DVD

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Originally posted by Bas V:

I am thinking of buying a dvd-player. As I think it will be a while before Naim will launch one, and as I don't have a home-cinema setup, I was thinking of buying a cheap one (for the time being). Does anyone have any recommendations?

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Pioneer DV656A. Sells for £300 to £400 in the uk.

Regards
Steve

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I am thinking of buying a dvd-player. As I think it will be a while before Naim will launch one, and as I don't have a home-cinema setup, I was thinking of buying a cheap one (for the time being). Does anyone have any recommendations?

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Depends on what you call "cheap".

Cheers,

Edo

Not sure if this would be considered cheap but the Rotel RDV-1080 is quite nice and built like a tank.




http://www.rotel.com/products/rdv1080.htm

I currently own a Yamaha DVD S-510 and whilst it seem OK, I've found that it won't play home burnt (legal home shot footage!) SVCD's and pauses slightly on home burnt DVD's at every chapter change. Yamaha sent me a firmware upgrade but it made no difference.

I am interested in the Pioneer and was wondering why you'd recomend it?

Also, do you have any knowledge on how it performs with SVCD's and home burnt DVD's?

Will it play CD's, MP3's and CD-R's and CDR-W's?

Cheers

Computers are supposed to work on 1's and 0's - in other words "Yes" or "No" - why does mine frequently say "Maybe"?......

Most people seem to agree that the best cheap DVD players are made by Toshiba. Specifically the Toshiba SD220E is very good and and can be had for a miserly £120 with multi-region hack at Richer Sounds Review can be found at http://www.whatvideotv.com/testbench/frame.html?http://www.whatvideotv.com/testbench/DVDPlayers/Toshiba/ToshibaSD220E.php

AFAICT you need to spend considerably more to get something significantly better.

Matthew

Matthew is quite right. It's been nice agreeing with you.

The Toshiba 220E is the supposed to be the best at under £250. Any DVD player more than £300 is a waste of money at the moment. Technology is advancing so fast now that all today's machines will seem dated in 3 years.

I've just bought the Sony 705 at £200. I just like Sony or Panasonic for the mass market plastic toys. It's faultless.

In the shop they linked up the Tosh 220E and Sony 705 to the same Tosh TV. I repeatedly changed from one to the other with the same dvd. I could hardly tell the difference. The only thing I could spot was the Sony seemed to have more subtle tones. It also seemed to handle diagonal lines better. However, when you see how many menu changes there are on your TV and DVD player, it probably makes a farce of a direct comparison in a shop.

Thanks for the replies!

What I call cheap is less than 300 euro's. I have a 10 yr old Philips television (it is stereo and was pricey at the time) and for cd's I'll keep on using my HiCapped CD5. I guess spending more right now would be a waste of money (unless it was a Naim, as I would then get me the new AV2 pre-amp a.s.a.p.).

So Sony and Toshiba are the brands I should be looking at?

Greetz, Bas

Chaps

For once, Matthew has got it right and this as been confirmed by Count'd. I hate it when i agree with either one of these two but agreeing with both of them has ruined my day.

Regards

Mick

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So Sony and Toshiba are the brands I should be looking at?

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In that price bracket, Pioneer is well thought of, too. And easier to get than Toshiba in The Netherlands as well.

Cheers,

Edo

There are lots of very good <£200 DVD players around if you are not interested in their CD playback quality, which noone here is I assume.

The toshiba 220E (multiregion) is £119 delivered from Amazon, slightly more from richer sounds. You can't go far wrong with this at this price

A possible problem with Sony DVD players is that if you're after a region free model, they have to be re-chipped as opposed to being able to "de-regionlise"(?) via a remote control handset command.

Also, a friend with a new Sony reports that it quite simply "won't" play CD-R's.

DVD-R's seem to have the same problem......

Just food for thought.

Computers are supposed to work on 1's and 0's - in other words "Yes" or "No" - why does mine frequently say "Maybe"?......

If you're using an old TV, try and demo the DVD using your TV.

Reason I say this is that I had an old (about 7 years)Widescreen Nokia TV with PalPlus.

When I connected the Yamaha DVD-510S, the picture kept on jumping between Wide and 4:3 mode with no way of preventing it doing so.

A quick call the to nice people at Nokia put me in touch with the nice folk who now handle Nokia TV technical issues (as Nokia no longer make TV's) and was told that as PalPlus was launched pre DVD, the technology wasn't really around. So, there is a known compatibility issue. The is no way to disable PalPlus or remove the board respnsible for PalPlus from the Nokia, so, the bottom line was I had to buy a new Telly :-(

Mind you, the Toshiba 36ZP18P I bought as the replacement is an absolute Gem!

Computers are supposed to work on 1's and 0's - in other words "Yes" or "No" - why does mine frequently say "Maybe"?......

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Also, a friend with a new Sony reports that it quite simply "won't" play CD-R's.

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I think it's only the cheapest model (305?) that doesn't play cdr's. What each model will play is listed in the spec sheet, so have a look.

Also, I had a problem with a supposedly multi-region toshiba (from Richer Sounds) not playing the first region 1 disc I put in it. The disc in question was M*A*S*H series 1 if anyone's interested. Anyway, I returned the Tosh and got a chipped Sony instead and haven't had any problems since.

(yes, GG beat me to it by a few minutes.. )

Well, I have just walked around the shops in town, and none of them has Toshiba. I have seen Sony, Philips and Pioneer models for around 180 euros (about UKP 120). Is there any brand or model that I should NOT buy?

Hoi Bas,

I have 2 DVDs; a 3 year old Philips 955 and an 18 months old Shinco 180.

The Philips cost eud320 and the Shinco eud120 (in Singapore).

Both have standard features like, build in dts and dolby decoders, stereo out, component out, coax dig audio out, 6 ch audio out, region free and dual Karaoke.

But this is how they are different:

Phillips, excellent jogging controls, optical out. Main drawback very picky about which DVDs it plays. It skips many old or scratched dvds and cds. It also has a handy remote layout.

Shinco plays everything I have put in it, but it has average jogging controls and only a coax out, no optical out. It looks average, square and undesigned, though this years range has a nicer look.

If you want something cheap to plug straight into the TV, go for the Shinco, it is cheap, reliable and plays everything you throw at it. Several friends have these and they are all still working. The picture and sound quality are ok.

But in all fairness, the Philips is old for a DVD player and the newer brand name models may be less picky about what disks they play now that dvd+ and dvd- recording formats are becoming more common.

I haven't demo-edthe other models listed in this thread. On thing to bear in mind is that there are several players on the market that also play dvd-a and sacd, starting at eud250. But there is not much point in those if you connect straight into the TV.


cheers
Guus

[This message was edited by gusi on FRIDAY 13 December 2002 at 04:19.]

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Well, I have just walked around the shops in town, and none of them has Toshiba. I have seen Sony, Philips and Pioneer models for around 180 euros (about UKP 120). Is there any brand or model that I should NOT buy?

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Bas,

If playing Region 1 discs is a priority, check Region Free DVD to see which of brands you mention is your best option.

Look for (more) reviews on:
Home Cinema Choice Online.

Cheers,

Edo

Matthew, Count.d & Mick,

Big thanks, I just bought my mum a Toshiba 220E for Christmas.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
Linn Binn Sinner

Congratulations Andrew,

Every mum should have a son like you.

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Originally posted by blythe:
Also, a friend with a new Sony reports that it quite simply "won't" play CD-R's.

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You may well have tried this, DVD players arre reputed to have an easier time reading CD-RWs than CD-Rs.

cheers, Martin

Just to let you know, I have bought a Grunig GDP3100. I only have 1 dvd (Tool) and it is great! Thereby, it looks very good, the same styling as Linn and Loewe. And that for only UKP 135, amazing!

Greetz, Bas