I tried several DVD players,,, and this one is the best... s

[Erwin]

I went to circuit city. I tried Sony (3 different ones), Hitachi, Appex (2 different kinds; the more expensive one $199 had better video/ audio performance than the cheaper $99 one), Magnavox(yes, I know Philips is the same, but anyways- it was just a Magnavox), Phillips, Onkyo, Panasonic, and Pioneer 343(I think). I put VCDs in all these players. And to add more to the research, I bought a Sanyo(newer model), GE (the one with mp3 capabilities), and a Progressive scan JVC.
Here are my results and ratings--

Hitachi - cannot really rate b/c this one doesn't read CDRs
Magnavox - see Hitachi
Philips - (C) Ok, but it got stuck a few times
Onkyo - apparently this one did not read CDRs either
Sony - (C-) it read the VCD, but the video/audio was out of sync. This is one of the newer versions that read CDRs. It has a blue light for DD (I don't know if that is new or not)
Panasonic(B-) decent, it played the disc, but it was slow.
Appex ($199) (A) it's the one with HDCD at Circuit City. It played VCD movies without a hitch. I have read some horror stories about it's reliability though.
Appex ($99) (C) This is the one that looks like it's supposed to be made for traveling in vehicle on long vacations. The video and audio was OK, but wasn't even close to the other one.
JVC progressive scan (A) I am sure that the nonprogressive gives the same performance. It plays mp3s displaying their titles (not abrv). It has progressive scan. It plays most homemade VCDs that I've burned, but here is the kicker...................it pauses for no apparent reason at different times on disc (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). It's a nice player though. Too bad it had this con.
GE (C+) It plays homemade VCDs perfectly, but it will not change tracks on it's own...period. I tried all my disc with no success. It would have been a good player had not been for this. It plays mp3s really well.
Sanyo (A+) so far, this player has really impressed me. It plays homemade VCDs really well. The pause between tracks is barely noticeable compared to the other players I've tested. Why would Sanyo be rated so high? I am still questioning that myself. It's a nice looking player for not being a highend player. It's shiney silver and looks better than last years model. Like the JVC, it has a Zoom in & out feature.

UPDATE on SANYO!!!!
I am glad that my topic had the phrase "so far" because DVD players sometimes bring their faults later. The Sanyo seems to play XVCDs ok, but it seems to have this problem with repeating a frame(I gues you would call this a skip). Here is an example: Homer is supposed to say, "Why you little...rrrr", but instead it comes out this way, "Why you-Why you little....rrrr" along with the frame skipping. It does this with XVCDs that I made which are compliant(strange, don't ya think?). It plays noncompliant VCD format XVCDs OK, but occasionally the audio will turn into a digital beep like when an mp3 messes up on Napster. Speaking of Napster, I tried the mp3 player out--and let's just say, this is not it's stong point. I thought the player was cool until I played a whole CD...it is extremely slowwwwwwwww. You cannot use the number pad. It does display the whole title of the mp3, I'll give it that which is a plus.

Additional DVD player Reviews- I tested some DVD players with an new XVCD that I made with the video data rate of 2300Kbps and the audio at 44100/224 using Ulead VS4.

Memorex I placed some XVCDs in this player and it could handle the compliant or noncompliant XVCDs that poped into it. It looked like when someone pushes the "slow-ff" on the VCR reomote when playing any of the XVCDs. I thought this was funny since the disc was a Memorex CD-R.
RCA DVD/VCD/CD-r/CD-RW would not even accept any of the CD-R I that put into it. It kept saying"NO DISC".
Samsung DVD/VHS player This was the one which claims that it can play CD-Rs and CD-RWs. It could not read any of the CD-R or CD-RWs that I put in the player. Nice looking player though.
Pioneer Progressive Scan This player worked a little better than the 343. It played the XVCDs (compliant) OK, but the video and audio would go out of synch from time to time. When the XVCD (noncompliant-2300Kbps video data rate) was place in the Pioneer it would drag and the audio was muffled.
JVC VX42 revisited played the XVCD smoothly. There was some pop sound in the audio, but it still played the disc without dragging. It even played the disc better than the Sanyo DWM-370.
Apex HDCD revisited also played the XVCD smoothly. Not as good as the JVC, but very close.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Erwin on 2001-09-03 20:38:04 ]</font>

[Erwin]

Here is link to the reviews of Sanyo's DVD player last year. So far, it's got a good average.

www.audioreview.com/reviews/DVD/product_24700.shtml

[next]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-08-27 22:25:18, Erwin wrote:
Here is link to the reviews of Sanyo's DVD player last year. So far, it's got a good average.

www.audioreview.com/reviews/DVD/product_24700.shtml
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I tested the new munti disk version of the Sanyo. It played VCD's fine. The only problem I found was that it did not handle SVCD's very well. And I could not get it to play anything over 2.5 mps.

[Erwin]

"It played VCD's fine. The only problem I found was that it did not handle SVCD's very well. And I could not get it to play anything over 2.5 mps."

I can live with this- I think. Still, an outstanding DVD/VCD/CDR/CDR-W/mp3/cd player.

[lemmy999]

you never mentioned what you thought of the pioneer

[timmy_boi]

yea i heard that 3rd party dvd players like from wallmart or somthing play pretty good VCD's too cause they said that they're more flexable with the vcd standards and MAYBE play svcd?
i donno but jus a suggestion

_________________
F1!! F1!! F1!!!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: timmy_boi on 2001-08-28 12:33:33 ]</font>

[Erwin]

"you never mentioned what you thought of the pioneer"

ooops, thanks for pointing that out.

Pioneer - between a "B+" and "A-". Maybe the floor display was messed up (I don't know), but this player did not seem like the one that everyone highly praises on this forum. The video and audio were dragging on the VCD I used (video data captured at 1150 Kbps). I was kind of hoping that this player would rule because I generally like Pioneer. Maybe it's the progressive Pioneer that everyone praises, but they did not have one of these on display.

Here are some more I tested out at SEARS. I had to hook them all up to one tv- one at a time

Dennon (D-) It may be a great DVD player, but a great VCD-R player it is NOT. The video was all pixelated. The audio and video were way out of sync.
Fisher (A) This player handles just as well as the Sanyo, and that's probably b/c it's from the makers of Sanyo DVD players. The player is not as attractive as the Sanyo(it looks more like the Sanyo DVD model from last year) and it cost $40 more.
Sylvania and Toshiba could not read the VCD b/c they could not play CDRs.

[Erwin]

I have modified my short review and added some more details to the topic.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Erwin on 2001-09-01 21:39:36 ]</font>

[shinobi_Zero_X]

Erwin were you talking about the DWM-370? My MP3 playback is fine.

[thxkid]

Toshiba will play CD-R's only if they are of the silver-blue only.
I have seen the APEX's at best buy and circuit city, new models, look pretty cheap.
I have a Toshiba 2050 and a APEX 660 I got at Sam's club for $119.
This plays ANY CD-R's, CD-RW's, VCD's, XVCD's and SVCD's upto 3000 bitrate with no problem and this is the only APEX now that still has Flash Rom so you can upgrade the firmware with a simple program burned on a CD-R to disengage macrovision.
MP3's at 256 bitrate sound almost as good the original CD it came off from. A bit of a Hassle to get the MP3's up in the on screen menu so you can play them.

[Erwin]

"Erwin were you talking about the DWM-370? My MP3 playback is fine."

Yeah, it's the DWM-370. What kind of setup do you have shinobi_Zero_X? Here is mine:

Philips CDRW804(which I'm considering replacing)
ATI AIW128Pro
NERO 5.5
800Mhz AMD Duron/Win98ME
ULEAD 4
CDRs(memorex and Office Depot so far)

The mp3 playback is fine, it's just that I know of other DVD players that can access any of the mp3 files at faster rate. The Sanyo will let you use the optical cord for sound when playing mp3 files which is another plus I forgot to mention.

[Anonymous65]

It's amazing that they are selling new DVD players that cannot play VCD CD-R's!

[Erwin]

I added some more reviews along with some DVD players revisited.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Erwin on 2001-09-02 14:00:05 ]</font>