Customer Reviews

CyberHome CH-LDV 712 7-Inch Portable Progressive-Scan DVD Player , Silver

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Having purchased and returned a good number of 7" portable DVD players (Apex, Initial, Mintek), I was slowing coming to the conclusion that there's no such thing as a GOOD $... portable DVD player. Then I came across this little beauty at Amazon.com and decided to give it one more try. I've had the player for about a week now, and I am happy to report that I am most pleasantly surprised by how good this players is. I've seen quite a few movies on this unit and have not experienced any problems.

The CyberHome 712 has all the standard features of your average 7" DVD player (mp3, jpeg, remote control, home/car adapter, AV output & input, Dolby digital & DTS outputs, etc), plus a few other nice extras. What's most unusual is that the outer casing, and the DVD lid/deck are all made of diecast metal, while similar units are made of painted plastic. Although the metal case adds weight to the unit, it also gives it a substantial and robust feel. Another unusual feature for this price range is the progressive scan output (componet cables are included.) That means you can use this player with your HDTV and display your movies in all of their 480P, non-interlaced glory. The rechargeble lithium ion battery has a claimed life of 4 hrs between charges, while other batteries typically claim to have between 2-3 hrs. So far, I've only been able to get about 3 hrs out of each charge, but that's more than enough time for just about any movie.

The player is not without flaws though. The 7" LCD screen is not of the active matrix type, so while it is bright and vibrant at the proper angle, it is difficult to see when you are way off to the side. Also the brightness level returns to the default level every time the unit shuts off, so you will have to re-adjust the screen at the beginning of every movie.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase, and would recommend this unit to anymore looking for a quality product at a reasonable price. For the brand conscious folks, Toshiba offers some very nice players at substantially higher prices. For my money, the Cyberhome 712 will do just fine.

I was looking for the largest size screen that I could afford. I had looked at Apex and Initial brands. I almost purchased the Initial DVD 5820 for just under $200, but missed out on the order deadline.

I'm glad I did, because shortly after that, Amazon listed this Cyberhome at a special price of $275 plus a $50 certificate to be used for a future purchase. That, for me, was the clincher. A 7" screen for a bottom line value of $225!! Sold!

I set the unit up in our minivan, using a Targus case hooked to the arms of the front seat captains chairs and headed to Orlando from Atlantic City. My two little girls were restrained, er.. seated in the back seat at slight angles to the player, which was located dead center. I only had to adjust the tilt of the screen so that they could have optimum viewing. The thing played constantly on our trek down and back with nary a skip. I ran the sound thru our car stereo using a cassette adaptor. I also had an fm feeder with me as a back up.

While in my hotel room, I used the headphones to watch a couple of episodes of Davey Crockett and Faulty Towers while my kids were sleeping.

I personally am quite pleased with the unit overall. I like the fact that it is made of metal as opposed to plastic. Feels more substantial, less delicate. I also like the fact that it plays my video cd's and jpegs. I can now capture home video on my computer, edit it, burn a VCD and play it on my portable DVD player. Awesome!

It is not perfect. You must detatch the battery when using an external power source. Not a major problem for me - maybe it is for you. The screen, while beautiful, is best viewed head on. That is not to say it is not viewable at an angle, the tilt has to be adjusted to compensate. This is why I rated it a 4 instead of a 5. But in terms of my satisfaction, knowing this all before jumping in? I would have given it a 5.
Great unit for the price.

I bought this unit after reading several reviews. I was skeptical
at first, but decided to take a chance. We were planning a 4 hour trip and needed to entertain my three year old. I ordered thru the
super saver shipping. It arrived sooner than promised, and tracking the item was a breeze. The unit worked perfectly, I purchased a dvd holder/carrier that mounted between the seats of a car. No problems
with skipping/freezing or poor picture. When we got to our hotel room, we then hooked up to the tv and worked without any problems. This unit comes with all the hook-ups needed for nearly all applications, even has input video to play back a camcorder, playstation or x box. great deal for the price, would recommend.
The speakers are a little weak, but works great with headphones or external portable amplified speakers

This player, without the battery, is amazingly small and light. With the battery it's still pretty small and light. Battery life is decent. The door that provides access to the DVD is flimsy and the latch that keeps the clamshell closed is made of plastic instead of metal. I suspect both will break within five years. Those are my only gripes.

For the price, this player has impressive capabilities including progressive scan. The sound (without speakers) and picture quality are both decent although for $200 more you can get better. The number of good-quality cables, including car power adaptor, is also impressive.

I bought this device for a car road trip with a 2 year old. It didn't skip during the ride. I'm very happy with my purchase.

I also bought the MITOCORP Suspension Theater as a carrier/holder in the car. Both are a good fit.

Open tray and enter 'Stop/1/9/9/9' with your remote, then you can pop-up a hidden menu screen where you can select your own region or ALL regions. This hidden feature added a lot more value for me.

I have bought another portable DVD player about a year ago and was unhappy with my purchase. I had problems playing DVD's for long period of time. It would skip a lot and would sometimes stop in a middle of a movie. I recently bought this CH-LDV 712 and found it pretty good so far. I like the 7" screen and it's sleek design. I mostly need it to play PAL DVD's and it does. Many home DVD players do not play PAL DVD's. Also want to be able to take it where ever I go. It is definitely small and light enough to do so. I also bought the matching case with it. It works quite well. So far I would recommend it anybody. I bought mine at Fry's for $249.99 brand new. Cheaper than Amazon. For that price, you really can't go wrong.

I purchased two of the Cyberhome CH-LDV712 portable DVD players at Radio Shack for $299 each. After reading some of the reviews, I was terrified at the possibility of giving my 14 and 19 year old daughters something that wouldn't work. So, I spent some time testing both units before wrapping them up.

I am pleased to report that both units worked just fine right out of the box. I tested them with a variety of DVDs with and without the battery pack. I played two full-length feature films using the battery pack without losing power or any other problem whatsoever.

With a fully-charged battery I was able to play at least 4.5 hours of programming and I was pleasantly surprised at both the picture quality and sound from this little unit. Unlike television sets and other CRT devices, TFT was never intended to provide good viewing at all angles but the picture was as good or better than one might expect from a 7" TFT screen. In fact, with some small portable speakers (or headphones) attached, the sound is excellent and what I would consider to be in scale with my much larger home stereo system.

It appears to be sturdy and after some pretty heavy use over the past month, neither unit has malfunctioned. One of them is making daily trips to work and usually gets plugged into the television every night.

Overall, I'm delighted with the 712 as a portable DVD player. Its performance is definitely beyond what I had expected from something this small and inexpensive. The only thing missing is a carrying case for the player and all the attachments that come with it.

Their units are junk... I have returned three of them and number four doesn't work properly either! The customer support line is always busy and they do not return email requests for service. The unit plays only certain DVD's, and it doesn't matter if they are new or used.

Do yourself a favor - spend more money and buy something else.

For those who has bought this unit, potentially, you can make it region free. Here is the code:
1. Turn on the player.
2. Open the tray.
3. Press Stop.
4. Enter 1, 9, 9, 9 in order, and one at a time.
5. You should now be in a hidden menu. You can change region code to all, but not disable Macrovision

The CyberHome DVD player looks fantastic, smooth, sleek, even sexy, and the picture is wonderful but the beauty is only skin deep with this little gem, because within six months you'll find out its junk. The first thing you'll notice is the speakers produce poor sound, if you use an ear piece in won't matter, then you'll notice that the plastic frame around the screen cheap silver paint wearing off, next one day the machine just won't work. When you contact CyberHome and return the player they'll probably send you a new one. I think it's cheaper for them to replace it then fixing something they know is junk from the start. However, they only fix it if it is within the warranty period three months for labor and one year for parts. Three months think about that three months is a very short period of time, why three months for labor because this is a piece of junk. Save your moneys if you want a portable DVD player, get an RCA, Sony, Panasonic, Audiovox, etc. I bought this DVD player from Home Shopping Network, in the spring of 2003, and notice that HSN has drop CyberHome portable DVD players for Mustek portable DVD players. HSN could have changed brands for many reasons but I can think of one very good reason; CyberHome Dvd player is a piece of JUNK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!