New player recommendation with a twist...

[Gurm]

Ok, here's the deal. I want the MOST compatible player out there. My Pioneer plays lots of stuff, but REALLY drops the ball on SVCD-DVD's, and is ailing in general, so...

I know there's a compatibility guide in here, but that doesn't help me with certain questions such as:

1. Can the player play PAL DVD's properly on an NTSC TV? How about PAL SVCD's? VCD's ? (One would assume, since VCD is part of the DVD spec, but some players can't do VCD well AT ALL, nevermind PAL).

2. Can the player play SVCD-DVD's properly? VCD-DVD's? How about PAL SVCD-DVD's?

That's the information I want. I _know_ how to find the information about whether it supports SVCD's, XSVCD's, burnables, etc. I want the HARD information, which just isn't in the compatibility chart here.

- Gurm

[Don2050]

not conventional but you could put a modchip on your ps2 or xbox... then it will play all files in their raw form... no need to convert anything....

assuming you have either of course...

[Gurm]

Got a PS2, but not sure what you mean.

PS2Reality plays DIVX. There exists no player for the PS2 for MPG, VCD, or SVCD at the moment.

Additionally, the PS2's MPG-1 decoding SUCKS. It plays VCD-DVD's and SVCD-DVD's (NTSC only unless I do the PAL video fix, which I suppose isn't that hard - bridge two points really) but the VCD-DVD's just SUUUUUUUUUCK. All blocky and lots of artifacting.

- Gurm

[Don2050]

yeah, sorry, I guess I mainly meant the xbox, my friend uses his to play everthing and anything in it's .avi and .mpg format...no converting. I knew ps2 had a player out but didnt realize how limited it was....

[SVCDummy]

Well, it's kinda on the cheap side but it has played everything! I even use it as a MP3 jukebox because it has 5.1 audio outputs right on the back of the darned thing.

It's the Yamakawa DVD208

There is now fancy front display. Just a few important buttons. It cost about $50us and it even plays raw mpeg files and Kodak picture disks.

I replaced my dying Apex unit with one and bought 3 more for the rest of the house.

Read up on it in the DVD player section here.

[SVCDummy]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. It played PAL VCD's from europe and china on my NTSC tv.