Its no Jessica Alba but its slimmer than John Goodman (Alba DVD45 Slimline DVD Player - (Silver))

Member Name: dididave

Product:	Alba DVD45 Slimline DVD Player - (Silver)
Date:	06/10/05 (251 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Slimline, ease of use, cheap!

Disadvantages: Not multi-region, remote of poor quality.

I am no technical wizard; I clung on to my VHS recorder for dear life until videos became virtually non-existent for the most popular films. It was then and only then that I decided to invest in a DVD player. Even then I looked for the cheapest I could find. Functionality was my only purpose when searching for a player. I cared not whether it could play mp3's, CD's or STD's I just wanted a slimline, unobtrusive player that played a DVD from start to finish. As such finding the Alba DVD45 for a mere £27.99 in my local Asda was a Godsend.

Measuring 36 cm across and 5 cm high this is a surprisingly slimline DVD player. It is quite stylish for the price with a silver shell and black panel front. Setting it up is refreshingly simple and requires plugging the scart lead (supplied) into the back of the DVD player and then into the scart socket on the television. Plug it in and away you go. Operation is by one of two methods. The remote control (supplied with batteries!) or the buttons along the front display.

One of the few irritating features to the player is the power on button. You cannot turn the player on with the remote. You have to press in the button (which sticks out like a sore thumb) to power it up. A minor gripe for the lazy but an irritating one nonetheless. However, once operational the main features of open/close, play, stop and skip back or forward are available on the front panel. The player is a slide out affair were the DVD nestles neatly into its hollowed out cartridge. DVD's play automatically although they can take a good while to load. Let us not kid ourselves though. Both you and I are too lazy to hunch over the player when we can chill out and use the remote control.

The control is sturdy enough and has survived the odd drop although the buttons are soft and rubbery. As such I cannot see them lasting the test of time. The remote is set up for ease of use with a central console style pad of arrow keys and an enter key. This allows me to navigate easily around the menus on my beloved DVD's although the aforementioned rubber keys need some definitive pressure to register actions. Other handy features to this remote include a remain button which displays the length of time the DVD playing has left and a zoom button to get closer to the action, particularly handy for sporting events. All information appears on the television screen itself as there is no display on the player itself.

Considering the price of the DVD player I was pleased to know that it also doubles as a fully functional CD and MP3 player. Standard features of any CD or MP3 player including shuffle (which plays tracks at random) and programme (allows you to choose the tracks you want to play) are available via remote. Sound quality of course is only as good as the TV or speakers you are using but I could hear no problems or skipping while listening.

This would all be no good if the DVD's wouldn't play or played inefficiently. However, after twelve months I have yet to experience any problems with legal DVD's with no skipping or reduction in quality (we all know copies are of poor quality and likely to skip anyway, good job I do not own any isn't it!). The picture is not reduced in quality compared ot that of normal television and in fact appears ot be better certainly than that of my terrestial aerial. Of course costing £27.99 it only plays region 2 DVD's (Europe, Japan, South Africa and The Middle East) and is not at all multi-region. So no point buying a bargain in the US or Russia!

In case you have not guessed already I am more than happy with my cheap and cheerful purchase. It doesn't make the toast, it's not perfect but I wanted a functional DVD player for little cost and the Alba DVD45 is precisely that.

Summary: Cheap but functional.

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