Customer Reviews

Coby DVD-224 Compact DVD Player (Black)

5 star:		(158)
4 star:		(119)
3 star:		(48)
2 star:		(40)
1 star:		(182)

 

 

I wanted to be able to watch DVDs from the UK that weren't available in NTSC. So far the Coby has handled everything I've put in it with no trouble. It impressed a friend so much he got one too.

I'm not expecting it to last forever - it is a mega-cheapie after all - but at this price, I can buy a new one every year, and consider it worth it. I haven't found any other box that does multi-region with on-the-fly PAL/NTSC conversion at any price.

UPDATE - I've had my Coby for two years now, and it is still working fine. I have found some commercial DVDs don't play well in it, but it is a fault of the DVD manufacturer, not the player (I work in the industry). Basically, Technicolor don't test for compatability with the software codec used in this box, and frequently the only way to play DVDs duplicated by Technicolor is to go to the Select Scene menu and pick the first scene. It plays fine from there. This affects many cheaper DVD players, who all use the same software codec.

How to convert your Coby DVD-224
into a Region Free DVD Player

1. Power Up the unit with NO Disc in the tray.
2. Press the SETUP button on your remote control
3. Press the VOL + button on your remote control
4. Press the VOL - button on your remote control
5. Press the VOL + button on your remote control
6. Press the VOL - button on your remote control
7. The current region number will appear in the upper right hand corner of the television screen.
8. Press the LEFT or RIGHT Arrow buttons until the number 255 appears.
9. Press the SETUP button on your remote control
10. Close the tray
11. NOTE - The 255 in the above sequence represents the Region Code 0 - Region Free. If you want to set to a specific region, just replace the 255 with the region number that you want.

I've owned 2 of these now. When they work, they're great and will read any disk, and are great space savers. But, after 4 months, the 1st one died. Luckily, I found an obvious blown capacitor that was easily replaced, and that unit is still working.
The 2nd just died, with no hope of recovery. Right in the middle of a disk, it stopped. Any disk inserted after that gave the message, "Wrong Disk".
I would avoid if you're looking for a long-term reliable player.

Make sure you have no DVD in the tray.
On the remote control
1) Press "TITLE"
2) Press "1" and then "9"
On the TV a large box with a small number will appear.
The number indicates for which DVD region the machine has been set, for example "2" for Germany or "0" for no region preference.
3) Press the up arrow or down arrow to raise or lower the number
4) Press "ENTER"
If you've entered the region number or "0", you're ready to play your region-protected DVD.


NOTE: Even though the Amazon page advertises Coby model "224", they shipped me a model "224M" and I had to call Coby customer service to learn how to program it. The two models differ, although they look more or less identical and have the same features, I'm guessing.

We purchased the Coby 224 DVD Player from Amazon and have found it to be unsatisfactory. It refuses to play many DVD's. We have owned it for 60 days and at first, we thought it was bad DVD's from the rental store. We now believe it the Player that is the source of the problem. Unfortunately, we confirmed this too late and Amazon now refuses to allow a return.

I chose this DVD player based on price alone and was pleasantly surprised at its quality. It's much smaller than the DVD player it replaced, and produces excellent sound and picture quality compared to other sub-$40 players. There isn't much in the way of face controls (in case the remote is lost) but that's typical of this price range, and better won't be found without spending more.

My favorite thing about this DVD player is that it has a *real* power button on its face. That's right, you don't have to leave it in standby mode, slowly sucking up power and raising your bill when not in use. No messing with cords or turning it off at the surge protector. How refreshing!

I started out loving this product. It was cheap and could play anything. I liked it so much I bought another.

After watching about 2 dvds a week for a few months, the first one died, then the second about 3 months later The first one started freezing and failing to read pretty much anything then the other just started coming up with "wrong disk" on anything you stuck in it. These were two different coby models, but both were crap.

Besides the early death of the players, another down side is that no universal remote seems to know who coby is, and so you are stuck with the initial remote (learning remotes also fail to control cobys).

In the end, dvd players are all cheap now. Spend a little more money and get a good brand name one.

I've had this DVD player for about a month now and it gets moderately heavy usage (turned on 12 hours every night, playing for about the first 2 1/2). For the money I really don't see how you could expect more. The 110 volt/220 volt option is fantastic for people who live in really remote locations and the code to change the unit into a multi-region unit is just priceless. The only complaint is, that unlike other DVD players, the multi-region playback of a PAL disc on an NTSC TV produces picture distortion. Mildly annoying to watch foreign DVDs on an American set, but how many people does that actually inconvenience? If the unit lasts one year it'll have more than paid for itself. If the price drops again I'm going to buy half a dozen as disposable electronics seem to be the norm now.

i was a bit skeptical about buying this item beacuse of its price and size. I bought it just to try it and see, so far so good, it's my favorite, it has played all my DVDs even some that my computer couldn't read. I have this DVD player hooked up to a home theater system and the sound is great. I had it running continuosly for hours and it didn't blink, eneded up being an oustanding product for a small price. I recommend it.

I bought one of these about a year and a half ago. I am a semi-professional video maker and photographer and I love to watch movies and videos. Sometimes I buy or rent originals and many times I rent burnt copies or burn my own. I also burn photographs into CDs to see them in the TV screen. This little player has NEVER failed to read and play any format of CD that I have popped into it, while other DVD players that I own, from more expensive and known brands such as RCA or JVC have.

It is multi-region and switches from NTSC to PAL, so you don't have to worry about those DVDs that say "May not be seen in some regions". This only is an amazing feature that makes this player a great deal.

It is totally portable and light and can de easily carried with it's accesories (remote control and audio/video cable) in a bag the size of a medium-sized book. Despite being light-weight, it feels strong and well built and not "plasticky" like so many low-priced electronics in the market today.

It does'nt have a screen on the front (which is desirable to see the running time of the movie or video you are watching), but this is reasonable given it's super low price. This are the kind of features that manufacturers take away to be able to lower the price. There is a similar player by Coby that has the screen and costs like $8 more. You might want to go for that one because the price difference is absurd (I did'nt know about that other model when I bought mine).

But nevertheless, I very much recomend this little portable player. You get an excellent artifact that will satisfy you for a long time at the price of a disposable one.