Cyberhome CH-DVD 500 DVD Player

Pros: …
Cons: …

I actually got this DVD player as a gift. My brothers and I wanted to get our parents a DVD player, so we went to Best Buy. There were expensive models and there were inexpensive ones. After some debate, we realized that our parents probably weren’t ...

Pros: *plays PAL and NTSC *region free *all video/audio connections
Cons: none found!! maybe you can claim there are nicer looking out there.

I was researching for 2 weeks for the best DVD player I can get for under the $80 mark. While it seems there are few good options out there, I had my standards high in terms of the connectivity and features. Looks was less of a factor. This unite won ...

Pros: Bells and whistles galore, component/DTS out.
Cons: Troublesome and requring factory service twice.

I am on my third Cyberhome 500. I *want* to love this unit, but it is trying not to let me! The unit was purchased Christmas time of 2002 for around $50 after rebate, which is a great price for all the features this unit has: Component out (hooked ...

Pros: Built in Dolby Digital Decoder, Region Free, Price, Looks well made internally.
Cons: CD sound quality average, does not play MPEG 2 files

I have had this player for 13 months and so far have had no problems. One feature I liked is that it can be converted to region free via a simple remote hack, however it does not play my home made DVDs (MPEG 2 files made using easy CD creator), which my other very cheap AMW and Initial players do. The stereo sound quality from CDs was also not brilliant - but then I assume most people would use the digital link anyway rather than the built in DACs.
The player does look nice and was certainly the best deal going at the time (it was $50 after rebate), although that price is more common for a cheap progressive scan player now. I took the lid of and it looks pretty well made - it uses a computer DVD drive rather than the standard open tray type most players use.

Pros: Cheap
Cons: See Pros...it shows

I have had this DVD for about a year. Since the second week of ownership, I have had nothing but problems. Erratic playback, screens freezing, player lockup or restart. Forget trying to access additional features, it goes into "HOLD" mode and can only be reset by powering off and restarting. Three words "SAVE YOUR MONEY!" I would not recommend to anyone, buy a reliable name brand and get quality.

Pros: Lots of bells and whistles
Cons: You'll have to replace it within a year

I bought this player 1 1/2 years ago. For the price (at the time), I thought it was a good purchase. It has a ton of features that sound really good.

After about six months, I noticed that I had to restart the unit now and again because it wouldn't READ a DVD, or it wouldn't OPEN to allow me to put in a DVD.

Finally, it just died. I could barely get it to turn on, and when I did it would never OPEN.

In trying to contact Cyberhome, I couldn't even find a phone number on their Web site for support, and was never responded to through several "support" e-mails.

AVOID THIS PRODUCT!

Pros: good while it lasts
Cons: Died before one year; warranty is a poor deal.

Paid 69.99 at Best Buy for a CHDVD500 player. The unit performed well until last week when it refused to play DVDs. It is 11 months old.

I called Cyberhome and was told that they would charge labor to repair the unit, and would not swap it.

Needless to say, I can't recommend their product and will never buy from them again.

Pros: Inexpensive, good remote control, good picture and sound
Cons: reliability

I'd have to agree with other comments here regarding the reliability of this unit. I've had my unit for about 11 months (BestBuy had a special for $60). The player looks great, and initially played both DVD's and CD's quite well. Last week the unit powered off by itself. Flipping the power switch on the back of the unit from "on" to "off" and then back to "on" brought the power back online, and the front display showed that the power was "ON"; however, the unit is no longer responsive to any input... neither to the buttons on the unit itself, nor from the remote control.

My experiences echo the short lifespan of this DVD player that others have mentioned.

picture quality is awsome,no skipping or color noise at all, averall this dvd player is better than high end name brand players you just have to go through the setup when you fisrt turn it on, not very complicated.

So far this DVD player has exceeded my expectatons, the picture looks great, the 5.1 decoder sounds good, it's easy use, plays MP3, displays JPEGs, progressive scan, component video..this thing rocks for the price.

This DVD Player is the bomb. I bought a Pioneer dvd player for almost $200.00 and it does not have half of the futures that this DVD player has. I am recommending this DVD player to all my friends. I have never been so please with a affordable product. I hope Cyberhome will become greedy and rise prises like other known companies.

Took it out of the box and retweaked entire system while installing it...including both audio/video cabinets and wiring..using Yamaha RX-992 A/V Receiver....Samsung HDTVDirect TV Teceiver...Monster Cable...B & W speakers all around and 50"Mitsubishi HDTV Digital TV. After tweaking the soundfield...put Fleetwood Macs "The Dance" in the tray and good grief...this system rocks anew!!! Life is good.

I was skeptical about buying such a "value" priced component but looks like sometimes "brand-name" isn't everything. This player has support for everything your DVDs can throw at it and plays your MP3s, SVCDS/VCDS and CD-RW/Rs. No hitches even on cheap media. The website support is great, although there was a BIOS flash available already when I got it out of the box. The flash process was easy though and at least CyberHome is looking to improve the product. If your DVD player is a year or two old and missing some features you want, this won't disappoint or break the bank.

This is a great DVD player for its price. Lotsa feature. But it doesn't have a ear phone jack. It supports both NTSC and PAL. It runs on 100-230 Volts electricity.

As-received, the unit did not perform exactly as the owner's manual described. After I upgraded the software, it worked OK. The slide show picture quality is good. One limitation is that only the first 999 JPEG images on a CD can be displayed. Even if the files are distributed across several directories, only the first 999 on the disc are usable. If there are several hundred files in the root directory, only the first 299 can be listed on the display (but all 999 work in slide show mode). In spite of the minor limitations, I would buy this unit again.