PVP recommendations for my specific needs

[ZAP]

Hello -

So I'm thinking about getting a PVP just to play divx/xvid avis on my tv. I'm really, really sick of my burned DVDs becoming unplayable due to some microscopic scratch. Plus I don't like using so much plastic when storage space is so inexpensive these days.

I don't need one with a very nice screen, since I always want to watch movies on the tv anyway. It's important to me to be able to use selectable subtitles (.srt format preferred), since I have a lot of movies with multiple languages and I hang out with a lot of folks who speak them all. And I also use Ubuntu Linux 99% of the time, so I'd like to be able to copy files to the PVP from Ubuntu without any problems.

Oh and I'd like to spend as little as possible on this device...

What do folks here recommend I consider? I've had a hard time figuring out which PVPs meet these specific requirements from the manufacturers' spec sheets and whatnot. But I bet there are people in these forums with a similar situation who could help to steer me towards a good choice.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[yoda313]

well an alternative would be to get a cheap dvd player that reads a usb harddrive. Then just load all the movie files on to that and you're set.

I'm sure you can search the forum for a list of usb dvd players and which usb drives and file types they are compatible with.

[ZAP]

That might be a good alternative, indeed. Especially since I already have a USB hard drive that I don't really need for anything else. Although I kind of like the idea of being able to easily take a movie to someone else's house on a PVP and play it there, so I'm still interested in PVP options also.

[jagabo]

Or a Divx/DVD player with a USB port. Copy your AVI file(s) onto a USB thumb drive (or hard drive) and play from there. A few caveats though: long filenames are usually only displayed in 8.3 format. High bitrate files (>3000 kbps) won't be played smoothly.