Coby DVD-224 Compact DVD Player

Evaluation: ___________________________________________________ + It's inexpensive + Seems to be playing all DVD's without failure + Nice, 'card-shape' remote control, batteries included - I can't think of any, given the low price ___________________________________________________ It's not happening often to me but, this little box performance did exceed my expectations. We have a 9-10 yr. old 27" TV in the bedroom and we have no intention of replacing it because it does what it's expected to do - help me fall asleep while watching C-Span or maybe a Columbo episode or something of that kind. Up until now, we had problems with various DVD players, some more sophisticated than other, but all demanding that we clean our DVD's and, in many instances, refusing to play some even after repeated cleaning. I am happy to state that this little $25 player is playing ALL the DVD's I've thrown at it so far, including those that its predecessor, a relatively expensive machine that I threw into the trash after less than 2 years of service, refused to recognize. I've been using this device for almost 2 months now. As far as features... well... it plays DVD's. It has stop, fast forward/backward, pause... does it really matter? The remote control is not very well designed but, again, [...] it works well. Read more

I bought this player because I needed something that could play my region 5 DVD's. It did play the region 5 DVD's, but didn't play home-burnt ones and broke all together after 1 year (started making strange noises a couple of months before it broke). It just stopped in the middle of a new region-1 movie and started clicking. I turned it off, then tried turning it on after a few weeks, and it played half a movie (a different one) and then stopped again. When I first got it, took it out of the box and started setting up, my first thought was that this thing will not last very long - it just looked so cheap and of poor quality. A huge pro is that it is so cheap and you can buy a new one every year. However, it would be nice to pay 30 bucks and not have to throw the thing away after a year, so I'm looking into a Philips DVP 5140. Read more

I am replacing my son's current Coby DVD player, which just started having issues recognizing discs, with another just like it after 11 months of use. Why, you might ask, since 11 months does not seem like much time, would I buy the same brand and model? Because we put over 6000 hours of play time on it in that period. That amounts to over seven YEARS worth of daily movie watching. Bad parent that I am, by employing this player's repeat feature, I know that my son's TV can be switched on at any time of the day (or night, if he wakes up in the middle of the night and needs help getting back to sleep) and the show playing will be one of his favorites and age appropriate. I can't think when else I have felt I got such great value out of an electronic. At this price, even if this player is a bit on the disposable side, I am more than willing to replace it annually if I can get 6000 hours worth of play out of each player. I have another one just like it in my bedroom and my brother also owns one. Neither of these more regularly used DVD players have had any problems, and we set them all up to work with other regional DVDs with no problems. I highly recommend these DVD players as excellent, inexpensive solutions for high use or multi-region use. If you care about super high quality sound and video, this might not be the player for you. If you want a good quality player for a truly astounding price, look no further. Read more

This is the 7th DVD player that I have bought in about 6 years. Two were Toshiba, two Cyberhome, one Hitachi and one Sony. All lasted about a year each then stopped working. I've come to the conclusion I would rather spend $30 every year then $200 or $300. I would say that I am a high volume user but I wouldn't think that would have much to do with it considering I've purchased the more expensive ones without any longer reliability. I remember VCR's used to last allot longer. Maybe because they were actual mechanical parts instead of a laser. Anyhow, I've had it several months and it's very similar in features to the Cyberhome. The remote is a little big and clunky (reminds me of the old laserdisc remotes or a receiver remote). The video is average as well as the sound. Has all the nessesary features that are needed including zoom which I like. Since all my other DVD players broke within a year, I can't say how long this one is going to last but I would recommend it since it's been a few months without any problems and it's a good deal. *** Update 10/18/06 *** I'm updating this review since once again, another DVD player bites the dust. I bought this unit on 01/8/06 and as of now 10/18/06 it's broken. Everytime I put a disc in it says "Wrong Disc". Nothing I can do either. I actually think this player only lasted as long as it did was because I didn't use it as much as my others but I still did use it quite often. However, I would still purchase it or another one since it's so cheap. If you read my opinion above, I stated it only makes sense for me to buy a $30 player every year or so since it's not so hard on my wallet when they break. I never see much of a difference in picture quality from most players anyway even when viewing the ones with all the expensive features. The next brand I'm moving on to is Lite-On. I've bought three (3) of their DVD recorders (which are also a player) for my computers and none of them are broke and have stopped working and seem to work flawlessly. I actaully believe that Lite-On is a great company and hope that it lasts longer (and I have a feeling it will). I'll post an update on here next year on which Lite-On I bought and keep this review apprised of it's condition. Read more