Mustek V-560 Review

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Mustek V-560
★★★☆☆
3.3
40.0% of users recommend this

Alistair.'s review of Mustek V-560

“I have had a Mustek V560 DVD player for less than a...”

★★★☆☆

written by Alistair. on 24/05/2002

Good Points
Value for money,
lots of features,
AC3 decoder built in.

Bad Points
Picture quality sometimes a bit iffy,
Manual doesn't cover all the features,
Manual lists menu items that aren't actually on the machine.

General Comments
I have had a Mustek V560 DVD player for less than a week and bought one movie (U571) to test it on install. Title sequence to this movie starts with a computer generated sequence leading up to the root menu. Immediatley I noticed pixelisation on the colour boundaries in this sequence, and in several other scenes where a sky or underwater shot meant low contrast colour changes across the picture. It seemed to have trouble blending the colours smoothly. As I am new to DVD I am unsure if this is to be expected, but I can't see how it could be. Normal high contrast scenes were very clear and sound quality seemed very good (once i figured out how to turn on the AC3 decoder for 5.1 output). I have a friend with the same machine and he says he has noticed it too on other disks. I even went to the extent of taking the disk to a shop and trying it in the Mustek floor model. Same problem. This is very disappointing as it seems to be a very good machine otherwise. I have not watched the movie on a "high quality" brand machine so dont know if it is normal, but it is not the disk, as my friend reported the problem on several disks he has watched. I welcome anyones input into this problem and if it is "normal" as no-one else in any reviews i have read has mentioned it.

Cheers

  • Value For Money

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38884_Scorpion.'s Response to 24577_Alistair.'s Review

Written on: 21/09/2002

I have had several replacements for mis-reading disc's and lock-ups. I would like to know how to get AC3 coax or optical to work, tech suppurt says set audio to 5.1, there is led output from the end of the optical cable but my pioneer SPD07 decoder does not see any signal (same with RF coax), by comparison my PS/2 optical lights up the AC3 display and sounds great. Pity player has component out, PS/2 only has composite
<br>
<br>Is there a trick to geting the optical link working ???

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Nj2T's Response to 24577_Alistair.'s Review

Written on: 15/01/2004

I have also returned three Mustek players to Dick Smith fro freezing. Funnily they say the problem is unusual and seem surprised.
<br>I traded up to a Pansonic - hoping this will fix it.

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Funkybunnyears's Response to 24577_Alistair.'s Review

Written on: 11/10/2003

I think mustek DVD's are 'Get what you pay for'
<br>I have had three faulty units. Flickering picture, skipping problems and picture freezes. Dick Smith Electronics gave me a refuned. I have since purchased a Tranisonic DVD player from the warehouse only to hear that it is produced by the same company that makes the Mustek DVD'S. This explain the various problems I am having with my current Tranisonic DVD player. Does anyone know of an ok brand of cheap dvd in New Zealand that actually works?

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Jesus.'s Response to 24577_Alistair.'s Review

Written on: 18/02/2003

Yes, I am having the same problems whith my Mustek DVD player, (frezzing images) after an hour of playing.- But I realized that only happend when the movie is not that "clean", because, whith new DVD´s an with no scratches on it, the DVD works pecfect.- Besides, what else can we espect for that price??
P.s. Sorry If my English is not that good.-
cheers.-

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68906_Slg.'s Response to 24577_Alistair.'s Review

Written on: 29/01/2003

I have had the same problems with the Mustek V56L which I am sure is the same as the V560 except for the slimline case. Discs froze during play back and eventually most of my DVDs would not even load after extended whirring and clicking noises. After 4 months I took the machine back to Dick Smith Electronics who surprisingly gave me a refund.
Interestingly the Mustek is the only player on the NZ market cheaper than the $900 Denon DVD900 which uses a memory buffer to eliminate any pause at the DVD layer change point. Sony models are very poor in handling the layer change with a pause of more than 1 second.

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55003_Alistair.'s Response to 24577_Alistair.'s Review

Written on: 01/12/2002

Yes I too have finally given up on the Muztek I purchased. After having similar lock-up problems, and picture freezes, and sending it back for warranty repair 3 times, I finally get it back and it would not even load a disc! I took it back to the place I bought it (QMB computers) and they also would not refund my money. They have however swapped it for an Auriga model (with very similar looking software installed) and I have had no trouble with it. Good Luck with the Muzteks guys!

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M3Rrik.'s Response to 24577_Alistair.'s Review

Written on: 01/12/2002

I too have a Mustek v560 purchased from Dick Smith Electronics in New Zealand. I'm actually very unhappy with it and am annoyed that Dick Smith will not refund my money and take back the unit.
9 times out of 10 every movie I watch will freeze and then skip for a few seconds at a time. Usually after an hour or so. I can hear the drive seeking or something while the picture is frozen. If I'm really unlucky the whole unit will then lock-up after the drive has been very busy seeking (clicking) and there is nothing to do but power off and on again to remove the DVD. The remote control does nothing when the unit is in this state.
It's been "repaired" once already after Dick Smith insisted that they had to repair it and could not refund the purchase price. The service report simply stated "main board faulty, replaced board, tested OK". Yet the same thing is happening again (what and how exactly did they test?).
Lastly, this unit could be used as a MP3/CD player if only it would not jump into the setup menu upon power on. Why would I want to set-up this player each time I use it? If I were using it as a CD player I would not want to turn on a TV each time to exit the set-up menu.
Anyone else having these types of problems?

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