I been looking at the Meos 123B Portable DVD Player: http://www.meos.co.uk/product/index/..._TV+DVD_PLAYER and also the Xtron P1201 Portable DVD Player: http://www.xtrons.com/doce/productdetail.aspx?pid=38. They seem to be the same device so I've been pricing round for both. I found the Meos model for sale here: http://www.wedodigital.co.uk/product.../meos-dvd123b/ and the Xtrons Model for sale here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Has anyone bought either of these models? They seem to have a great amount of features, can be used as a DVD Player, TV, Monitor, Photo Frame and Games Player.

As the Xtrons model seems to be the cheapest (on eBay anyway), I was thinking of going with that one.

I decided to buy a Xtrons P1201 Potrable DVD Player last week from eBay but am a little disappointed with a couple of things and wondered if anyone had bought one and over come these issues:

The screen is actually 16:10 ratio (its native resolution is 1280x800) which looks great in VGA mode, however, when I play a DVD or put it in Freeview mode, the 16:9 picture seems to be streched to fit the 16:10 screen, meaning (in my eyes anyway) the picture appears every so slightly elongated. I have looked at the settings and both the DVD/Freeview software and the overall system settings are set to 16:9 ratio.

The other thing, is when I try to play a MPG file from my USB drive using the DVD software, the audio goes all choppy when there is movement in the video, however, play the same video using the Freeview software and it plays fine

Has anyone bought one of these devices and over come these problems? I've e-mailed Xtrons who have just told me to try what I've already tried.

Plus, the other thing, is the eBay seller sent me an American plug rather than a British one. (Luckily I've overcome this by using the cable that came with my camera).

I've tried e-mailing Xtrons several times over the problem with the Protable DVD Player but they just keep insisting "there is no fault with their unit" - this may be so, but my unit may have a fault causing it to display 16:9 images in 16:10 aspect ratio.

I even sent pictures clearly showing the problem to which they just replied "there is no fault with our unit"!!! And actually asked me to send the DVD film I'd tried across to China for them to test to see if the DVD disc was faulty! I sent an e-mail back explaining the problem is with multiple DVDs so the disc is not at fault (plus it plays perfectly fine on my PC, PS3, DVD Player), but again they just replied "our unit is not faulty"

I have put some of the pictures I sent to Xtrons onto Photobucket, so you can view them here:

Xtrons: http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...n%20DVD/03.jpg
PC: http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...n%20DVD/04.jpg

Xtrons: http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...n%20DVD/01.jpg
PC: http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...n%20DVD/02.jpg

Xtrons: http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...%20DVD/03a.jpg
DVD: http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/b...%20DVD/03b.jpg

I know it might not look too bad, but I am a perfectionist and hate to see pictures distorted even by a little bit.

(By the way, the blotches on the Xtrons shots are actually the protective film which I haven't removed yet just in case I have to send it back.)

I have now e-mailed the eBay seller to see if they can come up with an more constructive advice other than "our unit is not faulty"

Best to always raise on issue on ebay fairly quick otherwise you will be deemed to have accepted faulty goods.

Thanks for your reply.

I've e-mailed the actual seller so hopefully they'll come up with something, if not then I will raise it with eBay.

Well fully check the current ebay system rules.

If you don't use the raise issue system it can be in the sellers interests to avoid contact x number of days.
Ebay often automatically refund for a limited set period. After that they will not want to know whatsoever.

Thanks for your reply.

If the seller doesn't reply by the time I get home from work tomorrow evening, I shall raise the problem with eBay and explain that the manufacturer has been totally unhelpful and the seller hasn't responded.

P.S. Can you see the problem from the pictures I've posted? Because either Xtrons was just trying to avoid the problem or couldn't see it.

If it has no setting to maintain the aspect ratio then it obviously is at fault.
Normally it should maintain the ration by default with stretch only being an additional option.

Obviously not fit for purpose if it only does 'stretch'

The main system settings are set to 16:9 and the DVD settings are set to 16:9. The main DVD I've been testing on it has been 'Back To The Future' which is 16:9.

It doesn't 'stretch' the film as bad as stretching a 4:3 picture to 16:9, but it does seem to be stretching the picture to 16:10 aspect ratio.

I have VLC on my PC which allows you to play a DVD in different aspect ratios so I tested my DVD on 16:10 mode on VLC and it looked identical to the picture on the Xtrons Player.

The screen on the Xtrons Player is 1280x800 resolution which is technically 16:10 aspect ratio, but surely the software should compensate for this like PCs do and display the picture in true 16:9 aspect ratio with small black borders.

The Freeview mode is also the same

The only mode that displays correctly in widescreen is VGA mode, but that only because the PC set the resolution to 1280x800 (the Xtrons device wouldn't even accept 1280x720 resolution which is a true 16:9 resolution)

I received an e-mail back from the eBay seller which seemed quite promising. I then sent some pictures to explain the problem better but they have just replied today saying there is noting wrong with the device and they are also blaming the DVDs. I just feel I'm banging my head against a brick wall.

One think is for sure. Never buy anything made by Xtrons or sold by Black Silver Tech.