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Here is the critical point: the unit will output EITHER component or S-Video/composite, but NOT BOTH. I have a Cyberhome DVD-320 that I bought in 2004 at Target. That means that the Cyberhome's video setup must match the cables you connected to your TV video input. I use it strictly for non-USA DVD's. It plays everything (PAL or NTSC, any region in the world). If you have S-video selected and are using component cables (red, blue, green), you get a BLANK or PINK screen on your TV.I recently bought a COBY DVD-588 (from Amazon) which does composite, S-Video, component, and HDMI simultaneously. The Coby can also be programmed to play non-USA DVD's, so it has replaced my old reliable Cyberhome.
Based on the time/date stamps of other posts in various places on these units, the dumpsters will soon be filled with them, all because of one measly part. Imagine my disgust when the problem turned out to be that the gear on the laser carriage motor had split. Mine broke like so many other peoples, so since it was broken, I could do no harm by taking it apart. FYI, it's a 12 tooth gear, 2mm bore, 6 mm dia, 6mm face, pitch probably 20 degrees. This would cause the asst'd behaviors that so many have experienced. A 10 cent part kills an otherwise FINE product. I've wasted too much time trying to find this part, but knock yourself out if you know about sourcing plastic gears. PEACE.
Purchased in 2003 so I've had it for roughly 6 years. There seems to be an occasional video-audio synchronization issue that crops up if you repeatedly stop/pause/rewind/ff. $30 got me a DVD player that plays almost everything. All original DVDs and recordable DVD media works great except it's picky about recordable dual layer DVDs. It doesn't happen often enough to bother me and I'd put up with alot more for a $30 player going on 6 years of use. nice.
The problem now is that when it plays DVDs, it makes horrific noises and I can tell that it's on the verge of dying at any minute. In that time I have shipped it back and forth across the country multiple times -- and we all know how those UPS guys treat packages, don't we. I bought this player for $20 at a major appliance store nearly 4 years ago, and it has held up remarkably well. I just hope that when it does, it's not with one of my DVDs stuck inside it. The point is that considering how little I paid for it, I could not have asked for a better bargain. Aside from some occasional skipping and freezing on perfectly good DVDs, it has worked very well up until now so I honestly can't complain much about it. Also, the remote has stopped working completely as of today, but that could just be a dead battery. Either way, though I'm annoyed at having to go through the hassle of shopping around for a new DVD player at an equally affordable cost (as they seem to have stopped making this particular model), I am not at all upset about the performance I got out of this thing -- even after all the abuse it suffered in the interim -- for only $20.
I am not impressed with the short life span of the DVD player. I bought this last christmas for our family. Today it died after maybe being used 25 times. I wish we would have spent a little more money. Now I have to buy a new one.
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