Can anyone help? Cheap DVD Players for xmas ???

[magpieant]

Hi there.

Im hoping to pick my dad up a new dvd player for Christmas.

The criteria is pretty simple.

Price - relatively cheap / easy to pick up.
Should be able to play mp4 / divx / mp3 / copied discs / usb - the bigger the range of formats the better!
Multi region (or hackable) would be nice - but not essential.

I'll be honest, the price is the major factor. Dont need top of the range, but i dont want something that's not going to last either!

Any suggestions of DVD Players and places to buy greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Anth

[magpieant]

I should also add I'm in the UK - thanks

[jman98]

MP4 support is going to be very very difficult to find in a DVD player because typically MP4 uses codecs that aren't valid for DVD and weren't used in Divx either. Please note that any DVD player you find will almost certainly not at all support high definition resolutions in formats like Divx and MP4 (again, remember I said that MP4 probably won't be supported anyway). If you really can't live without MP4, you're probably going to have to go to a BluRay player.

Philips may still make a few players sold in stores that can be unlocked via a simple code you can enter, but do note that if you unlock a player, you should not ever update the firmware on it or you will likely permanently break region free mode. I've used Philips DVD players for years now and I've been happy with them.

Samsung and Sony players are the most difficult in the world to unlock right now, meaning most CANNOT be unlocked - ever. However, they may or may not make players that support enough formats to meet your needs. Just don't expect region free at all from anything they make.

How long players last is often controlled by whether they are in areas with a good amount of free space to air cool or not. NOBODY makes players any more that tolerate confined areas very well. You put it inside furniture with no open space around it, then it may not last very long.

If you really must have region free, it's best to buy from some seller who has hardware modified the player to be region free. Even Sony and Samsung can be hardware modified to be region free. But the extra hardware will add to the cost.

I don't live in the UK so I can't make specific model or where to buy recommendations, but here in the USA, Amazon usually has the lowest prices, so that might also be true of Amazon UK.

[Ai Haibara]

Just to add, those DVD players that do support .MP4-container videos in some form, usually only allow DivX/Xvid video streams and MP3 audio streams in an MP4 container... basically, what it supports in an AVI, only remuxed into an MP4. If you truly want MP4 support, you'll have better luck with a Blu-Ray player, standalone media players like the WDTV, or a media center PC setup.

Even then, set-top players (DVD, Blu-Ray) are typically more strict with what they'll play when it comes to video files, so it might not be worth the headache trying to make sure any video files you send your father will play on his player.

[Noahtuck]

Yep, what you are describing is more of a Blu-ray player and not a DVD player.....

http://www.walmart.com/ip/LG-BP145-2D-Blu-ray-Player/40497752

HD Disc Formats Supported:
BD-ROM; BD-R; BD-RE

SD Disc Formats Supported:
DVD(NTSC); DVD(PAL); DVD-R; DVD-RW; DVD+R; DVD+RW

Audio Disc Formats Supported:
CD; CD-R; CD-RW

HD Video Codecs Supported:
MPEG-1; MPEG2 PS/TS; MPEG4 AVC; SMPTE VC1; MKV; AVC Rec; AVC HD; M4V; 3GP; MP4; MOV; FLV; VOB

You are probably not going to beat that price let alone compared to a DVD player.