Wharfedale, more famously known for its Hi-Fi loudspeaker and other audio
products took the stage by storm, received rave reviews and created an almost
insatiable desire to own one.Since its launch, Wharfedale have released a number of variants of the
original 750, finally evolving into the 750s, which is still available at
180 GBP from the Tesco supermarket
chain who are sole distributors.
Considering the player's first tentative appearances were made in Tesco's
When It's Gone It's Gone - WIGIG promotion, a mish-mash of electrical
and other goods, which resembles a junk pile of discontinued left-overs, its
success can be called nothing less than remarkable.
This astounding achievement can be put down to two simple facts; it was
competitively priced, and it offered unbelievable features for its price. This
was value for money incarnate.
From day one, the 750 offered RGB video through a SCART connector plus standard
composite video and S-Video outputs whilst supporting Dolby
Digital™ 5.1 and DTS sound, delivering superb sound quality through
digital and analogue outputs.
The 750 can play DVD, Video CD (VCD) and Audio CD (CDDA) discs.
The 750s adds the ability to play Super Video CD (SVCD) discs and
MP3 ( compressed audio ) files from a standard computer Data CD.
It can handle both CD-R and CD-RW discs, and seems to be able to cope with discs
from almost any manufacturer, which is ideal for anyone wanting to put their
home movies on to VCD.
Perhaps the most important thing about the 750, for most purchasers, is that,
it has always been able to play Region 1 ( USA ) and any other Region discs,
simply by pressing the right sequence of buttons on the remote control. This is
a godsend to anyone who wants to buy DVD's from America or any other part of
the world.
And, all but the first generation 750 can cope with RCE ( Region Coding
Enhanced ) discs, such as the Region 1 disc of The Patriot.
The 750s supports the playback of both PAL and NTSC discs and offers a variety
of playback options to achieve a rock solid, smooth picture on a suitably
compatible TV. The only thing it won't do, is play back PAL discs for NTSC
equipment, which means it isn't really suitable for playing back Region 2 ( UK )
discs in Region 1 areas ( USA ). As this is a player designed for use in
the UK, and only sold there, this isn't really a problem.
The players use Macrovision to prevent the copying of DVD's, and this cannot be
turned off. Although this has caused a lot of muttering, there aren't really
that many legitimate reasons for needing to turn off Macrovision, especially as
it is unnoticable when connected directly to a TV. Playing a DVD through a
video projector usually requires Macrovision to be disabled, but if you can
afford a video projector, you'll probably be able to afford a more
comprehensive player which can have it disabled.
Pirating films onto VHS tape is usually the only other reason to disable
Macrovision, and it's hard to see how that can be justified when original films
now cost little more than a blank tape. If your friends are too tight fisted to
buy their own videos, tough; convince them to buy a DVD player, and watch the
price of players and films drop as more people 'get with the programme'. And you
won't spend hours wearing out the video head of your VCR.
There is no problem with copying VCD's and SVCD's to VHS, to re-distribute
home-made movies, as Macrovision is not turned on when playing VCD's or SVCD's.
Ignoring the Macrovision issue, the only real complaint against the 750 is its
remote control which was truly atrocious. The remote for the 750s is larger,
more ergonomic and a joy to use in comparison.
The 750 was also a little sluggish in responding to pushes on the remote
control buttons which could be frustrating at times. The 750s operates
noticeably quicker and offers many more options than the original.
Neither the 750s or 750 provide a 'widescreen signal' to automatically switch a
compatible television between 4:3 and 16:9 modes. This is a continual annoyance
to some users, although not a problem with some televisions ( such as some
models from Panasonic ) which will perform the switch based upon the presence,
or absence, of the letterbox, black banding.
The user manual with the 750s is an improvement over the original supplied
with the 750, but is still far from complete. It does, however, supply
enough information for the average home user who wants to sit down and watch
DVD's. When it comes to VCD, SVCD, MP3 and other esoteric configurations, the
manual is strangely silent; but at least the later manuals don't erroneously
claim that the player won't play CD-R's and CD-RW's.
There are a variety of hidden features - pressing the Title button when
playing a VCD automatically creates a scene list, or digest as it calls it -
which aren't documented but are pretty much self explanatory in use.
All variants of the 750 and 750s are excellent machines, but as one would
expect, the later generations are all improvements on the earlier versions. It
is therefore recommended that you buy the most up-to-date player you can
find. This is easier said than done, as Tesco have had a habit of mixing
750 and 750s players together, but the boxes are clearly labelled, so be
vigilant.
Although the 750s is a better machine than the 750 ( it adds official DTS
support, MP3 capability, operates its on-screen displays quicker and has
the better remote control ), don't write-off the 750 if you can pick one
up second-hand, cheaply. The only variant to perhaps avoid is the original
750 which won't handle RCE discs; this may cause a problem in the
future, although it is possible that Wharfedale may offer a 'fix' which
will make it work - They've had an excellent history of responding to
problems in the past.
The 750 has not been without its faults, and there are some problems with the
750s. Most players have some problems with one disc or another, and it's not
always fair to blame the player or the disc. The specification for a DVD,
how it's created and how the digital data is stored, is extremely complex
and it's not unlikely that there will be differences of opinion on the
interpretation, so some discs may not play on all players, or that some
players won't play some discs.
The 750 has had very few problems with discs, sailing through
The Matrix layer change faultlessly when
'better' players ground to a halt, but there have been problems reported
with some discs -
see the DVD Times' Bug Reports for further details.
Most of the problems exhibit themselves as inaccessible menu items, or a
complete refusal to play. Most problems can be overcome by using the Goto
function and selecting a Title to play.
I have had problems with home-made VCD's which play on the 750 but not the 750s
and vice-versa, however, it would appear that the problems with the 750s are
due to non-compliant VCD formats which the 750 shrugged off.
There have been reports of problems playing Dolby Digital 5.1 discs through
Pro-Logic audio systems, where the sound is incorrectly routed to the wrong
speakers. This seems to only affect some 750 players and there appears to be no
cure for this, other than selecting an alternative soundtrack.
Some 750's are also reported to be quite noisy when playing some discs, but it
does not seem to be a problem on all players.
The mechanics of playing MP3's on a 750s is quite limited; it simply plays
songs in alphabetical order and doesn't have any mechanism for displaying the
titles of the track on-screen or selecting what to play ( beyond going to a
particular track ). However, MP3 support is recent, and I'm sure that later
generations of the player will offer better facilities in this respect.
Despite the problems, the Wharfedale 750s is ( and the 750 was ) a remarkable
value for money offering. It is highly competitive with other players in its
price range and even some above it. Its higher cost over low-budget players
is offset by the small price to pay for the comprehensive facilities it offers,
and its excellent visual and sound qualities. Its problems with various discs
seem to be no more frequent than other players and less so than some.
The 750 and 750s are available only through the Tesco supermarket chain at a
cost of 180 GBP.
The only problem with Tesco being a sole distributor is that the players are
often in short supply, and deliveries aren't predictable; in case of difficulty
finding one, contact Tesco on 0800 505555. Looking on the bright side, you
won't have to spend ages looking in all the electrical shops trying to find
the cheapest price.
The player can also be ordered from Tesco Direct, who operate a home delivery
service and can reserve players if they are out of stock. Tesco Direct can be
contacted on 0345 024024.
The downside of ordering through Tesco Direct is that, you only get a 14 day
return policy ( rather than the usual 28 days ) and returns cannot be made
to any of the Tesco stores.
If you are looking for a reasonably priced DVD player with a comprehensive
range of facilities, and a solid reputation behind it, then the 750s should
definitely be on your short-list of players to consider.
And, if you are worried about such things, you will have the satisfaction of
having 'Bought British', even though the players are manufactured in Germany,
using components from Asia.
Variants and Region Hacks
750 - Original
The first generation 750 is marked "750" on the player and on the packaging.
There is no DTS logo and no DTS LED on the front panel, at the bottom left.
The Region Hacks are the same for all three generations of the 750.
To make the player Region Free, use the following sequence -
Open the drawer
Press 0
Press 1
Press 2
Press 3
Close the drawer
To return the player to Region 2 ( UK ) only, use the following sequence -
Open the drawer
Press Zoom
Press Return
Press Power
750 - Second Generation
750 - Third Generation
750s - Original
The first generation 750s is marked "750s" on the player and on the packaging.
There is a DTS logo and no DTS LED on the front panel, at the bottom left.
To make the player Region Free, use the following sequence -
Open the drawer
Press Zoom
Press A->B button
Press the Up cursor button
Press the Left cursor button
Press the Down cursor button
Press the Right cursor button
To set the play for a specific Region ( USA=1 / UK=2 ), use the following
sequence -
Open the drawer
Press 1, four times
Press the number corresponding to the Region you wish to set the player to.
If these hacks do not work, you may have a second generation player; simply try
the Region Hack for the second generation player, detailed below.
750s - Second Generation
The second generation 750s is identical to the original 750s both in packaging,
labelling and functionality; the only difference is the Region Hack.
To make the player Region Free, use the following sequence -
Open the drawer
Press Step
Press Previous
Press Next
To set the play for a specific Region ( USA=1 / UK=2 ), use the following
sequence -
Open the drawer
Press 0
Press 7
Press 5
Press 0
Press the number corresponding to the Region you wish to set the player to.
If these hacks do not work, you may have an original 750s player; simply try
the Region Hack for the original player, detailed above.
M5 - Beyond The Wharfedale 750s
To make the player Region Free, use the following sequence -
Open the drawer
Remove any disc
Close the drawer
Press Setup
Enter 62836
Press Enter
You should now be able to see a 'secret menu' which is the Factory Menu for
Region Settings where you can select All for Region Free, or set a
specific Region
