standalone prices

[kita]

Was just wondering how some standalone DVD players can be so cheap. Saw a CDR/CDRW capable with MP3, (X)(S)VCD and DVD-R for $92? (In other words, a bunch of players with a whole bunch of formats at or around a 100 bucks)
How's this possible? A lot of VCR brands cost more than this.

PS On side note: just noticed something called DXR3 and DXR2, also H+. Ummmm, eh?

[andydd]

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On 2001-07-11 02:12:22, kita wrote:
Was just wondering how some standalone DVD players can be so cheap. Saw a CDR/CDRW capable with MP3, (X)(S)VCD and DVD-R for $92? (In other words, a bunch of players with a whole bunch of formats at or around a 100 bucks)
How's this possible? A lot of VCR brands cost more than this.

PS On side note: just noticed something called DXR3 and DXR2, also H+. Ummmm, eh?
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I think mechanically dvd players are easier n cheaper to make then VCRs.....

[vitualis]

A lot of cheaper DVD players are simply rebadged players (e.g., Shinco) made in the mass production factories in China (and presumable other countries). There is the impetus for these companies to produce DVD/VCD players as apart from the export market, there is also a large and growing local market too.

VHS is not a popular format in much of Asia. I'd imagine that if it was, and cheap VCRs were mass produced, you'd get pretty cheap ones too.

I don't know about DVD players being mechanically cheaper and easier to produce... but it sounds quite probable.

Regards.

[homerpez]

I can easily see why DVD players are cheap to produce, you can sort of tell just by pictures of units that have been opened. All that's in them is a DVD-Rom drive (like one used in your computer, but probably only a 1x or so speed since it's all it needs), a decoder board, and power supply.

Disc drives (especially ones like this, which probably only run at 1x DVD speed) are cheap, and boards, when mass-produced for things like this, are DIRT CHEAP.

More amazing is that sometimes cheapest = BEST. Case in point is the Apex 500-W which I bought at Wal*Mart, $98 or so. It plays virtually everything put into it, the only slight problem I had with it is mp3's (and I only had an old old old CD to try out in it, only a few files could be read). But at less than $100, it's considered one of the best for VCD, SVCD, and DVD...

But VCR's are also cheap to produce nowadays, since there are probably a half a dozen or so companies who just make the complicated mechanical "guts" for several companies on the cheap, and slap them into these $69 "special buys" you see. In a few years, you'll probably see the same thing happen to DVD players. I can already remember when you couldn't find one for less than $200!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: homerpez on 2001-07-11 06:07:15 ]</font>