The little pink box...

[fajrdrako]

Some years ago I bought a cheap DVD from Loblaw's, the grocery store. It cost $29.95 and it was a smallish tin box that could play DVDs, and mp3s - at at time when most DVD players cost about $300, and the multiregional ones cost more. Turns out this little gem of a machine would play British DVDs with no problem. They were too cheap to have regional encoding included. The machine had its idiosyncrasies, but I got used to them.

That was my primary DVD player for a while. Then I got the one I call my Miracle Machine, the LG LRH539, with its hard drive and its practically infinite functions - that's my cheap way of saying I haven't even discovered all the things it will do yet. I used the little Loblaw's machine as a secondary player, and discovered how handy a seconary player can be.

But recently the Loblaw's machine gave up on showing pictures. Since it cost me maybe $10 per year, I figured that it owed me nothing, and looked for a replement. Loblaw's now sells a small pink DVD player for $29.95, and I thought it over for weeks. Months. Did I really need another DVD player? Well, no, but I wanted one. Except it was pink. Pink? Unlike maaboroshi and ataniell93, I am not a pink sort of person. (No offense to those who are.) It wouldn't match anything in my living room. But ...

After much Libralike consideration and reconsideration, I decided today to get it. And did. And it turns out to be another miracle machine. Yes, it does what it says on the tin - it plays DVDs. Picture as well as sound. Progressive scan. (Remember when that cost extra?) But as a bonus - it plays multiregional DVDs, and you don't even need to fiddle with programming to persuade it to do so. And it plays mp3s - I'm listing to the music from Doctor Who on mp3 on it as I type. And it plays .avi files. It's tiny, it's clever, and it's well, pink....

I think I'm suddenly converted to pinkness.

Comments

[limmenel.livejournal.com]

It plays AVI files? Like, if I burned a TV show to CD as an AVI, it'd play it?


Ye gads. I want one.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Like, if I burned a TV show to CD as an AVI, it'd play it?

Yes. I just did that. It played beautifully. Beautifully! No guarantees it always will (files are unpredictable) but it looks as if it usually will.

Ye gads. I want one.

Loblaw's at Rideau and Nelson still has about half a dozen of them. Other Loblaw's stores might too.

[limmenel.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's fantastic. I'll try to go down there tomorrow, because I need groceries!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yup, go ahead - one trip, double duty.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Splendid!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's such fun when a purchase turns out to be better than anticipated - especially when I didn't have to run my budget to get it.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Yes! And I think one can simply ignore the pink-ness!

Have you tried any of the discs I sent in it?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes - I tired the Rosa Luxemburg one and it's perfect. I am thrilled.

Even the pink-ness is growing on me. It isn't a horrible shade of pink... Well, maybe it is. But I can forgive a touch of garishness for something that works so well.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Great! So anything I send you in future should work!

The pinkness at least means the buttons are more visible than those on some of the black ones.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So anything I send you in future should work!

So it would seem.

The buttons are fairly visible, yes. And the old machine was very particular with the remote - it had to be exactly aimed at the sensor with about a 1 degree margin of error, which was sometimes a real pain. This has a much more normal range of operation.

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

Wow, I want one too. I'll look around TO and see if I can find one. Our Panasonic will play burned VCDs, which is what ya call AVIs burned to CD, but it's big and sits in the living room, and one of these in the bedroom would be nice.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Wow, I want one too. I'll look around TO and see if I can find one.

Do you have Loblaw's in Toronto? If you do, they probably have pretty much the same items as here.

one of these in the bedroom would be nice.

It would be perfect - it's tiny!

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

Do you have Loblaw's in Toronto?

Are there perchance coals in Newcastle? The Westons (Galen and the ex-Lt. Governor Hilary) live here. (They control the chain.) There are 4 ordinary Loblaws stores and a Superstore within 5 km of us.

If there's one here, I'll find it. ;)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figured you'd have some sort of access to civilisation, if yu needed it.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Okay, I am now Officially Intrigued. Never mind the bleeping' colour scheme.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll let you in on a secret: once, weeks ago, I saw an option of getting them in blue at the Loblaw's at South Keyes. But the blue ones have long since sold out.

[blackbyrde.livejournal.com]

Pink is awesome. My cell phone and iPod are pink. My son is obsessed with pink. Congrats on your new pink DVD player. :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What good taste Xavier has, then! A pink iPod sounds like fun.

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

Your little pink box sounds nifty! I'm envious. :-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I think I've fallen in love with the thing. I've gone from thinking of the pinkness as an unfortunate necessity to an endearing quirk.