Malata DVP-520 (1 Viewer)

[Darren_Fu]

Just curious how good these are? Does anyone have one? One other question about these that I have is....On some websites it mentioned something about having to change the Region code depending on what type of DVD you are watching. Then it said....To reset it, just turn the power off. Does this mean that you have to change a setting every time you watch a DVD that is from a different region? Or can you set it to Region 0 and then play anything anytime? Anyone who has this paticular player please feel free to share any feedback about it.

Thanks

DF

 

[Rachael B]

Darren, it was talked about quite a bit in the past. Have searches yielded nothing? I have the older 991 and have had good luck with it. You certainly don't have to jump through any rings to get it to change regions, that's automatic.

 

[JohnnyG]

They are very quickly disappearing, so if you want one and you have a line on one, pick it up now!

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I bought one of the first DVP-520s as a backup/multi region player from Next Big Thing. I only used it sporadically, and figure I got 100 hours of use out of it (being liberal - this was not my main machine) over a year before it died, of course out of warranty. Malata wants $65 to look at it, with me paying freight to and from them, and they won't sell replacement parts (I suspect the power supply is shot).

Although I did like the scaling feature, there are a lot of issues I didn't like, such as calibrating the output, or the fact there is no power switch on the remote (but there is an eject button - WTF?) I did not need to change anything to play different region discs.

If it were still functioning (like my original Pioneer and my later Toshiba), I probably would say it's okay for the money if you need PAL or multi region, but as is, I can't recommend it.

 

[JohnnyG]

Sorry to hear that, Jeff. Quite honestly, the 520s were either very reliable units, or nobody bothered returning them for service. I could count the defective units I had on one hand. And there was a variety of problems with those units, so no real single point of failure.

The previous 996's were blowing capacitors in their power supply and I had at least a dozen come back with that problem. Since it was pretty widespread, Malata was approving warranty work on units a month or two past the 12 month mark.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the quality of Malata's products.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

All I have to go by is the one I got, which died prematurely IMO. Given the cost of these units, I wouldn't be surprised if people viewed them as throwaway, and wouldn't bother servicing them. That said, I may buy another one to replace my dead one, at least then I can swap parts (hopefully) should the second give up the ghost.

 

[Chad Hartman]

Hey guys, I've got a 520 it works pretty well except when i watch pal discs the bottom of the screen or letterboxing is not straight and it has multiple colors running through it. have any ideas?