Rockybalboa

Anyone have any thoughts on the Cyberhome 500? I understand it can be made region free pretty easy, and has excellant pal to ntsc conversion, any know anything on this player?
Thanks

joshd2012

They are still having a few issues with getting all the features to work properly. The last firmware upgrade they put out actually disabled some features rather than fix them. The progressive scan actually looks worse than the s-video. If you can find a 402, I suggest you pick that up. It is a more solid machine and will play everything you can put in it. It is very simple to make this machine region free and it does have a PAL to NTSC converter onboard.

mdX

The 500 would be a good player, but it has a lot of issues. Impedence on the component video outputs was incorrect (should be 75 Ohms), resulting in some Tvs not locking the signal correctly (basically you get a lot of wavy lines). You'll have to ship your player back to cyberhome for a fix if yours has this problem (newer ones are supposed to be fixed). The white level output is way low (75 IRE, should be 100), which means you will have to adjust the contrast on your display much higher than normal. The color level output is way too high. response time to remote commands varies - it's either painfully slow or lightning quick. the frequency response drops off quite a bit at the upper end, so the picture of the player will be on the soft side

the Secrets of HomeTheater guys reviewed this player recently - have a look here

I haven't personally used the 400, but I know it doesn't keep the correct aspect ratio when converting from PAL to NTSC (the 500 does)

Rockybalboa

How do you make the 402 region free? Is it the same as the 500?
Thanks, I saw one of these 402's real cheap,and if I hate it, I can return it.

lordzeppelin

I have one of the newer 500's, and I've got to say that for $50 it doesn't get much better. At some point I'm going to move up to a Malata or a JVC, but until this sucker kicks, it's given me my money's worth in the 30 days I've owned it. I haven't seen any of the issues that others describe as problems (the first time I've been lucky in a while).

The 402 is nice if you're grabbing specifically region 3 NTSC discs, but if you want to do anything PAL, you will be SOL because it can't do the conversion for anamorphic discs correctly to fit a 16x9 TV.

joshd2012

From Nerd-Out.com:

1. Press the Setup button on the remote control.
2. Using the remote control, key in the following: 1, 3, 6, 9.
3. Press the Left button on the remote control three times.
4. Press the Right button on the remote control.
5. Select the new Version option from the menu.
6. You will now be able to change the value to 1 for Region 1, 2 for Region 2, and so on, or 0 for multi-region playback. Reports are that it also plays RCE DVDs in region free mode.

I don't really see what the big deal with aspect ratio for PAL conversion. I paid $50 for the player. It is extremely inexpensive and I don't expect it to do everything perfectly, though it does besides the conversion thing. I love this player.

Rockybalboa

Where does everyone keep getting this 500 for 50.00? I cannot find one at that price anywhere!!! I cannot believe the mixed feedback on this and the 402, it is pretty amazing how different the feedback has been.

mdX

best buy sells both the 402 and 500. the 500 is often on sale for 69.99 with a $20 rebate.

Rockybalboa

Is that only in stores? I cannot find any online. I checked one today, only 402's, I will try 2 more tomorrow if they are really out there.
Thanks all!

movielib

I bought it from here. A little more than the great Best Buy deals but I'm not sure you can still get those.

New Egg

I chose the cheapest shipping ($10) and received it in 2 days.

Rockybalboa

Hey all
I just picked up a 402 because the 500 is nowhere to be found. I ran it through my ISCANPRO to convert it to progressive, and I must say, it looks damm good!!!! Not perfect, but for 54.00, not to bad at all!! I am testing it with the movies Arthur and Ford Fairlane, so these are not the best source to begin with, but a HUGE inprovement on the APEX.
Thanks all!!!!


Also, on my WS55819 no problem with the 16X9 Aspect ratio, it was perfect! The Apex I had could not even do that! I do not care about macrovision, just wanted to play a few titles that were 16X9 everywhere else.
Thanks to all for the info!!!

nekobus

You said it in a nutshell. It's typical cheap Chinese player picture quality (macroblocking, etc), but is has no chroma bug, is easy to hack and does a perfect PAL->NTSC conversion for around $50 (I paid $35 after rebates at BB a couple of months ago). At this price alone, it's worth having one around as a PAL disc player. As others have said, the 402 doesn't do a perfect PAL->NTSC conversion, get the 500 instead.

Rockybalboa

The 402 I got yesterday did do a perfect Pal-Ntsc conversion.