Quick recommendation, PLEASE !! (dvd player)

97tbird · Aug 10, 2006

ok, I'm getting tired of the multi-wire circus of watching dvd'd on my laptop hooked up to the TV, and decided to get me a basic dvd player under $100.

Note: HDMI is NOT important for me right now, neither is dvd audio or hdcd. pic quality and reliability is the main thing.

which one of the following 2 can be better?

Panasonic dvd-s52k
cheapest $89 incl. ship (1 yr warranty)
have reviews of flimsy tray on C-city.(only negative thing I read)

JVC XV-N330B
cheapest $65 incl. ship (90-day warranty )

has no reviews yet.

ALSO: Would the following criterium affect pic quality in NOTICEABLE amounts?
Panasonic has 108MHz/12-bit video D/A converter
JVC has 54MHz/10-bit Video D/A Converter

Please let me know what you guys think, focussing only on these 2 models...
Thanks a lot!

Razl · Aug 10, 2006

These days you can get excellent pic quality from from almost any DVD player. Progressive scan is is offered on almost all players so that's not a problem. If video up-conversion and disc media compatibility is not important to you, I'd even go even less $. The D/A Converters on those two will not make a realword difference.

Gurkha · Aug 10, 2006

Look for Liteon which will play all major formats and is very good with scratched and recorded DVDs, also for best color and sound quality go for Yamaha, even their lowly DVD-S540 blow away most, Pioneer is another veteran and they make some real reliable long lasting players.

eljefino · Aug 10, 2006

I like the walmart store version, it is usually pretty hackable... handy if you need to run your video signal through a VCR to watch on TV, kills the annoying macrovision.

Goofy but look for one that plays CDRWs, DVD+-R(W)s, basically all formats. JPGs and MPGs on a CDR are fun too.

videohelp.com has forums for your exact question.

I'd get the $29 cheapie, the format is evolving, don't tie up too much money.

An S-video out is very nice if your TV supports it; the ultra cheap ones skimp on this.

UncleS2 · Aug 11, 2006

These days, I think it'll be difficult to impossible to find any visual difference in picture quality unless you have a heavy-duty high-def TV. I like the Philips-brand DVD players, bought one about 2 1/2 years ago because I wanted some BBC comedy DVD's that were available much cheaper from the UK, but of course they were the wrong region code for USA Region 1 DVD players. Did some research, & bought the hackable Philips, did the code thing with the remote, & *presto*! Region-free DVD player handles DVD's from all over the world. Cost was ~$65 shipped from Amazon back then.

Last week, on Ebay I bought a nice near-new current model 20" stereo flat-screen Philips TV *and* a Philips model DVD 622 player.(TV- the screen is flat, not the whole TV!

) they were close enough to drive over & pick up, so my total cost was: $33 for the TV, $17.28 for the DVD player, total $50.28 for both plus a couple gallons of gas. And yes, the DVD622 is hackable, and it plays my UK DVDs just fine, thank you!

In general, most of us won't be able to hack Sony, Panasonic, and some other "top-line" brands. That's OK, my Philips play just fine.

Check Amazon, you might find one available from them with free shipping.

Out of the box, the LiteOn DVD Recorder/player is probably the way to go, but a new one will cost more than $100.

Here's a link to the DVD info & hack site I've used:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?dvdplayer=philips+dvd622&hits=50&Search=Search

Good luck, & let us know whatever you get.

97tbird · Aug 11, 2006

Guys, thanks for the answers.

I think I'll go with the JVC, then...I can spend the rest of the money on the cables I need. (even though my components are not high-end, I never use factory cables...just one of those things.

I'll be hooking up the dvd player to my pretty-dang-good-for-its-size onkyo stereo (just 2-channel stereo) for audio, and to the toshiba tv per component (probably) cables....I hope all will be ok.

i do like the fact that the jvc can control the analog 2-ch stereo audio level....

eljefino · Aug 11, 2006

Shop big lots for cables. They have gold plated super shielded stuff for 1/5 the price of monster cable and all the preppy stuff.

There is a point when you pay more and get little more... like Royal Purple in an old Ford Fairmont.

brianl703 · Aug 11, 2006

There are now ones that can play Divx format video files if that's something you might find useful.

MarkC · Aug 11, 2006

Not to hijack, but someone gave me a new Magnavox DVD player. It says on it's face MP3.
Can I play CD's on it, or what?

eljefino · Aug 11, 2006

oh yeah mark you can play audio cds on any dvd player.... but you can also play mp3 compressed, home burned, 12 hour long CD-Rs on your fancy model.

MarkC · Aug 11, 2006

Deadly.

brianl703 · Aug 11, 2006

You might even be able to play mp3 DVDs on it. That's like...86 hours of music, maybe? With a 4.7GB DVD?

Unfortunately, though, many mp3 capable DVD players are too stupid to know that DVDs can be formatted with the ISO9660 filesystem, and have no idea what to do with an mp3 DVD.

beanoil · Aug 11, 2006

quote:

Originally posted by eljefino:
I like the walmart store version, it is usually pretty hackable... handy if you need to run your video signal through a VCR to watch on TV, kills the annoying macrovision.

Goofy but look for one that plays CDRWs, DVD+-R(W)s, basically all formats. JPGs and MPGs on a CDR are fun too.

videohelp.com has forums for your exact question.

I'd get the $29 cheapie, the format is evolving, don't tie up too much money.

An S-video out is very nice if your TV supports it; the ultra cheap ones skimp on this.

Agree. I have a cheap WM offering.. a CyberHome. Hacked to be Region Free (many, many offerings in Europe of things just not available here; TV and movie) has worked fine for 2 years, both home and camping. This format is evolving. HDDVD is showing up now.

Papa Bear · Aug 12, 2006

I think things with motors and transport mechanisms will be passe soon (cd, dvd, vcr etc).
Probably soon you will be able to go to "blockbuster" and plug in a flash drive and download a movie. No moving parts, just ram.

P.B.

Shannow · Aug 12, 2006

Cheap is best with DVDs.

our first was expesive, and lasted 13 months. I pulled it apart, and there was nothing overly flash in it, unlike top end VCRs.

So we bought one for a tenth the cost, and play multi-region with just as good clarity.

brianl703 · Aug 12, 2006

There's usually an IDE loader (a stripped down IDE DVD-ROM drive, more or less), a power supply board, and a video decoder board.

The only problem I've ever had with any DVD player was with the power supply board. Yep, bad bulging capacitors. I decided to spend the $10 to replace them since this DVD player has a hack to disable Macrovison pretty easily.

97tbird · Aug 12, 2006

Guys, you've been wonderful with your tips/advice. someday when I can afford my dream brand Cambridge audio (which is always multi-zone from the UK factory), I'll be happy, but for right now, I want something stable and simple, which plays reg-1 dvd's...

I'm still considering, with this one also in the running now, because it has a middle-ground price, with a LOT of features...and it's a reputable name, too:
pioneer dv-393

also here (price shown is here is weird, it normally goes for $79);
pioneer dv-393

what holds me away from the $65 JVC right now is the 90-day warranty which is pretty unusual for JVC. Pioneer and most other brands offer 1-yr warranty.
also, this is the only player in my range that has an eq setting for audio...which i also had on the laptop WinDVD software that we use to play dvd's right now. connected to the Onkyo stereo, the simulated DSP effects really enhanced the sound coming from the 2 speakers.
This one (although not a great issue with me) is fully DivX compatible....

Quick recommendation, PLEASE !! (dvd player)

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