Raite DVD/CD/MP3 Player $190

[handyman]

I and my friend bought this player abpout 2 months ago. Till today our players have made 2 trips to the Service center for LCD Display Problems. They just stop working.Both of us bought the player from Value America. Well we all know waht happend to VA.com!

Last week after the second trip my frinds LCD stopped working again.
The Service CenterPixie are terrible as far as customer service goes.

Well Besides the Display problems I liked this player as it plays MP3 and VCD's also

Recently I created some VCD's using CD Creator and they also played fine on the
player. My friend bought a $400 Sony DVD player and he is pissed with it
as Raite has more features.

Check out this site for
Raite Reviews

 

[namlook]

For those that have had problems and can't get appropriate service just order another one then return the first one you bought to the seller and get a refund. You end up paying shipping but if you can't get service through normal channels I wouldn't hesitate to do this. Eventually it will end up going back to Raite and you end up with a working player.

Also I think the LCD problem was with models earlier in the production process. I don't think the ones being made more recently have the same incidence of LCD problems.

 

[unclebud]

component video output or s-video available?

 

[laugh]

I suspect it uses a crap DVDROM and a crap DSP board and some EPROM. It froze when playing some of my DVDs... Of course my DVDs have no problem at all. I have both Apex and Raite, but Raite has optical audio output, so that's a plus.

You get what you pay. For $200, it's a nice MP3 player and DVD player.

 

[unclebud]

how reliable is the apex?

 

[Locutus of Board]

Got my apex, beautiful!

 

[unclebud]

i see circuit city still has the 600A--that's the one, right? does it still have the loophole?

 

[Dropkick]

well, i doubt i will ever view European DVDs, so i dont give a crap if it has the PAL or whatever feature. Should i go for the Apex? does the Apex play VCDs and Mp3s?
almost forgot, what is the Macrovision feature?

Also, anyone that gets one, please post weather or not your has the LCD problems.

 

[LarryJoe]

Well, there are enough negatives about the Raite here to make me stay away from it. I have the Apex, me and a friend got them at Circut City. The earlier Apex's had a special hidden menu where you could disable or change region codes and Macrovision. Every DVD has a region code to stop illegal imports and black market DVD's. The US is region 1 and will only play the region 1 DVD's sold in the US. Macrovision is a sort of encryption or scrambling that makes it hard to copy a DVD with a VCR. Most VHS tapes have this as well. If you have ever tried to go from VCR to VCR with a retail movie you know what I mean, it comes out scrambled.

The DVD/Movie industry complained and Apex removed this menu. I understand you can buy a chip or something to get it back. Those earlier players with the menu are bing hawked on e-bay for big bucks. Personally, I could care less. I just want to rent and buy movies and watch them. The player appealed to me because of the ability to play MP3's (150 tunes per CD) and VCD's (home movies transfered). My friend got the 1-year extended warranty where you can bring it back for any reason within a year if you do not like it. This is not a bad idea given that Apex is a relatively unknown brand like Raite. He originally bought a $500 Panasonic 5-DVD changer and I talked him into bringing it back for the Apex. He is happy so far.

LJ

 

[DesiHandDoc]

I have a Raite AV Phile 715 and love it. I make MP3 CD archive cd's and have a really cool utility that makes an active directory that shows the full filename on your TV screen and length of the song. It highlights and the song that is actively playing and you can customize the fonts, colors, etc. You can even put a jpeg or bmp as the background. The mp3 quality is excellent and if you get a newer unit you can play VBR files.

 

[RobsTV]

(I originally posted this in response to another post about the Apex for $200)
I too had the Apex for a couple days. Royal P.O.S.
Now I am the proud owner of a Raites 715.
Video playback is great, and video service is my business.
This thing does everything the Apex does plus a lot more.
MP3's,DVD,VCD,SCVD,CDR,CDRW, you name it, it runs it.

My collection of DVD's is approaching 200, and I never had one that wouldn't run correctly on it yet. It is also easy to change the firmware to any version. Simply write the 2 needed firmware files to a CDRW, pop it in the Raite, and it automatically changes to that firmware. There was also a Bios upgrade that you could do by temporarily putting the drive in your PC, and upgrading just like you would a PC's CD-Rom's bios. Either way, if some change was desired, the Raite company quickly made a method that consumers could use to upgrade or change there unit. Excellent support.

You can play PAL, NTSC, and any region DVD, as well as disable macrovision. It includes optical output. Also allows for long filenames when you burn MP3's. I can play 177 MP3's on an 80 minute CDR, and the long filenames allow the song titles to be displayed on the TV screen while song is playing. You can also add your own images to any MP3, and those will be displayed while the song plays. For MP3 playback features, the Raite devores the Apex.

Priced at around $150.
Heck, it is tough to find a stand alone MP3 player that plays CDR for that kind of money.

I, and many others did have a common problem that may be fixed with newer releases. The units display would fail. While this in no way affected how it worked, and the on screen display still functioned correctly, it was annoying. After using the player like this for months, just yesterday I finally opened it up. Turns out 2 transistors on the power supply were not rated high enough. Changed them to ECG 289A, which cost about $0.39 each, and problem solved for less than a dollar.

Raite discussion and files forum
Upgrading Raite Firmware Tips, Tricks, and Files

 

[cloudchief]

Any chance you could walk me through fixing the display for less than a dollar? I got and use mine mainly for MP3's and the lack of a display is really annoying. I am not about to leave my tv on all the time just to see a track number. Also being in the repair business didn't you find the build quality to be extremely poor?

 

[unclebud]

robstv, you've convinced me... you'll be around for questions and advice right? now if i can get buy.com to let me use the durn coupon fore free shipping runs out

 

[Dropkick]

Hey Rob, I cant access that Raite discussion "Oops, you are not a member..."
is there a password? thanks. keep this thread going, u almost convinced me to get one

 

[ConnCarl]

The Raite 715 is a cheap-looking, cheaply made product.

That said, I think it really kicks butt for the money. It's my third DVD player, and to my amazement, it plays "The Matrix" with no problems at all, unlike my other two Samsung units.

I do notice a slightly higher incidence of artifacts with the Raite, but it is not annoying enough to negate all of it's positive attributes.

Mine has the 3C BIOS, hence, Region Free and Macrovision Disable work perfectly. But, your mileage may vary! I understand that the later BIOS revs don't offer these features, just as on the Apex 600A.

Raite service is what you make of it. My unit was DOA out of the box, I shipped it to Pixie for repair. I had it back, working, in a reasonable amount of time, about two weeks total. But remember that if you fry your unit while attempting to flash the BIOS, they will run up the "Sorry, Pal" flag and return it to you unrepaired.

The best news about Pixie is that they didn't update the BIOS to a newer rev that eliminates Region Free and Macrovision Disable support. Everything I have heard about Apex indicates that if they service your 600A they will do exactly that. That's one big reason to buy the Raite over the Apex. Can you imagine paying some creep on Fleabay almost double what he paid for his Apex, then if it needs service, you send it in and lose the enhanced features?

Be careful that you get a BIOS rev that will give you the enhanced features. There are some great sites out there that will tell you what to look for on the outside of the box so you know in advance what you are getting.

Just my 2¢.

 

[RobsTV]

Yes you have to join to access all the features at eGroups Raite-DVD. No Big deal.

To repair the display:
There are 2 small transistors that open.
Remove the cover of your Raite.
Look at the power supply board.
Power Supply Picture
You should see 2 small transistors near a little transformer.
There may be a slight darkening on the board where they connect.
Close up of area that has bad trans
You can replace these with ECG 289A or equivalent.
Image of the 2 bad trans
Should cost less than a dollar total for these as they are very common and cheap. Get them at any TV repair shop, or go to Radio Shack and have them cross it to one of there part numbers. Put new transistors in the same way you took them out.

 

[SuperFreaky]

Got one.... returned one... sucked

 

[cloudchief]

Robtv thank you for your instructions. When I opened the Raite I found said transitors easily enough, but i also noticed the orange part, labeled VR1 (to the right on your picture)is half melted. I assume this may also be causing problems? Is this part also easily replaced? Thanks for your help.

 

[huesmann]

Maybe it got melted by the heat produced by the bad transistors.

 

[Dropkick]

I am to purchase this thing, would it be wise to replace those transistors before even using it? also, do they need to be soldered?