Mustek V-560 Review

Good Points
Cheap (NZ$299), Cheap extd wty (extra 2yrs $40, Dick Smith), plays mp3's (not just ISO 9660 format either! plus it recognises spaces/underscores in filenames), plays CD-RW's, region-free (or able to specify a region), built-in decoder, component/s-video/composite out.

Bad Points
Basic manual, big remote, no screen saver during mp3 playback, DVD fast fwd/rwd is jerky.

General Comments
The features of this, very nicely priced, entry-level Mustek V560 DVD player are impressive.



I cannot comment on it's quality of DVD playback yet (except that fast fwd/rwd is jerky for any speed over 2x) as I haven't watched any fully. It has the ability to switch between hi-res and no-flicker (or auto) which really does get rid of the flicker of lines if they are problematic (as was the case in the 'space terminal' scene in, '2001: A Space Odyssey').



My main use for this player (after DVD) is, as an mp3 player and it seems to have superior handling of this format compared to others I tried (Lexoxx DVD8700, Black Diamond MP2000, Samsung DVDS124, Mizuda DVD-2023X).



The player was not advertised as a component-out player but it has the terminals on the back!



The manual is basic and doesn't explain all the features very well. I don't know what some of them do yet.



The price was definitely the clincher after I found out it handled mp3's and multi-zones so well. It was NZ$299 from Dick Smith and only an extra $40 for another 2 years warranty (on top of it's std 1 yr).