First off, sorry for the redundancy of this post, but I posted these questions in the other multi-region player post yesterday and haven't gotten a response. I suspected it was because it was buried in a non-player specific thread. Anyway, I've been reading these threads for a while and now am looking at the Phillips 727 vs. the Malata 520. I lean towards the Malata because the price doesn't concern me, the 727 icon issue would probably annoy me and later on I think the x-y scaling feature would be beneficial. However, there are a few questions I need to get answered first, because I probably will buy the 520 tommorrow before the hkflix sale is over.

1.) I currently have an interlaced 4:3 tv. I hope to get a widescreen progressive tv as early as mid next year. Will the Malata still play fine on my current tv till then? Obviously as interlaced the picture won't be as good.

2.) Can you change its front time display to show chapter remaining time, title time and title remaining time? Can it be done on the fly?

3.) Is the all region hack a one time until you change it thing or does it have to be done for each disc or each time the player is turned on?

4.) If I stopped a movie and turned the player off, will it start in the same place the next time I turn the player on?

5.) Does it have any trouble with anamorphic PAL discs, specifically I think the problem I had heard about with other players was with play them on a 4:3 tv?

Thanks for the answers.

I would ask HKFLIX directly. Some of your questions may be answered in the following threads:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=Malata

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...a&pagenumber=1

Question #3: The player is "modded" (read: modified) to be all region and should not need a hack I believe.

<small></small>I've deleted the duplicate. Funnily enough I almost split if off into its own thread yesterday but thought I'd leave time to see whether you'd stumble across the following (in addition to the couple of links already provided above):

• Malata and beyond: discussing Region-Free DVD player options [PART 5]
• One & only Malata 520 advice thread [Part Two]

It is not the most attractive player but, click here for a special price and some specs.

http://ads.kleinman.com/cgi-bin/adcy...id=3694&id=316

I also think emailing HKflix is a good idea. If you find out some more info, inform us all. Thanks.

4 days later and I still haven't gotten any answers from hkflix. Oh well, consequences be damned, I took the plunge and ordered this. If I ever get any answers though, I will pass them along.

Please email any hardware-related questions directly to [email protected].

Ok, so my player has shown up and I now have picture and sound. The picture is routed through my Line 2 of my VCR and the audio is routed through my receiver. Of course, this means I am using the yellow, red and white cables. At first I only had background audio and no dialogue would play. I was able to figure it out and I now do have audio, but I also now have a question. After reading other threads I know the Malata 520 has a Dolby decoder in the system and this has caused others problems. To get dialogue I seleced none under the center channel. The problem is I do have a center channel and a left and right speaker, though I currently don't own any rears or a subwoofer. The audio is connected through my receivers CD player input, because the receiver only had space for one DVD player input. For this reason when I use the player I just select the mode as CD player. In this setup I am getting sound out of all three speakers. So my question is why do I select none for the center, particularly since I do have one? Thanks for any input.

according to an email I just recieved....the Malata 520 has been dis-continued. all black models are sold out....only a few silver remain.

now I understand that the 520 has had it's share of pain-in-the-ass problems....but I also know that many a customer has had no problems and just adore this machine. well....my 1st Malata has been working like a charm. another 520 is being dropped off by DHL within a few hours. I'm hoping it also has no problems.

do you think the reason for halting production is because of all the problems it's been known to have? if it's been such a good seller...then why would they yank it otherwise? I mean it has had great feedback to....just maybe too many "lemon" machines. just wanting to know yer thoughts.

here is some info from the email:

yeah, i just got the same email today from hkflix. i'd love to get another as a back up but i'll take my chances. its too bad they are discontinuing this particular model. i've never had any problems with it and i'm thankful that it has worked so well. perhaps the company manufacturing these units will come up with a worthy successor.

Does this mean that the x-y scaling is now a thing of the past? I hope my malata lasts forever

I might not have to worry about my second Malata player. seems the morons at dhl express have "misplaced" my box. it's been missing since Saturday....no info ava.

fine.... I'm getting a jvc instead and it will be from a different on-line retailer.

The x-y scaling is the reason why I chose my Malata over other makes and models. I'd hate to buy another player that doesn't have it.

just an update...my black Malata finally arrived today after being "lost" for a few days. whew! so far it's working perfect. I'm still buying that JVC....makes me feel better to have 2 r-free players.