The manuals included simply contain different languages, with three or four languages to a manual. The English section of the manual is somewhat spartan, but it lets you know everything you need to know in order to get your player up and running. It also contains some interesting pieces of information such as the maximum resolution you can expect out of your DVD player (720x576) and the approximate total playing time of a disc that has two audio languages and three subtitle tracks (133 minutes for a single-layered disc, 241 minutes for an RSDL disc).
The manual is very dry and stale in its delivery of information, and most of the information contained within it is useless to the Australian reader because of the Eurocentric information it contains.
The Grundig GDV 100D has a very sleek, aerodynamic black shape with a very spartan front panel. The power switch is an annoying little number that pops in and out according to its state. Placing this player in standby mode can only be done from the remote control, which is a rather glaring omission at times when you've misplaced the remote control under the lounge cushions.
The extreme left of the player contains the power switch and the disc tray, which is one of the better-placed trays I have seen in a while. The middle of the player contains the LED display, which cannot be dimmed in any manner at all. Underneath the LED display you will find the fast-forward and rewind buttons, as well as buttons for some basic control functions. The play, pause, and chapter skip buttons are located on the extreme right of the player. In a nutshell, the front panel contains everything you need and nothing that you don't.
Placing a disc into the tray is an easy affair, and the loading mechanism is one of the better ones I have seen on any kind of player, although the whirring sound is somewhat loud by my standards. Overall, this is one of the most intuitively designed front panels you can expect to see, with only a small degree of familiarization necessary to make all operations from this panel second nature.
The rear panel is a little bit of a worry, but it works just fine for me in most cases. The region label on the back panel boldly proclaims the player to be a Region 2 player, but this is an issue we can explore later. Connectors for digital audio, stereo analogue audio, composite video, and RGB video through a Euroconnector (or SCART as we call it) interface are all present and accounted for, but there is one glaring omission: an S-video output. This, in a nutshell, is why I gave up on this player and went with a Toshiba SD-2109 player instead. While this player may be compatible with a variety of television sets that are available in Western Europe, not a lot of equipment exists in Region 4 that is compatible with RGB input. This basically means that you have a choice between buying a new television set that supports RGB input, in which case electronics dealers can hold you to ransom, or restricting yourself to composite input, which is not particularly ideal either.
Connecting all the necessary cables to their appropriate ports is remarkably easy, and the well-spaced layout of the rear panel is very advantageous when it comes to adding cables later. All the ports are easily accessed, although the sound and composite video ports are somewhat too close together. Given that these cables all essentially perform similar functions, this is a very minor quibble. The rear panel also features a switch that allows you to change the on screen display from PAL to NTSC mode, with the latter option preferred because it makes the display look a little less ugly.
The first thing that strikes me whenever I look at the Grundig RP-100D
remote control is how simplistic and minimal it is in comparison to other
remote controls, and yet how large it is, especially in comparison to other
remote controls such as the one which comes with the Toshiba
SD-2109. This is one of the best laid-out remote controls I have seen
for any household appliance, with every available function given plenty
of space to limit the possibility of hitting one button when you're aiming
for another. The top of the remote control contains a standby button, but
when the player is in standby mode, it will not respond to this button
at all. This is consistent with the typical style of German-designed remotes,
where there tends to be a separate on and off button, but given that there
is no other button on the remote that relates to power, this is a very
annoying and counter-intuitive implementation which should be rectified
immediately. In any case, below the standby button, you will find a collection
of numbered buttons that ostensibly allow faster chapter and title navigation.
Given that the player itself seems to never recognize when these buttons
are pressed, however, these buttons become all but useless, although the
well-spaced layout of the remote control allows this oversight to be overlooked.
The real kicker is the menu navigation buttons, which double as basic control
buttons during playback: they are doubtlessly the best-placed buttons of
this variety you are likely to find on most any remote control. They are
also well-shaped, although the round shape of the left and right buttons
is a very minor disappointment. The left and right navigation buttons,
double as the fast-forward and rewind buttons, while the up and down navigation
buttons double as the pause and slow-motion buttons. The button in the
middle, marked "OK", performs the same function as the Enter button on
most other remotes while in the menu. Using these direction buttons with
just about any menu is very easy, even in the dark. A series of buttons
below these directional keys perform such functions as switching audio
tracks, subtitle tracks, and angles. The only real annoyance of the implementation
of these functions is that once subtitles are switched on, which is done
automatically when you select a subtitle using the remote, you have to
go to the disc's menu to turn them off again. Beneath this series of buttons
lies a row of small buttons for the On Screen Display and Setup functions.
In no way does their size make them any less intuitive to use, but this
is more because of the fact that they are so well spaced-out that remembering
which button is which is rather easy, and operating them solely by memory
is even easier. If a simple, easy-to-use remote control is the basis on
which you judge a DVD player, then the Grundig is a must-buy.
The manual and the player itself are marked as Zone 2, but it would seem this player has evidently been modified by the distributor to ensure compatibility with Region 4. Either that or Grundig are not so keen to announce that they are manufacturing Region 0 players. The player will also play any Region 1 disc you throw at it without skipping a beat, which is an excellent snub to the few major conglomerates who actually believe region encoding to be a good idea. This player's software compatibility certainly makes up for the shortcomings in the hardware compatibility area. The Grundig is also a lot less picky about the condition of the discs it plays, with a rental copy of Dr. Strangelove that the Japanese-built Toshiba SD-2109 spat the dummy at due to its condition playing back without so much as a hiccup on the German-built Grundig.
If there is one area where the Grundig GDV 100D beats the Toshiba SD-2109, it lies in the implementation of the fast forward function. The fast forward and fast reverse functions are available in 2X and 8X speeds, and the picture on the screen is a very accurate reflection of the disc's actual position. If you fast forward through the bad sound balance of the Mars landing sequence on Total Recall and resume normal playback at the very beginning of the customs sequence, it will play back from that very spot instead of ten seconds later than the picture you see when you resume normal playback as the Toshiba SD-2109 does. This, needless to say, is the best way to implement the function.
RSDL layer changes are noticeable on this player, even in spots where a lot of care was taken to hide the transition. The least amount of time that the GDV 100D takes during a layer transition is about a fifteenth of a second, which is especially noticeable when the transition is in as bad a spot as it was on Total Recall. Still, discs that have been known to lock up at the layer change, such as Thelma & Louise, do not present a problem on this player.
Sadly, the subtitle feature suffers the same malady as it does on the Toshiba SD-2109, in that the subtitles are distinguished by abbreviated codes rather than the full name of the language. "ES" for Spanish is easy enough when you remember how the name "Spanish" is rendered in the language, but "IW" for Hebrew is more than a bit much.
To test the audio playback of this DVD player, I borrowed a few discs that had been known to exhibit audio sync problems on a wide variety of players, as well as the entirety of my personal collection. The Wedding Singer and Wild Things, two of Village Roadshow's earliest releases onto the DVD market, were specifically used to test the audio sync of the player. In a nutshell, if you see sync problems while watching a film on the GDV 100D, it's the fault of the disc. Even during The Wedding Singer, no discernible problems with audio sync occurred in spite of the ever-looming threat. A slight pause accompanies changes in audio tracks, but this is the only way you're going to see the player miss a beat in audio playback. My entire collection of discs also failed to demonstrate any problems that could be blamed on the player.
Another feature worth mentioning is the excellent implementation of CD-Audio playback, with a plethora of options not normally found on DVD players present in the GDV 100D's manner of handling the CD-DA format. The option to exclude certain tracks from playback is a nice touch, and the manner in which the programming system is implemented is first-rate in spite of the fact that it takes some getting used to. The only real complaint I have is that when the playback of any disc, regardless of format, is stopped, hitting the fast-forward or fast-reverse buttons will cause the player to eject the disc. Although this is an annoyance that should have been left out, it is easy to cope with once you become aware of it and how to make its ugly head pop up.
| Performance |   |
| Build Quality | |
| Compatibility | |
| Value For Money | |
| Product Type: | DVD-Video, Video CD and Audio CD player |
| Region: | Marked as Zone 2 (Western Europe), but able to play discs from all zones. |
| Signal System: | PAL / NTSC |
| Audio Frequency Response: | DVD linear sound:
48 kHz sampling 4 Hz to 22 kHz 96 kHz sampling 4 Hz to 44 kHz |
| Signal to Noise Ratio: | More than 112 dB |
| Dynamic Range: | More than 96 dB |
| Total Harmonic Distortion: | Less than 0.006% |
| Dimensions: | 430 (w) x 305 (d) x 61 (h) |
| Weight: | Approximately 4 kg |
| Price: | $1499 |
| Distributor: | |
| Telephone: | |
| Facsimile: | |
| Email: |
© Dean McIntosh
February 10, 2000