After a few years of plopping my DVDs into the DVD-ROM drives on my PCs, I’m thinking of taking advantage of the holiday season sales to buy an honest-to-goodness DVD player.
I don’t have a kick-ass home theatre system now, but I’d like to start building one, starting with the DVD player (since it’s the most affordable part and I already have a few dozen DVDs). I’d like to get something with optimal picture quality, sound (optical/DTS/Dolby Digital/Surround/etc.), and possibly some nice features (I’ve seen some that will play mp3s from a CD-R: does anyone have experience with this).
So, Dopers, help me out. What DVD players do you have? What’s your experience with them? How much does it cost?
I’m considering spilling about $800-$1200 for a Code Free DVD (meaning, I can watch DVDs from all regions), but I’m not sure it’s worth the price. I only have one non-Region 1 DVD presently (Eyes Wide Shut, the uncensored version, which I play on my PC using a hack to the DVD software), so it’s not that big a concern. PAL/NTSC compatibility comes into play here, too.
In my opinion, you can get a very nice DVD player for under three hundred dollars. If you spend eight to twleve hundred, you will be getting a very deluxe machine. Whether the extra features will be worth it is up to your own taste. (A coworker told me he spend five hundred dollars on his DVD player because it could hold five DVD’s. I asked him how often he sat in his chair for ten straight hours watching movies.)
Anyway, I have a Pioneer DV-525. It cost me about $250 when I bought it last April at Best Buy. The only feature it has that I’ve used is the ability to play CD’s. But I haven’t had any problems or complaints with it.
I’ve got a ProScan something or other. It’s pretty old and cost about $500 (this was back before everyone started getting DVD players. :))
But I like it. I dunno if I’d go the route of paying that much for a Code Free player; I’ve looked at them, and would like to be able to play Japanese anime, but it’s significantly more money, and it hasn’t been worth it to me so far.
If you’re looking to upgrade other portions of your home theater, you might want to look into Panasonic(?)'s new progressive-scan player. It’s about $350, and supposedly delivers better video and sound than a normal player. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t say, but I know iprogressive scane has generated a good amount of enthusiasm in the DVD community.
I’ve found that it’s not really the DVD player that makes the system great. It’s the other components (TV and Sound System). Any DVD player with 5.1 Dolby decoder built in is probably fine for when you eventually get the surround sound system, though I think you can still play 5.1 in a DVD player without it, you just need an external decoder (which may come with a surround sound system anyway). I think DVD picture quality is the same in all of them. You may want to make sure it has S-Video output, I’m not sure if it’s standard on DVD players. Also, my T2 movie has a Dolby 6.0 track, so I assume there’s DVD players with the 6.0 decoder, though they may be kind of pricey.
My two main gripes about my DVD:
My TV is too small. I only have a 20" TV, and most DVDs are widescreen, meaning the height of the picture is about half the height of my TV. ALL BAD. I will be upgrading to a new 27" TV with S-Video input for optimal viewing pleasure.
Sound system. Playing the DVD’s through the TV speakers SUCKS. I have to put the DVD player in a special TV MODE in order to hear the voices. My stereo doesn’t have a center channel speaker, so I have big problems hearing voices when I play it through my stereo. The explosions and gunshots are nice and loud though, MUCH louder than the voices, which means I’m constantly adjusting the sound level. Unfortunately, I still live home and a surround sound system in my room would just not be practical. So that’ll have to wait until I get my own place.
In conclusion: You may want to look into getting everything at once, or you may end up a little disappointed.
I have a Panasonic player and Im pretty happy with it. I did make sure that my player has the AC-3 digital sound decoder built in. This will allow me in the future save some serious bucks on my sound system upgrade.
The thing I wish I did before I bought it was to do more of a test drive. In the store get the remote and use it. The remote is the feature you will use more than any other so you have better be happy with it. The buttons are a bit small and close together on mine.
Good luck and happy movie watching.
I’ve been watching movies on my TV for a while now, using the wires running from my PC to my TV. I don’t have a sVideo TV (stupid me: I bought my 27" TV before learning about sVideo and DVD), and my sound system isn’t surround, but it will be soon.
I’m curious what the difference is between the standard $250-300 players, and the higher-end $500< units. I realise that the code-free players cost a lot more because of the hacking, but I want to know what others in the same price range have to offer.
Another question: I understand that most players can’t play CD-R audio discs, due to a requirement to have a certain kind of laser on the player. My friend has such a problem, but his player will play an audio CD-RW without a problem. Does anyone have a player that will play CD-Rs?
Also, anyone have trouble playing VCDs (I have a few of them, too) on their player?
I purchased the APEX AD-600A mentioned in that thread and I have successfully used it to play Zone 2 (Europe) DVDs on a US-made television. I purchased the player for $189 at Circuit City.
Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY AN OLD MODEL DVD PLAYER!
I’ve owned my Pioneer DVD player for less than 2 years. Just last month, I got the Godzilla Collection on DVD. About half of these discs came with “bonus DVD-ROM features” that could only be accessed on a PC. However, these same discs were also supposed to be “regular” movie DVDs that would play in a DVD player. But NONE OF THE DVDs WITH THESE BONUS DVD-ROM FEATURES WOULD PLAY IN MY DVD PLAYER! The DVD player didn’t even “recognize” them as DVDs at all!
The DVDs in the Godzilla Collection that didn’t have these DVD-ROM features played in my DVD player just fine. Furthermore, when I took the discs WITH the DVD-ROM features to my local Good Guys (a consumer electronics store chain), they WOULD play in all the NEW DVD players. Evidently, since my player was manufactured before DVD-ROMs caught on, the guys who designed it didn’t think it needed to be able to recognize “ordinary” DVD content on a DVD-ROM.
I had to buy a whole new DVD player to play these discs. My old DVD player is useless as anything but a doorstop now.
Arnold, they fixed that bug, so any newer Apex you buy won’t have the ability to change the settings. But I think there’s an Infinity that also has it available. http://www.dvdfile.com should have more details.
tracer, not all old DVD players have these problems. As I mentioned, mine is over two years old, and I haven’t run into anything I can’t play yet. The website above also has a section for known technical problems with certain hardware. Sometimes you can get fixes for the problems.
I don’t have any VCDs, so I can’t comment on those. S-Video is nice, but not a requirement. As c_goat mentioned, other stuff is more important than the DVD for the total experience; I’m not sure there’s an immense difference between an excellent $300 model and an $800 model. I’d put my old ProScan up against 'em and not come out too bad.
I will agree that playing DVDs through TV speakers blows, depending on your TV speakers. I would take the cash you would spend on upgrading the DVD player and put it toward speaker, receiver and TV upgrades. I’ve got a nice little system set up now, and considering it’s home theater, it wasn’t too expensive (about $5000 with everything).
c_goat, I’ve never heard of Dolby 6.0. What, they got rid of the sub channel. There is Dolby 6.1, otherwise known as Dolby Digital EX, with a discrete rear center channel. Perhaps that’s what you saw? A note: Receivers with built in Dolby EX processing run no less than $1000, and I’ve never seen a DVD player with it built in.
Here is a good link to explaining DVD codes or “locales”.
I personally own this Sony. It is a fantastic player with all the functionallity I need. (you can actually get a chip to ‘code free’ this as well, sorry no link) You really have to think of this type of equipment as ‘throw away’. Technology will have more hurdles in the five years you will use this DVD player. Unless you are constantly downloading new movies from the net and need to have a fully functional ‘code free’ player I would go with the Sony linked above. Happy Shopping!
If you buy a Japanese psx2 (about $450 inclusive) you can play DVDs from any country as the Region Code is in software & you can get various software to play any country.
" I purchased the player for $189 at Circuit City" Well, at least someone listened to me
Digital Cinema Mode for cinema-like luminance and color with improved
detail even in dark scenes
Discrete Component Video Out allows for high quality transmission of digital
video to compatible video equipment
10-bit Video D/A Converter for amazing picture quality
Still Picture Display (I/P/B) freezes an image to allow for precise picture
quality adjustments
Auto Switching Field/Frame Still for added versatility
Frame Advance (Forward & Reverse) for incredible control
2-Channel + Bass Output allows for two channel setup that still provides a
big home theater sound thanks to a discrete subwoofer output
Optical output for DTS®1 & Dolby Digital®2 Surround Sound allows for
amazing home theater sound quality
Advanced V.S.S. allows for a remarkable surround sound effect even while
only using the front two speakers3
Dialogue Enhancer makes the dialog channel clearly audible over the other
sound channels
96kHz/24-bit Audio D/A Converter for outstanding sound quality
Chapter Preview helps to refresh your memory of a movie by showing you
the first 3 seconds of each previously viewed chapter
Hi-Speed Smooth Motion Scan: 5 Speed up to x100 allows crystal clear scan
quality while locating desired locations on a disc
Quick Start helps to reduce waiting time for movies to begin
On-Screen Menu Icons to help guide operation
0.1 Channel Output On/Off (on remote control) allows for convenient control
over subwoofer output
Repeat Mode
Title/Chapter Search with Marker Function
Skip Forward/Reverse
Auto Power Off/Resume Play
It’s been a long day at work, so I didn’t read through the whole thread, but let me add what I can.
Apex 600A: There have been so many issues concerning this thing that I wouldn’t necessarily assume that you can use it as a region free player. Last I heard, the version that’s on sale now doesn’t have the secret menu, though this may (and probably not) be accessible through a firmware upgrade that may (and probably won’t) be simple.
Another all region: Last I heard, a relatively unknown company by the name of Raite had a true region free unit in the same general price range of the Apex (about $200-$300 or so). IIRC, this played VCDs, MP3 CDs and the like as well.
Beyond that, I’m not sure what info I can offer. IMHO, you shouldn’t sweat DTS/DD decoding built into the DVD player as these features would come with most mid to high end receivers anyway. OTOH, they also come with most mid to high range DVD players as well. Oh, and most DVD players (except my ex-roomies POS GE) should play VCDs as well.
Region Free DVD players are a realer concern for us in the outer-rim territories. There are sooooo many Collector’s Editions that are only released in Region 1!! Like for example, I just got some DVDs yesterday via Amazon: Bug’s Life CE, Tarzan CE, and Labyrinth/Dark Crystal. All of these are not, and will not be, available in Region 4 (where I am).
I hates that. I really does.
Toy Story’s Box Set should be available here soon, but it keeps getting delayed, so there’s a possibility we’ll never get that either. Doggone it.
So I dunno if it’s as much of an issue in the US, but here it is almost a necessity to get Region Free players.
(P.s. My DVD-Rom sucks, and most of my DVDs tend to freeze up and jam. I hate that)
If you really want optimal quality, get an HDTV w/ component video inputs and a DVD player w/ component video outputs (better than S-Video supposedly). I’m not even sure if they make DVD players w/ these in that price range but this is the way to go if they do.
I went to Circuit City last night to do some price shopping and browsing, and whattaya know, I came home with a DVD player.
I bought the Sony DVP-S560D for $299. Believe it or not, the salesman who helped me was very knowledgable (I threw him some questions about CD-R, multi-region, plus component TV outputs, and he knew exactly what I was talking about and gave me good answers).
So, I have 30 days to decide that I like it and want to keep it (or, to find it cheaper elsewhere). I only tossed in the third disc from the Ultimate Toy Story Toy Box to give it a test-drive and it’s a beaut. It’s going to take a while to learn all the features of the player.
It’s a Region 1 only DVD, so I’m going to still have to use my PC to watch Eyes Wide Shut. It doesn’t play CD-Rs, but I can live with that. I like that it has optical outputs to my Minidisk, however.
Next up on my quest to get the kick-ass home theatre: a high-end receiver and speaker setup.
Good job! Let us know when you need help with the rest of it. In the meantime, you can spend your time reading your brains out here: http://www.hometheatermag.com/
