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Malata DAV-3600 @ HK Flix same as Tevion HTIB sold @ Aldi Food Stores? (1 Viewer)

Steven Good

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While shopping at my local Aldi food store, I noticed a home theater in a box system. It is branded Tevion (never heard of it), but caught my eye because it looks EXACTLY like the Malata DAV-3600 system that HK Flix is selling for $299.99. (I think this is supposed to be a special price for people who visit that site where they, you know, "talk" about DVD's.)

Same speakers, subwoofer, all the knobs/buttons/mic inputs/jog control on front were same. Progressive scan logo is identical. The back of unit was laid out the same, too--all input and output jacks accounted for. . . but I didn't remember to look for the "normal/upgrade" switch used for firmware upgrades...

My question is this--I realize that electronic companies slap different brand names on the same hardware all the time, but in this case, are the "special" features the the Malata player (no region coding, PAL to NTSC conversion, etc.) has:

1) something that would be exclusive to the Malata branded version of the unit?

2)something that HK Flix is adding by modifying (firmware update, or internal solder/chip mod) the units before they are selling them?

3)something that (provided this Tevion version HAS a upgrade switch on rear of unit) could be added via firmware on a CD-R by the buyer of the Tevion system?

Why am I asking? Well, Aldi is selling this system for $169.99. So if I get all the same "special" features of the Malata, just with a different name slapped on it, I'll buy it in a heartbeat.

Anyone familar with the Malata brand is its cousins?

I don't know much about non-Region 1 hardware and DVD's, but I am willing to learn, especially for less than $200!!!

Moderator--if you believe this will get better responses in Non-Region 1 forum, PLEASE move it!!

Thanks,
Steven
 

SteveMo

Stunt Coordinator
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Jun 19, 2002
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My Malata n996 has those nice features and I LIKE IT ALOT.
It is my favorite toy. The Link Removed web site explains it some. I use the pan feature for moving my cenemascope aspect ratio movies up and down to avoid burn in. It has a good picture but not a great one. It's very sharp and unfortunitly has some artifacting on some occasions but it's not that noticable unless you have a high end display.
I recommend it for the fantastic features. The quality is just ok.
 

Steven Good

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jan 12, 2000
Messages
682
Location
Nashville
Real Name
Steven
Well, upon further inspection at a different Aldi Food store location. . . this unit does NOT have the Normal/Upgrade switch on the back (to do fireware CD-R upgrades), and the remote is missing the bottom eight buttons, compared to Malata model @ HK Flix. But, the Tevion model I looked at today was in black. I'm not a big fan of silver equipment...

However, I still can't tell if this Tevion model is multi-region capable. No where on the box does it have a Region 1 logo. The instruction booklet mentions that in the set up menu, you can choose, NTSC, PAL, or MULTI video output. Nothing about converting PAL to NTSC. It does say (in the manual's badly translated English) that it can only play one region...I wonder if it means Region 1 and just reversed the word order?
 

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