New! Teac DR-H358i DVD Receiver

newcoppiceman

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Have one? Thinking of getting one?

This is a successor to the nice-but-flawed DR-H300DAB which Teac advise has now been withdrawn. It comes with an iPod dock which connects via the front-panel USB socket and, perhaps oddly for a 'reference system', incorporates a digital clock with timer, alarm and sleep functions.

If you have a DR-H358i I'd be interested to know whether they've fixed the various design flaws with the DR-H300DAB; if you're thinking of getting one you need to read the following, based on living with a DR-H300DAB for two years (I also recently bought a spare via eBay which exhibits the same problems):

:oops: 1. Noticeable hum/buzz on phones output, accompanied by clicks when changing sources. Late at night I often use phones to listen; quiet passages on ANY source (I often listen to Freeview TV via AUX 1) WILL reveal a fixed-level (doesn't change with volume or mute on/off) of annoying hum and buzz. Simply unforgiveable in a unit built around digital sources.

:oops: 2. NON-RANDOM mutes on DAB. You WILL hear mutes (anything up to 5 seconds) even with a decent RF signal level. The DR-H300DAB uses the Gyro 1122 DAB module and - to their credit - its manufacturers have willingly engaged with me regarding the problem of any (and they are actually quite frequent) change of transmitted bitrate on a BBC service (eg Radio 4 from 128kbps stereo to 80kbps mono) causing a mute across ALL BBC services on the same DAB multiplex, so that's Radio 1, 2, 3, 4..., as the little Gyro module has a headache and goes back to square one to sort itself out!

This is not typical behaviour for a DAB radio, indeed some (eg Pure Evoke-1) are very good at handling these bitrate switches and you hardly notice them on the switched service itself. A feature of this shortcoming, is that if you have muted the DR-H300DAB, it will promptly unmute. This is what the nice man from Gyro said in his last e-mail: "While we need more tests to validate, I would like to thank you for understanding and you did help in a way that prompted us in improving next tuners!" You might think that this was more constructive than a confused letter from Teac's UK Service Manager wherein he stated that "...we have absolutely no doubts about the quality or performance of the DRH300DAB unit... ...why not just settle back and enjoy the sound reproduction of the system instead of ghost-hunting for faults with it."

:oops: 3. CD playback. If you play CDs from start to finish, the start of around 40-50% of all tracks is clipped - by half a second or so. It does vary with CDs, but after months of listening to loads of CDs, that's where I'd put the percentage. This is really annoying. If you press skip back the track will then play cleanly. The problem is usually repeatable for affected tracks. This may be happening because it’s a DVD player first and a CD player second - it also takes an age to read a CD’s TOC (table of contents) when the disc is first loaded. I have a service manual for the DR-H300DAB and plan to bring out temporary connections to the circuit boards to see where in the signal chain the clipping is present - including right back to pins 224/226 of the MediaTek MT1389HD chip (which is as far back as I can go in the analogue domain). The MT1389HD chip forms the core of the DR-H300DAB's DVD/CD functionality - because it does so much, it's known as a 'system-on-a-chip' (SOC). If I can find a cheap one, I'll also try an external DAC. My ears are too old to be 'golden' so I don't have one already - but they still know when something ain't right! MediaTek have been helpful in correspondence and say they don't think the problem is with their chip.

:thumbsdow 4. CD play problems solved early 2009 (15 months old) after I fitted a new Sanyo SF-HD65 optical pickup assembly - not a difficult job.

:smashin: 5. We usually watch DVD films on a Saturday night and the DR-H300DAB has behaved impeccably in this regard - but I must stress that we use the Scart RGB output to feed our Panasonic 28" widescreen CRT TV (flat panels aren't there yet if you want to watch natural pictures, in my opinion)...

:oops: 6. ...Problems have been reported by other DR-H300DAB users with the HDMI output and one retailer has stated: "There were serious de-interlacing problems that led to visible lines across the screen, especially during movement. Due to this, we suspended sale. We are yet to see this problem rectified but we do not feel that the quality of the video output is suitable to pass on to consumers."
 
It is wrong to give rating on Product when you have not used it ( as a previous poster has).
I have the 358i. It has some good points and some not so good.
Good points
The audio quality is excellent whether used for for audio or video input.
The soundstage, on video, gives some degree of surround sound but you can only do so much with 2 speakers.
The audio, whether from DAB, which I have always found is flat but, saying that is clear and unmuddied. FM has a more controlled stereo Presence. In my opinion FM is superior to DAB with good signal
The audio from MP3 or CD, could do with a little more tautness on bass, the mid and treble are excellent. There is no signs of clipping on homemade or shop CDs The audio could be influenced by choice of speaker mine is wharfedale 9.0
The aux2 input from my PC gives good clear sound similar to USB.
Not so good
The HDMI upscaling (full 1080P) can only be as good as the source will allow. To me there were some inperfections where head movements can sometimes be jerky,Light areas, such as doorways or other source can continue over a dark object when when viewed from a newspaper dvd. The Picture from new shop dvd's was excellent and did not have these imperfections.
Overall on my Panasonic the pictue in HDMI is a marked improvement over composite. As I only have a 32" screen I find the picture is best viewed through progressive component scan. However I must add there were no jagged edges or screen tearing in HDMI and you cannot improve a bad source
On USB input, folders and files can only be read on Television screen, this defeats the object of using unit as a standaloneHiFi
The phono output is good there is no sign of hiss. However it does have a feel of hollowness. This obviously could have been interpretated wrongly, as I have only ever listened to a cheap MP3 player before
I would like to see banana connectors available for speakers not just traditional wrap wire.

Conclusion
This is a excellent compromise where space is limited and you require a simple all in one unit. It will never replace a AV receiver /dvd player. Saying that the audio stereo imaging and sound it is comparable to any budget hifi such as denon or onkyo
I would recommend this unit, but you must accept it is not perfect. However there is nothing bad about this unit and as a jack of all trades it is good. Excels in audio and is very good in video.
The region 2 can also be upgraded to regionless by following this link ( thanks to the contributor) Teac DR-H300 region code - DVD Players and Blu-ray Players region codes - VideoHelp.com
I give this Unit a 4 star rating.
 
Thanks flippance - an interesting post.

Naturally, not owning the DR-H358i, I can't review it - but I can review Teac's response to genuine customer comments re the shortcomings with its predecessor, my experience of living with the DR-H300DAB for a couple of years and what I've found out about its insides.

If I were considering getting the DR-H358i (which, incidentally, I am) and was otherwise ignorant of these issues I think I would find that rather helpful.

Teac's formal response to my comments (I still have the recorded delivery letter from their UK service manager) directed me to glowing reviews (no doubt littered with flowery and largely meaningless terms - like "unmuddied" "taut" and "hollow", dare I say) instead of properly addressing the problems I raised. As an electronics engineer with 35 years' experience and a career spent working on professional video and audio kit at the BBC and Channel 4 this was something of a red rag to a bull. How reviewers can wax lyrical about irridescent midrange and not notice bloody great non-random holes in DAB reception or clipped starts to CDs is beyond me!

Anyway it's good news that you're happy with the DR-H358i. As you've not had it long I would urge you to update your post in, say, six months' time after you've lived with it for a decent period. If you've not noticed CD tracks being clipped at the start, nor DAB mutes caused by multiplex bitrate switches, nor hum/buzz/clicks on the phones output, then I might just get one!

Good point about the lack of banana sockets - I modified my DR-H300DAB to provide these - take a look at:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/4184688038_905a7493c0_m.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2594/4183934803_3dd5b7e134_m.jpg

Thanks for the post - hopefully other DR-H358i owners will contribute too.
 
i may be in the market for one of these. what would be a good sat/sub combination for this unit? smaller the better would be what im after.
 
depends on what you require unit for.
I was looking for a small unit that had decent hi fi spec. the dvd with hdmi upscaling and a usb input was a bonus, with space at a premium. I do not have sub woofer.
I have heard good reviews for Q Acoustics 1000Si series which includes a active sub woofer, available from www.superfi.co.uk.

unit requires a active subwoofer with RCA input.
 
purely for very tight space i was considering a pair of tangent evo. i may do a demo to see if its worth getting slightly larger boxes.

squeezing a sub in could be troublesome... may see if a small one like bk gemini or rel quake would fit. or do you think that would be overkill?
 
If it's anything like its DR-H300DAB predecessor the DR-H358i is worthy of good speakers. I ran our DR-H300DAB on Rogers LS2/2a speakers (stereo pair) for a year before selling these (having owned since about 1992) for a very decent price to a guy in France. I'm now using Monitor Audio Silver S8 speakers (again, stereo pair) and the system sounds stunning - it delivers impressive LF performance, notably when listening to digital TV (Freeview) via the Aux 1 input.

If you can put up with its various bugs a DR-H300DAB is usually available on eBay for around £150 at the moment.

To ensure continuity of service I have a spare DR-H300DAB but may well sell this and use to part-fund a DR-H358i.

Let us know how you get on with the DR-H358i if you go for one.
 
having looked a bit further into it im not sure if its for me as i would really like another video input like freeview put into it.

am i right in thinking this unit wont do video switching?

ie. videosources have to be connected via tv and just the sound is switched on unit?
 
you are correct, will not accept any video inputs, such as freeview.
 
impressive! but i have two small kids and im not very electronics savvy...

good work though
 
Hey guys, sorry for ressurecting an old thread, just wanted to ask a question regarding the above unit.
through the USB, can you play movies? i.e. if a movie was placed on a usb stick....?
 
Yes, you can play movies from a USB stick. AVI and various DIVx formats are supported. The manual can be downloaded from TEAC's web site that contains details of the file formats supported and how data must be saved on a pen drive. It doesn't appear to be possible to play video from an iPod through the TV though.

I purchased a DR-H358i recently, and am delighted with it. I was very pushed for space, needing a single unit to sit under my TV that played DVDs, CDs and had DAB radio and iPod docking capability. There does not appear to be much on the market that can satisfy these requirements. I use it with a pair of Mordaunt-Short Alumni 2 satellite speakers (on stands) and an Alumni 9 subwoofer. Sound quality seems pretty decent to my relatively untrained ears.
 

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