Cyberhome AD-L 528

I've had my Cyberhome AD-L 528 DVD player for about 1 1/2 years now and I recently updated the firmware with brill results... The mp3 disks I did now show in a "windows" style folder tree and you can fast forward mp3's too now!! also the picture quality and sound seem to have improved since the firmware upgrade.. It also had a great write up in "What DVD" last year... very happy with mine..

I bought this Cyberhome AD-L 528 DVD player because nothing in the same price-range offered the same range of audio outputs on the back. Having got it for a bargain price I was anticipating it may not offer the highest quality but have been very impressed. The menus are not very intuitive and nor is the remote control, both take some time to get familiar with.

The picture quality is excellent.

While the number of different audio outputs on the back is impressive, the quality of the sound is slightly lacking. The audio output frequency range is 20Hz - 20KHz, if you've always picked up your Hi-Fi componenets and accessories straight from the shelf without seeking a wider range you will probably find the audio on this player as good as anything else you've heard but if you've generally looked for the few extra KHz range and can tell the difference on other devices you'll be aware of the difference with this DVD player, but you soon settle into it and the other 5 channels usually add enough spacial distraction to stop you noticing.

Its bigger than my VCR, my amp, or any other Hi-Fi seperate I have, but other than that it looks quite smart.

I had one of these some time ago and it was a truly excellent player. Loved it. It wasn't noisy, was feature packed and basically did everything I wanted. Then an updated firmware became available and I went for it and put it on a cdrw and upgraded the player. Many of the features of the new firmware were great but there were a few issues that meant I wanted to go back down to the earlier firmware. It wouldn't let me. Anyway I complained to Cyberhome and they got Richer Sounds to replace my player. Instead of my original black model I got a silver model instead (which I prefered so this is good). However what I didn't prefer was the fact that this new player was unstable and would crash out of a film back to the menu half way through. Pearl Harbour was like this. This is something the older model never did. From what I understand the loader (dvd drive) in the later versions (or some of them at least) are terrible or not fully compatible. It seems to be a common problem on a lot of ADL528s.

I wish I could tell you what was the good drive and what was the bad but sadly I can't. What I will say is that this dvd player uses generic pc type dvd drives and therefore its a bit hit and miss whats fitted. Many owners have replaced their drives with better spec drives and cured their problems.

Basically be warned the reviews you've read here are probably all true. Some have got a great player and some have got a real troublesome model. In essense make sure you can easily return it.

This machine played everthing i had to throw at it, and since the firmware update its even better.

when people say its good for the money, it makes me cringe.

You think that you are bying a budget player, when what you are buying is a dam good dvd player and it top's alot of the leading makes.

The cyberhome ad-l 528 is bye far one player that deserves a try, plus it uses a pc dvd drive so its even better if it goes wrong in the future(but it probably wont).

I would give this player 10/10 if i had to rate it.

and when some people say its to bulky, then thats just personel choice, i happen to like more for my money, as things get made smaller they seem to have more problems.

some people have reported that this player overheats(though i have never had this problem, you can just plug in a pc fan and fix it to the player inside and they are standard pc connectors.

these are some of the good points about this unit so if you bye one then you can find out the rest.

cakka uk.....................................

You can pick the Cyberhome AD-L 528 up for under 100 pounds and it had some good reviews in What Hifi but ultimately it is disappointing. Some discs do not play smoothly on it, eg my Monsters Inc disc has subtitles permanently on, which does not happen on my PC, and there are major glitches in other films such as memento. The player is noisy so I don't bother using it for music, the volume is too low, the remote is awkward and unresponsive, the player is chunky and not great to look at. I am going to take mine back and get a more expensive player which will hopefully perform a bit better.

I'VE BEEN THROUGH 2 OF THESE MACHINES FROM RICHER SOUNDS,THE 1ST PLAYER STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF FILMS AND HAD TO BE POWERED DOWN TO RESTART IT BY THEN YOU COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO WATCH TO FILM. THE 2ND PLAYER HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE MAINS LEAD AND MACRO'S PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND AND POOR PICTURE QUALITY (LIKE RUNNING COLOUR ON BRIGHT IMAGES). LUCKILY RICHER HAVE HAD NO QUIBBLE IN CHANGING THE MACHINE AND I NOW HAVE AN ACOUSTIC SOLUTIONS 651 AND FIND THIS SMALLER AND A FAR BETTER MACHINE.

Excellent conversion from NTSC to PAL, SVCD, DVD and MP3 all play excellent.

Good all round performer, sound is a little quiet, and a little tinny, mp3 works really well as does the cdrw mps music play, not enough features to tune the sound in tidy it always seems tinny.

Last weekend I bought the Cyberhome AD-L 528 to coincide with the arrival of my new philips tellie (21"). I have to say i'm happy with the combination. If you're like me (waiting 'til SACD players get cheaper and for more SACD material to come out), but also want to watch dvd's (used to hook up my pc to the tellie) pick this one. Multi-region and good sound (provided you use your amp to deal with the decoding). Remote is bit funny but I rarely use it - i just start the movie and just watch the movie.

The distortion mentioned is minor, remember DVD is far better in quality than any VHS video, rental or otherwise.

Go for this one

- if money is too tight to mention and you still want to get into DVD stuff Richersounds has a smaller Pioneer for 80 euro less (2nd October). It's only smaller with less connections on the back.. )

Just purchased one of these Cyberhome AD-L 528 DVD players from Richer Sounds in Stoke. I was a little apprehensive about reports of it being a bit noisy, but decided to give it a try.

Maybe I am just lucky, but I cannot hear any noise out of it whilst playing a disk (even with the TV sound turned off).

It plays my VCD's and MP3 Disks perfectly, its also easy to switch between MP3 albums on the same CD by turning by pressing the "display" button and selecting the appropriate option - you dont need to scroll down a long list on songs at all. (had to play around to find this feature as the manual didnt mention it).

Both Video and Sound Quality seem to be excellent, it even plays my VCD disks to a much higher standard than my £1000 PC.

Seen both the Silver and Black Versions - I recon the Silver one looks miles better, ok it may be slightly bigger than some other DVD's on the market, but I dont think its that bad. (think VCR size instead of slimline DVD and you wont be far wrong).

The remote is sensitive enough, there dosnt seem to be any need to press the buttons hard, and also seems to be fairly well laid out. (you do however need to aim the remote at the unit a bit more accuratly than the TV and VCR I have).

Overall it seems to be an excellent player, ok you could spend a lot more but to be honest I really dont see what additional features you could possibly need anyway.

Plays Everything and the Output Quality is excellent - what more could you want.