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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent player; tons of options, July 6, 2009
Purchased for parents who are not tech-savvy (was somewhat of a worry with setting this up), and are huge movie fans. (They like movies so much, they even sleep to them...) I wanted to make sure the DVD changer supported both their new TV (HD) and their old, CRT tube TV. And this certainly fit the bill.
The setup is very easy. (I was able to help with the setup over the phone in minutes.) However, the ease of setup doesn't mean that it is lacking options; there are plenty of options that are available to tweak the sound, the picture, etc. But for just getting the machine playing DVDs (maybe not optimally, but playing nonetheless), it's simple.
When visiting, I was able to see and hear this player in action. It's mostly silent itself, and had a picture/audio quality that was adequate for how it was hooked up - using the composite cables ("RCA cables" - red and white for audio, yellow for video.) When using an HDMI connection, everything really came to life, stepping into the modern world.
On a side note (in regards to some negative reviews here) - Amazon.com *is* an authorized seller of Onkyo products (the "refurb" version part - Warehouse Deals or whatever, likely is not.) If there's a problem, I can't see how you wouldn't be covered by either Amazon or Onkyo. I had actually purchased this same unit from another online vendor, and the DVD sounded like it was going through a meat grinder when it was playing. Returned it, bought from Amazon and the new one is working great... bottom line: Onkyo is a very quality and reputable brand, but no brand is going to be perfect 100%.
Would definitely purchase again.
****************UPDATE, September 2009*********************
This unit is now receiving "Cannot Read Disc" errors pretty randomly. It may not work on a disc, but the next time you try, it works fine. We tried cleaning all the discs, but after purchasing a few brand new DVDs and having the error, it's going to head back to Onkyo. Meanwhile, the $30 backup cheapie DVD player still works... bummer.
****************UPDATE, November 7, 2009****************
We finally got around to taking this in for warranty work. The nearest authorized service center was King Audio/Video (Redmond, WA.) The service folks were very pleasant and professional... after about 10 days, they called us up to come pick it up. (Apparently, Onkyo also covers shipping charges once the item is repaired, but we decided to just pick it up.)
Now, this is back to being a fantastic player. It's quieter than it was before, and it plays ALL DVDs, even if you can see some visible damage (scratching and such) on it.
If others are experiencing the disc read errors on older/scratched DVDs, I'd recommend getting it repaired while under warranty. (The problem eventually gets worse to where it won't even read a brand new DVD.) Yes, it's unfortunate that you have to get it repaired. But on the other hand - that's what the warranty is for, and now this this is working GREAT.
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