Review: Daewoo DVD-5700. RCE free/PAL to NTSC for $100? Absolutely! (1 Viewer)

[JerryW]

Can you buy a good DVD player for $99? How about that same player being able to convert PAL to NTSC (or NTSC to PAL)? Well, what if it can be made region free, permanently, just by pressing a couple keys on the remote? Pretty neat?
Well, we're just getting started.
Macrovision in your way? Not a problem. You just need access to a PC with a CD-R. Due to rules here on HTF I won't go into details about this, but info on this simple procedure is readily available through a 3 second Web search. Want to personalize your player with your own custom wallpaper? Just as simple. Add in nifty menued MP3 playback and you almost have a Full House.
Well, let's take a look at the DVD-5700.
Link Removed
For those of you that are only looking at progressive players, you may want to stop reading now. You won't find that here. The DVD-5700 is strictly interlaced, though it does sport component video outs, S-Video, and coax digital audio out (for those of us who aren't too fond of optical). Oh well, nothing in life is perfect. Though, if they were able to add P-scan and DVD-A and keep the price under $150 this would be the best selling player of all time.
The first thing I noticed were the buttons on the front of the 5700. Almost every function on the player can be accessed from the front panel, something that you can't do with most budget players. And the array of twaekable options in the setup menu are almost staggering... good thing most things are well laid out in the unit's large *gasp* manual. Though, there are no instructions or help in the manual for the options listed in the secret "loopholes" menus, but I guess they figure if you're advanced enough to know how to get into the place, you're probably saavy enough to get by in there on your own (yeah, right ).
The second thing I noticed was how solid the unit felt. No, it's not built like a tank, but it is built better than any other player I've ever handled that sells for NTSC conversion is wonderful. Due to my illness *cough* *cough*, I thought it would be a good time to finally get around to watching the Angel Season 1 (R4) discs I've had around for the last couple weeks. If no one had told me that these were not native NTSC, I never would have known. I detected no "speed up" or video quirks. The greatest praise is to say that I simply forgot about the hardware I was using and just sat back and enjoyed the show.
This is just way too cool for words, and I still can't believe this sucker was so cheap. Want a great region free, MV free, standards converting player? Got an extra Franklin in your wallet and just want a solid player with lots of features? Look no further, the DVD-5700 from Daewoo is for real. Of course, for only $99 at Sam's Club you'd better hurry they aren't going to be around for very long.
Info on the 5700 can be found at the following sites:
http://www.dvd-wizards.com/darrenk/
http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewfo...?forum=13&3709
The previous was not an incentive based endorsement of any kind. I'm just completely thrilled with this product, it would be a good buy at twice the price.

 

[Jerome Grate]

I was broke for a while and I think I'll have some extra cash in March. My wife want's a DVD player for the bedroom. Thanks JerryW for the review, l read the links you provided and I'm really excited about this. I have a store that sell DVDS but with the Region it represents I think Region 4 (Chinese owned store). I've seen Driven and a couple of others with DTS soundtracks. My guess is with this player it will play these movies with the DTS soundtrack?.

 

[Matt DeVillier]

of course, anyone trying to play PAL discs on this player (on a NTSC monitor) will be disappointed by the fact that the AR of the converted picture is slightly off, as it is with all players other than the Malata/JVCs

 

[Jerome Grate]

Matt, can you elaborate a bit in reference to PAL material played back on NTSC monitor. Would it make a difference if this unit converts the PAL signal to NTSC on the monitor.

 

[JerryW]

Mat, I haven't noticed that the AR is off. The picture on PAL>NTSC conversion looks great to me. From what I've been able to deduce, the Malata's are expensive ($280) because of the markup charged by the sellers who are "modifying" the units. Even the Daewoo DVD-5700 is $230 if you buy it pre-modified.
http://www.world-import.com/606.htm#daewoo

 

[Matt DeVillier]

Jerry/Jerome:

everything I have read about the PAL->NTSC conversion on this player indicates that the aspect ratio of the converted image is not perfect. Perfect conversion would require that 1/6th the vertical lines be discarded (576 * 5/6 = 480). I'm just going on what I have read on forums since I don't have a player to try. If you look at some of the posts on the nerd-out forum you linked to, you will see people discussing it.

It would be nice if this player did do the conversion properly, as I'd pick one up. Unfortuantely just about everything points to the contrary

 

[JerryW]

The PAL discs I've played very much appeared to be in their native AR, and looked just as good as those in native NTSC. On nerd-out you'll find just as many people on either side of this discussion. I would think though, that if a flaw like this were so blatantly obvious, that everyone would spot it immediately.

My point is though, that this player makes for an awesome back-up player, or as an inexpensive alternative to paying $300+ for a dedicated RCE only player. Of course, this really only applies to those of us who haven't jumped on the progressive bandwagon.

 

[CamiloCamacho]

Wow, this player looks amazing!.

And for those people worring about that chinese discs with DTS tracks, there are nothing to be affraid.

Those discs are zone 3, and NTSC. Because of this there is no need to use the PAL->NTSC feature.

 

[cafink]

I called my local Sam's club, and they tell me they don't have any Daewoo DVD players. I couldn't find it at samsclub.com either. I checked Amazon.com and found a few other Daewoo players, but no 5700. Any suggestions on where I might be able to pick this thing up?

 

[Tulli]

The PAL discs I've played very much appeared to be in their native AR

Jerry, if you look well through the Nerdout and AVS forums you'll find the exact technical explanation of why the Daewoos (and Sampos) do not show the exact original aspect ratio of the source Pal movie.

I have in fact a Sampo DVE-611 and a Malata DVD-N996 and can tell you for sure that the Sampo leaves out one of every three lines, incorrectly "over-squeezing" the picture. This is because no specific circuitry or software exists in the player to handle the correct AR for a Pal->NTSC converted picture.

To my knowledge, only the players with the Mediamatics chip (Malata and JVC) do it properly. But, as you say, for just $99 the 5700 is a real bang for the buck. The same could be said of the Sampos.

 

[JerryW]

The DVD-5700 is really a gem for the price. In fact, I just got in Buffy S2 & S3 (R4) this morning and can't wait to watch them. I didn't say the Daewoo player is as good as the Malata at PAL>NTSC, but to my eyes it does a great job.
Carl, I'm not sure if it's available at all Sam's, but I do know there were several dozen at my local store. You might want to call around to other Sam's nearby and see if they have them. As far as the Daewoo players on Amazon, an interesting option is the DVG-9000N for $139. It's basically like the 5700 but it does have P-scan, internal DD & DTS decoder, and a VGA output (and it's an attractive silver color). Interesting info about it can be found here: http://www.dvd-wizards.com/darrenk/D...9000Npatch.htm
I'm not sure about other Daewoo models as I've been reading mixed results about success with RCE discs and MV "adjustment". Because of that, there aren't any other models made by them that I would recommend.

 

[Tom-G]

How does the Daewoo compare to the Apex? I've been looking for a good replacement for the less-than-stellar Apex and this Daewoo seems to be the one to go with.

For those of you noticing a discrepancy in the aspect ratio of PAL to NTSC discs, how bad is it?

 

[Dave F]

Can it play SVCDs?

-Dave

 

[Brad_V]

My brother has a 5700. I have an Apex 5131. Word is they may both have the same video chip in them. Not sure on that, though. But I do know both are great stuff for the price. The 5131 is a 3-disc changer for $130 and does everything including turn jpegs into slideshows. And yes, even with the cheapest of CD-R, both play SVCD.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

How does the Daewoo compare to the Apex?

There is a forum dedicated to DVD players where you will find lots of information on the Daewoo 5700 player: Nerd-Out Forum With that being said, I have owned the Daewoo 5700 for a few months now. Prior to that, I had the Daewoo 5000, but a problem with the tray developed which promped me to head to my Sam's Club to perform an exchange. I'm using the 5700 with S-Video at the moment. I tried component cables, but could not see any difference with my 32" Wega/Vega TV. I also use the 5700 for MP3 play back and it does a very good job when playing the MP3s. For $99 and the option of being able to return this player for 90 days, you can't go wrong. Sam's also offers an extended warranty for an additional year for $4.95.

 

[Dave F]

Can anyone get this thing to pause or scan forward/backward on VCDs?

-Dave

 

[Brad_V]

Well, sure, why not, Dave? A common problem is that discs burned with Nero won't FF or Rewind and so you need to do the scandata.dat trick, but that's usually only for SVCD.

 

[Dave F]

What is the scandata.dat trick? I haven't been able to pause or scan on my VCDs, so any help would be appreciated.

The same discs functioned normally in an Apex 800, but that player realy flaked out on VCDs made from a PAL video source.

-Dave

 

[Brad_V]

Well, it's only supposed to be for FF/Rewind problems with Nero and SVCD, but it's worth a try.

Open notepad. Type SCAN_VCD and then save the text file and rename it to scandata.dat

Then, before burning a disc, drag that file into the EXT folder of Nero when you have Nero open. I have to do that when I do SVCDs. Give it a shot.

 

[Dave F]

Cool, thanks for the tip, Brad. I'll give it a try tonight!

-Dave