Buying a DVD player

[titanxt]

Gents,

I am finally going to do it! I am purchasing a DVD player. I have reviewed the chart on this site that lists the different abilities of the various players. I need some refined help.

I would like you opinion as to the best, most functional (in regards to playing all of the various formats) DVD player. Also, what should I be looking for in that player? What about DVD-R +R, CD-RW and the like?

Thank you in advance!

Andy

[SingSing]

It matter that what kind/type of TV and other Video related stuff you have.

[tearex]

How much do you plan to shell out? Try to find one that:

1.) Plays DVD-R/+R/-RW/+RW media, as well as CD-R and -RW.

2.) Does SVCD according to the standard, VCD 2.0, MP3 without stupid restrictions like only CBR or maximum bit rates below 320 kbps, miniDVD (DVD format on CD).

3.) Does have Composite, S-Video, and RGB output. In PAL land: RGB through SCART. In NTSCistan: Component Video or RGB wouldn't hurt if your TV can stomach it. Avoid anything that can't do better than composite with your TV set.

4.) Depending on your tastes, it should have optical and/or wire digital sound out, or maybe a little built-in 5.1 amp if you don't want to spend extra money on that.

5.) Ask if you can make it codefree and/or turn off Macrovision protection by a little punching on the remote, without opening it up.

6.) It should be able to play 16:9 DVDs both letterboxed (big black bars) and "Pan&Scan" (cut off a bit from left and right edges of picture) if you don't have a 16:9 TV set.

6.) Bring some media and ask to try them in the store. Watch a scene that has lots of fire or moving water and look for block noise, i.e. visible square bits in the picture. on VCD this can't be fully avoided, but on DVD media it should be hardly noticeable. Also try a scene with a large off-white interior wall visible in the background and look for artifacts like clearly visible circleish color boundaries where there shouldn't be any, or noise developing slowly and then suddenly disappearing again. Also try a scene which has dark-on-light text and check for "rings" around the letters.

7.) Lastly get a player that *you* and your partner like. Not the one that is "coolest."

Hope this helps

[titanxt]

Linards,

Any make/model suggestions? What DVD player do you personally own (if I may ask).

Thanks!

Andy

[donpedro]

It is very hard question. I personaly don't see any reason (my personal opinion) to spend $150 for DVD player if I can have same (what I need) features for $60. Picture quality of these ceap players is not that horrible that I would turn off great movie. What you need to look for is what do you want to do with your player.

Are you planing to play VCD, SVCD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD from different region, MP3 CD ? What are you trying to connect it to ? HDTV, Optical output for sound, S-VIDEO output, RGB output ? Do you have receiver with Dolby-DIGITAL or do you need decoder on DVD player ? Are you planing to use it in 110V or 220V country...

For me these features are important. Picture quality is last on my list. But if you just want to play commercial DVDs. That might be very high on your list.

[titanxt]

I want to be assured that the SVCD, VCD, and future DVDs (whether DVD-r, +r, etc.) that I create will be played. Watching commercial movies will be secondary.

Thanks!

Andy

[tuco1979]

I want to be assured that the SVCD, VCD, and future DVDs (whether DVD-r, +r, etc.) that I create will be played. Watching commercial movies will be secondary.

Thanks!

Andy

I am sorry but did you try searching for this first? You should first look and see what your search yields, then figure out if there is even a place that sells it True, you will get 150 hits or so but it gives you an idea of what is out there. Also read the user comments, since the whole purpose of them is tell you how good the player is are how well it can play different formats. For instance, since I live in the US, I can ignore all PAL dvd players. Then I see which ones I can get online that looks promising. Get a couple brands that you are thinking of buying then ask about them. I have a mintek 1600 for instance. I got it because it allows me to play vcd/svcd/xvcd/xsvcd and mp3s at a low price.

[tearex]

Any make/model suggestions? What DVD player do you personally own (if I may ask).

Hi Titatn,

The only player I personally own is an XBox with DVD kit however there are a couple I have access to... no really current models though and things still change a lot in this market within one year. I wouldn't recommend the XBox as it does not play any VCD/SVCD/MP3 or anything else that Microsoft doesn't like the unwashed masses to have, at least it doesn't unless you mod it and use non-commercial software that is still sort of in the early stages of its usefulness.

The CyberHome players are supposedly quite good, both in features and in picture and sound quality, except for the badly translated instruction manuals. However I don't know in what countries they are sold besides Germany.