Page 1 of Yakumo DVD Master XL2 Player

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Yakumo DVD Master XL2 Player (product no: 1022881) via the Amazon.co.uk website.

I have found the playback of DVD`s on the unit to be of varying quality. Some DVD`s will render perfectly, 2 of the best being Spider-Man (Catalogue number CDR 32161) and Conspiracy (Z1 25232). However, others play back at a much lower quality with the picture frequently distorting, examples being Taxi Driver (CDR90019) and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (CDR 31055).

I have played the films on other DVD players and the picture renders perfectly which leads me to suspect that the Yakumo player is at fault.

All the discs in question are purchased from high street shops (no pirate copies, I assure you). The Player is connected firstly to a Panasonic NV-SD410 video player/recorder via the SCART socket. The VCR connects to a Nikkai TLG-2090 TV set via the standard aerial connection. I also occasionally connect my digital camcorder to the TV in this manner and receive excellent results so the connection method would appear to be fine. Changing the PAL/NTSC/Multi setting on the DVD unit makes no difference, nor does adjusting the tracking control on the VCR.

Customer reviews of the Yakumo unit on the Amazon site were overwhelmingly positive. If interested you can read them here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/electronics/B0000UIXTU/customer-reviews/qid=1095515492/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/202-5857643-7961430?tag=myrev09-21

I am sure that if this were a regular fault it would have been highlighted in those reviews. Out of 303 reviews, I only found 1 that mentioned something like this problem (mind you though, I did not read them all!).

I contacted the Yakumo Technical helpdesk in Germany, and to be honest the guy on the phone was less than helpful. He called himself "Elvis" and seemed to imply that to be having these problems I must be playing pirate discs (I`m NOT!!).

Does anyone reading this have any ideas what the problem may be? Are there any adjustments I can make to the settings of the unit to obtain better playback or does the unit need to be replaced?

Thanks in advance for any advice offered.

Hi there

I can`t comment on your problem as I don`t own one of these yet. I have, however, ordered one from Amazon.

could you answer a simple question for me please? I`d just like to know if there`s an optical digital output for Dolby 5.1?

Cheers

Sean

I suspect the source of the problem is due to your connection going via the VCR. Most commercial DVDs are copy protected; that is they are encoded such that they turn on Macrovision in the player. This is designed to totally screw up the AGC in video recorders and does so even if you`re not actually recording, so the picture will be prone to fading and/or banding. If you connect direct to the TV you should be ok, though I understand some projectors can be affected. Alternatively, either get a DVD player where the Macrovision switch can be disabled (see the Region Hacks forum for some of these) or get a standalone Macrovision remover.

This is why you get perfect results from your camcorder and ironically, you would probably get better results from pirate DVD copies as they will probably have been copied without the Macrovision switch.

Thanks for the replies - I have not checked this page out for a while so please accept my apologies for the slow response.

Yes, as far as I can see, the Yakumo is compatible with Dolby 5.1.

The macrovision aspect sounds like it could be the cause of the problem. My TV only has a standard aerial connector so it looks like I will have to find a way of disabling Macrovision .... or buy a new telly, which I have been giving some thought to recently.

Thanks again for the advice,

Anorak