Info and forum posts by 'Microstar'

RE: A thought on the opinions on DVD players in this forum

Acolyte wrote:

"Obviously you are one of the lucky people who don`t have to work late or do overtime to cope with their work demands."

Listen here my friend, I am owner and MD of my own company. I work seven days a week; I employ people and I probably pay far more in tax than most of you earn - taxes which help pay for the NHS (which I don`t use, BTW) and other public services. So don`t lecture me about work demands. Moreover, if you are on this forum during your working time, using your employers IT facilities, then in my view that is tantamount to theft. I would discipline any of my employees caught using company IT facilities for non-work related activity - employment law is very clear on this issue.

I am disappointed that my Scan failed before Christmas and I am expecting compensation in the form of a DVD disc. If my replacement machine gives trouble then I will expect a refund.

The reason that I am supportive of Scan is that they are a small company, like me, and I know the sort of difficulties they must face in bring this product to market. Nobody wants to sell a product that results in a high returns level - you make a net loss on every return. I have been in a similar commercial situation as Nelley was with the early Scans and it`s not pleasant.
The fact that Nelley comes on these forums shows that Scan wants to improve this product and I believe that the product itself is now very good. That view seems to be confirmed by the favourable Manhattan clone review on this website.

The problem that the British have is that they want to knock and drag down anybody who is enterprising. I lived in the Boston, Mass., for a year and found the culture so different - in the US a company like Scan would be supported. Bear, Ironduke and co. would be only too pleased if Scan were to go bankrupt, I guess? The British working class are generally only interested in moaning, whinging and sitting on their backsides reading the Sun, that is why the country has got into such a mess and we have so little manufacturing industry left.
I am still waiting to read any kind of POSITIVE posting from "bear" or Ironduke - it is all negative stuff, no matter what the subject.

I originally came to this forum hoping to learn more about DVD, but (with honourable exceptions) most of the posts seem to be abusive, asinine or illiterate. This is therefore my last visit and last posting, I won`t waste any more time here.

RE: A thought on the opinions on DVD players in this forum

Neither do some of the abusive characters who post on here - judging by the volume and timings of their postings.

RE: A thought on the opinions on DVD players in this forum

You make some valid points, Craig.

One persons `excellent` is another persons `poor`. I rate my Scan`s picture `very good` on the basis of comparison with a Wharfedale 750S ( which I, and others, considered inferior); moreover it does just look `very good` to me when I watch a DVD. I has much better picture quality than VHS movies on my nearly new Panasonic VCR, which I always considered quite good enough anyway.

My rationale in getting a Scan was that I had a requirement to play MP3`s in the home and will probably replace the player in 1-2 years anyway. So I wanted a cheap machine with good MP3 features - the Scan doesn`t disappoint. The `independent` reviews aren`t bad either (see the review of the Scan cloned `Manhattan` on this web site). The downside with the Scan is that you can`t buy it on the highstreet and so you encounter the usual `mail order` problems when something goes wrong.
If you are a real DVD movie fanatic then just go out and buy a Sony.

The unfortunate aspect of this forum is its small following of brain-dead morons who post only negative and crass abuse. But then I guess its better that they amuse themselves here rather than out on the streets (look upon it as a contribution to `care in the community`).

RE: More Scan Woes?

Excellent news, Nelley. I await it with baited breath - I shall probably use mine more as an MP3 player than a DVD player!

RE: HELP!!! SCAN SC 2000,TOSHIBA SD100E OR DAEWOO 2200

Ninny

You should know that there are a couple of characters on this forum who are implementing a vendetta against Scan.
There are a lot of satisfied Scan owners out there. I have also seen posts from dissatisfied Aiwa owners - so it is not cut and dried.

Many of us think the Scan is good value (especially if, like me, you have a big collection of MP3`s); it is made in Korea like the Aiwa.

RE: Help needed with Aiwa picture problem

What! The almighty Aiwa has feet of clay?

Ironduke, bear, Jimbo - where are your wise and witty comments on this duff Aiwa player? Or do you only respond when its a problem (or not) with a Scan player?

RE: More Scan Woes?

I bought one of the October batch of Scans and was quite happy with it. I think its a much better machine than the Wharfedale and for £186 all in is great value for money. The MP3 facility is very good. Based on seeing my machine I now know 3 people who have bought Scans (all are happy) and one guy who is waiting for his to be despatched.

Unfortunately my machine died shortly before Christmas - to loss of power. I suspect that the internal fuse is blown, but obviously I don`t want to tamper with the machine. I`m waiting for a new "Jan 5th" player to arrive. I`m now more concerned about long-term reliability than picture and sound quality of the Scan (both of which I think are excellent). The Scan is a clone of the Manhattan reviewed on this site and that seems to come out OK.

RE: Question for Clayts

I don`t want to post the URL clayts - I might get arrested for `conspiracy to defraud` (or whatever). You can find out for yourself though. Go to:

www.cdrom-guide.com

and then go to the `Buy, sell, trade` forum and look through the posts. There are a lot for `DVD-Silvers`.

BTW - let me make it clear that I don`t own any copied DVD`s (as far as I know!) and I won`t be knowingly buying any.

RE: Question for Clayts

I did a bit of research on the web laast night and it would appear that there are factories in the Far East that are producing unauthorised, but `original` DVD`s for the pirate market. i.e. these DVD`s function just like the authorised originals, but are made without the knowledge of the studios and without royalties being paid. I read that there are at least 10 factories in Malaysia making these. The picture quality etc. is said to be as good as the authorised version because the same digital data is used. I even found these discs for sale on a UK website for £8 delivered (don`t ask me for the URL please, I don`t want to promote this kind of illegal activity).

RE: BEWARE SCAN UPGRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote from Home Cinema Online article:

"My main Christmas present this year (!) was a new chip set from Manhattan for installation in the
previously maligned DVD-2000 DVD player, which suffered with the same appalling image artefacts
reported on Hitachi`s 505 DVD player, plus players from Smart, Logix, Scan and others (check out the
news stories over recent weeks if this sounds new to you)."

And I thought the Hitachi 505 was supposed to have a good picture (maybe they just had a `bad batch` of the ESS chips,...eh?)

After a bit of research on the web it seems that ESS are just about the world`s biggest supplier of DVD chipsets, with customers including Denon, Sony and, er, Hitachi. Are they really that bad?

RE: BEWARE SCAN UPGRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re-read my post, Ironduke. We were comparing Scan against a Wharfedale `S`. (i.e. ESS against Zoran). We thought that the Scan was better - my friend to the extent that he returned his Wharfedale and bought a Scan.

I have not noticed pixellation (I don`t have the Magnolia DVD to test for it). The only picture problem I`ve seen with my Scan is picture `pulsation` on The Matrix DVD. I tried the disc in a Pioneer player and it was there too - so I think its the disc rather than the player.

My position is that the Scan`s picture is perfectly satisfactory for me. The bottom line is that I would not want to spend more money for a `better` picture - I`m not sure that I`d be able to see the improvement. I could easily afford to go out and spend £5000 on top-flight DVD kit, but my wife and I didn`t build up a successful business by wasting money....!! I don`t pay for benefits that I can`t see, simple as that. The Scan is good enough for me.

RE: BEWARE SCAN UPGRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I received my Scan back in November I compared it with a one-week-old Wharfedale 750S belonging to a friend. We used the same TV (Panasonic WS - RGB inputs) and the same discs. The Scan clearly outperformed the Wharfedale on both picture and sound. We later had the opportunity to make a comparison against a Pioneer player and found the Scan to be at least equal in terms of picture quality. On that basis my friend returned his Wharfedale and purchased a Scan, with which he is well pleased.
I believe that the Wharfedale uses the Zoran chipset.
I am not qualified to argue the merits of different chipset architectures, but I suspect that there is more to picture quality than simply which chipset a player uses.

Question for Clayts

Clayts, I`ve seen what I think are `pirate` DVD`s for sale - top titles selling for about £8 on a market. They are definitely DVD`s (not VCD`s) in copied packaging.
Leaving aside the issue of quality etc. can you tell me if it is illegal to buy/own these DVD`s? Since you are a former TS officer I thought you might know. I appreciate that it is illegal to sell non-genuine DVD`s of course.

RE: ENCORE 450 its pants then yes ?

Well, Aiwa is not a `top name brand`. It is what is known in marketing circles as a `fighter brand`. Aiwa was set up by Sony as their wholly-owned downmarket brand to `fight-off` the competition (mainly Korean). Most of Aiwa`s products are manufactured off-shore in either Korea, China or Malaysia; many of them are re-badged third-party products. According to a recent Which? magazine survey Aiwa products were much less satisfactory than average and are one of the least reliable AV brands.

RE: manhattan dvd 2000

Don`t worry about the MV too much. There are a variety of `video copy enhancers` that can be inserted into the SCART lead to remove the MV signal and enable copies to be made.

RE: Oh no! My Scan has DIED

Nelley, thanks for the offer of a free DVD disc, I`ll take you up on that.

At to "bear" - well, my boy, if selling products with faults is illegal then Microsoft, Intel and most of the high-tech electronic industries have been breaking the law for many years! Does Windows never crash on you? What about the 63,000 known bugs in Win2000?

Technology moves at such a pace that most companies have to take a risk with the design of a product/software and that oftens means that the product/software cannot be exhaustively tested before release onto the market. Even `mature` products, like cars, can suffer design defects. When I bought my car (a Mercedes-Benz) a couple of years ago it had a rear-axle whine. This turned out to be a design problem and it took MB almost a year to rectify it by fitting modified parts, but they did sort it and I now think its the best car I have ever owned.

What I do find astonishing with DVD players is that some owners think they are entitled to a new player when the manufacturer brings out an upgraded version. I see people who`ve owned a Wharfedale 750 for several months take it back to Tesco and demand a 750S. That is just not on. When you buy a product you should check it over, use it for a few days, and then send it back for a refund if you are not happy with it. Keeping it for 3 months and then deciding you don`t want it is not really fair, is it?

RE: scan 204 -> 204s upgrade

Yup, same thing happened when I upgraded to 1.93
Just put into standby and then back on again to reset the hardware. It works fine after that.

RE: Oh no! My Scan has DIED

Thanks Nelley, its appreciated.

As to "bear" - can you not think of anything more constructive to do with your time than attacking Scan? They are trying to run a company, generate employment and pay taxes - what are you doing that is as constructive as that? What are your motives?

Following my purchase of a Scan several acquaintances have also bought these machines and all are so far happy, with no problems. It is not unusual to have problems with electronic equipment. I purchased a Panasonic VCR about a year ago (from hed.co.uk) and it died after about 3 weeks. They swapped it for a new one which has been OK. About a month ago I bought a Bosch dishwasher and the drainage pump packed up recently - they sent an engineer out to replace it.
We all own a lot of electrical equipment these days and it is updated so rapidly that design faults are made. The real question is how well these companies deal with problems as they emerge.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 20th December 2000, 15:28

RE: Oh no! My Scan has DIED

Got through to Scan on the `phone this morning (fairly easy); spoke to a polite and helpful representative who gave me RMA number. Put my name down for one of the next batch of machines arriving January. So far, so good....

RE: Oh no! My Scan has DIED

Like a moth to a flame......

Oh no! My Scan has DIED

My Scan player, one of the Oct. 26th batch that I was very pleased with, has DIED.
I went to use it this evening and the red `standby` LED on the front panel was not illuminated. The player is totally dead. I tried another 3A fuse in the plug, but still nothing. I suspect the power supply board has failed. The unit worked perfectly last time I used it a couple of days ago.
This is particularly annoying because I actually have the time to watch a few DVD`s over Christmas...... I guess there`ll also be a lot of delays in getting a replacement because of the holidays etc.
Anyhow, I`m e-mailing Nelley to see if I can get an RMA number - I`ll have the chance to try out Scan`s customer services ;-)
Watch this space.

RE: Nelley where is the update

Strange....I get them very quickly after e-mailing (i.e. within the day, so far).
Ideally we need a Scan `owners` club` website so that upgrades can be ftp`d down. I`d set one up myself, but I`m very pushed for time at the moment. Maybe in a month or two.....

RE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SCAN OWNERS THIS CHRISTMAS.

Bear

What kind of a life do you lead that you actually took the time to sit down and write that?
Try to widen your social circle a little and spend more time away from your computer. Maybe try starting a "degree cause" in English at your local university, `cause you sure could use a few lessons in spelling and punctuation!

This item was edited on Friday, 15th December 2000, 20:55

RE: Scan Firmware version 2.04s....

OK, so MV is off, but is anything *better* than with your previous firmware (V1.92/3 ?)?. I`m really waiting to see the long MP3 filenames.
Cheers.

RE: New Scan Sc-2000 firmware 2.04 (Return of the dreaded Macrovision)

I have burned a couple of CD`s with Scan firmware. Never a problem. I`m using EZCD Creator V4.02 and an HP 8250 CD-writer.

RE: Buying Scan Player

I have posted previously saying that I am highly satisfied with my Scan, as are three people I know who bought one subsequent to seeing mine. They have not had any problems. I believe a lot of the initial problems stemmed from the MPEG decoder chip that was installed in earlier (pre-Oct 26th 2000) machines. The latest Scan`s have redesigned harware using the Analog Devices ADV7172 chip. They give you a lot of technology for the money and, to be honest, I think the value is great. There is more to life than DVD`s and I don`t want to fork out £400 on a premium machine when £180 will buy me a Scan.
The main question mark is over their customer services - if you can get around that problem then I`d go for one.

If you order a new machine now I suspect it will be supplied with firmware newer than that currently sent out by Nelley (i.e. later than V2.04) so no need to upgrade. Nice to know that upgrades will likely be available in future though.....

RE: Are you satisfied with your Scan SC-2000 player ?

I am very pleased indeed with my player (Oct. 26th batch, V1.92 FW). Based on my experiences (and the fact that Nelley supports this forum and provides FW updates) three friend have also subsequently bought Scans and all are very pleased. No problems. One of my colleagues is just about to put his name down for the next batch; we`ll see how he gets on.
I think the player itself is excellent value and its performance exceeds that of other `bargain` players like the Wharfedale 750S; indeed it compares favourably with the `premium` players that I`ve looked at (Tosh. SD100E, Sony and Pioneers). The main issue seems to be that of Scan`s Customer Services (or lack of...). Other companies ship out fautly equipment (I know, because I`ve been on the receiving end) but they do put things right straight away. Scan need to put their hands up and admit that the pre-Oct 26th players were faulty and then put matters right. I think that if they did that then complaints to this forum would disappear and sales would increase (although I gather they`re selling pretty well at the moment anyway!!!).

RE: OT - Can`t access forums in Netscape 4.71

Yup, seems to work in NS 4.71 now. Many thanks.

RE: Scan, Manhattan, Daewoo DVD mechanism idea

The Scan, Manhattan etc. use a DVS mechanism. DVS are a major league DVD drive supplier (they supply to many Japanese co`s, for example). I think that, on the average, there is unlikely to be a problem with the general quality of these drives.

I do wonder whether some of the problems with these players are due to bad handling during shipment. I noticed that when mine was delivered the guy in the delivery truck hunted around in the back for a while, found the package, and then *threw* it down on to the tailboard before bringing it to my house. Fortunately I`ve had no problems with my machine, but I don`t think throwing the box around is going to do anything good for the bits inside!!

RE: Calling Nelley and other Scan users..

Can confirm that the Matrix DVD is largely the problem here. Watched on a Pioneer player about 10 days ago and the pulsing was clearly visible.