Nokia's DVD-3800 player -- is this for real?

We know the rebadging / knockoff fiends have kicked out some seriously stupefying gear in the past, but we just find it (mighty) hard to believe that Nokia is actually venturing into the DVD player market. Nevertheless, a tipster reportedly snapped the above shot whilst out in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and while one may assume that the player was simply some other firm's "DVD-3800" with a Nokia emblem, both Denon and Astar's iterations look fairly different. So, dear readers, what on earth is going on here? If anyone has even a remote clue what this thing is, drop us a line in comments -- oh, and be sure to peep the other two snapshots after the break.

[Thanks, Javed]

[Jon @ Sep 26th 2007 2:24PM]

Is that Jackie Chan?

[Ian @ Sep 26th 2007 9:06PM]

yes yes i think that it is. how weird

[austin @ Sep 26th 2007 2:27PM]

Nokia also manufacturs the speakers in my BMW. Is it the same Nokia? Not willing to pull my door panels to find out.

[Z @ Sep 26th 2007 2:49PM]

My satellite box is made by Nokia.

[rock99rock @ Sep 26th 2007 3:13PM]

Does the fact that the pic was shot inside of Kazakhstan bother anyone else? "MY Nokia, nahmberr wahn DVD palyer in all Kazakhstan!" :)

[Jesse @ Sep 26th 2007 2:28PM]

That thing looks ugly as sin. D:

I seriously wouldn't buy that.

[Chou @ Sep 26th 2007 2:32PM]

Really? I think it has real retro-aesthetic value!

[LikesGadgetsWillTravel @ Sep 26th 2007 3:22PM]

You wouldn't buy it based on the look? What if it was $50 and supported DivX/XVid, VCD, h264, etc? Still not? Must be an apple-fanboi then.

[Jesse @ Sep 26th 2007 6:30PM]

No, I just wouldn't buy it.

I demand to know why a person just can't like something, without being labeled as an apple or microsoft fanboy. What the Christ, I have every right to dislike something if I very well don't like it.

And I wouldn't care what it supported. I just-wouldn't-use-it.

Got a problem with that?

[Tristan @ Sep 26th 2007 9:34PM]

I think its actually pretty sleek

[Josh Warner @ Oct 30th 2007 12:39AM]

So you're saying you prefer looks over functionality. On a device that, when it is operating, shall not be visible due to the overwhelming darkness of the room. If I sneakily switched this DVD player with your own while you were watching a movie, would you notice the difference? No, not until you turned the lights back on.

I somewhat agree with you for things like cell phones... I would no longer use a BrickPhone (tm) from ~1998. That is not only a fashion argument either; better features, battery life, call quality, etc. have been shoehorned into smaller and better designed packages these days.

But for things like DVD players, I am confused when people claim looks matter over functionality... if it's the best performing item in its price/performance range but looks like crap, buy it and stick it behind a cabinet door or something. Your viewpoint is a difficult one for me to grasp.

[lassi @ Sep 26th 2007 2:31PM]

definetely not a real nokia...

nokia has made some home entertainment devices in the past though, like dvb boxes and such(tv's too..).

[AndyS @ Sep 26th 2007 2:33PM]

Nope, not Nokia's. They wouldn't put Jackie Chan on thier loading screen. It's a knock off.

[bryson430 @ Sep 26th 2007 2:35PM]

Actually, the button layout and design look very Nokia-esque....but the Jackie Chan splash screen screams Chinese knock-off to me, even if they have actually paid attention to the design "language".

[John Stracke @ Sep 26th 2007 2:35PM]

I can't imagine Nokia being dumb enough to call it a *Digital* DVD Player.

[octoberasian @ Sep 26th 2007 4:21PM]

Yeah, it makes it redundant: Digital Digital Versatile Disc Player... >.>;

[Hafk @ Sep 26th 2007 6:24PM]

It is important to put Digital in the title.

After all, you wouldn't want people thinking that this was an Analog DVD Player. :P

[pupdog @ Sep 27th 2007 10:09PM]

Finding needles for those is getting to be an absolute bitch...

[John Stracke @ Sep 28th 2007 9:15AM]

Now that I think about it, the early videodisc formats *were* analog. LaserDisc always had analog video; some discs had analog audio and some had digital. RCA's CED was pure analog *and* required a needle.

Citations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitance_Electronic_Disc

[t-bone @ Sep 26th 2007 2:36PM]

I'd say knock-off. Knock-offs are always advertising they play mpeg-4 above all else, it seems. I see it even says it on the top of the player in addition to the screen that looks really unproffesional.

[t-bone @ Sep 26th 2007 6:42PM]

"I see it even says it on the top of the player in addition to the screen that looks really unproffesional."

Did I write that? I must have been completely out of it.

[Emre Aydinceren @ Sep 26th 2007 2:37PM]

Well, Nokia is prestigious brand name anywhere else in the world. They sell more than Motorola. Some Chinese company may have licensed the name.

[JeffDM @ Sep 27th 2007 1:50AM]

Easier yet, a Chinese electronics company would be more likely to just USE Nokia's name without their permission or knowledge.

Nokia has gotten into a lot of diverse industries, but this one is looking silly.

[Spiderpig @ Sep 26th 2007 2:37PM]

Fake!
Why should Nokia put the logo of another firm on the top of their dvd-player?

[John Stracke @ Sep 26th 2007 2:41PM]

I don't think that's a logo; it says "MPEG-4".

[Michael Leung @ Sep 26th 2007 2:39PM]

I am a Hong Konger.
Yes, the man in the screen is Jackie Chan.
But I think this is a very old picture of Jackie.

Nokia is a mobile phone producer,
I don't think Nokia will produce DVD players.

Impossible + old Jackie Chan = Fake Forged Products which were made in China.

Shame on China...

[Michael Leung @ Sep 26th 2007 2:42PM]

sorry, I mean "... + old picture of Jackie Chan"

[xtazey @ Sep 26th 2007 2:52PM]

Nokia's also a rubber boot manufactor, and a car tire factor here in Finland.

[Z @ Sep 26th 2007 2:52PM]

Could you please direct me to a page where it saids "made in China"?

Oh and Jackie Chan IS old, and Im a Hong Kongese too.

[Michael Leung @ Sep 26th 2007 2:55PM]

>xtazey:
Yes, I also know that, thank you.

>Z:
The screenshot tells me.
Believe it or not, up to you.

[PDexter @ Sep 26th 2007 2:43PM]

Dont think they have made dvd players and would be probaly the last ones to give their logo as they are pretty respected manufacter in Europe and Asia at least ;) Thought they have made some digiboxes and some other random stuff.
http://www.mbnet.fi/nettijatkot/2004/01/digitallentimet/nokia-digiboxi_iso.jpg

[jmacaldo83 @ Sep 26th 2007 2:44PM]

The splash screen is what you'd expect from a DVD one would buy from Chinatown for $40.

[Chanimal @ Sep 26th 2007 2:44PM]

Oh, no brainer, this is a fake! And it's probably so fake that it's found in K'stan! Sorry, but in any other metrop'tan city or area, no one in the right mind will buy a "Nokia" DVD player, unless it's dirt cheap, which this probably was. I doubt Jackie Chan is under contract to pimp Nokia wares....

[netposer @ Sep 26th 2007 2:47PM]

We used to have a Nokia Firewall Appliance. It was a rack-mounted CheckPoint Firewall running a version of Linux that the CheckPoint folks built.

[Chris Rider @ Sep 26th 2007 4:58PM]

Nokia checkpoint firewalls are probably the most common in corporate environments. Cisco ones are apparently rubbish and Juniper aren't as common yet.

[alf @ Sep 26th 2007 2:48PM]

It's a PDVD player. It only plays pirated DVDs?

[Adoniteking @ Sep 26th 2007 2:51PM]

Just because a device is branded by a "popular name" doesnt mean it was made by the company who owns the brand. If you go to a lot of third-world countries you will find thousands of "fake" electronics that have been passed on into the market using a popular brand's name(doesnt necessarily have to be related to the type of device as long as people know the name and that the company makes some type of electronic equipment.The device will sell quicker than halo 3...i have lived in a part of africa for a few years and i know a fake device when i see one...its like a sixth sense which you automatically develop. That dvd player is 200% FAKE. Poor economic countries dont give a F*** about copyright infringement so its pointless for most companies to try and chase the culprits that make such because even if you get an address, its not like you can get a freaking gps working in such countries because the roads change everyday...atlas and world maps cant keep up.

[jlien08 @ Sep 26th 2007 5:28PM]

I'm pretty sure your thinking of Nokian. Different than Nokia, but great tire mfg'er.

[jlien08 @ Sep 26th 2007 5:31PM]

I'm pretty sure your thinking of Nokian. Different than Nokia, but they are a great tire manufacturer...

[anonymous @ Sep 26th 2007 2:55PM]

this thing looks older than the hills and twice as dusty. This probably came from Nokias early days.

[PDexter @ Sep 26th 2007 2:59PM]

From the rubber making days? ;D

[Denver_80203 @ Sep 26th 2007 2:58PM]

As Borat would point out, Kazakhstan's industry of the electronics is far superior to the rest of the world. Everything is made right there at the ministry of electric science, Kazakhstan's most celebrated science maker.

[z @ Sep 26th 2007 3:00PM]

Nokia used to make televisions, dvd players, and all that kind of stuff in the mid-ninetees, at least for Europe.

[sporter @ Sep 26th 2007 3:01PM]

I lived in Russia for a few years, and the market places are full of knock-off products (e.g. Nike shoes with the NIKE lettering sewn mirror-backwards, Adidas merchandise with 4 stripes instead of the signature 3, etc.). Quite entertaining to walk past the kiosks and hear the merchants swear they're the real thing. I'm sure Kazakhstan is the same.

[badtzmaru @ Sep 26th 2007 3:02PM]

I cant believe it took 25 comments for someone to make a Borat joke.

[bl0nde @ Sep 26th 2007 3:48PM]

"My DVD player is Nokia












NOT"

[Marvin @ Sep 26th 2007 3:07PM]

That looks to be a Security Camera DVR sort of like the Q-See in my closet rack.. http://www.q-see.com/ Note the HD under lock & key, as well as the 4-camera/view navigation

[kuzu-b @ Sep 26th 2007 3:10PM]

I'm guessing it is either an old model that never made it to market, or a very good an unnecessary knockoff. The industrial design is TOO close to Nokia's to the an adaptation of a device that was never made. Knockoff designers aren't that good by definition. One thing is for sure, that IS Nokia design.

[rock99rock @ Sep 26th 2007 3:15PM]

test

[jimbo @ Sep 26th 2007 3:18PM]

I wonder if they have any DVD footage of the famous Almaty Zoo massacre...