Shinco 868 DVD 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. Sadly, the Macrovision protection is still on, which means that you cannot record your DVD movies on video tapes (same stands for all players in the market, unless you risk to tamper with them).

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).

The player offers digital zoom (2x, 4x), which means you can zoom parts of the screen for a "closer" look! If you like to fast forward movie Shinco will not let you down. It offers 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x fast forward and reverse. If this still doesn't look good you can pause the screen and see frame per frame the action (pressing ||/step button). Don't forget to select your favorite subtitle and you movie angle (if the movie supports).

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. Another point worth mentioning is that the player seemed to handle high-action/high bit-rate scenes without "pauses" and "brakes" in motion, which is indeed an improvement, compared both to the older Shinco, as well as several brand-name players on the market.

VCD Tests

We tested VCD capabilities with a few VCD titles, ripped from DVDs for the absolutely best possible transfer quality. Image quality was typical of the VCD system, which in turn is similar to VHS cassettes (with slightly better sound). The player had no trouble playing our reference discs (IMAX � Mystery of the Maya, in VCD 1.1 & 2.0 format), as well as several other titles.

SVCD Tests

The SVCD compatibility and performance, was tested with a pressed title we had from previous Shinco 8320 package. The movie was fitted in three disks but the quality isn't so great. Both picture and sound were slightly higher than VCD, but definitely worse than DVD (that's obvious even to the average viewer).

Karaoke Tests

This is something that many people (especially in Japan) like to use. The demo DVD disc that comes with the drive contains several demo songs that you can sing (really easy since the letters become bold. try it if you have a proper voice... hehe) if you connect a microphone in the Shinco's front panel (it has inputs for 2 microphones). You can also add echo effect in your voice and raise or lower your voice pitch: