The remote is ok. The DVD player worked for awhile.

Everything else. Freezes, skips. Generally sucks.

My sister got this thing for free from some guy at her work. I guess it worked ok for a while, but now it freezes all of the time. I thought that DVDs just sucked, but after reading all of the reviews for this DVD Player, I realized that it's just this model/brand that's a piece of crap. Don't buy it. It's cheap for a reason. I'm going to put my $175 GoVideo DVD/VCR in the living room and tell my sister to throw this thing away before someone throws it through the wall.

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Nothing like this pile.

Does have a lot of features thanks to the ZiVA chipset which does the following: Full disc playback compatibility: DVD, Chaoji VCD, VCD, and CD-DA. Embedded 10-bit, 4-DAC digital video encoder outputs YCbCr, RGB + composite sync (EuroSCART), or CVBS/S-video. Supports NTSC, PAL, PAL-M, PAL-N, PAL-Nc, and PAL-60 (Q-PAL). Full NTSC and PAL decoding. Dedicated 50-MIPS audio DSP delivering 3D audio, (including Spatializer™ N-2-2), DVD-Audio, Dolby Pro Logic™ decoding, Bass Redirection, RealSonic audio technology. Dedicated Dolby Digital, MPEG-2 5.1- channel decoders. MP3 Decoder. DTS digital out. 2/4-bits per pixel OSD. Zoom and fade-in/-out functions for still and motion pictures.

Great components assembled by trained apes. Even the Apex unit (essentially a PC DVD rom connected via IDE to what ammounts to a PCI video card) outclasses the DVD-711 in just about every way.

Got one of these into the shop for repair... "Wont read DVDs" says the customer. After doing the usual lens-clean it still won't read a DVD so I decided to check the internet for information. ACK! Ok, so it'll never read DVDs. I've noticed that the C-Cube (LSI-Logic) ZiVA-4.1 decoder/display chip does get hot enough to fry an egg on (LSI says the chip should have a heatsink on it to prevent skips and errors...hmmm...). But, as the ziva is used in several other DVD systems, I doubt it's the chipset thats causing the "won't read" issue. After some more diagnosis I've determined that there seems to be an issue with the laser head. The unit will read an MP3 cd just fine but it seems to have a real issue with DVDs... I guess this could be the root-cause of all the problems we've seen with this unit. Upon reflection I would guess the problem could lie in the differences in AC power specifications between the US and other countries. In the US we use 110v/60hz power while just about everywhere else uses 220v/50hz power. Perhaps the power supply board has a bug in it's design for US power?

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Sony ES gear, Denon, JVC, Panasonic, and countless others.

Not good, always skipped, & just died for good at the end of warranty period. It's a really cheap unit. I paid $129. Feel sorry for those of you who paid $200

ease of use, sound and picture quality, plays mp3's, svcd, vcd.

none that I have found.

I'm not sure what is going on with the American models, but I have had this for over a year and have been very happy. It has not skipped or froze at all. Alot of good functions, and I burn my own mp3, get about 100-180 songs/cd, and plays them no problem, I also use nero and make my own vcds, and plays them no problem.

Decent remote.

Doesn't play DVD's. (DUH!)

This player has sucked almost from the word 'go'. I have had all of the freezing/no disc problems everyone else had. I have found that positioning and cabinet ventilation have made some difference, so I'm going to try the heat sinks mentioned in an earlier review.

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First DVD player.

Remote control works well and easy to use. After DVD it is hard to go back to VHS

Too many time going to the shop to get it working right

I had the same problem of skipping and stopping. Since it was an open box I figured that is why it came back. I took it in for repair and it came back not much better. I took it back they changed the main PCB and the optical pickup. It works great now. I play DVD's CD's amd MP3's no problem. If you have problems take it back and get it fixed.

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No other DVD.

Easy to set up; remote control is comfortable to use.

About 90% of my DVD discs freeze up during playback. Sometimes this happens 4-5 times, sometimes 400-000 times, sometimes not at all. Audio CD's will not play.

This is not a good DVD player. Avoid it.

For the first 9 months of ownership I cannot describe how frustrated I was with this dvd player. It constantly skipped and stopped during play. Then one day I rearranged my video cabinet. I took my vcr off the top to the dvd player and put the dvd player on top of the vcr. I don''t know if it was the weight or electrical interference but the problems stopped immediately and have not returned. I am writing in hopes that others might benefit from this information. Even though the unit works perfectly now. I still give the product a low rating for the 9 months of hell I endured.

features look good on paper

Breaks down A LOT!! Skips scenes Digitizes picture Sounds gets messed up after it runs for about an hour.

I have gotten this player serviced twice for the same symptoms. The first time it needed a whole new main board and an optical pick-up. Second time it needed an optical pick-up. It now has the same symptoms, AGAIN, and the warranty is 3 months over. I am livid, this is the biggest pile I''ve ever owned!!!

Video quality and easy to operate.

Unable to read DVD when overheating, no DTS audio, and no Dobby audio.

This was my first DVD player and it was an unpleasant experience. I use the DVD once or twice a month, and I always run into the same problems: Overheating, no DTS audio, no Dobby Digital, and unable to play the same DVD after 50 minutes or so. Repairing the DVD is costly and not worth it. I will a not buy a DVD form this brand again.