Daewoo DVG-9000N

This Daewoo DVG-9000N is a DVD set top player which sells at Radio Shack for $300. CDN. but often is on sale for $180. CDN. It can play to a TV screen or a VGA screen. I would not recommend this unit if you are playing to a TV screen because the entire black pedestal level is 7.5% too low which cuts off black detail.

Likes:

• Has a DB15 VGA output connector for playing on a computer screen (rare to see this feature)(menu choice between component YUV or RGB DP15).
• Can output NTSC or PAL (has a standards converter built in which is quite rare). PAL to NTSC conversion squishes vertical a bit.
• Has menu button on front panel so you can play a DVD without the remote control.
• Plays slight authoring & slight burning DVD-Rs very well (not a fussy player).
• Pretty good menu of settings.
• Plays VCDs & SVCDs (VCD2), so it probably has at least a 2X DVD drive unit.
• Has a 3 position DVD zoom.
• Has 6 analogue audio out connectors for surround sound in addition to digital audio out.
• Has mic input for karaoke.
• Loads MP3 music fast.

Dislikes:

• The manufacturer set the black level pedestal 7.5% too low which on North American TV sets causes detail to be lost in the blacks & whites to be not bright enough. This is an extremely serious design flaw & I could find no menu setting to adjust for it. This would not be a problem if you were only ever outputting to a VGA computer screen.
• Doesn't come with Y/C (S-video) cable.
• Comes defaulted to digital audio out, which means that most people who use analogue audio out have to menu around before they can get the sound turned on.
• Doesn't fill full video raster width on the left side.
• Can't play DVD-RWs.
• Won't read MP3 music on CD-RWs.
• Note that the remote & menu look just like Hitachi DVD players & it is likely that this unit is made by Hitachi.

By Doug Hembruff.