Arg! Just arrived at my Ma's for the couch-potato season & it turns out her
DVD player is dead! We bought it online 11 months ago, but need a replacement
this week so we can watch settle down for those turkey-stuffed, alcahol-sodden
family viewings of Titanic / Brokeback Miuntain / Anal Love Dog.

So any suggestions for a cheapo DVD-player that I can pick up in the
high-street or one of the supermarkets in the next couple of days? I am _so_
not looking forward to braving the crowds.

Picture quality is completely irrelevant to my mother but she's got some US
disks I've bought her over the years so region-free is essential. I'm going to
try Tesco this afternoon & see if I can get their Value 306 model [1] in my
local store, but any other suggestions would be fantastic in case I can't.

Cheers,

Stroller.



[1] <http://tinyurl.com/2x4xz5>
<http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=7243709&postcount=105>

Stroller wrote:
> ...
> So any suggestions for a cheapo DVD-player that I can pick up in the
> high-street or one of the supermarkets in the next couple of days? I am _so_
> not looking forward to braving the crowds.
>
> ... I'm going to
> try Tesco this afternoon & see if I can get their Value 306 model [1] in my
> local store, but any other suggestions would be fantastic in case I can't.
> ...
> [1] <http://tinyurl.com/2x4xz5>
> <http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=7243709&postcount=105>

Ok, answering my own question for the benefit of Google, the 306 model appears
to be VERY readily available from Tescos - there were shelves of them in my
local store, bixes in the blue-&-white-striped Tesco value boxes at £15 a pop.

Unfortunately, this machine seems to be a top-loader with a cheap
spring-loaded lid, which'd be quite a pain here, considering the way my ma
tends to stack her disks in any little free space.

Tescos are also carrying the Technika DVD1031 for £10, which has rather nicer
looks than the Tesco Value model, and a phonecall home to my Google-butler
suggested that hacks were indeed available. My branch were also selling a £30
Technika with HDMI - I have no idea what the upscaling is like, as Mum has a
32" CRT with SCART only, and even if she had the hiest-def telly in the land,
she would be unlikely to notice the difference.

Apparently different models of the DVD1031 respond to different hacks - the
first one at
http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/forums/thread.asp?Forum=176&Thread=667703 was
unsuccessful here, but the second worked fine.
Details are:

   Turn player on
   Open the disk tray
   Press set up
   Press volume buttons Up Down Up Down very quickly
   Press the right button
   you will see a number appear in the set up screen or just outside of it
   Keep pressing the right key until the number changes to 255

Stroller.