrand and Magnavox brand names got a thumbs down concensus, which I can partially confirm (but won't herein).

Feeling that I might be on a roll, today I additionally picked up a Durabrand home theater from Walmart for $41, a model HT-3917. [Incidentally, it's also manufactured by Lenoxx.] That comes with just the speakers, subwoofer and amplifier, but no DVD player. It works with any DVD player, they say. I hooked it up to the above Durabrand DVD-1002 player and it produces good quality sound in Dolby 5.1, 2.1, or mono channels, selectable via the remote control. It's a good working system, for now at least, and it has extra input connectors for my satellite tv audio, as well as for a MP3 player/videocam audio. The only negative I've discovered so far is there's no on-screen display as a visual aid to indicate the volume of sound, or to adjust the relative volume from the various speakers. You just have to crank it/them up and down til it sounds right to your ears - fortunately the default setting sounds OK to mine. It gives 80 watts audio output which is plenty just for watching TV or DVD movies. I'm not interested in disturbing the neighbors.

[gatvol]

I have just bough a Durabrand DVD Player model 1002 from Walmart manufactured on August 2007. None of the Region Hacks I have found on this site seem to work, anybody found a hack that works for this version of the 1002.

[Krispy Kritter]

I have just bough a Durabrand DVD Player model 1002 from Walmart manufactured on August 2007. None of the Region Hacks I have found on this site seem to work, anybody found a hack that works for this version of the 1002.

Same problem as the OP...and the same answer. Quite often the manufacturer will lock the firmware in new versions of a player to prevent the hacks from working.

One of the reasons to do a little research before buying.