Yellow Hammer

Yo Rocky,

CD-G is a very old format mostly for karaoke discs. I doubt if any discs produced in the last 4 years use this format.

VCDs and LDs are still the big format for karaoke, mainly because very few DVD players in the US have karaoke features on them and karaoke is still mainly considered to be an Asian thing. Your best bet for karaoke DVDs are the same sources you would use for movie DVDs (except for DDDHouse and Hivizone, they don't carry them).

In Asia it is very common to have the original singers on karaoke discs, but in the US, fuggedabout it.

Rocky_Raccoon

Thanks YH. Didn't know they had Karaoke DVD's. Are they just Asian singers? I wish I could sing Cantonese but unfortunately I am an idiot who can only sing in English. So karaoke cd's will not work with the Malata? Thanks.

Clint

dyerjp

my ring dvds and My Wife is a Gangster i have to use camera 1. my Irma Vep dvd is the same way, there are a few more but i'll need to check again to see what the others are.

Matt Stevens

Well, this is very strange. I have the French ITMFL 2 disc SE and get no combing using the Still filter. In fact, other than the mosquito compression artifacts, this DVD looks great.

What setup do you have? TV? Cables used?

I am wondering if your player is defective.

ScreachingWeasel

My In The Mood For Love disc has combing when played as STILL also my French Truffaut discs do the same thing. I watch them using SMART and they look perfectly fine. I'm using the Panasonic CT-36HX41 HD set using the componet outputs , but I also had the same problem(actually it's not a problem since SMART works perfectly fine) on my 8 year old Magnavox.

alupin111

I've got one that (as far as I can tell, given my inexperience with the jargon) hasn't come up yet, and that has baffled the people at avsdeals and Malata Canada:

(I'm using a Sony 34XBR2 and component connections, btw)

The top 5% or so of the image very occasionally jiggles back and forth to the left and right (bends to the side? I don't know the clearest description). It does this on full screen 16x9 as well as on non-animorphic standard images.

Not a major problem, I'll admit, but when watching, say, the original Fanny and Alexander (which I've wanted to see for 20 years) I'm irritated at being taken out of the film.

Spiky

Does it do this on any other TV? There have been many problems like this with WEGA TVs. It may be influenced by the DVDp (I'm assuming it doesn't happen with other sources, correct?), but still be a fault of the TV. Theoretically.

newecho

I can speak from about a week of experience. Viewing some material, when the dvd player is set to 16:9 but the source is a menu in 4:3, I notice that the upper left corner bends a little.

The Malata does a weird thing, it doesn't really "sense" when the source material is anamorphic or not. This is a good and bad thing.

If the player is set to 16:9 but I'm watching an older film that's 4:3, it displays as if my tv were a 16:9 display device and there are black bars on the sides. So, of course, I have to turn off the 16:9 on the Malata and set it to 4:3. Or, I can just watch it with black bars on the sides. But, the upper left corner bends, ever so slightly.

My Sony dvd player (3 years old and counting) senses whether or not the source material is anamorphic or not and sends it to the tv accordingly, and of course the tv takes care of the 'v-compression' or whatever.

newecho

alupin111

I haven't conected the machine to another monitor, but I do know that the problem does not appear with the progressive Sony DVD player that I've conected to the other component output. Maybe I should try turning off the progressivity.

But it's still an example of Malata wierdness that I'd like to fix without disabling the function....

Matt Stevens

This is because 4:3 TV's with a 16X9 squeeze is a mostly U.S. thing, while overseas, the majority of TV's sold are 16X9 and not 4X3. Malata did not think a 3rd 16X9 feature for 4X3 setups would be needed.

newecho

You're just the man I wanted to talk to!

Thanks for your response to my other question...I figured it was because Malata's are generally made for China... where as, here alot of the manufacturers think ahead that alot of us have 4:3's with 16:9 squeeze.

Now, I have another question for you. I know you had purchased the JVC XV-S60BK (which is Region ALL and does PAL to NTSC...but doesn't have x-y scaling).

I was seriously considering getting this dvd player. However, I have a couple of questions for you.

When you were first fiddling with your JVC...was it hard for you to figure out how to switch between regions? If I understood correctly, it doesn't detect the region like the Malata 996, correct?

Also, is the picture quality at least AS GOOD in interlaced mode... with NTSC source material...? What about interlaced mode with PAL?

Thanks for any and all helpful info you can clue me in on.

newecho

MartyB

To Matt:
I'm shocked that you think that my Malata is defective. After all, it is a secret for no one that not every PAL DVDs can look their best using any of the 5 video filters available. In fact, ITMFL is the only one of all my region 2 discs that is not perfect. The rest of my region 2 DVDs are looking like region 1's ! You should see Moulin Rouge ... It is more detailed than my region 1 !!! It' crisper . As for the question you asked me, my player is plugged with a S-VHS cable and I have a 1994 SONY monitor . I am happy that you can watch an optimum quality of "In The Mood" because, neither me nor ScreachingWeasel can, using the STILL video filter. The picture quality is "ok" but not great with SMART filter, indeed.

MartyB

Again, I’m asking Matt or anyone that might have a similar problem :

Since you believe my Malata might be defective, what do you think of the following :

I always encountered some frustration using my Malata along with my JVC DD receiver RX-884V at home. Unfortunately, this receiver doesn’t support DTS. So, operating only with the dolby digital signal, the receiver is pretty slow to decode the digital information from the Malata. For instance, when surfing chapters to chapters with the remote, the sound disappear and takes 2 or 3 seconds to reappear. I can see the sign on my JVC receiver that says that the digital signal come and goes. Also, if I decide to PAUSE the movie, I don’t get the sound back if I resume with PLAY. I have to use BACKWARD button and then PLAY in order to pick up the dolby digital sound.

Last weekend, I went to a friend’s appartment equiped with a JVC DD receiver RX-8000. I brought my Malata. I wanted to check out the digital signal along with a DTS. (cause his model is more recent than mine) I was surprised to see that the dolby digital signal was also slow to be detected by this receiver. It takes 3 minutes to hear something ! Each time I stoped a DVD playing, it takes 3 minutes to get the sound back. That’s bad. Otherwise, the DTS worked like a charm. So which unit is defective, the DVD player or the receiver ?

Does some people ever faced that same situation with the Malata and a receiver? Is it possible to have a complete incompatibility between Malata players and JVC reveivers?

Matt Stevens

Wow. That is odd. I do not have any of the sound problems you describe with my Malata hooked up to my Pioneer VSX-D509S.

I have the older firmware, so my player will be slightly different than yours, but if the only PAL DVD that is really strange in playback is ITMFL, I would say it's not the player being bad. You should upgrade to the Criterion because it is WAY better. No contest.

I'm not sure what to tell you about all the rest. I'm stumped.

Now to Newecho's questions...
It's not automatic, but not hard either. Make sure the player is off. Press the number for the region you want, then press Enter. The player will boot up into region 2. Takes about 10 seconds. It is then in region 2 until you change it. very simple.

I think the Malata's Still Filter allows for better PAL playback on 480i/NTSC sets. There is less frame flutter (the black borbers tend to move up and down on two scan lines with some PAL titles when in 480i mode). NTSC source material is as good as the Malata. You can't see any difference.

in 480p mode, the differences between the two players are even smaller, not including the Malata's exact XY scaling, of course.

MartyB

Thank you for your comments, Matt.
Yesterday, I surfed on the www.avsforum.com and I saw one user with similar odd audio problem with his DENON receiver.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2&referrerid=0
Looking at all forums, he was the only one having problems with his Dolby Digital because, like him, I do not have DTS on my first generation JVC receiver. The majority of Malata users having problems with sound were those equiped with DTS. Now, we know that the newest firmware corrected everything about that.
I forgot to tell you that I have the same player as yours, Matt. It is the April 2001 firmware and it is not the upgradable unit. So, having the newest firmware available is impossible in my case, unfortunately.
I am hoping to test my digital signal to a Pioneer receiver soon. I would like to be sure to invest into a receiver that's totally compatible with my DVD player. From what I have seen so far with my own receiver and my friend's more recent JVC , my malata has a hard time communicating with JVCs electronics.

shaggy

Does anyone have the phone number for Malata Canada?

MartyB

Malata Canada is part of the Mississauga Furniture City store and can be reach at (905) 281-8921 .

carnifern

Does your Malata 996 overheat? (a question to all)

I'm trying to figure out if this is a problem isolated to my player. It may or may not be an overheating problem but it seems to be. My player will completely freeze up and the only way I can even remove the DVD is to power off the machine from the player itself and then turn it back on. The player also seems to be extremely hot.

I sent it in for repairs and received it back today but the same problem is still there. I'm going to call them in the morning to complain but I'm curious if anyone else experiences this.

Thanks.

shaggy

Does anyone know of a store that sells these in the Toronto, Ontario or Buffalo, New York
Area? NBT is sold out

carnifern

If you order it from NBT then you'll get the new model at the same price when it's released at the end of May. I may have to do this myself if I can't get my 996 fixed.

codefree

No problems with mine thus far but I've only had it for about two months.

roseart

Probably a stupid question, but is it ok to leave the power on? I just got mine last week, and just to be careful, I have been turning the power on and off when I use it.

I see that you can hit the power button on the remote, and just the word Malata shows on the display, but I wasn't sure if all the components other than the display actually turn off. Is it like a clock on a VCR?

Thanks in advance.

Matt Stevens

Many people leave their players on 24/7. I do not. I shut it off when it's time to hit the hay at night.

axolotls return

J:

If you use your remote. Your settings are saved.

If you turn it off at the switch you lose it all and have to redo your settings.

roseart

Really?? When I first got it, I went through a bunch of settings with my brother. SO, now they’re all gone?

If that's the case, I guess it is meant to stay on. So, the word Malata in red, is just like a clock on a VCR? All the components turn off except that?