Region issue with Cambridge Audio Azur 540 D version 2 dvd player

mahiruha

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Hello,
I am thinking of getting a cambridge audio Azur 540D (Version 2) HDMI DVD player. I am wondering it has any region issues. I got one today and it was marked region 2 in the backside. I played some region 2 DVD in it and it played with some problems ( Since the unit I got is faulty and I have returned it but its a separate issue.) When I tried to play a region 5 DVD it played it initially but then shut itself off. I am wondering if anybody in this forum using this particular player and if they have any region issues with this player.
Thanks in advance,
Mahiruha.:sad:
 
Hello,
I am thinking of getting a cambridge audio Azur 540D (Version 2) HDMI DVD player. I am wondering it has any region issues. I got one today and it was marked region 2 in the backside. I played some region 2 DVD in it and it played with some problems ( Since the unit I got is faulty and I have returned it but its a separate issue.) When I tried to play a region 5 DVD it played it initially but then shut itself off. I am wondering if anybody in this forum using this particular player and if they have any region issues with this player.
Thanks in advance,
Mahiruha.:sad:

This is common prob with CA players,The transport can give prob.
As it recognised Reg 5 then its reg free.Many other forum have reported similar issues.
 
This is common prob with CA players,The transport can give prob.
As it recognised Reg 5 then its reg free.Many other forum have reported similar issues.

Hi,
thanks for your reply. I am a novice in this field when it comes to hardware parts. The term "Transport" you have mentioned is new to me. What it does it eactly mean?
thnaks,
Mahiruha.
 
The term "Transport" you have mentioned is new to me. What it does it eactly mean?

A CD/DVD player consists of two major parts - One is the part that consists of a tray that holds and rotates the disc, a lens that generates the laser beam, and a sensor that reads the reflected beam. This is called the transport. Two is the electronics inside that interact with you, take the data from the sensor, and do what is needed for you to hear the music or see the video. The electronics in a DVD Player is complicated as it undertakes a large number of tasks.

Generally transports are mass manufactured by companies such as TEAC, Philips, etc. These are purchased by companies like CA who design the electronics, and integrate it with the transport.

If you have faced problems with a model, I would suggest you look at other models and brands.

Cheers
 
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Thanks venkat,
you explained everything on my behalf.

Hello,
thanks Venkat for your explanation. Well it certainly rings a bell of caution. It may be possible that if one unit is faulty then it is quite likely that it may not be a problem in isolation rather an entire pack might have suffered the same fate. Well I will get another unit on wednesday and try it out. Since I have read so many good reviews about this product I am quite tempted to get this otherwise DV99 will be the obvious choice.

Thanks,
Mahiruha.
 
Hello,
I got my replaced player today and I am happy to say that there are no region issues. I have tried discs from 5 different regions and it worked fine.
Thanks,
Mahiruha.
 
Hi Mahiruha,

There are no issues with the Cambridge Audio line of DVD Players. Yes, while I do agree that they may be stray incidents, but to say that CA players have a tendency to not read disc's is baseless (I'm refering to Venkat's post)

I'm glad you have had your player replaced and it's working properly (See, I told you so)

Let me know if you have any other issue with CA as I am the Sold Importer and distributor of CA in India.

Thanks,

Shane
 
Hi everybody,

Well, I do not think Venkat's comments were directed specifically at CA or any specific brand. He was making a general comment I thought.

But the comment from Spiro surprised me a bit. I have the CA 740c CDP and the transport so far has not given me any problem whatsoever. In fact among all the CDPs I have owned and seen and auditioned, this 740c transport reads the disc the fastest. You just put the CD and push the tray in by pressing the button, and a blink or two, it says how many tracks etc. Overall also, I have so far the impression this transport is a decent one.

Many others in this forum have CA CDPs and DVDPs and I do not remember seeing any transport-related problems reported at least in this forum. Besides buying the 740c, I was at one point very interested in buying the DVDP 540D or the 99. I have done a lot of net searches on the 740c and also on the 540D and DVD99/89, and cannot remember such complaints.

So, Spiro, would you care to give a few pointers on the net or wherever, for the transport problem you referred to.
 
There are no issues with the Cambridge Audio line of DVD Players. Yes, while I do agree that they may be stray incidents, but to say that CA players have a tendency to not read disc's is baseless (I'm refering to Venkat's post)

Asit has already clarified this, but I was just answering Mahi's question on what a transport is. I have not mentioned anything about any brand or model. I certainly have not mentioned anything about disc read anywhere.

Cheers
 
Hi Mahiruha,

There are no issues with the Cambridge Audio line of DVD Players. Yes, while I do agree that they may be stray incidents, but to say that CA players have a tendency to not read disc's is baseless (I'm refering to Venkat's post)

I'm glad you have had your player replaced and it's working properly (See, I told you so)

Shane

Hello shanechoithramani,
I would be the most happiest person to agree with you in this matter but I must say that it is not the case because there are issues. It is true that the second player which got replaced yesterday is working fine now but I have taken a great deal of risk in atall accepting the product.when called the shop yesterday he told me that he has received the product yesterday it is making sound and displaying pictures but the front LCD panel in dark. then after couple of hour he called me again saying that he opened the unit and fixed the loose wire and make it work. In the first place after hearing such a thing I guess nobody would have accepted a product but I was just too eager to get it and start experimenting with it as i have read very good reviews about it . In spite of all those issues I must say it is a very good product and I am very happy so far. In case for your interest I am posting some really bad reviews about this product.They are not easy to locate as this product is praised so much.
Thnaks,
Mahiruha.
Disclaimer: the review quoted below is not mine. Just posted as reference that people did face issues with this player. If you click the url provided below you will find many reviews about this product by users which gives a allround idea about pros and cons. It also has the review quoted below.


"" Summary:
Beware this player, and even Cambridge Audio in general. In principle, it's an excellent unit, but I had to go through three of them in six weeks to be convinced that Cambridge has design and quality control problems. Player #1: Purchased mid-August. Outstanding video quality, excellent CD sound, but DVD-A was a bust. It wouldn't play the format due to a software problem. Before it was determined to be a software issue affecting several hundred units, my dealer (Audio Vision in San Francisco; excellent people, I highly recommend them) provided me with a replacement, which, naturally was... Player #2: DVD-Audio, at last. Same CD playback. Video riddled with noise. Yup, this thing had a ground loop problem with my digital cable feed like you wouldn't believe. Lifting the cable ground took care of this, but without the lovely purples and greens from the ground loop obscuring the picture, I now got treated to some other kind of interference. Faint, thin horizontal bands of alternating image intensity (not different color, just intensity) ran from top to bottom of the image. Pausing playback, however, stopped the noise. Immediately I thought: stepper motor drive signal interference. A quick and dirty calculation of the apparent square wave frequency based on the number of bands on screen gave 15 to 20 Hz. And what is the usual square wave drive frequency for a DVD player? About 10 to 30 Hz, depending on the head location. This, of course, takes me to... Player #3. Surely, the noise artifacts were a fluke. After all, the first of these players had completely clean video. Nope, not a chance. Identical noise problems and the same unusually low black level. This unit, however, had the added bonus of a transport so noisy I could keep time with the clicking of the stepper motor during soft passages of music while seated 10 feet away. So, is it poor design, or poor quality control? I'm guessing both. I decided to have a look inside the second unit. Two things struck me: first the SCART connector housing was badly corroded, as were the solder pins from the connector to the board; second, there was a version sticker on the logic board (containing the DACS and stepper timing circuitry, among other things) that was printed as "2.2" but which had been altered with a pen to "2.3". Since the serial number of the third unit was one number removed from the serial number of the second, the third one was certainly a "version 2.3". My take is that Cambridge made a circuit design that resulted in the stepper drive signal crosstalk and susceptibility to ground loops. Add in some shoddy workmanship, and there you have it. For me, since I didn't want to shell out twice as much for another multi-format (DVD-V, DVD-A, and CD) player, I found it worked better to forget about having a multi-format player for the time being in favor of a decent CD player (the Cambridge 540C, believe it or not) and a separate DVD-V player. There were also a couple of non-performance issues that arose. On the second and third 540D's, the screen-printed logo and button labels were much, much darker than what was on the amp, making the pairing look conspicuously cheap. Further, on the second 540D and on the 540C were white information stickers about 1.5 x 2.0 inches, that had been placed on the top front surfaces of the units. Instead of using an appropriate low-tack adhesive, they cheaped out and used a semi-permanent adhesive that was so stuck on that I had to remove the top covers and soak them in warm water with a little alcohol for several hours to remove the stickers. The 540D came out fine, but the on the 540C the adhesive had deteriorated the paint underneath, leaving a really noticeable stain. I'm giving this thing low value and overall ratings because it failed in it's primary purpose: video playback. I know this is supposed to be bargain equipment, but I don't think expecting things like basic functionality and undamaged casework is unreasonable at any price short of free. Overall, if you're thinking about going Cambridge, think twice. Look carefully at their website, and compare their Azur line, which they say is a ground up re-design, to their older stuff. There is virtually no difference between them, and what differences are there tend to favor the older line. I cannot recommend that anyone purchase their products.

Strengths:
Decent CD sound, DVD-A, very nice picture when you look past the noise.

Weaknesses:
Video noise resulting from ground loops and RF pickup from the stepper motor; assembly and fabrication quality problems ""

Here is the url for further reviews.
Cambridge Audio Azur 540D Reviews
 
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Hi Mahiruha,

In your post above, would you kindly edit your post and put within quotes the bad review and also the source on the internet, because otherwise it seems you have written that review and that is actually not fair.

It would also help if you kindly share with us where you bought this product from. As far as I know SKS traders is the only authorized reseller for CA in Kolkata, so I would assume you bought it from them.

I fully sympathize with you on your situation. I would have very similar reaction if I buy something paying a substantial amount from my hard-earned income and then the product does not function the first time and then even the replacement unit has some problems initially as reported by you. One actually tends to lose faith in the product in such situations.

You should definitely make it public in a forum like this so that people are aware of this. This in a way is good for all of us, because then if it is a good brand, they would like to be cautious with the quality control in future.

But at the same time it is also not completely fair to copy a very rare bad report (you yourself said it) from the net and post it without quotation mark and without referring to the source.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am a scientist at a national institute and have no business interests. But we have to be fair in this forum and respect certain norms.
 
Hello Asit,
I fully respect what you have said. I didn't mean to be bad with people that's why I have given the source of the review. It has many reviews by users to form a descent opinion about the product. Actully in todays world where information is so easily reachable the manufactures has to be very careful what they are offering to the customer. I always look for bad reviews if there are any before buying a product because then only you know if there are issues. I do agree that one or two incidents doesn't make a product bad but its the first impression about anything in life really lasts long. If it gets tainted its difficult to repair. I was the one who started this thread because I was worried if it might have any region issues. Thta's why I posted a clarification yesterday that this player doesn't have any region issues so that if somebody wants to buy should not worry about region issues.
thanks,
Mahiruha
 
Hi Mahiruha,

Do not worry! I fully understand your point of view. I requested you to edit the post actually to protect your post. I hope you didn't mind.

I hope, although your first impression and experience of this DVDP has been very bad with regard to quality control, it ultimately works out for you and you get your money's worth.

Do not hesitate to let us know in case there are some further troubles! In any case, after the unit has completely broken in, please write a detailed review covering all aspects: movies, music, connectivities etc. That will also help the forum members.

BTW, you didn't say where you bought this unit from.
 
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