PORTABLE Dvd Players vs. ones with DivX

[maris]

Hi, I need to know which one I should buy. I am not sure which to buy and am still confused over why some portable dvd players have DivX and some don't..... whats the difference?

I want one to more or less play videos I have downloaded to my own personal dvd's, and not too often will I need to play a store bought movie dvd. If I only play my personal downloaded dvd's, will I need the DivX feature?

So confused, please help!
Thanks, Maris

[Ai Haibara]

In standalone DVD players that play DivX/Xvid, the decoding is handled by additional hardware. That, of course, usually adds to the cost of the player. Since most portables aim for low cost, I'm guessing, it'll be rare to find a portable that does play DivX/Xvid. (I know, there are a handful of them that do, as you mention, but it's probably less likely to be included with a portable.)

I want one to more or less play videos I have downloaded to my own personal dvd's, and not too often will I need to play a store bought movie dvd. If I only play my personal downloaded dvd's, will I need the DivX feature?

Are your videos DivX/Xvid-format AVIs? Note also that DVD players are a lot more picky about the way an AVI is encoded, however.

[maris]

Your right about that. I have only seen a small handful of them that have DivX but I did find a couple and were actually in a decent price range. I just wonder if I really need that feature.

I have seen the AVI format mentioned on various websites but don't really understand what it is ( not very savy at this stuff) Though I may use that format in the future. Currently my dvd's are in .wmv format so I can play them on my windows media player on my home pc. I'm not even sure what these portable dvd players are capable of doing. I just know I need one that is portable and play my files like I can on my home pc.
I thank you for trying to help me. If you have further info for me, I would really appreciate it, thanks

[Ai Haibara]

You're more or less going to end up re-encoding all those files to AVI and burning new data CD/DVDs, if you want to watch them on a DivX/Xvid-capable portable.

AVI and WMV are 'containers,' meaning they can contain different types of video and audio streams. A DivX/Xvid-capable DVD player will usually only play AVI files with a DivX or Xvid-encoded video stream and an MP3 audio stream. It may also let you play MPEG files as well, but that's up to the player.

WMV support in a portable is rather unlikely. Some set-top players (like the Phillips DVP-5990 I'm using) do actually support some forms of WMV, but that's rare.

[maris]

Well, that there tells me I don't want the DivX I assume since I really don't want to or need to reburn all those files just so I can view them on a DivX. Sounds to me I don't necessarily need that feature so thats good news!
So how do you like the Phillips DVP-5990? Is it pretty reliable for sound and quality?

Thanks alot for your information!

[Ai Haibara]

You forgot converting, too.

The 5990 is, in my opinion, a decent (set-top) player, for the price (I bought it for $60, if I remember correctly). It's not a high-end player, and can be tempremental, but it does upconvert. It also allows playing of AVI/.divx/.wmv from a USB drive, so I don't mind converting video to watch on it even less than I did the Phillips DVP-642 I had before it - just run a quick conversion of whatever I want to watch to AVI, copy it to a flash drive, watch it on the player, delete.

The sound also seems good on my (admittedly small) HDTV, with its own Dolby/surround options, though I haven't tried adding it to my sound system just yet (laziness strikes again).

It's become a little more difficult to find the 5990 in stores these days, though.

[MJA]

you get the 5990 with USB from amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP5990-1080p-Upscaling-Player/dp/B00158OJ9O/ref=sr_1_2?...1647080&sr=8-2

walmart carry only the 3990 I think with no USB for $44

if this is what u mean by Portable check this one from Toshiba

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001TOD3L4/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UT...X0DER&v=glance

# DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW compatible
# Divx, MP3 and JPEG
# SD Card Slot

[yoda313]

The poster may want to consider a harddrive media player or one with a memory stick adapter.

If the poster doesn't plan on using dvds and has wmv as the main format I'd consider looking at a myriad of portable video players that do wmv.

Then you would just drag and drop the files without converting via usb. You're only restriction might be resolution depending on the player you pick. You may still need to reconvert them.

You did mention you use windows media center for these wmv. You might consider a zune. They natively support wmv right out of the box. THough as mentioned you have resolution restrictions to consider.

Are these files 320x240? If so they'll work on the older generation zune's without reconverting. If they are higher than that the zune software will convert it for you.

But as mentioned there are many other players aside from the zune that can handle wmv files.

If you don't really plan on using physical dvds on the portable player you should consider a mp3 player that supports video - specifically wmv in your situation.

[maris]

ok so What I am understanding from the last 3 posts is that I could look for a dvd player that has a USB drive and I could load all my wmv files onto a memory stick ( of which I do have) and just plug that into the dvd players usb port and the files will play ( video and audio) As long as the dvd player supports .wmv files? That would work for me so I wouldnt have to toat around discs..... just plug the stick in.
How many dvd players have usb ports?

Not sure what "upconvert" is. The thing is, I don't have a dvd burner. I have to send the files to someone else to burn on his dvd burner and he has a software program that converts the files to just about anything ( drop down menu that has many options) so I think I could have them converted to any one of those as long as the portable dvd player supports those file types. When he first tried it, he converted them to a file type my pc didnt reconize and he had to reburn them into .wmv so that my home pc could play them ( on windows media player) but now that I need these videos outside of my home and play them on a portable dvd player thats where I am running into my problem as to which portable dvd player I should get. I have heard good and bad about many of them and not being tech savy I am getting a bit confused. I don't want to pay alot of money for this and looking for the best one for the money.

[Ai Haibara]

There's only one DVD player I'm aware of that supports WMV playback (and even then, not all forms of WMV) - the 5990 I'm using. There are probably one or two others, but it's still rather rare in set-top players, and less likely to be in a portable DVD player.

Upconverting is when the player (or TV) scales the image up to work with the new high-definition TV resolutions.

[jman98]

ok so What I am understanding from the last 3 posts is that I could look for a dvd player that has a USB drive and I could load all my wmv files onto a memory stick ( of which I do have) and just plug that into the dvd players usb port and the files will play ( video and audio) As long as the dvd player supports .wmv files?

Unfortunately that may not necessarily be true.
1) If you have WMV files that are in high definition, they won't play.
2) If you have DRM protected WMV files they won't play either because the player has no way to get a license to play the files.

[ipse]

Unfortunately that may not necessarily be true.
1) If you have WMV files that are in high definition, they won't play.
2) If you have DRM protected WMV files they won't play either because the player has no way to get a license to play the files.

1 vote AGAINST the 5990

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being issued with a formal warning. PLease stop dig up topics without adding any information.
/ Moderator Baldrick

[handyguy]

'So how do you like the Phillips DVP-5990?'

It's nice as is it's brother a 5992?But doesn't play everything.

I like my Seagate FreeAgent Theater (Also has a + version) with 500gig HD as it plays VOB, ISO & AVI, but doesn't take dvd disks. No need to write ISOs to disk to watch them. Comes with software that automatically put your video files on a disk when you plug the hd in your computer.