Page 1 of Grundig GDV520 incompatibility

Hi
This is the only place so far I have been able to find any info about the GDV520, as neither dixons nor grundig seem to want to take any sort of responsibility for this particular machine, and the handset hack found on here worked great so thanx for that.
I was wondering a few things -
I found the movie `You Only Live Twice` is incompatible with this machine, and was wondering if anyone else with the same model has any other incompatible disks they could let me know about - I can`t find any reference to this machine and incompatibilities on any other website. Also, could anyone tell me - as the region 2 version of this disk will not play, does this mean the region 1 wont, or is there a chance it might do??
In return for any info - I offer this useless easter egg:
On Snatch ( The disk with the movie rather than the one with the extras) on the main menu, rather than play the movie first press the up button on the remote to highlight the pig so that there is a speech bubble coming from it. Selecting this will enable you to turn on `Pikey Subtitles` which will, when you play the film, subtitle everything that Brad Pitt says.

But then you probably all knew that anyway :-)

Cheers for your time.....

Hello,
I own two Grundig Players, the GDV520 & a GDV211 GB, both of which have had problems with diferent discs...

The 520 has a problem with Terminator (R2), it will play the special features disc, but refuses to play past the menu of the film disc!?!

The 211 had a problem with `Blue Streak`, where it stopped at counter reading 68:53 (suspected to be the layer change), starting the film again at 68:54 allowed me to watch the rest of the film!?!

I have spoken to Mastercare and they said that they were aware of the problems with Terminator, and were awaiting a fix on the Terminator disc.

Hope this helps as I am new to these forums!?!

The GDV520 is a clone of the Oritron 600 (as is the Proline 2000) so any discs that don`t work on the Oritron 600 and Proline 2000 won`t work on the GDV520.

Oritron are working on a fix for their player but it could take a while before it`s clones get new firmware updates

How did you go on with the `You Only Live Twice` problem?

I also had problems with this title but was able to get it to work and was wondering if you had had any luck with it.

I took the disk back to Dixons (where I bought it), and explained the problem with the disk. They didn`t have a GDV520 set up with a TV so they tried it on a number of PC DVD drives, and other Grundig models to prove to me there wasn`t a problem with the disk. I eventually convinced them to try it on the GDV520 without a TV and had to prove the problem by telling them exactly what time is on the display when it siezes up. Anyway, after a while they were convinced and let me change the disk. I asked them about the machine, but they knew sweet f.a. about it - they weren`t even aware that Grundig makes it exclusively for Dixons. I was slightly infuriated by their lack of knowledge.
Anyhow - if you know of any firmware updates can you let me know?? I will be highly distressed if I am unable to complete the Bond collection.

Have not heard of a firmware update yet and I know how annoying it would be not to be able to complete the Bond collection.

If as reported the Grundig 520 is a clone of the Proline 2000 there may be a temporary fix until a firmate update is available. Of the four James Bond problem discs (You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker and The Living Daylights) the Proline 2000 loads the menu okay it is when you try to select the film or special features from the menu that causes the lock-up. If selections are made not using the menu they play okay and every title on the disk can be played. The only item the Proline player could not access was the stills gallery on Moonraker. If the Grundig GDV520 can load the menu without crashing the same could apply.

Hi there i got the grundig gdv 520 home cinema package on fri/4/may/01
i traded my two week old lg 3000 which was ok but i wanted the 5.1 exsperiance so i bought the grundig only to discover that dinosaur the new disney flik would not work also mission to mars would not work so i went and took the machine back to currys to exchang the grundig for the same they also tried the films but to no avail they would not play they totally froze up the machine and we had to unplug the machine then plug it back in to get the disks out so i took the disks back to the shop and got replacments but not the same films still keeping the grundig but im very wary on what dvds that i buy.

Grundig 520 and Proline 2000 are clones of the Oritron 600


Most Grundig 520, Proline 2000 and Oritron 600 players in the UK seem to be on firmware version 003.

The latest firmware for the Oritron 600 is the version 004 (fixes a lot of problems but does not fix the Dinosaur problem)

The fix for Dinosaur is expected in the next version of the firmware.

This item was edited on Monday, 14th May 2001, 23:05

I alo bought the GDV520 home cinama system from Currys.
I bought Mission from Mars only to find it would not read the disc. I had to cary out the same as the other person who bought it to remove the disc.
I contacted Currys/Dixons/PC Worlds (all the same company) help desk only to be told it was a compatibility problem with the software. Iasked them what they are doing about it and was toold basically nothing. I asked them how I could tell what discs would not play and was told I would have to buy them and try.
I checked out if other players had the same problem and found that shops like Tesco had one but they were exchanging the players for the ones that did not have this problem. What a difference in service. Since my player is less than 3 months old I have decided to contact the BBC Watchdog and asked them to help, as Currys knows about this problem but do not inform potential purchasers of it and it seems that they do not intend to do anything about it.
I ask if all owners of this sytem could contact the BBC with a complaint about the problem we may all get it sorted out by Currys/Dixons since they are the only shops to sell this player.
This situation is not acceptable and should be rectified immediatley by the companies concerned.
I also have an older LG player which has firmware that is over 2 years old and this plays the disc without a problem (the system has problems with dual layer discs hence the upgrade) and I feel that the 520 should have superior firmware than the LG especially since it is a relitivly new player on the market.

This item was edited on Saturday, 12th May 2001, 13:21

Well done, Budgie, for pointing out an obvious flaw in the Currys/Dixons gameplan. Selling a player that they know full well won`t play every disc is tantamount to fraud, particularly as they are not warning potential customers of the problem.

You may be the first person to challenge a retailer in this way, and it could turn out to be an interesting test case. This is worth pursuing, particularly in the light of Disney`s announcement re `Dinosaur` incompatibility (ie cheaper players can`t play the disc due to memory buffer problems, which makes a whole nonsense of the DVD format).

The argument has to run that :

(1) DSG Retail Ltd are knowingly selling a player that has software compatibility issues, but are not warning customers of this when they buy the player;

(2) For a format that is supposed to be across the board, and agreed, the whole budget player -v- complicated software should not be an issue - software manufacturers have to be held to task about this, and this could be a useful arena to do it in (Disney may well argue that their product does not carry the official DVD logo, and indeed are called Disney DVD - how many lay-people are aware of the difference - ie buy a Disney disc and chances are if you`re not loaded enough to buy a top-notch player, you`ll never get to see it on your DVD player).

I wish you every success, and personally I am with you all the way on this one.

I`m not trying to start a one-man crusade against DSG, but they really must be `exposed` for this shoddy business practice. Surely their reputation as a major league electrical retailer would be damaged in the public`s eyes if they are seen to be selling players not fit for their purpose.

I would urge other Grundig owners to follow Budgie`s example and go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog and report it. Mind you, after the botch job they did on the whole X Files Series 2 fiasco this weekend, I dunno how much it would help.

The other avenue, of course, is Trading Standards - I`m sure they`d be interested to know Dixons current practice with regards to this package, and they could enforce them to display a warning, or tell potential customers of known problems with the player.