Page 1 of Wharfedale 750s is going back! Mico next?

Today I picked up 750s from my local Tesco as they have just got a big batch in store (I am sick of waiting for my online tesco.com order to turn up).

The drive itself is quite noisey when loading discs and while navigating interactive sections on the DVD. However, the drive noise does almost disappear during regular playback.

The big problem for me though is Region 1 playback. When playing R1 DVDs using regular PAL (50) the picture jerks about like some old cine-reel. I had read on other forums this was an issue and that the fix was to use the PAL 60 mode. Trouble is I have now just found out my TV will not do PAL 60 (or NTSC for that matter). F**k!

The Yelo I had previously actually did the conversion quite well, shame it had all the other problems.

So the Wharfedale will have to go back (and so will the mail order one that hasn`t even turned-up yet). Perhaps I will beat Carrot`s record for returning DVD players!

Can any of the Mico clan confirm if their player will do NTSC to PAL 50 conversion nice and smoothly?

Is the PAL50 picture really that bad, Troll ? Sure it wasn`t just a dodgy disc, or that you had set the Wharfey to convert it from NTSC ? Soz if I`m asking the obvious here. Just seems odd that a player with an on-board converter should make such a meal of it, especially when it`s so obviously multi-region capable ? Unless you`ve got that old HMV telly they `reviewed` in What Video and TV a couple of months ago of course...

Are you sure its an R1 issue and not an NTSC problem?

I dont feel optimistic (I never do - Well at least I wont feel disappointed!). The picture quality of the Mico is much better than the Yelo`s in terms of less pixelation/shimmering/artifacts, but I dont think it comes close to the top-of-the-range models in terms of overall sharpness.
I`m making do with the Mico as it states it will do all media formats.
AND FOR NO OTHER REASON!
If (as I suspect) I am landed with another dodgy Mico. Its LG3350 or nothing for me. As long as LG can deliver it with VCD option.
Check the LG out - So far its the best!

Mico Has A Dodgy Loader!!!

Carrot

This item was edited on Sunday, 22nd October 2000, 00:07

LG doesnt do VCD!!!


HITACHI 505 ROCKS!!!!!!!!

Yes it is bad. It is as if it is just dropping the extra frames in order to do the conversion. I tried it with a couple of discs (Excalibur & Hellraiser) both of which were format converted by the Yelo smoothly. There is quite a long discussion over at:

http://www.thedvdforums.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000362.html

The conclusion of which seems to be that you only get smooth playback if you use PAL 60. My TV, which is a few years old now, is a Nokia 28" Nicam 4:3. There is no mention of NTSC of 60Hz compatibility in the manual at all, so I guess it can`t do `em.

Can either Carrot or Briley confirm if the Mico will do the conversion to PAL 50.

Failing that I will have to go for an LG, however no VCD :-(

troll i wish you luck in your continuing budget player puchases i got well an truly pi**ed off with it. For what it is worth my opinion is this get an lg 3350 it seems to me they havent been doing a half bad job of making lower priced players.

I certainly have not heard dozens of people moaning about lg as we all have with the likes of mico, azuda, daewoo, scan, yello need i go on.
i think the 3350 is a well sexy player and according to the few customer comments on techtronics not badly received. i was very tempted to have one myself before i had the 505 what ever you decide Good luck maybe one day we will all get a player we are happy with.

Not whilst IT "Moon on a Stick" Troll is visiting this site we won`t ?! :-)

Damn!!! This was to be my next player to try...

I had the same drop in framerate with the dreaded Scan (2nd one going back tomorrow!!) and my TV does do PAL 60!!!!

I despair! What is the best stand alone DVD player out there??? Does one actually exist??? I seriously doubt it does.

Oh, well - back to my trusty Creative PC DVD. Never had a problem with this little fella at all!

Neil.

Im not sure if the Mico has Pal 50 output?

My Hitachi 25" is about 3 years old and if I set the Mico to NTSC with a region 1 disc the picture is black and white and full of lines.

With the output set to Pal the picture is very good and records on my VCR well

There is no mention of Pal 50 in the Mico handbook or any mention of NTSC compatability will my TV?

Yep it looks like Wharfedale`s solution to providing PAL 50 from NTSC is to simply drop the extra 5 frames a second. F**cking marvelous! This makes the horses on Excalibur (R1) look like bad stop-motion animation from a Sinbad film.

Out of desperation I tried connecting the 750s via s-video and composite video. But unsuprisingly the results are the same. What is the hell is the point of a PAL 50 mode that cuts the film by 16%?

So what is it to be next, the non VCD LG or the Mico lottery? Toss a coin?

YELO LOCKS!
WHARFEDALE IS FOR JERKS!