Good pic quality, easy to use, easy to navigate. I

Front display went dark. I'm not sure about the price anymore, But I remember thinking it was a bit expensive, compared to others, and I bought it because it was multi-region.‡

It's funny that I'm reading such bad reviews on the Hitachi DV-P250, since it's been working flawlessly for me for what, three years or so now. The only thing I agree with is that the front display also just died, but you can always see where you are in the movie by pressing "Display" on the remote. It's easy to use, the picture quality is very good, it plays not only DVDs but also CDs and VCDs, ans it plays all regions without a problem. I've watched the LOTR extended version plus the extras in one sitting, and the unit was understandably warm to the touch when I finished, but no more than that. Maybe it's the units sold on the American continent the ones that are flawed; mine works fine. I've only tried once to play a ripped DVD and it wouldn't play - I'm sure the moviemakers would think that an advantage! I've no problem with that, it was the first time I'd tried one.P

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None

Features.

Playback unreliable. Not all DVDs will play through. Some just will not work period, past a certain point. It is very annoying since you watch most of the movie and then it won't play the rest. Even movies that do play will sometimes stutter during playback.

This player has some nice features, but disappointing performance, and reliability. I had it fixed within the first two years of ownership. It is now causing me trouble again. It has always been dicey. It will sometimes stutter during playback and some movies will not play past a certain point period. I had to return the movie Volcano for this reason, and the movie Lord of the Rings will not play past the big meeting at Rivendell. My front panel display also does not work. For some reason it just died. All the controls seem to work, except the setup screen will not allow me to change the screen aspect setting. I was able to set it once, and I have never been able to get it to work again. It is set to wide screen, which I set in error, even though I have a 4 X 3 screen format. So now all movies are scrunched up. I think this unit is a piece of junk, and I regret buying it. I am now in the market for another DVD player and will never buying anything Hitachi again.

Picture quality

everything else

I must echo most of the other here...it's bad. Overheats...freezes. Have to shut it down and wait then power up again to watch a movie...sometimes I give up. Picture and sound is quite good when it's working.

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sony...just bouth a toshiba 5700. I needed something that would work.

none- service people deny problems exist. and when you do get some help, it leads to other frustrating problems.

freeze and quit. front panel lighting quit after one month. In all honesty I have played 50 DVD''s at most in this machine, and grown more frustrated with DVD and Hitachi with every disc played.

Hitachi DVP250U is really a monstrosity! Not knowing where to turn when movies started to freeze and player would stop, I just assumed it was a bad DVD disc. And then the machine started on the mind-of-its-own thing, switching in and out of Dolby Digital at its own free will. Very frustrating. I eventually paid service centre $90 for upgrades (I was out of warranty period) and this did not help. twice it was in, and then after three phone calls got new Canadian Service manager who said everything but that machine was crap. he offered to replace with latest and greatest DVP325U for $100 plus tax. What choice did I have? Now this one -fresh out of the box, has a problem sychronizing sound with movement of characters lips on screen. This may be fixable. At this point I don''t give a rats a--. Hitachi sucks big time!

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JVC and Sony

Hitachi DV-P250E Always perform a Cold Start before applying the hack below: Power on your player whilst pressing hold both the Play and Stop buttons on the front player After a short while you should be presented with a set of language options. Release the Play and Stop buttons on the player You will now need to select a language option between 1 and 6 To convert this player to Multi-Region playback: Press the Repeat button on the Remote Control Using the Remote enter the code below, note that you must know what Region your player is currently set to in order to know which code is appropriate for Region 1 use 2, 9, 3, 3 and 4 for Region 2 use 3, 8, 7, 6 and 7 for Region 3 use 5, 6, 7, 3 and 2 for Region 4 use 7, 6, 8, 8 and 4 for Region 5 use 5, 3, 8, 1 and 4 for Region 6 use 2, 4, 4, 6 and 2 A code should be displayed on the screen indicating the current Region setting of your unit Press the 9 button on the Remote Control for Region free, or 1 for Region 1, 2 for Region 2 and so on Press the Open button on your player Press the Standby button on the Remote Control If the player sticks on FBI Warning screens: Press Forward

this has been a very poor machine that broke down within the first 3 x months - as it would freeze up & then turn off, I am still trying to get it fixed? - even though I went out & bought a fantastic new Panasonic, but atleast I have written in below how to multizone your DV-P250 - & if your wondering this procedure did not cause the faults on my machine as it has been faulty from day dot !

It plays cd-r, has exclusive disc navigate system dual lazer, last play function even after changing the disc or turning off the player, dts and appearance. Lots of bells and whistles for the price. Screensaver and auto shutoff This a must for people falling asleep watching a movie.

remote, had the Matrix "glitch" and still have problems with the Mirrorball by Sarah M.-it could be the disc

I decided to get another player after having problems playing cd-rs with my Toshiba 3107.

For the price, this is a great player. I paid $540 Cdn and now, it's about $490 with rebate. It's got a lot more features compared to the Toshiba. I especially like the screen saver and auto shutoff(I don't see this option written anywhere). I fell asleep a few times and waking up after few hours with the main menu frozen on my Toshiba 61" RP. Ouch !!! Well, not anymore.

Regarding the Matrix Glitch, I'm very surprised that Hitachi did not adviced their retailers that there is a fix for this problem. I was very close to exchanging it for another brand. My Toshiba 3107 plays it without no problem. All models with ser. number before T1008946 needs to be upgraded. After the upgrade, it works great. I still have problems with the Mirrorball disc, but I suspect that it's the disc. Before the upgrade I tried my friends disc and it played just fine.

Hats off to Hitachi Canada. I called customer service (they actually knew what I was talking about) last Mon. 00-01-17 and I got my software upgrade today. I was very surprised because they said it would take 4 - 6 weeks. Very impressive.

Software ver. up to 1.364 from 0.XXX. It's very easy to check. With power on, on the front panel, press "last" and "power" at the same time, then release "power" after 1 sec. while holding "last" for at least 5 secs.
It would read Poo 01.364 if you have the latest software version.

To think I almost exchanged it for a Sony which is $250 more.

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Toshiba 3107

Plays everything now, solidly built, variety of connections

Has been a great player except had problems with Matrix and AVIA. I received a cd this week from Hitachi with new firmware and after I installed the fix it now plays flawlessly (see the last two posts). It took only 30 seconds to update the software. I had to call Hitachi to get them to send disk otherwise I don't know if they would have ever contacted me or let me know there was a fix. The dealer knew nothing of the updgrade so I am taking the disk to him to upgrade any machines they might still have that have the earlier version.

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none

Loaded with quality features

Required firmware update straight from the box

Well, this is my first DVD player so I can't accurately compare it with others except for my friends Pioneer. I can say that mine has many more features than his at a comparable price. I noticed a DVD skip once or twice but nothing major (software version was 1.316 before upgrade). I didn't know there was a problem (with serial #s before T91008946) with the software until looking at reviews here. On the plus side, I called 1-800-HITACHI and had the update in about a week. Overall, this machine has performed well for me, but I would never have bought it had I read the reviews here first. I would save your money and wait for one of the 2000 year models (DVP-305U/505U) and hopefully Hitachi will have the bugs worked out.

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None

Features!

light weight remote but it does do the job

I bought this thing 2 months ago and thought it was a great deal, using the features versus price ratio. I took it back in two short days! It stubbled though Matrix and a couple of other popular DVDs. Reluctantly, I tried it again after the Hitachi rep "claimed" he had a software version upgrade disk to fix the problems it was having. (version 3.3 or close to that). Wow!! It works!!!! It blew through Matrix with zero problems! Access time to chapters, picture detail (near identical to the 550 owned-(lip sync hell)...it all got better with the upgrade. It only takes about 2-5 minutes to run the upgrade disk in the unit. It was a free fix! It's worked perfectly ever since. I returned my Pioneer 414 2 days later!
I've had about 12 different (some the same model hoping for a fix) DVD players over the past year (I'm picky-PPS type C personality-smile). They all have thier faults, it's just a matter of what you are willing to live with. Sony-lip sync (near perfect picture), Pioneer-slow chapter access (good picture though), Panasonic-VCR like picture quality, JVC-they simply suck (sorry I'm being honest).
This "upgraded" version is quite a near perfect compromise. It has and excellent picture quality(try "Fifth Element"- the close up on her face when she first comes out on the ledge-before the scene where she jumps off) and it zips though chapters using the forward or reverse buttons.
Get the upgrade before you toss it. THEN send in another review!

Similar Products Used:

Sony 330,500,550, Panasonic 110, 320, Pioneer 414, any some

looks slick, excellent picture and sound quality, plays CDRW

remote does not light up, matrix glitch

i got this player just before christmas, and it is awesome!
i have watched a few movies, none have screwed up except for the matrix (as pointed out in every damn other review!)
i have not yet picked up an ac3 reciever, so i am stuck with good old dolby surround for now, it sounds great!

this is an excellent player for the price, hopefully there will be some news on that matrix glitch, and we wont have to see the same glitch happen again