Home > Consumer Reviews > Coby DVD-224 Compact DVD Player

I started out loving this product. It was cheap and could play anything. I liked it so much I bought another.

After watching about 2 dvds a week for a few months, the first one died, then the second about 3 months later The first one started freezing and failing to read pretty much anything then the other just started coming up with "wrong disk" on anything you stuck in it. These were two different coby models, but both were crap.

Besides the early death of the players, another down side is that no universal remote seems to know who coby is, and so you are stuck with the initial remote (learning remotes also fail to control cobys).

In the end, dvd players are all cheap now. Spend a little more money and get a good brand name one.

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.

i was a bit skeptical about buying this item beacuse of its price and size. I bought it just to try it and see, so far so good, it's my favorite, it has played all my DVDs even some that my computer couldn't read. I have this DVD player hooked up to a home theater system and the sound is great. I had it running continuosly for hours and it didn't blink, eneded up being an oustanding product for a small price. I recommend it.

I bought one of these about a year and a half ago. I am a semi-professional video maker and photographer and I love to watch movies and videos. Sometimes I buy or rent originals and many times I rent burnt copies or burn my own. I also burn photographs into CDs to see them in the TV screen. This little player has NEVER failed to read and play any format of CD that I have popped into it, while other DVD players that I own, from more expensive and known brands such as RCA or JVC have.

It is multi-region and switches from NTSC to PAL, so you don't have to worry about those DVDs that say "May not be seen in some regions". This only is an amazing feature that makes this player a great deal.

It is totally portable and light and can de easily carried with it's accesories (remote control and audio/video cable) in a bag the size of a medium-sized book. Despite being light-weight, it feels strong and well built and not "plasticky" like so many low-priced electronics in the market today.

It does'nt have a screen on the front (which is desirable to see the running time of the movie or video you are watching), but this is reasonable given it's super low price. This are the kind of features that manufacturers take away to be able to lower the price. There is a similar player by Coby that has the screen and costs like $8 more. You might want to go for that one because the price difference is absurd (I did'nt know about that other model when I bought mine).

But nevertheless, I very much recomend this little portable player. You get an excellent artifact that will satisfy you for a long time at the price of a disposable one.

I received this dvd player as a free gift when I purchased a cell phone. I was skeptical at best, but have been very surprised by its performance. I keep in in my car and take it with me on overnight trips. It hooks up easily to most hotel televisions and keeps my 11-year-old son occupied. Sure, it's not the most impressive machine out there, but for under $30 I think it's a powerhouse.