CyberHome CH-DVD 300B Progressive-Scan DVD Player , Black
Cheap player that does almost everything
It does playback PAL DVD on NTSC TVs.  I tried quite a lot region 1 or all region PAL DVDs and no problems although I don't understand why using PAL on region 1 (US and Canada) DVDs.  Playback (non progressive) is smooth and trouble free so far.<br />It has almost all the features you can find from an expensive DVD player except Digital Optical Audio output and decoded Dolby Digital output.  It does have Digital Coaxial Audio output to send digital audio signal to a receiver.<br />The unit is featherweight and very portable.  A little bigger (wider) than an external CD-ROM driver.  The fixed power cord (cannot detach at the player side) can be a problem if you will move the player often.  The disc tray feels filmsy but probably no worse than trays on your PC DVD drive.<br />The player consumes very little power in use but surprisingly has 6.5W power consumption (from spec) when standby.<br />Cannot say too much about the reliability but it's cheap enough so I probably won't get mad if it breaks when it's out of warranty.  Will try some MP3 and JPEG playback later.  I bought Cyberhome CH-DVD500 about a year ago but the MP3 feature was faulty, JPEG playback quality was terrible and I retunred it.<br />The remote control is plain stupid! It uses button battery which is very expensive to replace and naturally I have concerns on battery life.   All the tiny buttons are in the same size and you really have to look at it every time you use it.  I may get spoiled by my Toshiba DVD player remote controller that has an excellent button layout and shape.  I just grab it and know where is the button I want to push.  Is a better remote controller really so hard to make?  What is the manufacturer thinking?  We all have pointy fingertips with pinpoint accuracy?<BR>Well, at least the remote controller works well in reasonable range.<br />A capable DVD player desperately needs a better remote controller.