Shinco 8320 DVD/VCD/SVCD/MP3 Player - Page 3

DVD Tests

We tested the Shinco player with several DVDs (from different regions) to test region free capability. Player is region free. This means it can play all DVDs without any modification. You have all heard about macrovision, that nasty copy protection that won't allow us to make copies out of our Dvd's (or videotapes) The Shinco dvd player turned out to be one of the *FEW* players available that has an option build into itself  to disable this protection.  Here's how to do it:

From the remote, press the following sequence: <STOP>, <SETUP>, <STILL/STEP>, <1>, <2>, <3>, (the buttons on the remote are a bit flimsy, so you may have to try this several times in order to make it work) and you will come to a menu called "loopholes".  From there you go to "Macrovision" and set it to off. Default factory seting is "auto" Be carefull if you decided to play around with the other settings from the "loopholes" menu, they shouldn't be touched normally.

Now, you have a clean unscrambled video out signal, we tested with a few region 1 & 2 titles and everything run smooth. Btw, changing settings in the "loopholes" menu will have a permanent effect on the system, so you don't have to do the same thing again. Just remember to make legal copies only! :-)

As an added bonus?of the bonus, now the previously grayed out "preferences" menu from the main menu, is available. Selections here include default audio, subtitle, disc menu language, country/region, and parental control settings. Make sure you set the parental control to "adult" otherwise you will not able to wiev a lot of movies. And we're not talking about xxx titles here, even harmless low-calorie titles like "Mercury Rising" had parental control check build in..

Title	Region	System	Result
James Bond - Tomorrow Never Dies (Special Edition 1999)	1	NTSC	OK
Face/Off	2	PAL	OK
Matrix	1	NTSC	OK
Imax ? Mystery of the Maya	0	NTSC	OK

The player was mostly tested on a 29" Philips Matchline 29PT910A01 TV (boasting 100Hz, Digital Scan, Digital Noise Reduction & Digital Comb Filter), and a Sony TA-VE110 amplifier (with Dolby Surround Pro-Logic), coupled with Sony speakers (SS-V17 front & rear, SS-CN17 center).

Picture quality through the S-Video connection was exceptional, rather up to par with every average DVD player in the market (The composite video connection offered lower detail pictures, typical of the composite signal's limitations). Audio was also quite impressive, given the results Pro-Logic can achieve. Unfortunately, we didn't have the opportunity to couple the Shinco player with a Dolby Digital or DTS-equipped amplifier/receiver, to test its performance in the digital sound realm.