Looking for a new DVD Player-------RegionFree,Divx,1080

[chrisyak]

I am looking for a new DVD player to replace my Phillips 642 as i have upgraded to Plasma 50' HDTV and am looking for DVD player with Region Free,Divx and is not picky about playing burned discs(642 was awesome for that feature) with HDMI that will upconvert to 1080.My first choice i guess would be the Phillips 5960 but their must be other players out their that are as good if not better.Suggestions please!!!!!Thnx for the help.

[kicko]

yes, i'm in the same boat but not quite, i would like something that play all dvd's(+/- burned) fairly well and pal and ntsc is a must. If it also played divx that would be a bonus, but not required. In my experience cheaper ones seem to be the most compatible. I'm also looking for suggestions.

[NiteLite]

Yes there are better selections available.
Check out this link for several major brands. Great warranties and the house brand is a nice produvt with great price and features.
If you've got some time browse around.
Good luck,
Nl

http://www.220-electronics.com/dvd/dvdorig.htm

I posted this thinking you were looking modded code free units.
After reading OP again, maybe not.

[Krispy Kritter]

I highly recommend the Oppo OPDV971H. http://oppodigital.com/

Excelent picture quality, very highly rated, and Divx Pro certified, unlike the 642. I love mine.

[xSimonx]

I recommend this one the Philips DVP-3040 http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/catalog.jsp?fhquery=fh_secondid%3Ddvp...CSHQFHKFSESI5P


Mine is 3040K/55, but I don`t see any special difference between them.

[chrisyak]

I highly recommend the Oppo OPDV971H. http://oppodigital.com/

Excelent picture quality, very highly rated, and Divx Pro certified, unlike the 642. I love mine.

Do you have the audio sync problem with this dvd player?alot of people have commented on it....

[chrisyak]

One of the problems i have read is that OPPO is not great if you are just using component as my HDMI will problay be used by HDPVR.

[manono]

The Oppo OPDV971H only has DVI out. It does come with an DVI2HDMI cable, but they'll come out with an HDMI model in the fall. The audio asynch problem has been pretty much fixed with the most recent firmware. And you're right that you don't want it if you have to use the component connection.

There's a newer Oppo, the Oppo Digital DV-970HD. It has HDMI, component hookup is fine, plays DivX, PAL, etc. It's also $50 cheaper:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=682896
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/

[lordhutt]

on the avs forum....

New features include: HDMI, Memory card reader, SACD, upconversion via component (non-copy protected discs).


What exactly does this mean....upconversion will only work with backed up DVD's???

Also if the DV-970HD is better then why is $50 cheaper?

[FulciLives]

I suggest the Pioneer DVR-490-S

This USA model DVD player must be bought pre-modified to be REGION FREE but there are a variety of websites that offer it that way including:

1.) http://www.world-import.com/
2.) http://www.220-electronics.com/
3.) http://www.hkflix.com/

All three of those places are reliable.

Anyways this DVD player is REGION FREE and does PAL to NTSC conversion. It has Composite, S-Video and component video outputs. It also has a HDMI output and can does 720p/1080i upconversion.

The player is DivX Home Theatre Profile certified and does well with DivX and most XviD video files.

The USA MSRP is only about $99 but expect to pay about $180 - $190 for one that is pre-modified to be REGION FREE. As I said there really are no easy hacks (if any) for most Pioneer model DVD players.

Having said that the quality of this DVD player should blow away the Philips although I wouldn't be surprised if the OPPO DIGITAL OPDV971H has slightly better DVD Video quality ... although I've heard the Pioneer is a bit better with DivX/XviD files than the OPPO. The OPDV971H is about $199

Another option would be the OPPO DIGITAL DV-970HD which is the cheapest of the 3 models I have mentioned here. My understanding is that this model does not have the superior DVD Video playback ability of the more expensive OPDV971H but it probably (knock on wood) is on par with the Pioneer DV-490-S in terms of both DVD Video and DivX/XviD playback. The DV-970HD is about $149

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[manono]

What exactly does this mean....upconversion will only work with backed up DVD's???

It means your TV set will be doing the upconversion, rather than the player, if using the Component connection. Unless your DVD doesn't have copy protection. Then the Oppo Digital DV-970HD will upconvert. So, since your backups should have the copy protection removed, you should be able to upconvert to 1080i over the component cables. There aren't too many retail DVDs without copy protection.

You're not really supposed to be able to upconvert DVDs over component, you know.

[Krispy Kritter]

I highly recommend the Oppo OPDV971H. http://oppodigital.com/

Excelent picture quality, very highly rated, and Divx Pro certified, unlike the 642. I love mine.

Do you have the audio sync problem with this dvd player?alot of people have commented on it....

I have only experienced that problem once so far, and I have watched many videos. So I don't really consider this an issue. There are also options within the menu to adjust audio delay.

[MJA]

my vote also goes for the Pioneer DVR-490-S its $89,or$92 at amazon.com

[studtrooper]

You're not really supposed to be able to upconvert DVDs over component, you know.

Why's that, because MPAA told you so? Component cables (nothing but a slightly compressed version of VGA) can easily handle 720p/1080i, but the MPAA has somehow made a pact with all DVD player manufacturers that do upconversion to only allow said upconversion over HDCP enabled DVI or HDMI so people cannot copy a High Resolution version of the DVD (which is absolutely retarded, since there are plenty of programs that would do the same thing easier on a PC). Lame for sure, but whatever. Not like it matters, since upconversion is almost a myth. You are essentially admitting that you bought a crappy HDTV by letting the DVD player do the upconvert to your native resolution instead of your HDTV. I've personally seen the difference between 480p and upconverted 720p numerous times on the same TV. Absolutely negligible difference...

[manono]

Looks to me like the first part of your post used a whole lot of words agreeing with me. Doesn't really matter what we think of the rules, now does it? The fact remains that there are very few DVD players that upconvert over component.

Not like it matters, since upconversion is almost a myth. You are essentially admitting that you bought a crappy HDTV by letting the DVD player do the upconvert to your native resolution instead of your HDTV.

Hardly. If you spend the big bucks for a good TV, you might as well go the rest of the way so the movies look their best. You seem to be ignoring the benefit of keeping the signal digital all the way, so there are no analog<->digital conversions or filtering getting in the way between the source and the output. I, for one, notice a significant improvement in the picture using an upscaling DVD player over DVI, as compared to letting the TV take the component signal. It's seemingly cleaner, clearer, and has more "pop".

Yes, there's much less difference sending 480p over DVI/HDMI compared to 720p, but I was responding to the OP's question about using component cables.

[studtrooper]

I guess I'm a bit harder to impress :/ Bah, who cares. DVD is about to die anyway