What Features Should I Look For In A DVD Player?

Make sure you have a DVD HD t.v. to get the most out of playing DVD's. c.i. was that s-l-o-w enough? Actually, pueo, go to www.epinions.com, and type in DVD. You can get consumer ratings on many DVD players and their price ranges. Good luck! c.i.

thanks c.i., i am ignorant when it comes to consumer electronics, i still haven't figured out what a mp3 player is

When you go to 'epinions,' type in MP3. c.i.

c.i., looked through the site you listed. thanks. unfortunately when i entered my zip code it said that the zip code doesn't exists. typical for guam, many people have complained that although we are served by the u.s. postal service, we don't seem be able to order many items through the internet.

Can I ask a little question here?

I see that a DVD player is becoming inevitable. I have held off because I wanted one that records as well as playing. Is this still very expensive?

The Philips is one of the few I know, around $509.00:

http://www.calibex.net/nextag_30/dvd_players.htm

It also has progressive scan, a feature one should definitely demand when buying a new player.

dlowan, Your idea to buy a recorder/player DVD is a smart move. Eventually, everything will be transformed into DVD's. c.i.

Miniature hard drives such as the USB port storage units are the harbingers of what is to come. It won't be long where optical disks, which after all can be damaged and made unplayable (despite what salespeople will tell you), will be taken over by a new format with an extraordinary memory capacity in a very miniature package that will probably have to be house in something large enough to handle (and not loose!!!)

DOWLAN : I see nobody with a DVD pre-recording and being able to watch (or selecting from) 16 hours of taping each day.

My two 4 head VHS recorders with a total cost of $250 records all the movies and programs anyone would want to watch. When I choose to watch them either in the morning or late at night they are there at the touch of a button. By deleting the dull stuff, the repetitious CNN stuff and the slow parts of a movie I can go through an 8 hour tape in 2-3 hours.

The cost of DVD's is also a factor. I use cheap but good tapes that cost less than $2 (Sony EdMax 8 hour) and these are used over and over
which is not an available feature of DVD discs as yet.

However, just as we progressed from our beloved Win 3.1 up through
'95 to Win 2000 and now XP Pro, so too we will doubtless move into DVD.

Am I correct in waiting until DVD's do things I can't do with a VHS?

Yes, and te thing is DVDs have done things that VHS can't do since thier release, it's up to you to decide when to upgrade.

When you talk, it responds.

Its neat when the DVD players come with the zoom feature. Not too many reasons to use zoom, but its cool.

Tonight I bought a TV, a Phillips 32PT563S. I was trying to get the biggest TV I could for under $500. Did I screw up? I don't think it's HDTV.
Tom


You can see the Phillips TV here:

Link to Phillips TV

Tom : Congratulations. You got a terrific deal and should be
commended for your skilful shopping skills.

It's not necessary to have an HDTV for DVD playback quality except for the fact that most of these sets have line doubling or tripling. I don't see a great deal of difference on my new set but look out -- don't buy a DVD player right now. High definition DVD is just on the horizon, probably within the year and possibly before Christmas (it will be compatible in playing the conventional resolution DVD's of today). They have perfected the two layer DVD to the point of craming 135 minutes of HD movie or other source on one disc! Again, progressive scan is a marked improvement but I'm waiting to upgrade for the new players. They wll, as usual, not tell you this when the current player inventory is bled off at reduced prices.

Tom, when posting a link try and use the link feature which reduces the data down to keywords you choose. That way, you won't stretch the page!

Oh, and Welcome to A2K, Tom!

(If you want, you can hit the edit button, copy the link, delete the current link and then use the URL button at the top of "Post a reply") That will unstretch the page.

Shopping for a DVD/VHS Combo


Lightwizard (or anyone else),
What exactly is Progressive Scan (can't find a basic definition on the web), and how would I miss it if I went for a lesser dvd/vhs combo without it in an effort to save $?

That combo I'm referring to is the Samsung DVD-V2000. Its pro is that it's being offered through the "Shoppers Advantage" Factory Outlet Magazine for $80. A good deal it seems, but its con is that it lacks Progressive Scan.

How big a deal is that?
I don't have a quality TV w/ HD, I've got a pretty ancient Emerson 19", circa early '90s, and at that price with the fact that it's combo, it seems like a good opportunity to jump into the DVD fray.

As I'm also very new to DVD (I don't even own one), I would take advantage of the player at first for it's ability to play CD-R/CD-RW's. Am I right in assuming I'll be able to listen to burned music cd's & view burned video cd's? Will I be able to control the video cd's with the remote, ie, pause, fast-forward, rewind, slow-mo, etc? If those features only work on a dvd-r, I should add that I don't have a dvd-rom. Do I have to burn "vcd/svcd's" (something I'm not familiar with) or will I be able to view discs I've already burned as 'data discs' using Nero?

If I'm convinced that Prog. Scan is really the way to go regardless of how much more it costs me, I've found this combo: JVC for $125.

Do brand names matter in terms of quality? I was recently hunting for hard drives and was told to stay away from Samsung. Now I wonder about their media players.

Then there's this Sanyo which seems like a good deal as well, though it is refurbished (and actually, I can't tell if it has prog. scan)

So there it is. Apologies if this ended up seeming more like a commercial than a request for advice...

Thanks in advance.

Roosh - Try This site.

I too want a DVD Recorder. I'll wait a couple more years, hopefully that will bring the price down.

That being said, you might want to look into a DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD+- whatever drive, and make sure it's compatible with you current settop dvd player. With a TV tuner and a cable descrambler on your home PC, you could record with your computer, TiVO like and dump it to DVD to play on your settop dvd player. DVD recorders/rewriters for PCs are MUCH cheaper than set top dvd recorders. Plus you can use the DVD recorder for backups on your computer system as well. [edit] Not to mention being able to store and distribute home movies made with a digital cam corder. Digital cam corders are getting cheap now, they're at the prices of a normal cam corder just a couple years ago.[/edit]