Customer Reviews

Coby DVD237 Progressive Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Given that this DVD player was priced at $30, I didn't expect it to impress me, but I did expect that it would work on a basic level. After initially plugging it in, the disc drawer would not open. After power cycling it a few times it did open, but would not recognize any of the discs I inserted. All were normal unscratched DVDs. After power cycling the unit a few more times it did eventually play a DVD properly, but it also demonstrated that it would never behave reliably and repeated plugging and unplugging would be the norm with this DVD player. I hope that all of Coby's entry level units are not this poor. I give it two stars only because this unit could be coaxed into operation with enough perseverance.

One thing being a pain when to go back and forth between Britain and US is Regional DVDs. US has one standard and Britain has PAL. In order to play anything in the US other than region 1 you have to buy a PAL DVD player, then have to have a PAL telly! What a pain. Even when you get region 0 which supposedly plays on a few (not my four!), you still need the telly that reads PAL!

So the brilliant solution is this AKAI DVD. It is just such a dream to this videophile. It's a multi region player, and yes I can play my DVDs I get in England and no special tell. The player has a converter! Gee, how SIMPLE can you get!!

It plays multi regions - 5 Disc changer, DC CDRW/MP3. The picture is exquisite. The Zoom is amazing on this one! So this Lovejoy Addict has my 5 Disc changer loaded with series 1 and 2 of Lovjoy (nearly) and eagerly waiting release of series 3.

So, don't sit around wishing you could play a DVD from Britain or elsewhere! Take control.

STOP and BEWARE. If you want to purchase a multi-region DVD player DO NOT buy the Coby DVD-237 DVD player it is just a regular DVD player. I wanted a multi-region player that I could watch DVD's from England on (Region 2). I read the reviews and other people wrote about how easy this player was to do it, so I ordered it. Well I got the player yesterday, and the player DOES NOT do multi-regions. It may be a fine little player, but it is not what it is advertised as, now I have to return it. You can contact Coby Customer Service at 1-800-681-2629 and they can tell you what the player can and can't do. But it does not do Regions outside the US.

I got this from Amazon for just under 50 USD.
Many vendors are still selling it for a lot more, and it used to be about 200 USD.

This is an awesome DVD Player, Sure it probably does'nt have all the bells and whistles as many fancier and more expensive ones but it has everything needed for watching DVD's and has something that the EXPENSIVE one's dont!

It plays DVD's from any region regardless if it is NTSC or PAL system.

I have some Swedish (region 2) DVD's and it plays them without problems.
the good part is that you dont need a Hardware hack, or change any settings- just put the DVD in the player and it just works.. So nice, so easy..

And for all the wannabe singers you can plug in your microphone and do some karaoke too..

I highly recommend this product

Excellent machine and very inexpensive. Plays all region DVDs without a hitch and converts to whatever system you want. The only negative is that the infra-red remote can not be learned by other remotes in the U.S. and you can not use an IR remote repeater. You have to use the supplied remote and it must be line of site to the unit.

This unit was a complete waste of my money. I set it up, it worked fine for 1 day. We watched 2 dvds on it total. After that, the player made a harsh grinding noise and quit. It is now FUBAR. It powers up, but will not load or play any discs.
On a seperate note, the remote that was included with this is very difficult to operate. You need to be right in front of the player, and press the button again and again for it to respond. I tried to program my universal remote to work with it, but the company is apparently too obscure to have codes that will work with universal remotes.
Please don't waste your time and cash with this DVD player. It will probaby just encourage COBY to turn out more trash like this.

I just got the Akai 5851 on Friday. I bought it as a Christmas present for my parents. I picked up 5 dvd's from an Italian DVD website as well. The player worked great. I tested it when I got it because of the love it/hate it reviews here. All 5 dvd's worked fine. There was no distortion in the picture, no skipping, etc. Little tip though if you plan on buying this player. Do not connect it through your vcr. Connect it directly to your TV or a switcher box. I had it originally hooked up through the front ports on my vcr & the copy protection made the picture cycle between perfect to a dark crappy version & back again. I hooked it up to my pelican device switcher & that fixed that little problem.

The Italian dvd site is pretty sweet too. These are the titles that I picked up:

Something About Mary
Elf
Old School
The Green Mile
Life is Beautiful

They all had a perfect Italian dub & they all had the option of turning on english subtitles. The shipping & handling from Italy is pretty heinous though (about $40.) [...] The other great thing is that there are a pile of new movies like the Lord of the Rings, Spiderman 2 & etc. The only negative thing is that the whole site is in Italian. I had to get help from a cousin that was fluent in Italian to help translate.

well I read the reviews but figured I'd give it a go anyway considering I'm a student on a limited budget....
It worked okay (not great) for the first month and now it just died last night in the middle of a movie WITH MY DVD INSIDE! Who knows how I'm gonna get that out now. I've had it over 30 days so I can't return it. $30.00 for something to work for one month! I should have just bought a $50 player and it would have lasted longer I'm sure. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!

Wouldn't play my burned ritek dvd-r 4x smoothly, kept jerking and pausing. I've returned unit.

Difficult to operate

DVD player is OK at the price but remote is not good and quality of sound is not up to the other DVD players priced in $ 30 range.

It is playing all the formats but sometimes makes noise.