Page 1 of LG 3350E - Load delays

I hope I can get a quick reply to this - I`ve just bought a 3350E, and it`s got a couple of problems which I`m not sure are faults. The main one is the delay in loading. I`ve tried this with several disks, so I know it`s not just down to one disk! From the drawer closing, to the first signs of the disk playing, takes around 25-30 seconds. That means that by the time the menu`s displayed or the film starts playing, it`s around a minute!

Is this to be expected with this model? Pioneers take about 5 seconds, I`m told, and the Daewoo/Scan takes about the same. Could this be a fault?

It isn`t a fault Pyramid.
It checks the type of disc first (CD/ DVD etc) then reads the TOC.
It does take time, but in my opinion, the picture quality is worth waiting for!

By the way, check out my posting on the "Region Hacks" forum, and try it with your player please.
It would be nice to have an owner of such machine to verify that the hack works OK! :)

Thanks Jimbo, I`ll try the hack tonight.

The review of this player (in this forum) states that it`s extremely quiet - I can agree with that when it`s playing, but when reading the contents or changing titles, it makes quite a lot of noise! Which I can live with, to be honest, as it`s in a cabinet, and if the door`s shut it`s OK. But I was told in Currys (oh why didn`t I go to techtronics?) that it was a fast loader. I was deciding between the Samsung 511 and the LG. I was told that £50 extra buys you effectively the same machine, but with MP3 support and fast loading (and nice extras like disk memory, etc). But there`s no VCD, which is annoying, and it`s not fast loading. Of couse, I`ll find out if the VCD works any differently with the hack tonight.

I haven`t noticed delays as long as you have stated, however to be honest I haven`t timed the loading process. The only lengthly delay is when loading CD-R/CD-RW, because the player scans through the directory listings to filter out any non-MP3 files.

I wrote the original review you mentioned and believe me the LG is quiet. Try auditioning a Wharfedale and you will then know the true meaning of "quite a lot of noise".

VCD? I don`t think so, but please prove me wrong.

It sounds rubbish. Take it back and get a Pioneer 717.

Thanks for you informed contribution and practical advice Gimp.

I assume you will be personally stumping up the extra £200 towards the cost of the 717 for us poor 3350 owners.

Being the proud owner of a Pioneer 626D a Daewoo 2200 and just recently a LG 3350, i can tell you that the LG is a little slower than the others ( not that much) at loading but as stated before, the picture is excellent, far better than the Daewoo ( not to hard ) and on par with the Pioneer. Mine is very quiet when checking the disk and playing the film, and i have tried all the suspect films like Matrix etc. with no problems,

As for where you bought it Mmmmm i got mine from techtronics with the Mod chip and couldn`t fault the service ( only took 4 days )

Max

OK, last night I tried the hack on mine. And nothing. Not a sausage. Worth a try, though, but the one it`s worked on for Jimbo must have been hacked somewhere along the line - or maybe it`s had some updated firmware. Is there some updated firmware I`d be able to get my hands on?

As for the delays, last night I stuck in a disk, closed the drawer, and waited. This time I actually timed it, instead of `guessing`. Over 30 seconds after the drawer closing, I was asked if I wanted to resume from the last place. On selecting Yes, 1 minute and 8 seconds of whirring disk noises passed before the film resumed!! It sounded like it was having a problem reading the disk - in the same way that CD-R drives do.

Surely this isn`t right?

Does anyone have any knowledge of someone successfully returning something to Currys for a refund (or even an exchange for similar product?)

I couldn`t wait that long, so take it back and go to Tesco and get a 750s which will do everything you want.

By the way the `Private` film production company has a series of Pyramid films that are good.
Have you seen any pyramid?

This item was edited on Friday, 17th November 2000, 09:09

Here are the loading times I recorded for the 3350. I started timing as I pressed the close button and stopped when playback started.

Regular DVD Load = 21 seconds

DVD load with stored preferences = 34 seconds
(This resumed playback at my last saved position which was 1 hour 40 minutes into the film. Just think how long it would take you to do that with a VCR!)

Audio CD = 15 seconds

CD-R of 138 MP3s = 56 seconds

Don`t know how these compare to other players but surely they`re not that bad? Have you got grubby discs Pyramid?

This item was edited on Friday, 17th November 2000, 20:34