dede95064
15th August 2003, 19:06
i recently purchased this since i got tired of watching mp4 stuff (divx/xvid) on my computer and sometimes through its tv out. so here is my review of it. my main purpose of this dvd player was that i wanted to watch movies and anime through it.
these tests were done with the latest firmware update 2.27.
divx5.00 through divx5.05 pro
out of the 10 or so movies that i tested with this codec, it played 9 of the 10 perfectly. on one movie, it just randomly stopped, froze, and didn't play anymore. i had to unplug the player as it didn't respond to any button pressing. i'll explain why this might have happened later.
xvid
out of the 5 xvids that i tried, they all played perfectly. it looks as it might have an easier time playing xvids than divx5.
divx3 (fast/low motion)
here's where the player had problems. out of the 10 or so various movie/anime cds i tested, it played about half of them pretty good. that is, the player supports divx3 as long as it doesn't exceed a high bitrate (i estimated anything close to 1mbps). so whenever there is a fast action scene or a bright detailed scene, the video freezes for a few seconds and the audio keeps on playing. this is a real bummer for most modern anime encodes as they tend to be of high (bitrate) quality. the older anime encodes freeze up but resume about 10-15 seconds later--though sometimes they just freeze and stop altogether. unfortunately, this happens throughout the episode you're watching. the newer ones just freeze up. very sad indeed.
the new firmware updates allows for forwarding/rewinding for mp4 files. it is limited to about 1 min. jumps for forwarding/rewinding. on the first forwarding attempt, it stops for about 20 seconds and then forwards. after the first forwarding attempt, it forwards within a couple of seconds of pressing the button. for the time being, it's pretty neat since before the update, this feature wasn't possible.
dvds/vcd/svcds all forward/rewind like regular dvd players (e.g. can forward/rewind at speeds of 8x and 16x)
this player doesn't support ogm, rm, wm video, nor separate subtitles like .sub and .srt for mp4 files. bummer for some older anime stuff and foreign movies. i hear subtitle playback should be fixed soon though. (it does play subtitles that are already in the video encode--hard subs. )
another problem that almost everyone seems to agree on is the sucky remote. you pretty much have to be within like 3 feet away from the player in order for the remote to work. it does suck.
the audio plays just about anything except ogm, rm, and certain versions of the wma audio codec. it does play regular .wav audio files but not all of them. and it handles vbr mp3s well.
another cool feature is that it plays divx5 files with an advanced encoding feature called global motion compensation (gmc). this was my biggest concern since all of my divx5 rips use gmc. it doesn't support another advanced encoding feature called q-pel which no one seems to use anyway.
it plays vcds/svcds/dvdd perfectly as well. not only does the player have progressive scan, but you can also play any type of dvd from around the world. it has a built in pal to ntsc converter (and vice versa). it also supports hdtv output but i don't have one of those tvs. oh, and contrary to what others say, this unit is not loud at all. if anything, perhaps when you insert a disc. but even that is pretty quiet. the cds themselves get warm but not hot.
i couldn't test how well it handles dvd-r stuff or jpg images from the smart card adapter as i don't have a dvd-r drive yet and my digital camera has its own video out anyway. it doesn't support my memory card type--xD picture card.
if you stick in an audio cd, it plays it fine (cda, cbr/vbr mp3). but don't expect a fancy menu to select tracks from. it just plays the first track and plays the rest automatically. you can forward/pause etc. without any problems.
in conclusion, at $150, this was a steal. i am very satisfied with my purchase. the only real drawback to this baby is that its divx3 support is barely passable and not great. future firmware updates will likely fix MOST of the problems (not all since the mp4 decoder chip itself can only handle so much). if the bitrate is too high, even divx5/xvids might freeze up. this is a VERY rare occurence for divx5/xvid since the decoder chip handles those two much better than divx3. but divx3 is slowly dying out. those that continue to encode with divx3 should be tarred and feathered. i can't stress that enough!!! tarred and feathered!!! :p
since this is a first generation mp4 dvd player, it has its limits. the second generation of these should be out by december/january if you can wait that long. i would definitely pick one of those up as well. but for now, i'll just sit back, relax, and watch more of my avi encodes on my tv w/out using my computer. :D
here is a link for this player as well as more in-depth reviews for it:
http://www.pcclub.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1546967
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=2509&Search=Search&#comments
http://www.kitsapcomputers.com/lvd2001.htm
http://www.cdrlabs.com/articles/index.php?articleid=24
http://www.slcentral.com/Lite-On-LVD-2001/
these tests were done with the latest firmware update 2.27.
divx5.00 through divx5.05 pro
out of the 10 or so movies that i tested with this codec, it played 9 of the 10 perfectly. on one movie, it just randomly stopped, froze, and didn't play anymore. i had to unplug the player as it didn't respond to any button pressing. i'll explain why this might have happened later.
xvid
out of the 5 xvids that i tried, they all played perfectly. it looks as it might have an easier time playing xvids than divx5.
divx3 (fast/low motion)
here's where the player had problems. out of the 10 or so various movie/anime cds i tested, it played about half of them pretty good. that is, the player supports divx3 as long as it doesn't exceed a high bitrate (i estimated anything close to 1mbps). so whenever there is a fast action scene or a bright detailed scene, the video freezes for a few seconds and the audio keeps on playing. this is a real bummer for most modern anime encodes as they tend to be of high (bitrate) quality. the older anime encodes freeze up but resume about 10-15 seconds later--though sometimes they just freeze and stop altogether. unfortunately, this happens throughout the episode you're watching. the newer ones just freeze up. very sad indeed.
the new firmware updates allows for forwarding/rewinding for mp4 files. it is limited to about 1 min. jumps for forwarding/rewinding. on the first forwarding attempt, it stops for about 20 seconds and then forwards. after the first forwarding attempt, it forwards within a couple of seconds of pressing the button. for the time being, it's pretty neat since before the update, this feature wasn't possible.
dvds/vcd/svcds all forward/rewind like regular dvd players (e.g. can forward/rewind at speeds of 8x and 16x)
this player doesn't support ogm, rm, wm video, nor separate subtitles like .sub and .srt for mp4 files. bummer for some older anime stuff and foreign movies. i hear subtitle playback should be fixed soon though. (it does play subtitles that are already in the video encode--hard subs. )
another problem that almost everyone seems to agree on is the sucky remote. you pretty much have to be within like 3 feet away from the player in order for the remote to work. it does suck.
the audio plays just about anything except ogm, rm, and certain versions of the wma audio codec. it does play regular .wav audio files but not all of them. and it handles vbr mp3s well.
another cool feature is that it plays divx5 files with an advanced encoding feature called global motion compensation (gmc). this was my biggest concern since all of my divx5 rips use gmc. it doesn't support another advanced encoding feature called q-pel which no one seems to use anyway.
it plays vcds/svcds/dvdd perfectly as well. not only does the player have progressive scan, but you can also play any type of dvd from around the world. it has a built in pal to ntsc converter (and vice versa). it also supports hdtv output but i don't have one of those tvs. oh, and contrary to what others say, this unit is not loud at all. if anything, perhaps when you insert a disc. but even that is pretty quiet. the cds themselves get warm but not hot.
i couldn't test how well it handles dvd-r stuff or jpg images from the smart card adapter as i don't have a dvd-r drive yet and my digital camera has its own video out anyway. it doesn't support my memory card type--xD picture card.
if you stick in an audio cd, it plays it fine (cda, cbr/vbr mp3). but don't expect a fancy menu to select tracks from. it just plays the first track and plays the rest automatically. you can forward/pause etc. without any problems.
in conclusion, at $150, this was a steal. i am very satisfied with my purchase. the only real drawback to this baby is that its divx3 support is barely passable and not great. future firmware updates will likely fix MOST of the problems (not all since the mp4 decoder chip itself can only handle so much). if the bitrate is too high, even divx5/xvids might freeze up. this is a VERY rare occurence for divx5/xvid since the decoder chip handles those two much better than divx3. but divx3 is slowly dying out. those that continue to encode with divx3 should be tarred and feathered. i can't stress that enough!!! tarred and feathered!!! :p
since this is a first generation mp4 dvd player, it has its limits. the second generation of these should be out by december/january if you can wait that long. i would definitely pick one of those up as well. but for now, i'll just sit back, relax, and watch more of my avi encodes on my tv w/out using my computer. :D
here is a link for this player as well as more in-depth reviews for it:
http://www.pcclub.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1546967
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=2509&Search=Search&#comments
http://www.kitsapcomputers.com/lvd2001.htm
http://www.cdrlabs.com/articles/index.php?articleid=24
http://www.slcentral.com/Lite-On-LVD-2001/