buying DVD player today

[sknox]

Hi all

Got to make this quick

I have been using a panasonic RV-65 for 6 years not one prob
now it won't
play any dvd burnded higher than 4X
I want a a DVD player only, hard to pick one to much info...

It must have v-good s-video pic and above all it must have a audio that is optical
not coaxel!

i bought a Daewoo DVR06, it's also a recorder, don't really need it.

it was 129 at Sears

for the heck of it i burned 3 DVD's to test using verbatum @ 4X, 6X, and 8X
all played fine i tryed one at 12X all burned on the new Memorex burner16X.


i don't want to pay more than $130

I have looked at The LGDVB418 by LG
DVP5900/37 DivX DVD Player by Philips
DVP-NS55P/S Progressive Scan DVD Player by Sony

Help i need some sugestions mind you im not a newbe or a dummy

Thanks
Steve

[mats.hogberg]

If you disclosed where you live, someone at least on the same continent might have something to add?

/Mats

[sknox]

im in Honolulu

Sears, walmart, compusa, best buy
is what's around here

Steve

[MJA]

I owned the Philips 642 model.its nothing but garbage 90 days warranty only

check the Pioneer at amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AN5DT0/qid=1127573081/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8__i4_xgl23/1...onics&v=glance

or Toshiba SD-3990 DVD/DiVX Player $49

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-cNPdJCM3q8A/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?search=Toshiba+SD%2D3990&i=052SD3990

[wayne421]

I have the Pioneer 383S and it rocks the boat. Plays EVERYTHING.

[sknox]

Thanks MJA & wayne421

Placed my order for the Pioneer from J&R for $99

Think i made the right decision?



Steve

[wayne421]

I think you'll dig the 383S. As I said, it plays everything right out of the box. Be sure to read page 39 in the manual on how to set up the PAL->NTSC output - very important! By default it ships in 'Auto' so you'll need to switch it to what you need (USA=NTSC).

[heyjjjaded]

Can anybody tell me about the Zoom Factors on the Pioneer 383-S? Like how much & how little can you zoom? Thanks.

[wayne421]

It does have a Zoom feature, but I haven't used it yet. I'm at work for another few hours, I'll see if I can fiddle around with it tomorrow. If you Google you can probably find the user manual for it.

[heyjjjaded]

Thanks. I would greatly appreciate the info. I have googled to try to find the manual online & I haven't had any luck. I would love to find out the increments/ratios at which this player zooms in. Thank you!

[SingSing]

I think most DVD players do zoom at 2x,4x,8x,and 1/2x,1/4x. Samsung and JVC has the additional 1.5X to fill screen with 16:9 and 2.35:1 DVD.

Many new DVD players do not play VCD and SVCD, The makers skip the license fee to Philips, justified by the lack of demand. So, if you don't see the S/VCD logo on a name brand DVD player, then it may not plays them.

[heyjjjaded]

Thanks. You seem to know a lot about this. My goal is to fill my widescreen hdtv with the 2.35:1 DVDs. I just really don't like the black bars. By my math, a zoom of 1.33 would do it. Those zoom factors you mentioned are huge ... why would anybody want to zoom the picture 4 or even 8 times?

[ROF]

I'd walk into the store and ask to see the cheapest DVD player. if it doesn't play every type of disc you need today, look for the cheapest that does. DVD is being supplanted by next gen players as I type this. Paying more for inferior technology makes no sense.

[SingSing]

Thanks. You seem to know a lot about this. My goal is to fill my widescreen hdtv with the 2.35:1 DVDs.

If you want to fill your widescreen, then you want a JVC that do x1.5, because it does not leave an annoying icon on screen when in zoom.

Zoom 1.5x, is a nice feature to fill widescreen with 2.35:1 movie, also nice to filled your old 4x3 TV, with 16:9 movie.

The players bascially display bigger pixels when in zoom, in 4x and 8x, they don't look good. that's another reason zoom x1.5 looks better than zoom x2.

[oldandinthe way]

I agree with ROF that the cheapest player is the best buy. But I can't agree with his reason.

Forget the new technologies. Both proposed and soon to be real formats are likely to be stillborn. Confusion, competition and cost will retard sales as will the heavy emphasis on copy-protection. A successful replacement for DVD will need to be consumer oriented which neither HD-DVD or Blu-ray are.

The reason for buying low cost commodity equipment is the enormous number of units which have been manufactured from a few standard reference designs. And the fact that you can buy recorders for just a few dollars more than the drives within them, making throw-away on failure quite reasonable.

[ROF]

I agree with ROF that the cheapest player is the best buy. But I can't agree with his reason.

Forget the new technologies. Both proposed and soon to be real formats are likely to be stillborn. Confusion, competition and cost will retard sales as will the heavy emphasis on copy-protection. A successful replacement for DVD will need to be consumer oriented which neither HD-DVD or Blu-ray are.

Confusion? You mean between the two formats? Current generation DVD has three formats which when they first came out were completely incompatible with one another. Competition no matter how it's represented will benefit the consumer. Cost? Pick up a circa 2000 ad and tell me how much a dvd player cost. HD-DVD and Blu-ray are both ripe with consumer benefits and perfectly fit within the model of previous generation releases.

[wayne421]

For those interested, the Zoom factors on the Pioneer DV-383S are 2x and 4x ONLY.

[heyjjjaded]

Thanks, wayne421. I think this thread is telling me to look at a JVC player. Thanks for all the info.

[oldandinthe way]

ROF

The current generation DVD has ONE format for most consumers, DVD-Video. Anything they buy should work on any DVD player.

DVD-Video replaced VHS a serial access device with a random access device. The consumer had an immediate benefit from not having to rewind the tape. Another immediate benefit was fast chapter access, and frankly these factors helped spur adoption as much as the improved images displayed.

But what really helped the consumer was the fact that the exceptional low manufacturing cost encouraged the release of vast libraries of OLD films onto DVD. The studios released hundred of films they had never released on VHS because the cost was so low.

Recording onto DVD has been a low priority with consumers. That is the reason DVD recorder prices have been in free fall. This is not learning curve effect. The confusion about +R -R RW, DL and all the rest just help to restrict adoption.

Where are the additional consumer benefits from the pending HD offerings? Is a better image that important (I think not - there won't be an FCC order to force adoption like HD-TV). The broadcasters figured out quickly that their bandwidth is better used for additional sde channel content rather than high def images.

What benefit to the user from the greater capacity of the media?

You think there is no confusion? Those who have purchased HD-TV have no idea if their model will actually display a HD image from HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.

The technology will not drop in cost unless there is sufficient demand to force production along the learning curve. Unlike the VHS to DVD transition there is far less to motivate the consumer.

In the meantime the studios will have to hedge their bets with an increase in the tidal waves of DVD offerings - particularly of classic films whose copyright is running out. Wait to long and they'll be in the $1 DVD bin with no studio revenue.

[jman98]

I'm not sure I agree that there is a bunch of classic films whose copyright is running out. For example, due to changes in copyright law, _Steamboat Willie_, which really should already be in the public domain, won't be eligible for the public domain for roughly 20 more years. Nothing is actually expected to enter the public domain until 2019 as a result of these changes. I have little doubt that as 2019 comes closer, copyright terms will yet again be extended. There's some info about this at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Bono_Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

[MJA]

heyjjjaded.What kind of TV do you have?

[heyjjjaded]

MJA - I have a Sony KDF50WE655. It's a LCD RP HDTV. It does have a WIDE ZOOM mode itself, but it also has some internal detector that senses the mode that it thinks the DVDs should be played on. So when I play a 2.35:1 DVD on it, I choose WIDE ZOOM to fill the screen. The movie will look great for a while & then the TV magically detects something & reverts back to the normal mode without the zoom.

[MJA]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00078GLJY/ref=nosim/002-7622935-8293657?n=172282

DVI out,
give your TV a treat