Coby DVD-224 Compact DVD Player
See it at Amazon.com for $24.94Average Customer Rating
(3.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(4 out of 5)PLAY EVERYTHING
How to convert your Coby DVD-224
into a Region Free DVD Player
1. Power Up the unit with NO Disc in the tray.
2. Press the SETUP button on your remote control
3. Press the VOL + button on your remote control
4. Press the VOL - button on your remote control
5. Press the VOL + button on your remote control
6. Press the VOL - button on your remote control
7. The current region number will appear in the upper right hand corner of the television screen.
8. Press the LEFT or RIGHT Arrow buttons until the number 255 appears.
9. Press the SETUP button on your remote control
10. Close the tray
11. NOTE - The 255 in the above sequence represents the Region Code 0 - Region Free. If you want to set to a specific region, just replace the 255 with the region number that you want.
(4 out of 5)Exactly What I Was Looking For
I wanted to be able to watch DVDs from the UK that weren't available in NTSC. So far the Coby has handled everything I've put in it with no trouble. It impressed a friend so much he got one too.
I'm not expecting it to last forever - it is a mega-cheapie after all - but at this price, I can buy a new one every year, and consider it worth it. I haven't found any other box that does multi-region with on-the-fly PAL/NTSC conversion at any price.
UPDATE - I've had my Coby for two years now, and it is still working fine. I have found some commercial DVDs don't play well in it, but it is a fault of the DVD manufacturer, not the player (I work in the industry). Basically, Technicolor don't test for compatability with the software codec used in this box, and frequently the only way to play DVDs duplicated by Technicolor is to go to the Select Scene menu and pick the first scene. It plays fine from there. This affects many cheaper DVD players, who all use the same software codec.
(1 out of 5)Coby 224 DVD Player
We purchased the Coby 224 DVD Player from Amazon and have found it to be unsatisfactory. It refuses to play many DVD's. We have owned it for 60 days and at first, we thought it was bad DVD's from the rental store. We now believe it the Player that is the source of the problem. Unfortunately, we confirmed this too late and Amazon now refuses to allow a return.
(5 out of 5)Gets no better for the price
I've had this DVD player for about a month now and it gets moderately heavy usage (turned on 12 hours every night, playing for about the first 2 1/2). For the money I really don't see how you could expect more. The 110 volt/220 volt option is fantastic for people who live in really remote locations and the code to change the unit into a multi-region unit is just priceless. The only complaint is, that unlike other DVD players, the multi-region playback of a PAL disc on an NTSC TV produces picture distortion. Mildly annoying to watch foreign DVDs on an American set, but how many people does that actually inconvenience? If the unit lasts one year it'll have more than paid for itself. If the price drops again I'm going to buy half a dozen as disposable electronics seem to be the norm now.
(5 out of 5)Beware: Setting DVD region differs between models "224" and "224M" and Amazon ships both
Make sure you have no DVD in the tray.
On the remote control
1) Press "TITLE"
2) Press "1" and then "9"
On the TV a large box with a small number will appear.
The number indicates for which DVD region the machine has been set, for example "2" for Germany or "0" for no region preference.
3) Press the up arrow or down arrow to raise or lower the number
4) Press "ENTER"
If you've entered the region number or "0", you're ready to play your region-protected DVD.
NOTE: Even though the Amazon page advertises Coby model "224", they shipped me a model "224M" and I had to call Coby customer service to learn how to program it. The two models differ, although they look more or less identical and have the same features, I'm guessing.