Curtis Lifestyle DVD 150-watt Home Entertainment System
Too low quality to buy
My 13-year old son purchased a Curtis DVD5028 around Christmas with his own money.  It worked fine for the first 2 months.  Then, it started \\"jittering\\" the playback on some DVDs.  I told him he should return it, but he didn't.  We just discovered today that it has completely failed (it won't power up), and we can't get our DVD out of the drive. <br /> <br />We've checked into the warranty and it appears we have to ship it back to the manufacturer in Ontario at our expense.  (The shipping cost is likely going to be at least 1/3 the value of the unit - and thats if we can find the original shipping container.) <br /> <br />We checked out the vendor on the Internet, and found that this was a very common experience with Curtis. <br /> <br />My assessment is that Curtis is aiming for the lowest price segment, but they've cut so many corners that the product is unlikely to satisfy most customers. <br /> <br />I told my son (13 years old) that there were worthwhile lessons here. <br /> <br />1) Buyer beware.  Check out the product on a site like this before you buy.  Why let history repeat itself.  My son was so excited about the price he didn't check out the product when he bought it. <br /> <br />2) Appreciate quality - don't take it for granted!  Quality costs more.  I recently bought a Japanese name-brand TV instead of a low-cost Korean or Chinese unit.  This experience with Curtis makes me feel better about paying more for a quality electronics company. <br /> <br />In case it isn't clear - my advice is to not buy any Curtis product.