$58 DVD player at Radio Shack with Region-Free hack...plus $10 mail-in rebate! (1 Viewer)

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Youre welcome Paul !

 

[Kwang Suh]

Does this player have the CUE?

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Whats the cue ?

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I have seen the flyer and can verify that there is a $10 rebate. The player will be on sale at the "you've got questions, we've got answers retailer" for $39.95 for 5 hours on Black Friday from 7:00 to Noon: final price after rebate: $29.95 plus tax.

And this is indeed the case...I just got back from Radio Shack (which actually opened at 6:00am in this area) and picked up two players at $39.95 each. In order to print off the $10 rebates, they had to be rung up on separate tickets. Final price? $39.95 and tax less $10 rebate less postage to mail it in. Not bad for around $33!

The players were in plentiful supply.

- Steve

 

[Paul Drake]

The players were in plentiful supply.

Lucky for you. Not so in my area. I got to the Shack at 10 until 7:00 (7:00 was their published opening time) only to find they were already open. Fortunately, they still had about 6 players left so I was able to get my two. Nearly everyone in line ahead of me had a couple and the handful that were left after me were literally gone within 1 minute.

I went to another Shack in the mall across the street and they were already sold out. This was about 20 after 7.

I'll put this player through the paces today to decide if it's a keeper. I've read some comments on the nerd-out forums that these die rather quickly.

For those buying this as Christmas gifts, please note that the rebates need to be postmarked by 12/28 so don't wait until after Christmas to mail it in.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

I got my spare today at around 6.30 am . They had about 30 left afterwards.Good news and bad news about the player. First the good news, the quality of the player is just as good as the 1 i bought in june.Another plus is the batteries are already installed, as this remotes batteries were very hard to install when i got my first cyberhome 300 in june. Now the bad news, unlike the 1 i bought in june, it doesnt have that switch in the back to turn it off, you can only turn it off in standby mode from the remote. I guess whenever im not using this spare ill unplug it just to be safe.

 

[Sam Rossi]

I've resisted picking-up these bargain, hackable players in the past because of the NTSC/PAL anamorphic issues, but I took the dive today. I've had a copy of The Corr's Unplugged a friend brought back from London over a year ago that I couldn't play. I didn't want to spend the bucks on the Malata for a couple of R2 discs.

Just finished hooking up the CH 300 and what can I say but I'm impressed. The video quality on my Toshiba 16X9 looks pretty good; not up to the Panasonic RP 91 standards, but darn good.

I also threw on the DTS "Gaucho" to check the 5.1 audio performance and was equally impressed.

The local RS was out of these units by 2:00 PM, but Wal-Mart had them on sale for $43.00. I don't know how long this player will last, but it's clearly a bargain for what the machine does.

 

[Robert James Clark]

Target (at least in SoCal) has them for $34.99, and had plenty...

 

[Gary_E]

I picked up two units this morning (7:30) for gifts. Two other people on line were buying two units each. There were three units left on the floor.

I just re-read this thread and what I find most appealing about this player is it's ability to play MPEG 1 or MPEG 2 files burned onto any type media.

Capture video (if necessary convert it to an MPEG file), then burn it with NERO as a DATA disc. It is not necessary to author to a VCD, SVCD or DVD.

It plays mixed discs(mp3s & mpegs)very well.
I've made jukebox DVD-R/RWs of combined 200+ mp3s and 25+ good quality, music video mpegs.

I burn captured episodes of SMALLVILLE on CD-Rs.
Last CD-Rs I bought were 200 for $10.00 after rebates.

I love this machine. It can at times run a little warm so keep it well ventilated. The remote is horrible and I still can't find remote codes for the advanced function buttons but that is a minor point.

Regards,
-Gary

 

[Patrick Sun]

I just wanted to share another cheap DVD model that I stumbled upon today while shopping: the Sungale DVD8500. That is the thread I started as I've been putting this "cheapo" DVD player (that can do PAL/NTSC conversion and ignores region codes) through its paces. I got it for $30 at Microcenter today during their Black Friday sale, but I think they normally sell for $40-$50.

 

[Robert James Clark]

Anyone willing to do a cheap shootout between the Sungale and the Cyberhome to see which has the best picture quality?

 

[Jon Torres]

I was lucky enough to pick one of these up at my local Radio Shack. I probably got there at 7:02 and was able to get one. Just about everyone in the store had one, and some people even had two. They were out by 7:08 I'd say. I think they should stock more if they do deals like this.

I watched X2 last night and the original X-Men just now. Overall they play okay, but there were a couple audio dropouts in X-Men that weren't the layer change. I don't think it's the dvd. I'll play a few more movies through it and if it keeps up or gets worse, then I'll return it for my money back. I heard a salesman mention no refunds if you turn the rebate in, so I'll wait a little bit.

 

[Kwang Suh]

CUE = Chroma Upsampling Error

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Ok guys, moving to Greece later this month. I noticed on the back of this player it says from 100 volts to 230.230 is what the voltage is there.So would i still need to buy a voltage power converter ?

 

[Robert James Clark]

Just opened mine last night to hook up to my newly deliverd Hitachi 43" RPTV from uecweb and it's a beaut!

Superbit Fifth Element and Finding Nemo looked great, with lots of detail and excellent color.

What a nice player for $35!

 

[RichardFlores]

well I went calling almost every store in the houston area and they did not have any in stock. So I ordered them online from RS for 44.99 each (bought 2) so now i have a xmas gift for my father in law. He lives in mexico so the region free hack code is great! I can send him DVD from here and he can watch them and also watch region 4 dvd's as well. Thanks guys for the heads up on this. I recieved them today which is awesome since I ordered them on wed.

I can wait to hook mine up to my 52" RCA scenium.

Richard

 

[David Lambert]

Heh...this is funny.

Tomorrow the company I work for holds its annual "Breakfast With Santa". Employees and their families can come in (unpaid, but then there's no work) for a few hours where the kids get their pic taken with Santa for free, and he gives them a candy cane and a ticket to "Santa's Workshop". The workshop is our main conference room, where toys of all kinds are scattered all over the place. Each kid turns in their ticket and chooses any 1 toy. In the breakroom are donuts and orange juice for everyone.

For the adults, there are door prizes. Door prizes include a TV, gift cards for Best Buy, tickets to NBA games (Memphis Grizzlies), etc. etc. There are always a couple of DVD players given away.

This year the DVD players are the Cyberhome 300!


I guess I'll print off the Region code hack and give it to the lucky winners...why not share the fun!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

My Local Best Buy has/had piles of these, $34.95 each I've bought a few for xmas presents. And a cople of extra more for myself. I hooked it up to my big screen thru the progressive mode. Generally a good picture but the reds are hashed somewhat

 

[DanielCo]

Just got one myself. WOW! COOL! Mpeg and all-region and $36! Thanks to the board!

 

[Christopher D]

You know, with all of these $35 deals around (got two more at that price), I feel like I was ripped off at $58! (Bought two at $58).