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Author Topic: Buying Cheap DVD Players Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 12-13-2003 01:30 PM                     After some comments about the unreliablity of the cheaper DVD players in this thread (before it turned into a three word game): Woman Trampled over DVD player Has anyone really had any problems with a cheapie DVD player?? I bought a Mintek (basically the same thing as an apex) about two years ago for $80 (when an average name brand was about $120+) and have never had a problem with it. The only discs that havent played on it are stupid trashed netflix DVDs. It plays VCDs/CDRs/CDRWs/Picture CDs with no problems. My brother's $250 sony wouldn't play all that stuff and some DVDs wouldnt play on it. I would have to assume that the technology is getting better so a $40 DVD player would be as good as a higher priced unit from a year ago or so. So, has anyone actually had any problems or just assuming that it would not be worth it?  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 12-13-2003 01:46 PM                     Normally I have an aversion to cheap entry-level electronics products. Several people I know have bought APEX DVD players for as little as $39 and have not had any complaints. For general movie watching they seem to do well. And then they have some features the more expensive DVD players lack (such as the MP3 capability or viewing JPEG images from properly formatted CDs). I have a Pioneer 5-disc changer (that I paid around $250 online to purchase) and I have been completely happy with it. It's certainly a much more reliable unit than the Sony S530D player I bought for $400 early in 1999. If I were going to get a new DVD player for the living room I would probably buy another Pioneer unit with SACD and DVD-A capability. New features I expect to see incorporated into DVD players soon: flash memory input slots. People can take some digital camera photos and then show them on their TV. Panasonic already has a DVD recorder model featuring SD card inputs. As for cheapie DVD players, they're priced well enough for users to buy as a 2nd player for the bedroom, kid's room or something to use at the office. Since I'm going to buy an external Firewire based DVD-/+RW drive very soon, I may get a cheapie DVD player for up at the office to show customers electric sign videos to rack up more $$$.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-13-2003 02:06 PM                     My $29 Mintek has a flaw, where the video "jumps" whenever there is a single frame flash of something. It also shows digital artifacts on occasion if a lot is going on in the scene.  |  IP: Logged Michael Brown Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1522 From: Bradford, England Registered: May 2001 posted 12-13-2003 06:22 PM                     I'm looking at buying what is probably the cheapest DVD player avalible in the UK. £25 'Image DVD' from Richer Sounds. Although I may splash out an extra tenner and get the multi-region version.  |  IP: Logged Paul G. Thompson The Weenie Man Posts: 4718 From: Mount Vernon WA USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-14-2003 12:27 AM                     When it comes to DVD players, you usually get what you pay for.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 12-14-2003 01:25 AM                        Both my roommate and I had Apex AD-600A's. And both machines let all their magic smoke out after a couple of years (the early Apex's became infamous for heat issues). Replaced mine with a CyberHome CH-DVD 500 in January 2003. Cost me all of $69 at Best Buy. It has run without problems, save for very occasional difficulty with badly authored DVDs (Manga's anime DVDs in particular). CyberHome has been real good about updating their BIOS for the machine (available for download and CD-R burn from their site). The 500 plays all regions, PAL or NTSC. I'm quite happy with it--it will more than likely hold me over until I can afford to build my first HTPC.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 12-22-2003 08:36 AM                     Has anybody ever seen anything semi-authoritative about which brands have the best luck handling both + and - R discs?  |  IP: Logged Ron Lacheur Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 650 From: British Columbia, Canada Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-22-2003 09:19 AM                     Pioneer dvd players are very good with handling SVCD burns and the DVD+ and -. - seems to be more supported than +.  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-22-2003 09:32 AM                        I'll second the good words for the Cyberhome 500. No problems yet  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-24-2003 08:44 AM                  Since the EXPENSIVE player I had for less than a year was acting up... again, I decided to buy a "cheapie" and throw the Mitsubishi over the hillside and take great pleasure watching it smash into 1000's of pieces on the street 100 feet below my balcony. (Yes, I know that’s a run-on sentence, but I wanted to make clear my feelings for that POS!) Anyway, Crutchfield had $200 JVC (XV-SA600BK) for $100. It plays everything including SCVD, CD-R/W, Video CD, MP3, etc. It has 480p playback, RGB (Y, Pb, Pr) outputs, 3:2 pull-down, built-in 5.1 DD & DTS and MLP decoders, etc. I bought it and I’m very pleased with it! We’ll see how it holds up in the long run, but for now, I’m happy! >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Jim Leko Film Handler Posts: 90 From: Redondo Beach, CA, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 12-27-2003 07:49 AM                     If you have a standard-def, 4:3 TV (without a 16x9 squeeze mode), I recommend getting a Sony for their excellent Anamorphic Downconversion.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 12-28-2003 09:10 AM                     Without my knowledge, my sister bought my parents a 5-disc DVD player for Christmas. Apex. It replaces the Panasonic single-disc DVD that I gave them earlier this year. Never mind the fact that they don't OWN a single DVD other than the ones that I have brought to them. The Apex burned when she plugged it in. Smoke! The replacement works, but makes a ticking sound when the loading tray is moving. Bomb? The folks just got their first stereo TV a few days before Christmas. Mom naturally assumed that the TV caused the DVD player to croak. I rather like single player machines. I watch one at a time anyway.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 12-29-2003 11:57 AM                     Yeah, I just know that mine would decide to break down and die with a full load of discs if I had a 5-Disc changer. I watch them one at a time, too. I picked up four Apex AD-500s about 2 years ago and only one of them is still working...but it *has* started "acting up" in the last week or so. I replaced the others with Apex AD-2500s -- about $75 on Amazon earlier this year -- and they're behaving nicely. Yesterday was my brother's birthday and I gave him an Apex AD-2600 which cost me about $50 at Amazon. That machine was actually about $39 when I first added it to my shopping cart but I didn't actually purchase it until a few weeks later. One of the AD-2500s has an occasional problem where the edits suffer from an apparent interlace issue on-screen. You can even freeze frame and see it. I thought it was maybe a disc issue but it plays fine on the other machines and the same disc will sometimes play just fine on the defective player.  |  IP: Logged Greg Mueller Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1687 From: Port Gamble, WA Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-29-2003 07:16 PM                        I think the 5 disk DVD units are sort of dumb. Who could sit for 10 hours without getting up once? Also, it's another thing to break down. Now disc changers on a cd player, yes. I use that feature all the time. Wait Maybe you could have a James Bond marathon or a Farscape marathon. Ok maybe they're not so dumb  |  IP: Logged Nick Engstrom Film Handler Posts: 23 From: USA Registered: Dec 2003 posted 12-29-2003 08:43 PM                    Don't forget about those lazy bums like myself that leave 2 dvds in there permenately because you play them too much. Also note that the LOTR series are broke up into 2 disks and I can almost guaratee you that Return of the King will be on 3. I will fully admit, you don't really need a 5 disc changer, but then again, you don't need a remote control for your tv either  |  IP: Logged

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