Cyber Home CH-DVD 500 $70 at BestBuy.com

ford50mus

ford50mus

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BestBuy has this cheap Progressive Scan DVD player priced at $70 with free shipping. It seems to support many formats, as is the norm for these cheaper players. Can be hacked for macrovision free and region-free goodness.

DVD, CD, SVCD, VCD, MP3, JPG, 2X/4X/8X FF/RW, MP3 Screen Display

:eek:
 
Not a bad deal

I picked one up and sent in the rebate. The component outputs are nice. Note that you have to set the output type manually (unlike most players which send a signal to all of the ports constantly.

Do you have a link to the site where it explains the hacks?

-Spido
 
Different Models?

At Best Buy, the chd-500 is $119 without rebate, while the 402 model is $69 before rebate and without progressive scan.

Is it hidden or promo over?
 
Dobbie, I just checked and the 119.99 price is crossed out. If you click the buy the sales price shows up as 69.99. ($50 off)
Also, Spido, did the hacks work on what you bought?
 
Better in Store

Bud and group,

Thanks...we ordered one online and stopped by our nearby BestBuy; we were able to get their last CH500 which rang up at $69.99 but also generated a $20 mail-in rebate.

This player (which plays very good-BTW) comes out to $49.99 plus tax. Thanks for the heads up to all and Ford50mus. Makes it reasonable to have separates for kids.

Only beefs are: slow reacting to remote commands ie: few seconds to stop and eject

and progressive scan is not automatic, but selective.

but not real beefs....

Happy New Year !
 
Hacks..

I'm not sure- they are applied each time you use the box. I saved them for when I need them.

Tell ya what though- this was a great deal. I connected the component outs to the TV and the picture is great. Also it has both optical and coax audio outs. For the price even if it only lasts a year, I'm a happy camper. Thanks for the tip!

-Spido

Oh Happy Gnu Year too!
 
Isn't Progressive Scan just for HDTVs? Well, if that's the case, if you can afford a hdtv you should be able to afford a better dvd player :-)
 
yeah, the hacks work.

for the macrovision hack though, i used a variation as suggested by another forum post - that is, instead of changing the video system from ntsc to pal and back to ntsc again, i changed the video output from composite to s-video and back to composite again. i found when i changed my video system from ntsc to pal, my tv screen is scrambled and i cannot do a thing with it. this variation works!
 
Progressive Scan differences

Progressive scan is a noticeable improvement with some of the features also being more accessible than an "ordinary" dvd player.
See here-Part II:http://www.bestbuy.com/HomeAudioVideo/Specials/DVDPScanChanger.asp


It isn't about affordability or HDTV. Not everyone has HDTV or a Digital TV yet, which will someday be the norm (anyone still using a black and white TV) It is about being able to have one for each TV. Some of us have 2 or more others living at home and thus may have 2 or 3 TV's or monitors in private living or viewing areas. (anyone own more than one car or more than one tv or have more than one child?)

Our DVD selections and collections are separate and different than our younger and older kids. It is nice to keep theirs in their storage and not kept with ours.

It's not about "if you can afford" ; it's more about affording to have their own. At this price they can afford to have their "own".

Thanks again for the heads up on this deal !:thumb:
 
I dont have HDTV

but my TV is HDTV-ready whatever that means. I use the component-out to connect to someting called "colorstream" on the TV. Its noticably sharper and brighter than S-Video, but I wonder what sort of signal I'm really watching? Its not HDTV obviously, but what is it? Are there more scan lines than S-Video?

Thanks for any advice- this video stuff is getting VERY complicated!

-Spido

:p
 
Re: Better in Store

Dobbie said:
Bud and group,

Thanks...we ordered one online and stopped by our nearby BestBuy; we were able to get their last CH500 which rang up at .99 but also generated a mail-in rebate.
Click to expand...

No rebate listed at the BB site. :-( Could you posyt the address on the rebate form? Or does someone have a pdf of a rebate form for this item?? Thanks!
 
Best Buy Rebate

There is no rebate on-line and they are clueless; we bought online and in-store. The in-store purchase generated the usual additional trail of thermal TP for the rebate. They were even aghast in store at the rebate (didn't even know of it); I kept the actual printed display tag showing $49 after mail-in rebate. The store I patronize is usually clueless and helpless. You need to be educated before entering, find what you want and exit after paying. Such was the case for the $499 (after rebates) laptops.

FWIW the in-store SKU# for the Cyberhome DVD-500 model is 4773524

the BB Rebate # is: 32968

Mail-in to: Best Buy Rebate #32968, PO Box 8900, Calais, ME 04619-9032
Needed: This Rebate Form (register printed), Copy of Receipt, Original UPC Cut from box
 
Thanks . . .

. . . for the info Dobbie. No BB here in my town, but headed to Chicago tomorrow, so will check at one there when I get into town.
 
Why doesn't someone just scan the rebate form & post on the web?
 
Because.......

the rebate form clearly states "This Rebate Form"

been through it before with Best Buy.

Rebate Center 1-800-849-0444

UPDATE: I called rebate center and had verified that online ordering doesn't have the additional rebate. ($50 Point Of Sale and $20 additional mail-in rebate using register generated form)
 
Well, since BB's online site had removed this item (SKU 4773524) from being allowed to be ordered online for either delivery or store pickup, I drove to store and low and behold they had about a dozen of them on the shelf. Still $69.99 and a $20 MIR. I bought one, but before I try the hacks which someone in the thread said worked fine, I was thinking of applying the firmware update which is supposed to correct some minor problems.
See: http://www.cyberhomedvd.com/products.asp?Product=500&Page=downloads for details.
Has anyone tried applying the firmware and then done the hacks? Do they still work okay? (i.e. eliminate MacroVision and Country lockout). TIA for any more info, and if no one has done it yet in that sequence, I'd be willing to create a firmware update disk for them if they'ed like to try and don't have access to a CD burner, although with all the deals on CenDyne and I/O Magic CDRWs lately, you probably all have burners.
Bud
 
On the rebate form I got:
Offer: 32968
Offer Date: 12/24/2002 to 2/1/2003
Postmark Date: 3/2/2003

SKU: 4773524

I called the local store and they said the $69.99 price (before MIR) was good until 2/1/2002.

BTW, the rebate form is printed on Best Buy logo cash register paper and about 18" long. I don't believe a scan will help as requirements state: "This Rebate Form"

Also as it came from the box, the firmware version was Sept 2002 (020905) and the hacks worked well with it. Unfortunately, the firmware update I burned to change to November 2002 firmware didn't work. I probably didn't get it burned right in ISO 9660 Mode 1. The shutoff of MacroVision using the change from Composite to S-Video and back again worked well and you are able to play DVD movies via the composite input on a VHS player without getting the shifting graduation of Brightness/Contrast as is the case when Macrovision is on. This was important to me as my daughter has an older 25" GE TV which only has 1 input and no A/V connections. Whether one is able to record the DVD to the VCR with MacroVision off, I don't know yet. If/When I test that I'll let you know. All-in-all, the DVD500 is a trmendous value for the $50 after rebate.

Update on the firmware change to 021108: Well I couldn't leave well enough alone, I finally got a proper firmware disk burned and update the 020906 version out of the box. The good news, it updated fine and the hacks work as well with it as they did with the original version. The bad news is that the JPG slideshow play is now putting dashed lines in about 40% of the JPGs I'm playing with it. (all looked good before the update) Pictures are still completed, but the random dashed lines are annoying. Since I'm the guinea pig, I've emailed tech support at Cyberhomedvd.com and asked them if there was an update to correct it, or barring that if they could direct me to a location where I could download the prior 020906 version, as the JPG slideshow was one of the main reasons I bought the unit. I didn't test the DVD Audio problem that the update was supposed to fix, as I don't have access to an Audio DVD disk. I'll keep you all informed as to further developments. There's still some availability of the unit here in town, although a few stores are sold out.

I had received a 10% off "Preferred Customer" coupon only good for this weekend which I gave to the minister of my church and he got the last one at one of the stores this morning. This evening I went to another store that still had stock with a friend, and we each bought another one. The one I bought was for a friend in the San Francisco area which I'll be sending to him tomorrow as he wanted one and all the stores he called in the Bay area were out of stock.
 
i didn't update the firmware either.

but you can definitely record onto video tape from dvd with macrovision off.
 
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