Customer Reviews

Zenith DVB216 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

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

 

 

This is an excellent DVD player and a bargain at the current price. If you have a HDTV you can benefit from the progressive scan output, but even with a good analog TV such as the Sony WEGA, the component video output of this player is a big plus over similarly-priced players with S-video output. CNET rates this as the best budget player, and I can see why.

I was originally looking at this player and one manufactored by Panasonic. The shopping gods put this one in my Gold Box so I took the plunge. Afterwards I had read reviews on CNET.com that indicated that there was trouble playing certain DVDs including Stars Wars 2 in Wide Screen. I was able to play the entirety of Star Wars 2 in Wide Screen. I made my purchase around 11-10-02. So they may have fixed that problem.

It is probably one of the cheapest Progressive Scan DVD players. My TV, Sony 27fs100, does not accept progressive scan but does have component input. I am very happy none the less with running it in normal mode. The one feature that I did appreciate was both an optical and coaxial digital output. Which made it easy to get quality sound from my home theater system. (If you are looking for a quality Home theater system to match up with this DVD player check out Onkyo HT 650). Overall I consider both a very good value.

Added info after 2 months of ownership.
Everything still works fine.

The subtitles did come on for me automatically with one movie. It was easy to turn off with the remote. I did not have to look through the manual.

The appearance of the unit is much different than what is displayed on the Amazon web page. The face is reflective glass with a silver band going accross the front. The controls and the DVD loading mechanism are on the silver band. Each function such as rewind or play has a blue light above it showing the function. The time display I believe is green and amber. For a better view as to its appearance click on more pictures at the top of the page.

First off all, the picture quality is great. I'm using it with a 27" JVC TV. I've tried it with component and S-video, and the S-video looks better (contrary to what I expected). I have yet to see artifacts, even in fast action scenes.

The down side is a pretty big one in my opinion. Apparently, the engineers neglected to test movies that have multiple languages in them. For example, the movie Ronan is an English language movie where some of the characters speak French. So, naturally, you would want English subtitles for the French parts, and then go back to no subtitles for the English, right?

Too bad. When the subtitles come on for French, they stay on for the rest of the movie, if you don't turn them off in the DVD menu. So you turn them off, and the next time someone speaks French, viola [see there it is], English subtitles ever after. [English subitles ever after.] It's terribly annoying. [It's terribly annoying.]

I played the same DVD on my computer's DVD player, and the subtitles worked fine. I've tried other movies with multiple languages like XXX... same thing.

Zenith customer service says that's "the way it is for that model." Funny, I don't remember reading that in the feature specs before I bought it.

I purchased this DVD player to replace an older model after it appeared in my Gold Box.

As far as a DVD player goes I have no complaint. It loads DVDs fairly quickly. The image quality is acceptable (I don't own a HDTV). The remote is constantly lit and layed out in a logical manner.

CON: It doesn't play VCDs!! This is why it only gets 3 stars I would return this model if it didn't take me so long to figure this out. If you make your own movies (by using a digital camcorder, etc) don't expect to be able to enjoy them with this POS. I can't believe that any modern DVD player would omit this feature.

I really like this DVD player, it's too bad I can't recommend it.

After reading reviews both here and other places, we decided to try this player. It is sleek with a very nice appearance. Yes the remote is cheesey. But so far that is the only fault we have. The set up was easy. The picture is great. My wife was impressed with the sound. It plays her CDs and MP3s great (she's the music expert in the family - I'm tone deaf). We especially like the option of wide screen or regular screen. The direction book could have been a little clearer but it was understandable. For the price, this is a great unit. If you are looking for your first DVD player or just want to see what the hoopaloo is all about, we would definitely recommend this unit.

I purchased the Zenith DVB216 ... The image it provides is unstable. The image ocilates slowly from perfect to fuzzy color to black and white and back. The cycle is irregular. Sometimes the picture is perfect for as much as 6 minutes before running through the cycle. The worst part of the experience is dealing with Zenith's customer representatives. I called them immediately on discovering that the DVD was not working properly. They suggested trying a variety of things which I attempted. No change. My wife and I have called Zenith 5 times. We have repeatedly been lied to. We have never been able to locate the same service representative twice. Each service representative has promised us a variety of things, a new DVD is on the way, etc. At this writing I am almost 2 months into the process of obtaining a working DVD from Zenith. At this rate the technology will be obsolete before we obtain a working sample of this wonderful device. ...

The Zenith DVD216 has an excellent picture and the unit is atractive, but the remote is useless. On any input from the remote, there is a very, very slow response from the DVD. It takes forever to select a particular scene. I am sending back the unit for a replacement. It may be that this unit had a defective remote or a defective sensor eye on the DVD. Amazon is sending me a new unit. I will follow-up when the new unit arrives. Zenith Electronics Incorporated is useless. They do not have anyone on tech-support. Customer service at Zenith did not help either. They wanted me to fax them a copy of the bill, and then they would let me know what to do. Their fax machine was busy all day. Amazon was terrific. They are sending a new unit out today. It will arrive in 3 or 4 days. The defective unit will be picked up and shipped back for free.

I purchased this unit after reading the reviews, and I really appreciate this rating feature by www.Amazon.com. The DVD was really easy to hook up and start, and the operation is flawless so far. My unit is tied through a VCR and a Cable hook up all through a Modulator that I had to buy because my analog TV has no Dig-Cable hookup. All in all it was real easy to put together, but with a modern HDTV all you would have to plug in would be the Digital cable (what could be easier?. This is a super buy! And a beautiful silver cover (looks expensive) as opposed to some of the black entry level units. I hope that this review helps some of you to decide.

The player stopped reading disks less than 6 months after purchase. Since the warranty doesn't cover labor, it can't be fixed without paying twice what it would cost to buy a new one.

After shopping for a progressive scan player, I decided to upgrade my Panasonic to the Zenith DVB216. My hardware inlcudes a Philips 50" HDTV and Pioneer receiver. I might have received a defective player because I swear my old player outdid this player in terms of resolution and clarity. The output wasn't that impressive and the sound wasn't that great either (I used the optical output for both players). Appearance wise, I don't really care much of, but I notice the remote looks really cheap and the buttons on the unit are way too small (reminds me of my Dad's old 80's style stereo component buttons), ergonomics is non-existent. I returned the item and went back to my old one for now. Next time I'm picking up a Pioneer progressive scan, even though it costs a little more. You do get what you pay for when it comes to electronics...