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klato
January 21st, 2007, 10:59 PM
Hi all,

I'd like to get an standard set top DVD player but I really don't know what the good brands are these days. I'd like to get as small a unit as possible, although my experience with small DVD players has been pretty bad (CyberHome units...very shoddy quality).

So, what's a good brand in terms of quality/cost/size?

Thanks for any tips!

SZF2001
January 22nd, 2007, 12:21 AM
For a television set? I suggest going to Best Buy and asking around, they can be really helpful.

If you are talking about a DVD player for your computer (which can write and all that fun fancy stuff), I suggest LaCie or LG products. I've had my LaCie DVD burner/player for two years - finally got around to buying a FireWire card, and it makes a great difference. My player (and usually most of them) have the option of using USB or FireWire, and I definatley would stick with FireWire if you have that in your computer - but USB works just the same, it's just sometimes you can notice some slowdowns once in a while.

tigerpants
January 22nd, 2007, 12:25 AM
I bought a really cheap acoustic solutions one for something like £50. It works. I don't really see a difference between that and really expensive ones my friends have. But then, I'm not really a hardcore DVD watcher. Far as I'm concerned, if I can see a picture and it has sound, then great :D

tagra123
January 22nd, 2007, 12:27 AM
There are now some DVD Players that can play the media files directly. My next dvd player is going to be one of these.

Quake
January 22nd, 2007, 01:24 AM
Get the Phillips DVP5140. It reads Ultra Divx which means: You can view almost any xvid videos and it can also read the latest Divx 6 which includes menus.

In Canada it costs $77 CAD. http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0926INGFS10074038&catid=20208

The weird thing is that, that model isn't available in the USA.

But nevertheless, I recommend you to buy the newest DVD player that can divx files. I've had one for 2 years now and it's great to watch some .AVIs in your couch rather than sitting in front of your computer.

DrOlaf
January 22nd, 2007, 03:27 AM
I have a Philips DVP640 - cost me about $50 in Target and plays pretty much everything I have put into it. Regular DVDs work fine, and it's region-free which means you can play discs from any where in the world and they work. I've made VCDs, DIVX discs and data discs with a mixture of mpegs and avis and they've all worked. I must admit that my home TV system is pretty modest (no home theater or whatever) but the pictures look good on my 32 inch TV.

It's a few years old now and I bet a newer model is available in the stores now.

mips
January 22nd, 2007, 10:26 AM
If you are on a budget and looking for good quality I have seen very good reviews on Pioneer players in the past & also know many people that own them.

klato
January 23rd, 2007, 01:39 AM
I ended up going with a Sony DVP-NS55 (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-DVPNS55P-Single-Disc-Player/dp/B000EDG6EM/sr=8-1/qid=1169512729/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8313375-6260627?ie=UTF8&s=electronics)

Decent price...and I've no intention of playing Divx or anything like that really. Thanks for the tips though guys!

Drakkor
January 23rd, 2007, 02:24 AM
I have about a 2 or 3 year old Pioneer 5 disc DVD/CD/MP3 player, and it works great, only problem
and it's quite a big one , is that the zoom only has 2 modes.... 2X/4X . and for widescreen movies.
both are too large !!