ZK7

• Expert Rating

  3.00 / 5

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• Price

  $ 399.00 (AUD)

Matthew Overington Good Gear Guide 01/09/05 Follow @pcworldau

Pros

• Progressive scan support, useful extra features

Cons

• Unstable, poor attention to detail, no support for DivX or XviD

Bottom Line

The DVD-ZK7 offers some high end features like progressive scan NTSC and PAL playback, but it's let down by poor stability and a lack of DivX video support.

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The silver unit features a clamshell design with a top-loading DVD drive. Setup, LCD, mode and menu buttons accompany the standard suite of navigation controls. There are dials below the screen to adjust colour and brightness, and we found that both worked effectively. At the brightest setting, the DVD-ZK7 is clearly visible outdoors. In fact, we found ourselves leaving brightness and contrast set at around the midway point when watching movies inside.

The right-hand side of the machine provides a volume control and headphone connector, in addition to a coaxial output, AV input and output and progressive scan AV connector. A remote control is also bundled with the machine.

Unfortunately, the design suffers from a lack of attention to detail: there was a little play in the DVD drive cover straight from the box, as well as a disconcerting sticker on the bottom reading, "Notice: some DVD discs may not be compatible with this unit and may cause the unit to freeze". Testing proved this to be true, and the DVD-ZK7 locked up twice during testing, both times while trying to play a DVD.

Aside from this small glitch, the unit offers some handy features, like the ability to play back to either an NTSC or PAL TV with progressive scan support. It also includes coaxial audio and S-Video outputs, so it would be comfortable in a relatively high end AV setup. The DVD-ZK7 can also accept an external AV source, so it's possible to plug in a gaming console.

All up, a couple of playback glitches hamper what is otherwise a solid little unit supported by a one-year warranty.