Buzz Buzz went the DVD Player (Cyberhome AD L 528)

Member Name: LittleTrees

Product:	Cyberhome AD L 528
Date:	11/05/05 (427 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good picture (once TV is set properly), good sound

Disadvantages: Loud buzzing, 'glow in the dark' remote, very dated design

The CyberHome ADL528 is not one of our newest purchases and certainly not one of the newest DVD players on the market. We have owned this DVD player for around two years now and it is still going strong although the design is quite dated.

The shape of this DVD player is very bulky. It is large in width, length and height which are very different from what you can buy today. When we first got it, there were a few problems with the setup as it didn't seem to want to go onto any channel and we could still see the picture behind of what was on Sky or terrestrial television. There are many different connections this DVD player has at its back. It can be connected through a video player or through a television. We had ours through the video player but this caused the problems mentioned above so we had to change it to the TV.

When setting this DVD player up and turning the power on, it doesn't matter what channel you are on TV as it will overrun what you have on. Because we could still see a picture behind the Cyber Home page, it is quite important that we switch off the power on both out Satellite box and the Video player. This ensures we don't get any fuzzy lines on the screen as well. If you don't have the player connected through the video, I'd suggest putting the TV onto a channel which isn't tuned in so you can't see the picture behind it (a snowy channel) but this might still detract from good picture quality.

When we do put the power on, it comes up with the CyberHome 'home page' giving the address of the German website: www.cyber-home.de (I tried visiting it but it didn't work). This page doesn't do anything until you put a CD or DVD into the player. There is normally a little message at the bottom right of the screen to say 'CD' or 'DVD' before anything happens.

Whatever is being played or watched on this DVD player cannot be paused so something can be watched on TV - if the power is on to the DVD player, it overrides whatever is on TV which can be very annoying. Luckily DVDs have scene selections or channels which make it easier to find the place it was at although in that respect, I'd much rather have a VHS to save having to find the place again.

The DVD player will plays a whole range of different CDs - CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, VCD and MP3s. One of the great things about this player is it is Multi Region… you have to 'hack' the system first though (easily done by remote) and the code can easily be found online. This means you can play any DVD - e.g. Europe is Region 2 while America is Region 1.

One of the 'problems' with this player could be the sounds it makes. When you put a CD or DVD into the drawer (which slides out), it takes a few seconds for it to begin - as it does if you put a CD into a CD player. The whole box then makes some strange buzzing noises which the TV at normal volume level should drown out but if you want the volume low, this sound is very noticeable.

As I have already said, the design is very dated - the Power button is very large, the remote control is also just a little smaller than the Sky remote but has a good set of features other than the usual. The buttons on the remote are supposed to glow in the dark but I can't say the room it is used in has ever been that dark that it is a valid feature. The buttons are very small and for some reason, the player doesn't seem to recognise them most of the time unless you are sitting right in front of the box with the remote against the receiver! Not good if you need to pause it in a hurry!

The sound is great from the player although that also depends on the quality of the disk. It has Dolby 5.1 decoder with DTS support - pretty good for this cheap player. Although we do have a rather good wide screen television with surround sound which will help enormously with the sound. There is a wide range of connections for this which is brilliant although my television only has a scart connection so I'm stuck with that one (but there are 2 on this one!) In addition there is also the composite video and s-video output, Hi Fi sockets, digital audio sockets (both coaxial and optical) as well as headphone sockets!

The player was bought for around £100 at the time but I have seen a DVD Recorder for the same price now!! While this is a very basic DVD player, it was a good one of its time and I would recommend it as I'm sure the price will be dramatically lower that it was but if you are looking for a more modern looking player, it is probably best to see what else is on the market. The box is huge and we have our Video player sitting on top of it and the Sky box on top of that!

I'll give this 3 out of 5… it could be better but it could also be worse! Just Average!

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