Yahoo YDP-530

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Design : 7.0
  Features : 8.0
  Performance : 4.0
  Overall score: 6.1 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Matthew Moskovciak
• Edited by:
  David Katzmaier
• Reviewed on: 05/06/2005
• Released on: 03/06/2005

Facing pressure from Google on the search, maps, and e-mail front, Yahoo has decided to strike back with?a DVD player? While the $100 YDP-530 bears the Yahoo brand, it's actually manufactured by Diamond Electronics, a company that, as its press release states, "supplied the DVD player that Forbes Magazine (September 2003) referenced as Wal-Mart de Mexico's single largest dollar volume product in the entire country." Regardless of its origin, the YDP-530 stands out with a unique design that includes dual analog meters on the front as well as a strong mix of practical features such as DivX support, a four-in-one card reader, a wireless headphone transmitter, and a USB port.

The first thing you notice about the Yahoo YDP-530 is its pair of analog meters, which look like widely spaced eyes on the player's face. One monitors VU (audio volume), and the other tracks video bit rate, and while they look pretty nifty and even light up, we can't really imagine any practical purpose for them. Unfortunately for the geek who wants to know how many bits that last chase sequence averaged, the bit-rate meter is wildly inaccurate; it kind of just bounces up and down, even on still images. Standard OSD meters are much better for actually showing video bit rates.

Above the DVD tray are the four-in-one card reader and the USB drive, while from the extreme left and right sides of the face sprout two bullet-shaped, clear plastic stubs--the power button and the IR receiver. The included remote is smallish and missing the crucial open/close key. We were also annoyed to discover that the forward- and reverse-skip buttons double as fast-forward and rewind; we always prefer separate keys for these functions.

Despite its cool design, the most attractive aspect of the YDP-530 is its extensive feature set. Using an old pair of Sony wireless infrared (IR) headphones that are similar to the Sony MDR-IF8000s, we were able to listen to music and movies using the wireless headphone transmitter. The sound was clear, although as with all IR devices, you need to make sure you have a line of sight to the transmitter or it will cut out. Yahoo claims the player works with all IR headphones.

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Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 9 reviews
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• Showing 3 of 9 user reviews

• 4.0 stars

  "great, machine, nice look ,very cool"

  by g-manrocks on April 14, 2006

• 5.0 stars

  1 out of 1 people found this helpful

  "Best dvd player for under $60"

  by Ryan5466 on February 18, 2006

• 5.0 stars

  "Yahoo player is great"

  by WalterWTM on February 1, 2006

• See all 9 user reviews Write review