What to buy....What to buy....

[aiden2004]

Hi ya'll,

Great site for all those DVD afficianado's out there. I didn't imagine there were so much more to DVD's and DVD players then putting it in and pressing play. Just goes to show how far behind i am with all the info.

Well, im at that stage where i am wanting to purchase a new DVD player. My current player (Philips DVD729K) which i bought 3 yrs ago has been acting up recently. It doesnt seem to like recordable DVD disc's and has similar problems that i've been reading on other postings. ie. stop-start play, loading then showing the "no disc" message, taking forever to read a DVD. Although VCD's and original DVD's work fine

So after the last time (it took me nearly 30mins to get it going!!!) i've decided to buy a new one.
There are so many on the market now i dont know which to buy. And now since reading about macrovision (can anyone explain what that it btw?), mediatek/ESS chip, loader info. All that information has made it all confusing.
Does anyone know of a good reliable DVD player that plays all (or most) DVD formats and dics's that they can recommend. My budget is $200
What i've read is that the digitrex and XMS brand is pretty good.

Any help is appreciated.
Cheers,
Aiden

[redbears]

Get the new Pioneer that plays DivX... can't go wrong there, by all accounts.

[Big Guns]

From all accounts the cheapies are fairly reliable, although there is a query on the quality of their output.

We have a digitrex on our 3rd TV and it works fine, but the TV is only a 69 cm. They are a neat unit with a good remote and come multiregioned out of the box.

[jokiin]

There's good and bad everywhere, but if you are willing to spend up to $200 most of what you would be looking at would be pretty good anyway, I don't think you could go far wrong at that level.

[scalpel]

The short answer is "it depends"

If you are playing on a smaller screen (particularly older CRT's) the difference in picture quality is difficult to spot and so you may as well get a cheaper player. That being said, the Pioneer DVD 676a at approx $240 which plays Divx/ SACD/DVDA/DVD's AND has a 3 year warranty with reasonable build quality is a no-brainer.

There IS a difference between some of the cheaper players ability to display the video signal, but you need a good display to be able to tell the difference. Particularly, look at dark scenes (for noise and uneven shading) and the ability to display very dynamic pictures with lots of rapidly changing images (the matrix).

Audio is another consideration, as it outputs (ie internal decoders for DTS, AC3, composite/component/RGB/S-vid/DVI output etc etc etc)

If you are fussy and have a large screen, you might want to get a unit with a top-notch scaler and progressive scan (but LOOK at the picture in a shop 1st on a similar sized screen). Denon make players with fantastic video signal processing.

The upscaling DVD players are quite expensive, and probably aren't worth the money unless you are playing on a large projector screen (and even then, I suggest you audition one).

[Adman]

most players around the $200 figure would be fairly reasonable. i would stay away from the REALLY cheap brands you mentioned and go for name brands. they usually have a better warranty. the cheapies are usually cheaper to replace then fix due to the "quality" of the parts used in construction. As always like mentioned b4, audition the player on a similiar display device. also check to see what video cables they use to connect the player. if they show you a video connected with component and you use composite or s-video, it wont be a true representation. also cables are another thing to consider. often forgotten about, but they carry the signal from start to finish. you also might want to get a calibration DVD like "The Ultimate DVD - Platinum Edition". Allows you to professionally setup any display.
anyway have fun with ur new player.