Which DVD player should i buy, 25 dollar reward...!

[zepher]

Gentleman,

Im living in the Netherlands and i want to obtain a DVD stand alone player
Browsing this site helps me alot, but reviews seem to disagree
on several topics with every player.

I have 350 dollar/euro to spent and the player i want HAS to
play the following media types:

- CDR, DVD-R
- MiniDvd (got a JVS Mini-DV lotta tapes to convert in the best resolution)
- SVCD, XVCD XSVCD, VCD
- Mp3 (prefer shuffle)
- Able to disable Macrovision and Region code.
- Audio: has to be christal clear (since my old CD player is busted)
- Image: as good as possible

I wont mind updating a player with Firmware
I wont mind ordering online (abroad)

According this site and some others i narrowed the choice down to:

FINLUX 510 (MiniDVD ability?)
APEX players (reviewers seem to argue with each ohter)
Bush 2004 (cannot find it anywhere in the stores)
CyberCOM CC 4931 (to cheap?)
Vestel (not reviewed on this site http://www.vestel.nl)

Non of these accept all the media i really want to have in one player

Who can help me out, im even considering a 25 dollar tip for the person
that helps me select the right one! (via paypal)

Daniel Brinckmann
Groningen The Netherlands

[banjazzer]

This is the best one I've seen, bearing in mind that manufacturers rarely seem to claim (S)VCD compatibility even when it is there. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/dvd.htm
"SC2500 DVD Player
Dual Decoding : Dolby Digital (AC-3) & DTS decoding.
Compatible to DVD, CD, VCD, SVCD, CD-R &CD-RW, and MP3 discs.
Dolby Pro Logic processing.
Bulit-in six channel 96K/24-BIT audio DAC.
Video outputs: Composite Video and S-Video .
Audio outputs: 5.1 CH, 2 CH, Optical and Coaxial digital output.
Supports system conversion: NTSC to PAL and PAL to NTSC. "

It's multi-region but don't know about Macro - probably not. However, a macro-busting scart cable will do the job. 8) As to XVCD and XSVCD, I have no idea, because I don't know anyone who has got one.

The problem about relying on owners' recommendations is that the specs of particular models appear to change as the manufacturers make modifications. In the 2 cases I know about, these changes have been very much for the worse!

[offline]

zepher,

as much as I want your money (hehe) It would be wrong to suggest anything
but to copy and take cd samples to a few stores and try them out on as
many players as you can (there are some ready made samples on this site you can download and burn to cd for testing)

If you stick to the Chinese/Korean brands
you will get most (if not all) of your requirements except cd da audio
and perhaps the best picture. Not even the highest end DVD player plays audio like a decent standalone CD player, and the very best picture comes with a high price tag and no extra features. If you can afford two units, get one elcheapo Chinese DVD and one progressive scan brand-name that is made in Europe.

[DVC2]

I agree with the above - Its impossible to get it all in one player.

If you want all the features you mention - only the cheap asian players will do so - this is because they use simple technique - simple standard computerequipment put in a nice box. This is good for playing everything but bad for audio/picturequality. If you want good audio/picturequality you will have to get an expensive brandplayer - that is optimized with different techniques to enhance quality - makrofilters and so on. But none of these players support any of the nonstandard formats - and by nonstandard I mean EVERYTHING apart from real DVD. They will not play SVCD, MP3 and certainly not minidvd - some may not even play vcd either.

The best would be to buy two players and a DVD-burner.
One very cheap player to play the nonstandard formats, mp3, svcd and soforth and one expensive player to play your dvd's.
And instead of trying to create minidvd which only works in 3% of even the cheap playitall players, you chould create real dvd-r's

PS: progresive scanplayers ?? - are they not only for ntsc ? I dont think I have ever seen one that would do progressive scan on PAL and Europe is PAL.

[zepher]

DVC2, Offline & Banjazzer thanx for the good replies guys!
Strange that i am picky about the DVD player, after i
just spent 500 euro on a video card!
Heck i can buy 2 DVD players for that (thx for that tip)

For now i will go to the store and try out a DEMO cd with
the media types burned on it (good tip!)

I think ill go Finlux, sofar Finnisch equiptment has never let me down


Finlux DV510

Daniel-zepher-Brinckmann

If anybody thinks this is totally wrong player pls reply

[SatStorm]

Search for Comet, cyberhome M212, even that blue sky 100 model (only 44100 audio on cds!), Encore, yokohama...

This Finlux looks exactly like comet!

[offline]

PS: progresive scanplayers ?? - are they not only for ntsc ? I dont think I have ever seen one that would do progressive scan on PAL and Europe is PAL.

In Australia (like Europe) we have to deal with NTSC as well as PAL so
most players support both (unlike most North Amercian units) and in this mould - most of the new "world-built" players (such as the sampo)
support progressive scan 3.2 pulldown to play NTSC as well as normal
PAl DVD's (..and I'm not talking about PAL 60 here!)

By "world-built" I mean those players built to work anywhere in
the world with multi-standard support for signal as well as power
supply differences.

[offline]

DVC2, Offline & Banjazzer thanx for the good replies guys!

You are welcome. That works out to at least 8 Euro's each,
but as DVC2 has taken a vow of poverty I'll share the
remaining with banjazzer

[zepher]

LOL Offline
If all goes well, ill keep ya posted, i will throw a party
and you will all be welcome to watch some DVD's and light up
the backyard for some BBQ.
Pfff..its hot in Holland now 32 degrees C

[zepher]

Punting 1 time.
You never know what the cat will drag in

[zepher]

Today i got my Finlux 510, after some test reports (VCDhelp)
and your guys comments!
thanks!

ITs a great machine, it playes anything i tried sofar:
VCD, SVCD DVD-on-CDR, PAL-DVD-MPEG2, Raw Mpegs.

My new computers (2 days old) got a great capture card
(Gainward Geforce 4 Ti 4600 128mb, golden selection)
Great quality, easy to use, even at the highest
bitrates and resolution. My "dropping frames" time is over

Happy camper, now only some learning to do about compressing/decoding
Got Audio not synched with image on my creations (WinCodec as capture software)
Ill post that in the appropriate forum!

For tonight i rented "Lord of the Rings"

[Compugup]

Zepher,

I don't understand why you reported long MP3 filenames and ID tags, my Finlux 510 doesn't do did!

[zepher]

hmm.. i must have my definitions wrong.
It plays any MP3 file and its shows any name.
I think i screwed up then dont i.

[Compugup]

>> hmm.. i must have my definitions wrong.
Yes, the Finlux DVD 510 shows only 11 character filename and 11 character maps/folders on the on-screen-display (TV) and number + time on the DVD front.

>> It plays any MP3 file and its shows any name.
It plays for example Lame 3.92 average 192 kbit/s encoded VBR files very well!

[zepher]

Compugup i hope my review didnt pushed you into buying
a player you didnt want to obtain!

[mats.hogberg]

I'd recomment the Centrum Gemini/Libra which uses the same chipset (Omega) that I think Vestel also uses. Besides MiniDVD (that I haven't tried) it eats everything thrown at it, including VBR MP3 (yes, it shuffles) with subdirs...
Raed more about this (and other players using the same chip set) here:
http://planetpink.bei.t-online.de/dvdplayer/centrum100/main.html
The best part is that the Libra is below 100 euro on NetOnNet!