What's a good DVD player?

[SMiLEY]

Okay, so if I follow the advice I got in my last post and get a DVD player, what should I get? I'm not really able to afford one of the top-of-the-line progressive scan players, but I don't want entry-level crap either. What are some good DVD players out there?

Also, what happened to HD-DVD? Is it still up and coming? I'd feel alot better about spending money on something that would support HDTV resolutions.

[Will Binegar]

Well, now that Toshiba has come out with the 6200, you can find the SD-5109 progressive scan player for around $400. If that's too expensive, the Toshiba 2200 or 3109 can be had for $240.

[Andrew Pratt]

HD-DVD won't be here for some time to come so normal DVD will do you just fine. Whats your budget? What kind of TV will this unit be used on?(now and in the near future) Most of the models from Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer are good bets for solid players. Toshiba unfortunatly continues to produce players that have horrible down conversion and still rank as the most likely to have glitches with DVD's that use advanced functions like seem less branching etc.

[SMiLEY]

Well, I've got an older Pioneer RPTV, I can't remember the model number off the top of my head. It's a 45" screen, and generally I've been happy with it. It's in bad need of cleaning, but I'm working on that. At first I'll be using it with my aged Sony STR-D1090 receiver which only does Pro Logic. I finally got some nice speakers, Energy e:XL series and I've been very happy with that upgrade.

I'd say my budget is somewhere in the under $500 range.

So what's up with Toshiba, I've seen rave reviews of the 5109 all over the place but, Andrew, you're saying they have compatibility issues? I've started to do some research here, and I've found some complaints about the Pioneers as well. Does anyone know of a DVD player that's pretty solid?

[Will Binegar]

So far I've had the Panasonic DVD-A110 and Toshiba SD-5109, and I've never had any trouble with either. I used the Panasonic on a Sony 61" XBR (4:3), and the Toshiba on a Toshiba 65X81.

[Andrew Pratt]

I have mixed feelings towards Toshiba they can make some great products but there's usually a problem with them...All Toshiba players drop the 4th line when downconverting a widescreen image down to 4:3 so the image tends to be sharp but full of jaggied lines. To me those got really annoying but for some folks it doesn't bother them. Toshiba also does not support discrete codes on any of thier products which is a royal pain for us Pronto users. Also You'll notice that generally if someone is complaining that theie DVD player has audio drop outs (see recent T2 UE threads etc) they are usually Toshiba's. Sony players then to have the soothest images since they merge all the lines together when downconverting ...the result though is that the image is quite soft compared to the Toshiba's. All the new Sony's are great machines now that the lip sync problems have been taken care of. Now Pioneer had its share of lip sync problems with early machines and later of tray noise in the 525 model but by all accounts the new 333 machine is much better and should be a great machine. Pioneer generally has a very nice image with most of the sharpness Toshiba has to offer but without the jaggied lines. Panasonic had a tough start in that the A110 and A310 machines had a crappy laser that tended to fail rather quickly and they as a company didn't handle it as well as they should have. Last years models though (A120 and A320) are much better with the A320 being a very highly regarded player even compared to machines costing upwards of $1000. Panasonic has a new line up out now thats getting good reviews as well. Panasonics image tends to be very close to Pioneers as far as having a sharp, colourful and relatively jaggie free image on downconverted images. If I were out buying a player now I'd buy either the Pioneer 333, Panasonic A320 (if you can find one) RV30, RV60 or the RV80 again if you can find one. The RV80 has much improved video compontents thats supposed to make a visable difference. Of course if you're looking at getting a TV soon that can accept progressive scan then these won't give you that ability but in the next year the price of progressive scan machines is going to drop quickly making them affoardable.

[Andrew Pratt]

Okay just came across a thread talking about the new Panasonic DVDRV80 and it looks to be a killer machine. Apparnetly http://www.soundcity.com has it for $330 plus shipping but I can't seem to find it on thier site so I'd call. If I were to replace my Panny A320 this would be the machine I would want...

BTW Does your pro logic receiver had 5.1 inputs for external decoders? The reason I ask is that both the A320 and the DVDRV60 and DVDRV80 include onboard DD decoders (the A320 also has a DTS decoder on board as well)

[Andrew Pratt]

Here's a thread that may interest you Panasonic DVDRV80

[SMiLEY]

Nope, no inputs for external decoders on my receiver. Thanks for all your help! It sounds like I'll need to take a close look at the Pioneer 333 and the Panasonic RV80.

[Andrew Pratt]

b/t the 333 and the RV80 its a non contest with the 80 winning hands down. Its got the same video processors that the progessive players do so its like a poor mans progessive player

[MRWILLL]

I use a Pioneer Elite DV-09/Pioneer DVL-919 DVD/LD/CD with a six your old Sony 53" RPTV. I wouldn't trade my picture for nothing. I even learned how to get inside my TV and do the same tune-up as my tech. Next time your tech comes out for a tune-up, watch everything he does, and believe me you will be able to do it too.




STOP!!...LOOK!!...LISTEN!!
DVD...Hear it from the people who
mixed and mastered it "LEXICON".

[SMiLEY]

HOLY CRAP!!

I just cleaned my RPTV this morning! (it's a Pioneer SD-P4571 by the way) I can't believe what a difference there is in the picture quality. Did you know black is actually black, not a dark grey?

Thanks for the tip on the RV80 Andrew. I still want to see them in action. It turns out a friend of mine just bought the Pioneer DV-333 so I'll probably check it out first. Maybe he'll let me hook it up to my system and see what it looks like. Still, with what you say about the RV80, the scales are definitely tipped in favor of it...

[Andrew Pratt]

I sent you an email that might interest you a "great deal"

[Stoopalini]

I recently bought the Pioneer 333 and couldn't be happier with it. I considered a few different models and settled on this one for a couple of different reasons:

1) Price range - I was looking to stay under apx $250
2) It plays CDRs and CDRWs - a must for me
3) It's a brand I trust
4) People in this forum recommended it over every other player I was considering

I've only watched 2 movies so far "5th Element" and "Being John Malkovich", and the picture was great in both. The colors are very bright and true.

I find the picture of the 333 a little softer than my Yamaha 795 unit it replaced, but this could be due to calibration issues on my Sony 36XBR250 Wega Set. I think I actually like the softer picture though.

I got mine from http://www.etronics.com for $231.99 shipped. Not a bad deal for a great player.

Thomas.

[Little Bruce]

Hey yall....
Serious inquiry here. End of the year will have some money to invest (around $2000). My old system is for the birds and is in need of a serious overhaul. I have read alot of yalls threads with various opinions and recommendations for dvds...
(any words about JVC dvd's and tv's?)
I have spent considerable time researching jvc's component line-ups (considering cost and quality)
Love some input from you ht pros. I want to start with new tv, dvd and reciever. Cant afford hdtv, rptv or of similiar sorts.... have to stick with a good old boob tube.. at least 32" or better.
(kinda like jvc av-32d500)
Speakers of mine will go in the trash so thats another topic of discussion. (I have a 20 year old passive sub with no amp) :O
If I buy a reciever... is a amp recommmended with semi-decent speakers? 5 to 1 is a must.
Any help from yall fellow forum members is greatly appreciated !!! :B

[Andrew Pratt]

Well the JVC TV's are quite good TV's..I wouldn't buy a JVC DVD player though since they've had some problems with early models and honeslty for the same amount of money you can easily go with a proven model like the Pioneer 333 or one of the Panasonic or Sony's. We're great a spending other peoples money so give us a budget and time frame and we'll help you spend it wisely

[Lexman]

Absolutely Andrew. At this point, that's about the only money I can spend- someone else's, lol.

However, I recommend a new thread for your "system" Bruce, not a continuation in the DVD thread here. Sure DVD player talk is good here, but for best results on a total system recommendation, we need a new thread.

Thanks,

Lex

[SMiLEY]

WOOT!

I just got my RV80 today! I went home at lunch to hook it up and watched a few snippets from some DVD's I borrowed from a friend.

Sounds good! Looks good!

Man I wish I had a DD receiver now.

I had a thought. I know the RV80 has component outputs that some receivers would take and spit back out to the separate channels. Can I actually hook my subwoofer up to one of those? Is the subwoofer channel powered at all? Would that work? If so that might be pretty cool.

[Andrew Pratt]

Congratulation Smiley you manged to confuse me I think you're confusing a few terms and features so I'll brake it apart and hopefully we'll get it sorted out.

Component refers to a type of video connection. There are composite (single yellow RCA jack) S-Video (small DIN plug) and Component video (three RCA jacks) Component video offers the best video quality off all three types with S-video coming up a close second and composite a distant 3rd.

For audio your DV-80 has built in DD and DTS decoders. So on the rear of the machine you should have both analog and digital outputs (all RCA jacks) There should be two sets of analog out puts one set will only have the left and right main channels (yours might have a sub out on this set) as well as a set of 6 jacks to output the built in decoders 6 discrete channels (5 main plus the sub) Non of these signals will be amplified at all as they are all line level signals. I assume that you are connecting the DVD player to the Sony receiver using the straight stereo analog RCA jacks on the player...unless your receiver has a 5.1 input mode? Assuming that it doesn't then you would connect two RCA cables from the DVD players stereo out to the Recevier. If there's a sub out beside these jacks connect that to the subwoofer (some of the newer panasonic players seem to have included that additional sub out) if not we might still be able to connect the sub but we'll need to know more about the subwoofer itself.

[SMiLEY]

Oops, got my terminology mixed up.

But you got the idea. My TV only takes composite video (it's a little old...) so that's what I'm using for video.

For sound I'm using the stereo analog RCA jacks, since that's all my receiver will do (again, old). So... I would like to try and hook the subwoofer up to the DVD player's discrete subwoofer output. I'm not at home right now, so I can't give you much more info, other than my sub is an Energy e:XL-S8. I'll get back to this tonight when I get home. Thanks!

[SMiLEY]

Ok, well, I didn't get to it. I was too excited about watching movies on my new player. The image looks really good, but it really makes me want to get the picture on my TV looking better.

So, yes, my DVD player has a discrete subwoofer out, and my subwoofer has an input that, according to the manual, accepts the subwoofer signal from a receiver or processor.

As far as I can tell, the DVD player is acting as a processor in this instance, so, wouldn't that work? Of course then I have another problem. If I wanted to listen to something besides the DVD player, like TV, LD, or CD, then I'll have to re-wire the subwoofer. The manual for the sub makes it very clear that I shouldn't have Low level and High level inputs running at into the sub at the same time. So maybe it's not worth the trouble...

[Andrew Pratt]

Well then the best solution to your problem is going to be to run the speaker cables from the receiver to the Subwoofer. The sub should have speaker level inputs for both the left and right channels. Then run another set of cables from the sub to each of the main speakers. Now all you have to do is play with the crossover and volume and you'll get the sub taking over for the low bass while letting the mains carry the higher stuff. When you get a newer receiver we can send the sub a signal directly from it or you can leave it connected as is.

[SMiLEY]

Yeah, that's what I have it doing. I was just wondering if I would get better bass using an actual discrete subwoofer channel.

I guess I'll leave it alone, I'm just trying to fight off the urge to buy a new receiver. If I hold out long enough maybe some of the format wars will settle some. I also can't buy anything right now. Between the DVD player and some small computer upgrades I've done my cash is spent.

[Nate-Dogg]

Will this DVR80 pass 24/96 signal?

Who has it cheapest?

I just found out sony has cut the original shipment of PS2's from 1 million to 500K. So thats means I prob. wont get mine on october 26. I was going to use the ps-2 as a budget player untill I could afford to upgrade my TV and DVD in one whack.

My Tv really sucks (zenith 27") but I really want a 16x9 but the only reasonably priced one is the toshiba 40".

Oh Well!

Whats up on a DVD player that will pass 24/96 and doesn't have probs with lip sync and digital artifacts (pixelation probs)?