bcool2k

Hello Everyone,
ATTN: Matt Stevens

I just got my Malata N996 Region 0, and I am very happy with it, but I seem to notice vertical black bars in the background only when the Scene is very dark. Or if there is little or no brightness in that Scene. I think it may be an interference problem, but I double checked all my hook ups. Other than that picture and sound are superb no matter what DVD I put in. By the way, I have a very high gauge Monster S-Video and I have a 27" Panasonic TV Year 2000.

*Sorry if this post seems odd I've been a DVD collector and fan of DVD talk for years, but never bothered to register. If anyone can help please do. Thanx a lot

Trinitron

Thanks for the advice on the sound -- working perfectly through an optical cable.

This machine is precisely as described -- terrific in all respects. Anybody know what the Chinese characters on the front display are? Any way to turn off the display, especially the annoying spinning disk?

I have also noticed very faint black lines on a couple of occasions, but doesn't seem like a huge deal.

Matt Stevens

bcool2k, I noticed those bars too. I rarely see them, but when the screen goes absolutely dark, they are there. I will be calling avdeals.com about it today.

carnifern

I haven't seen any black bars and I've watched Faust and The Art of Dying since I got the player. Both are very dark movies but no black bars.

DeepRedInferno

one more question, will this player squeeze full screen dvds to a box for 16x9 sets. so you can display a fullscreen image in 480p with black bars on the side?

Matt Stevens

It does that automatically.

Mickey

I ordered my player on 8-15 and my credit card has been charged. Do they normally charge your card as soon as you place your order or do they only charge you once it's shipped? I have not received any shipping notice as of yet. How long is it usually taking to receive orders?

Londo

They may just be hip deep in orders.. give'me a call, very friendly

Brett

I never got a shipping notice, I just called when I saw my card was charged and they said it was going out that night and I'd have it by the next day.

-Brett

Shiv Shankly

I've had a couple odd things using my Malata; first is with the HKL City Hunter disc; when I adjust the ratio using the X-Y feature, along the top left edge I get a flickering black line; am I doing the X-Y thing wrong? Also, anyone else have the Young Girls of Rochefort DVD? Mine displays a fair amount of shimmering around edges during non-closeup scenes, and I didn't recall seeing anything like this on my computer monitor when I watched it on that. Is it just a bad mastering job or something else?

Matt Stevens

Shiv, I don't have CITY HUNTER. Why are you using the X-Y feature? The Malata should do the conversion perfectly for you. Explain in detail what it is you are trying to do.

I don't have YGOR but I do have "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and it shows more shimmering on my TV with the Malata than on my computer monitor, but that is all due to size. A 47" HDTV will show flaws from bad mastering more than a 19" computer monitor. UMBRELLAS does have quite a bit of minor artifacting. Not nearly as bad as the U.S. disc though.

Shiv Shankly

Matt: When I put in City Hunter and play the film, it plays fullscreen, so I have to adjust for the ratio. I thought I had read that some PAL anamorphic discs required the use of the XY function to correct it (if you didn't have a widescreen TV, and I don't), so that's what I tried. I just tried using the zoom, and that got what looks like the same results, with the flashing line along the top left frame.

bcool2k

Hey Matt,

Thanx for getting back to me. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one having this problem. I have taken the liberty of emailing avdeals about this and they are looking into it. Please let me know ASAP if you found out any info, and I'll do the same. Well Bye for now,

Soo Many DVD's, so little time.

One more question, I was searching the web looking for sites that compare and review R1 VS R2,R3,R4 DVD's, and I found one but I lost the address. Anyone no of any good ones. Any info would be great. Thanx again

Tristran

bcool2k,

Check out Rewind.

Tristran

Also, for those of you who want macrovision disabled, I was told AVdeals will be carrying another Malata player with no macrovision or progressive scan. No other details available though.

Matt Stevens

Shiv, sounds like you have the player set to 16x9 mode. Go into the user menu and set it to 4:3 letterbox. This way the player will downconvert the anamorphic transfer to non-anamorphic widescreen. Right now, your player is passing the 16x9 image to you, thinking you have a 16x9 TV.

The PAL conversion works 100% perfect for me on every DVD, so I believe this is what is happening with yours.

Shiv Shankly

I'll give that a shot, Matt. Thanks.

Mickey

Ok on monday I got my UPS delivery attempt notice (Signature required). I called them right away to have them hold it at the station since I work all day. On Tuesday I went straight to the UPS station (ok after a detour at BestBuy) to get my player. After standing in line for 20 minutes the clerk took my info, looked up my package location, went into the back for maybe a minute. Then he came out and said he THINKS it was on the truck. I told him how I called and they said it would be there... Finally he said he could go in the back and look for it, BUT I would have to wait until the line died down a bit which would probably take 30 -45 minutes. I was really P*ssed. I went home, no notice on my door, called the 1800 number for UPS they verified that it was at the station and not on the truck and gave me the bin number. I went back and this time he went back and came out in no time with it.

Then when I opened the box the smoke color plastic that covers the display was missing. Luckily it was in the box and not damaged. I was able to pop it back into place. There was a disturbing rattle inside though but it turned out to just be 2 tiny pieces of plastic that didn't look like it came off of anything inside. I hooked it up and it works great. I got the Region 0 player, popped in a few RCE discs, no problems the popped in my R4 Snatch and Terminator they both played beautifuly with the black bars inserted as they are suppose to have.

A major hassle for me to get but it seems to be worth it.


One question is there an unofficial or official FAQ about this player? I am mainly interested in knowing how I can connect the audio to my receiver and get 5.1 dolby digital, I only have 2 rca input jacks, not 6 like on the back of the player. Am I stuck with 2 channel stero until I update my receiver? My receiver does support dolby digital 5.1 (it's a mini home theater all in one).

DeepRedInferno

if your reciever supports DD 5.1 then it should have a Coax or Optical input, use that to get DD sound, there should be a Coax and Optical out on the Malata, havent gotten mine yet, so if anyone can confirm this go ahead.

Aghama

Mickey

I actually have an all in one home theater (Panasonic SC-DK1) and it must just be Dolby Digital 5.1 for the built in dvd changer and not for any external devices. Hmm that Bose system is looking better and better everyday. I guess I can't complain I got it cheap since it was a display. It just makes the Bose system look better and better.

RichardW

I had my player shipped to me at the office. It's sitting right next to me and it's only 11:00. It's going to be a looooooooooong afternoon.

Londo

You mean you didn't keep a copupla of R2/R4's in your briefcase just to cover this situation??? You silly twisted boy...

AdamGott

I got my player today and hooked it up. I can't do a one on one comparison with my old Pioneer DV-414 but it looks at least as good as that if not better, and certainly MUCH better than the old APEX AD-600A!

I don't have any non-region 1 dvd's yet but I am looking forward to trying out all of the ones that I have ordered (Mr. Bean complete collection, South Park seasons 3 and 4 and others).

As far as MP3 goes, I read somewhere (here or maybe at AVSFORUM?) that they liked the APEX MP3 support better. I don't know how this can be. It supports long filenames and directories (I also read in that same place that the Malata did not support directories) but doesn't seem to have much of a playlist/random feature. If anyone has tested any of this please let me know.

late_but_earnest

My Malata arrived today (region 1). While going through the set up, the vertical hold on my television went south. I can't control it at all. This only happens when the dvd player is on.

Does anyone have any ideas?