Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is voluntarily recalling about 1.5 million
Durabrand DVD players after the company said it received reports of the
products overheating, leading to fires and property damage:

http://snipurl.com/qlmyu [king5_news]

On Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:38:17 -0700, Sofa Slug wrote:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is voluntarily recalling about 1.5 million

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Sofa Slug wrote:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is voluntarily recalling about 1.5 million
Durabrand DVD players after the company said it received reports of the
products overheating, leading to fires and property damage:

http://snipurl.com/qlmyu [king5_news]

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Notice.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09316.html


They sold a fair few of what looks to be the same here in the UK via
their ADSA subsidery, haven't heard if the recall applies here yet. Is
the power supply built in?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...st-9-ASDA.html

UK Model Durabrand DVD-1005

--
Adrian C

Wow... Durabrand... You'd never think _they'd_ make such an unreliable
product.

Durabrand... I just can't believe it...

Wow... Durabrand... You'd never think _they'd_
make such an unreliable product.
Durabrand... I just can't believe it...

Or Cyberhome.

Indeed. It's the only brand I trust for my home-automation needs.

Meat Plow wrote:
On Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:25:55 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

Wow... Durabrand... You'd never think _they'd_ make such an unreliable
product.

Durabrand... I just can't believe it...


Or Cyberhome.

Don't go knocking Cyberhome, their little DVD300 Progressive scan
multiregion DVD player was AWESOME! $24 at Best Buy, nice metal case,
110-220vac, played everything...only problem was the PSU electrolytics
gave up after 12 months, just replace them and no problem. I bought 5 of
them, 4 still working after 3 years, One had a duff motor which I
couldn't get hold of. Watch all my British DVD's and got one for my Mom
in the UK so she can buy USA DVD's here at our nice low prices, Excellent!

JC

In article ,
Adrian C wrote:
They sold a fair few of what looks to be the same here in the UK via
their ADSA subsidery, haven't heard if the recall applies here yet. Is
the power supply built in?

US recalls don't seem to be applied to the UK. Had suspension failure on
my BMW which was the subject of a recall in the US on the same version of
my model to strengthen the component - and BMW UK initially denied all
knowledge. Then prattled on about the US being different to the UK.

--
*The most common name in the world is Mohammed *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

US recalls don't seem to be applied to the UK. Had suspension failure on
my BMW which was the subject of a recall in the US on the same version of
my model to strengthen the component - and BMW UK initially denied all
knowledge. Then prattled on about the US being different to the UK.

In many cases they are not. For example, the inspection of devices for saftey
in the US is performed by a private agency the Underwriter's Laboratories.
The UL actually tests samples of the product before issuing certification/

In the UK/EU the certification is by the "CE", which does no testing. You do
your own and file an application for certfication. If you have done everything
properly according to the paperwork, you are given the certificate.

In the US FCC testing, which only has to do with signal leakage, not saftey,
is also performed by a government agency. Outside of the US, it is not tested
by anyone AFAIK.

A common practice is to obtain certification with a prototype and then as soon
as it is accepted remove "unecessary" components and substitute lower quality
or cheaper ones for those that remain. The manufacturer never reports this
to the agencies involved and no one does continous monitoring.

Geoff.



--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

In article ,
Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
US recalls don't seem to be applied to the UK. Had suspension failure
on my BMW which was the subject of a recall in the US on the same
version of my model to strengthen the component - and BMW UK initially
denied all knowledge. Then prattled on about the US being different to
the UK.

In many cases they are not. For example, the inspection of devices for
saftey in the US is performed by a private agency the Underwriter's
Laboratories. The UL actually tests samples of the product before
issuing certification/

In the UK/EU the certification is by the "CE", which does no testing.
You do your own and file an application for certfication. If you have
done everything properly according to the paperwork, you are given the
certificate.

That's fine on new products, but many vehicle recalls only happen after
they've been in service for some time and a weakness has come apparent.
In this case it was metal fatigue.

--
*See no evil, Hear no evil, Date no evil.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

One of the problems with cheap electronics is that they're more likely to
fail, then be thrown out, unrepaired. This contributes to the pile of
electronic trash littering the world.

There is an obvious connection between the rapid technical advances that
occur in consumer electronics (and to a lesser extent, photographic
equipment) and the _need_ for cheap electronics. The more something costs,
the less motivation consumers have to discard last year's product for this
year's (often genuinely) improved model.

It would be better -- if only for the environment -- if we bought fewer and
better-made products, even if they cost more. Towards the end of 1999, I
bought my first DVD player, the discontinued Sony DVP-S7000, for half-price
($600). (It was the first commercial DVD player, I believe.)

It worked until several years ago, when it simply stopped, for no obvious
reason. Instead of repairing it, I laid out $400 (special deal) for what was
then the top-of-the-line Sony DVD player, which included multi-ch SACD
playback.

Several days after getting the new DVD player, I checked the old one -- and
it worked. It's still working, in my bedroom. I attribute this failure to
what I _call_ "CMOS lockup", though whether that's the cause, I don't know.
But I've seen it in other products, including TVs and PDAs. The device
simply stops working (or behaves oddly), then comes back to life after
sitting a while, especially after being unplugged or having its batteries
removed.

Thoughts, anyone?