Tojock EVP-101 review

What the maker puts in writing

• “Support blu ray discs in region A/1, single region B/2, C/3 don’t support. Non-Blu ray Discs region free”
• “Blu-ray Disc playback delivers exceptional Full HD 1080p video performance… DVD up-scaling also delivers exceptional image quality with 1080p up scaling via HDMI”
• “Experience HD sound with Dolby and dts-Master Audio: DTS, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD”
• “USB HDMI AV Coaxial Ports - Play your Digital files directly via USB Flash Drive or HDD（2.0 Max 128GB)”
• “Built-in progressive-scan technology and advanced drive core… Anti-skip protection… skip, fast forward, fast reverse, advanced zoom, A-B play mode”
• “Together with the modern LCD display”

The region statement is the best on this shelf

“support blu ray discs in region A/1, single region B/2, C/3 don’t support. Non-Blu ray Discs region free.”

Three facts in one sentence, and the third is the one nobody else gives.

Blu-rays must be Region A. European (B) and Chinese (C) discs are refused. And DVDs of any region will play.

That last point matters because DVD and Blu-ray region locking are separate systems — a player can be strict on one and open on the other. The two Sonys publish “Region Code: Blu-Ray Disc (A) DVD Disc (1)”, which implies a DVD lock as well. Only the Sony All Region Free at $219 is open on both.

Naming what a product refuses is worth more than listing what it accepts, and it is rare.

And the audio list is complete

DTS, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD.

Both lossy families and both lossless ones. Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are bit-for-bit identical to the studio master, and they are the reason a Blu-ray sounds better than a DVD. A player that passes them gives your amplifier the full soundtrack.

Three outputs, and the coaxial one is the unusual part

HDMI, AV and coaxial.

A coaxial digital output — the orange RCA socket — carries digital audio on one cable, and it was how disc players met receivers before HDMI. It still works: stereo PCM and compressed Dolby Digital and DTS pass through it perfectly.

What it cannot carry is the lossless formats; those need HDMI’s bandwidth.

So the practical setup is HDMI to the television for picture and coaxial to an old amplifier for sound, accepting compressed surround. Three products here offer it: this, the Sony BDP-S6700 and the Sony All Region Free.

The AV output is a different matter — see below.

But the AV output will not show you a Blu-ray

Four players on this shelf have an analog AV output, and only one explains the limit. The N-NUTROMO DVD model puts it correctly:

“The analog RCA AV-OUT link is structurally engineered for standard-definition DVD, VCD, and CD media playback… please utilize the included high-speed HDMI connection line to render and view all high-definition Blu-ray movie formats.”

Blu-ray’s licensing rules forbid high-definition output over an analog connection. So AV out gives you standard definition, by design, whatever disc is in the tray. It is there for an old CRT, not for your Blu-rays.

This listing offers the socket and does not say so.

The dimensions cannot be right

Catalog: 130 × 120 × 35 mm.

A Blu-ray disc is 4.72 in (120 mm) across. A cabinet 4.72 in (120 mm) on one side would have the disc exactly filling it — no chassis wall, no tray rail, no spindle mount.

And it is a tray loader: the tray must extend far enough to lay a 4.72 in (120 mm) disc in, which needs roughly 5.31 in (135 mm) of travel from a box listed as 5.12 in (130 mm) deep.

Expect something like the other slim players here. The Panasonic DMP-BD84P publishes 9.61 × 1.50 × 6.89 in (244 × 38 × 175 mm) in its own bullet and the catalog agrees — the one verified measurement on this shelf.

What is not published

No weight, which eight products here do publish.

A 128 GB USB limit — which is a real figure, and worth setting against the N-NUTROMO DVD model on this same shelf, which claims 8 TB external hard drive support and names this kind of cap as a competitor weakness: “competitor devices restrict external reading capabilities to a tiny 64GB or 2TB limit”. Sixty-two times the capacity, for the same money.

1080p only, so a 4K disc will not play. Three players here read one: Sony’s UBP-X700U at $328 and both 4K Panasonics.