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SimpleSymon
Member
Joined: 12 Sep 2008
Location: United States
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I'm ready to junk my crappy NTSC DVD player, and upgrade to a decent one (under $300) that fits my needs. It must
have good picture clarity (LCD TV is next on my to-buy list), easy to use remote, and all the following features:
1. slow motion
2. freeze-frame
3. frame-by-frame advance
4. zoom
If anyone has or had a DVD player that fits all the above requirements, please let me know brand name/model number. Also, if any technomeister knows of any way to find out if specific brands/model numbers have the above 4
features (prior to purchase), please advise. I've tried asking sales clerks, tried asking to see the instruction manual, tried looking it up on its home website. etc. Can't seem to track down any info concerning these specific features!
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samijubal
Member
Joined: 25 Jul 2004
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I'd look into the Toshiba XD-E500. It gets pretty stellar reviews from what I've seen. I'm waiting for the price to drop a little myself but It's only half of your player budget. Check out the reviews on Amazon, there's one here in the latest video news section.
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CDan
Member
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Location: United States
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"Stellar reviews" on the Toshiba E500 are in fact pretty mixed. Lots of people don't like them at all.
The Oppo 981 fits the posted requirements, but the Oppo 980 might do OK too. Really good zoom function is fairly rare, and the Oppos have the best.
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samijubal
Member
Joined: 25 Jul 2004
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I haven't seen any reviews yet that say the 981 is better than the E500 but I have seen more than a few that say the E500 is better.
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Scooter_NJ
Member
Joined: 03 Apr 2002
Location: New Jersey
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If you are going to spend that amount....why not go BluRay? If you search around, you can find players under $300.00
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jman98
Member
Joined: 08 Oct 2004
Location: Freedonia
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| Scooter_NJ wrote: |
| If you are going to spend that amount....why not go BluRay? If you search around, you can find players under $300.00 |
Such players probably do NOT support the final BluRay spec, which I believe is called 2.0. You still have to either buy a PS3 or pay $500-600 for a player that fully supports the final spec.
If someone has an Oppo 981, why on earth would they buy a Toshiba E500? Are there really that many rich boys with nothing better to do than just buy the latest and greatest? I would not necessarily trust reviews claiming that the E500 is better. Again, does it really make sense that someone would buy both? Maybe these reviewers only own one of the players and the other is a model they've simply seen at a friend's house.
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manono
Member
Joined: 28 Aug 2003
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| samijubal wrote: |
| I haven't seen any reviews yet that say the 981 is better than the E500 but I have seen more than a few that say the E500 is better. |
| Quote: |
| Expensive for a DVD player; XDE picture controls are best left off for the most-accurate picture; lacks features such as SACD playback and a USB port found on competing Oppo models; poor aspect ratio control on nonanamorphic DVDs. |
http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/toshiba-xd-e5 ... 24998.html
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SimpleSymon
Member
Joined: 12 Sep 2008
Location: United States
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| CDan wrote: |
"Stellar reviews" on the Toshiba E500 are in fact pretty mixed. Lots of people don't like them at all.
The Oppo 981 fits the posted requirements, but the Oppo 980 might do OK too. Really good zoom function is fairly rare, and the Oppos have the best. |
Thanks for the tip! Do you have one yourself, or if not, how do you know for sure it has the features I require?
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SimpleSymon
Member
Joined: 12 Sep 2008
Location: United States
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| Scooter_NJ wrote: |
| If you are going to spend that amount....why not go BluRay? If you search around, you can find players under $300.00 |
Thanks for your reply. Regret I've no interest in BluRay. Finding movies in video and DVD is chore enough. Plus I already have a complicated (for me at least) setup. Regular TV, foreign TV, VCR, DVD recorder, TBC, Video Converter, etc. Don't need to be adding anymore stuff! I just want to replace my crappy DVD player with one that does everything I need it to do. When I do this (and replace my ancient Broksonic cheapie TV with LCD model), I'm done!
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MJA
Member
Joined: 05 Jan 2005
Location: IL
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SimpleSymon
Member
Joined: 12 Sep 2008
Location: United States
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Thanks for the link above, but I already have debit cards, so credit card is unnecessary!
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budz
IGA Ninja
Joined: 11 Jan 2003
Location: In the shadows.....
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That's the best deal yet for a Blu-ray player. 
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yoda313
Regular joe
Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Location: sector 001
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Another alternative is a xbox 360. With the arcade versions selling for 200.00 sans harddrives now that is an excellent choice for a good dvd player + game player.
I will say this the only downside is it has a rather loud fan so that could be a bit of downer for you depending on types of movies you watch and what volume you listen to them at.
I will say this I have both the ps3 and the 360 and the 360 has a slight edge in dvd playback. The 360 has a perfect stretch (non distortion mind you) mode for letterboxed dvds. The ps3 just doesn't seem to do it properly.
Please note I don't have a hdmi model 360 - i use the vga hd cable so that may be a contributing factor. I have the ps3 connected via hdmi and love the quality for 16x9 dvds. Its just the handful of letterboxed dvds I have don't turn out well (I have the UNIVERSE season one on dvd that is letterboxed and looks great on the 360 but doesn't stretch right on the ps3 - the same with the "OFFICIAL" pressed release of the unaltered Star Wars Trilogy dvds that were issued in the indiviual movie packs.
That is just another consideration. Also the 360 does not have a bluray add on yet but probably will before too long - I can't imagine Microsoft would want to miss out on another money making opportunity. DOn't forget if you can find it online you can still get the hddvd addon if you have a source for hddvds. I have the addon and they still look great even though its dead.
_________________
Live long and prosper - and rock on dude!!!!
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fairytale00
Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Location: USA
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Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player offers great value for money:
Quote from the review: "HD-DVD's fatal fall at the beginning of 2008 kick-started the race to build players that meet mass demand with consumer-friendly price tags. Samsung's BD-P1500 is among the first to challenge the $400 low water mark set by the PlayStation 3.
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