Page 1 of SCAN SC2000 - SHIT CD Playback - Nelley, what have you got to say?

I know it`s long, but keep reading - it may save you a large amount of money.

OK, After being very impressed with the £100s of computer equipment I bought from SCAN i thought I`d buy their SC2000 DVD player. Oh dear, what a mistake.

Machine no.1:
1. Skipped and momentarily paused on DVD playback
2. On region some discs it flickers/shimmers - gos dark-light-dark-light etc
3. On CDs: bloody hell what a crock of s*** -

my intial response:
1 - i thought it was duff dvds - no, see later.
2 - this seems to depend on the "hidden" menu setting "hi-res" or "non-flicker" more on this later
3 - randomly on CDs it will just hang and stop playing. on my "Best of Frank Sinatra" - no comments please, it has 22 tracks so is an ideal test disc - it won`t even read the contents of the 2nd disc

3 was the real problem - part of my economic reasoning for shelling out on a DVD player was that it could replace my old Phillips CD player too. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the actual CD sound quality was the best I had ever owned, it would not play a CD all the way through - the bloody thing kept crashing. when you play a CD it will (depending on bugger all except whether it feels like it) just stop playback - it is still in play mode, and if you pause then try and play it won`t do anything. the only way you will get it to keep playing is to go onto the next track. Even this is a bit hit or miss. Sometimes it will work (until the next time) and sometimes it won`t.

Music is important to me. I must have a CD player that plays CDs (a not unreasonable request).
Scan customer services - take note:
YOUR PHONE SERVICE IS ABSOLUTELY s*** - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REDUCE THE DOLE QUEUES AND HIRE MORE HUMAN BEINGS, COS YOUR AUTO SOFTWARE CANNOT COPE.
I finally got through and was told (after Nilesh had failed to replay to 2 emails) that it was a problem wqith that batch and if I called back in 2 weeks I could get a replacement from the new batch.

NELLEY take note. I sent you 2 emails and didn`t get a reply. why not?
I had to send a damn snotty email to customer services to get a "drop-and-pick" of a the aforementioned new machine.

So I have my new machine - it is definitely a new batch, cos the "region ID" secret menu item has disappeared to be replaced with a "debug" menu that does the same thing, but the "Macrovision" menu has gone. Also (and well done) point 1 of this email - the DVD skipping - has vanished.

However the Flickering on region 1 still remains - odd thing is before "non-flicker" fixed it, now "hi-res" does - HOWEVER my region 2 "IPCRESS FILE" now also flickers. why?

BUT THE CD PLAYBACK IS AS s*** AS EVER. Why - did you not mention this to the manufacturers? It still crashes randomly when it is asked to play a CD. It still will not read my Frank Sinatra CD-2. For God`s sake even my Playstation plays that CD fine, so why can`t the SC2000? It cost a damn sight more.

It gets bloody hot - I`m sure this can`t help - fit bigger heat sinks - and fix the hardware/firmware and then send me a new DVD player or by God I`ll never buy another thing from you again - and bear in mind you`ve had £hundreds from me before. You`ll be losing a lot more in future goodwill than just £200 when I send this heap back.

Er, can we tone down these kind of messages please. You cannot expect a director of Scan to respond to every one of these kind of posts just because he chooses to read and contribute to these forums.

Mark
DVD Reviewer

This item was edited on Thursday, 16th November 2000, 09:21

I have one of the first of the new batch Scan`s and it works great - MP3`s, VCD`s, CD`s, you name it CD-R or CD-RW and it plays them all.

Following my purchase, a friend has returned his Wharfedale 750S to Tesco and has also bought a Scan. His is as good as mine.

The player does get warm (not hot) - nothing wrong with that. My OnDigital receiver (which the Scan sits next to) runs at about the same temperature.

The Scan is very quiet in operation and seems quite well made - I`ve had no problems with flickering or `crashes`. Have you thought of other factors? E.g. is your mains supply stable?

I always find it amazing that customers who have a problem with a particular DVD player and get a replacement always seem to have lots of problems with the replacement(s) - often getting through three faulty machines. I wonder if it due to their mains supply or some problem with the equipment that the player is connected to?

Clearly your not happy with it so email me you adress on
yellen[at]ku.oc.nacs and i will get it picked up for a full refund
today.Sorry about the lack of response but 4/5 weeks before christmas
we are s*** busy.
nilesh

I doubt that it`s the mains, as everything else, even my playstation play CDs fine. Plus when I did once manage to get through to a human they said they had tested some and reproduced the problem. It`s not just certain CDs, although the aforementioned Sinatra one can be guaranteed to fail (though not on any other player)

It`s particularly annoying as I really want it to be my CD player too - I don`t want to spend more money on something I shouldn`t need.

In its defence, as far as actual sound quality goes the SC2000 is the best CD and MP3 player I`ve used. It just won`t play a whole disc or even track half the time.

The flickering thing can be narrowed down to 2 discs, one region 1 disc (Omen III - came with the player) and 1 region 2 (The Ipcress File) the picture quality on both is a bit crap, but curiously on the first player, going to the hidden menu to change to non-flicker fixed it, whereas on the second one it doesn`t. going to hi-res fixed Omen III but not the Ipcress file.

The replacement player has far better picture quality than the old on crappy titles (The Ipcress File again) which used to have lots of artifacts - they are cleaned up a treat.

I just wish it played audio CDs! I`m sure it`s a hardware issue, not firmware.

I also wish Scan had better customer service and better phone lines cos that`s what`s making me so p***ed off. It looks like they are making efforts to fix things, but as we customers can never get though to them (unless it`s to buy stuff) it`s all a bit pointless. I`ve had a phone picked up and then immediately put down again whilst trying to get customer service.
I also wish they had fixed the problem before sending me another player.

I`m in Retail myself, and I gotta jump to Nelley`s defence here too.
I haven`t had anything from Scan before, but I do know the kinda problems he`s facing at this time of year.

Christmas in Retail is the time you`re tested to the full!!
12 hour days with 15 minute lunches!
He`s offered a full refund on the player, something most Retailers would not do, so I think he`s being fair on that, but if you wanna keep the player instead of a refund, how about trying to ask nicely whether he has one or not?
You said yourself you were more than happy with the comp. stuff, so maybe it`s unfair to "rip" into him the way you have here!
And a Company Director replying to a forum??
You wouldn`t see one of my company`s directors in here, so well done Nelley!!

This item was edited on Thursday, 16th November 2000, 12:24

OK you`re all making me feel small. I do agree that users comments are not ignored - at least if you post to this forum, rather than going to customer services. But it seems like I`m having to go through so much just to get what I should have had from the start - i.e. a fully working player.

I`m not normally such a moaning loudmouth, but it has been the only way I`ve got any results. I`ve been trying since early October.

I don`t know whether to return it for a refund and get another model, or try another replacement. In almost every respect it is the perfect machine. It`s just that the CD playback is such a major let-down.

Actually i am getting a new firmware on monday v191 which i can email
to you.Burn it on a cd and upgrade it.Or i can send you the cd.We will
see if this makes a difference before we start swapping players.
E mail me your adress at yellen[at]ku.oc.nacs
nilesh
scan

Ok, will try that first.

I think jimbo understands what its like just before christmas.Its almost
meltdown as everyone wants stuff yesterday.Its a pity the likes
of yelo,mico,daewoo etc etc dont come on this forum and take it on the chin like i do.
nilesh
scan