A player that really does everything... illegal...

Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

Very interesting! If you get bored because you know it all already,
skip down to the A-B-C and prepare for a surprise.
clark
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DVD Players.
The digital age has brought new aspects to American marketing of
electronic equipment. There are now many types of discs carrying audio and
video data; for example: DVD, VCD, S-VCD, Audio CD, MP3, and JPEG
(including Kodak Picture CD), on both CD-R and CD-RW discs. The big
companies (Sony, et. al) would like the consumer to have to buy a separate
machine for each medium. In addition, they also use "protection" and
"prevention" gimmicks to keep the customer from doing what he wants. This
sounds like a stupid marketing concept, but the American consumer is too
dumb to know the difference. First, each DVD player has a region code,
which means it will play only those DVDs sold in your region (Region 1 =
U.S.A.), Secondly, each DVD player has a built-in device called
Macrovision, which prevents any DVD played on the machine from being
copied. Remember audio cassette tape? We could make copies of our own
home-made recordings, or of commercial ones, and share them with our
friends. Never Again! said the big companies, and they spent many millions
in court gaining the legal right to install these restrictions.
I bought a DVD of a Henze opera (Der Prinz von Homburg) from an English
shop on the net, knowing full well that it was Region 2 and PAL (the
European system which is supposedly incompatible with the American video
system). The big companies say: YOU WILL NOT WATCH THAT DVD! Even though
it is not and will never be issued in the USA (A Henze opera? What's a
Henze?). Even though it does not compete with any product on the American
market. Even though preventing me from watching it gains nothing for Sony
or its fellows; not one penny.
I now own a DVD player that has the following characteristics:
A. It will play all the types of discs mentioned above.
B. It is region-free; it will play DVDs made anywhere in the world,
including PAL discs.
C. It has no MACROVISION feature, so one can make VHS copies of DVDs on a
VCR.
D. It's audio/video quality is equal to that of my Sony DVD player (i.e.,
superb).
E. Hold on to your hat: it cost me $38.74, and it is widely available at
$50.
How is this possible? The player is a Norcent DP-300. You may say: but I
have never heard of Norcent. They sell plenty of DVD players; the main
reason you have never heard of them is the same as the main reason it is
so inexpensive: Norcent does not advertise. Those added features (zone
coding, macrovision) also raise the price of a Sony DVD player, as does
the cost of all those high-powered lawyers. Norcent is made in China; as
has been the case with clothing and rugs, I find Chinese materials and
workmanship to be of consistently superb quality. If you object to buying
a DVD player not made in America, you are probably out of luck, as I don't
think any DVD players are made in the U.S.A.
The moral to this tale may be read in two ways: if you are a businessman,
you may find it (along with Sony's enormous profits) a heart-warming
triumph of capitalism. As a consumer, I see it as a gigantic rip-off.
Jim North

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Topic - A player that really does everything... illegal... - clarkjohnsen 09:40:42 07/30/03 (1)

The digital advantage wasted... - Some Guy 05:38:09 07/31/03 (0)

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