great picture, when not skipping.....

skipping and freezing.....

i bought this at wally-world 179.00. brought it home rented some movies did great. the next day did the same and it started freezing up , and locking up after a while...
so i took it back and tried it again same thing. thought maby i just got a lemon...but nope it was the same thing
but worse..... i took it back and got a panasonic and it is great...
dont know why but the same movie ran smoothly on my friends.but skipped on the ge-dvd....

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panasonic..

price, base features

no CD-R playing capability

Purchased @ Wal-Mart for $168.00, this is my first DVD player to review. I wanted to start from the lowest denominator in this section of video electronics. I'm running this system into a 52" Zenith, S-capable TV, and a fairly old, non-digital Yamaha Natural Sound Receiver (about 3 yrs). The audio capability is wonderful - with multiple settings for your audio configuration and an optional digital audio jack, there's no reason to have bad audio. The video on the other hand does have a few problems. The 3 movies I've watched, The Matrix, Starship Troopers and Blade have had similar problems: Occasional white line interference, and very brief lock ups in the picture toward the end of the movies. The exception was Blade, with extremely bad video stuttering and loss of audio sync during the last, very fast-cut action scene. Overall, my experience has been very good. I knew what I was getting when I picked the 1105p. Good solid base features, a reputable brand name, and with the purchase - 5 free movies with proof of purchase. In short, if you like to watch movies it's a great player. If you like a lot of interaction, bells and whistles and one-upping you neighbor - you may want to check out something else.

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n/a

Great DVD player. Very, very few problems with it. Good price. Basic with all the features I need.

None really

I recieved this product as a Christmas gift. After I received it and watched many many hundreds upon hundreds of hours of movies on it, I started reading reviews for some unknown reason. I couldn't believe what I saw. I saw a ton of bad reviews and problems. I own over 50 movies, and had only problems with one of them, which were small skips once in a while, not even enough to get on my nerves. I've had this player for nearly 8 months and found it to be a great little machine. I've heard about upgrades, and I don't even own it. I've heard of Matrix problems, I had none. I've used all sorts of DVDs, borrowed, rentals, ect with no real errors. I don't know what everyone else's problem was, but I myself, like this player. GE1105P

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None.

Price, Rebate package when available

Skipping, hates dual layer discs, marginal video quality

I purchased this as a second player around Christmas 1999 since I split time between two residences. On intense action scenes I initially noticed sporadic skipping, but it was tolerable and I decided to keep the player as it seemed generally well behaved during my initial test run. What a mistake!

The player has severe problems with many dual layer discs. When this happens, playback stutters badly starting with the layer transition. The stuttering continues until the player is stopped. Shutting the player down completely and advancing to the second layer via the menu sometimes helps. Same discs play flawlessly in my old Toshiba. GE customer service is poor and actually suggests shutting player down for an hour to "reset" player and resuming the movie as a suitable fix.

Video quality is marginal. The S-video output gives acceptable quality for a low end unit. The video quality through the A/V jacks is especially horrid, with its graininess and washed out colors I'd certainly prefer VHS tapes. Audio quality is adequate.

Overall, the poor and unreliable playback on this unit is unacceptable. I'd stay away!

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Toshiba SD-2107

Low price and enough functions to play with

Does not play some movies

I got this unit as a Christmas gift. I have been enjoying DVD ever since, except for when I rented a few movies. I have Matrix, Leathal Weapon 4, Step Mom and some others and these work just fine, but I had some difficulties when I rented the following movies.

The End of Days, The Six Sense, What dreams may come, Bicentennial Man

The first layer of these DVD were played fine, but when the data is in 2nd layer, picture stops and does not go anywhere. Yes, it is frustrating. I thought about returning this unit and get the different model, but I did not wnat to spedn extra $. I am planning to get Sony Playstation2 so, I will live with this unit for a while.

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None

none

won't play many disks

Overall this player is crap! I wouldn't recomend it to my worst enemy. It has problems playing many many disks. Matrix is just a green screen was the best it would do. It is the unholiest of all players run run fast!

Ok, it's been another week. I tired my player with "Blade", which was dusty and had a few fingerprints. And you know what? The damn thing played flawlessly. "Nice Guy Sleep Alone" (don't tease me for this movie) played perfectyl, except one part where I guess there was a layer change. It just paused for a sec, but then continued. "Royal; Rumble" played fine, so did "Beyond the Mat", and "Shawshank Redemption". So far, no problematic DVD's. But I'm not done, so let's see next week.

Price

Won't properly play some discs

I've played over a hundred discs on this player and have had problems with two. Both have what is supposed to be "seamless branching". This is on a disc like "The Abyss" where there are more than one version on the disc. When it comes to the point were the versions are different, it freezes. The only way to get it going again is to hit the "fast forward" button and give it a kick start. You usually miss a few moments of the scene. Very anoying. The other disc is "ID4". Also I can't access the "easter eggs" on the ID4 disc. Anoying problem is that sometimes the remote just won't work. No response, even though I'm point right at the damn thing.

Also customer service has been of no service at all. They offered to "look" at the thing, not knowing if they could fix it or not for $90 plus I have to pay the shipping. No Thank You.

All in all I've had a lot of enjoyment from this player, except for the "seemless branching" thing, but I would not reccommend this player if you can afford a better one.

If anyone figures out how to get to the "ID4" easter eggs with this player, please email me at Chasrein@aol.com and tell me how you did it.

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None

Great Picture qual, Sound, Clarity, Universal Remote, Digital Opi-out, Easy to setup and use. S-Vid and RF (RCA) VCD, CD.

Macrovision, No cd-r/w support on all cdr/w discs, works with some but not all. No DTS

A great buy. Lacks DTS but if you don't have surround sound I'm sure you won't care. people say it takes for ever to load a disc. Thats not true, this one loads just like everyone else. Downside is macrovison, can't copy my dvd's on to tape or play it through a vcr so I had to buy and RF Modulator. Skips occasinally with scratched discs. Has a problem with dust getting in the tray it makes it skip but blow it out before I watch one of my dvds and they play flawlessly. Rented ones tend to skip due to scracthes

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RCA (Don't know which model number) has same kind of remote though. Also has problems with cdr/w media

cheap

poor playback

Had to replace once when 1st unit audio output quit (unit did not get as hot afterwards), replacement unit has low audio out, have to turn TV up to 3/4 maximum volume (usually 1/2 for TV/VCR)

This unit had the firmware upgrade, but still has lots of problems playing movies. I was looking for a cheap stand-alone to keep in the bedroom, but I have had so many movies skip, stop, and load extremely slow, that I wish I had payed $100 more and got a good basic unit instead.

What is with GE (thompson) customer support? Getting them to stand behind their product is like pulling teeth.

My opinion, AVOID THIS UNIT!