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Need advise on buying a Home DVD Player.

B

BuckMaster

Diamond Member
Im going to buy a DVD player this weekend and dont know much about them. I was hoping someone could tell me the pros and cons. I would like to buy one that supports VCD and SVCD just because I have been burning DVDS and would like to see how well they play on a home DVD player. Most of my system now is Sony and would like to stick with Sony just to match but it nots a must. I have a sony reciever that 2 years old that has sound surround but couldnt tell you much about it. Also if anyone knows of any good deals on one right now would be cool too. 🙂


Thanks!
 
Sony DVD players suck for VCD and SVCD. If you want the best compatibility with those formats, the Pioneer DV343 is the best. It's cheap and plays everything you throw at it.

The Panasonic RV31 is also an excellent choice. It can play MP3, and the image quality might be slightly better than the Pioneer (hard to notice though), but it has trouble with SVCD even if it plays VCD perfectly.
 
Check out audioreview.com for alot of user reviews. I think it really depends on how much of a audio/videophile you are. If you are just a casual movie watcher with a medium size tv (32" or smaller) and have no plans to put in a 5.1 surround sound system (which I highly recommend to have), just about any DVD player from a major mfg will do.
 
I know this isn't very model-specific info, but make sure which dvd player you do choose supports cd-r playback. This is so you can play back movies you've downloaded.
 
I just bought this Panasonic RV31S (it's same as RV31 but silver) for 179.00 including shipping at Amazon. It's a limited time special, probably will be back to 199.00 with normal shipping in a few days. You might check out the reviews there. Seems kind of awesome with the MP3 player as well.

Also a question to the guys who know about such things as DVDs and VCRs. I want to run the composite video output of the DVD along with the analog audio output through my VCR to the TV (an older sony that only has composite video/analog audio inputs). Is this possible or will the dvd copy protection cause problems? I don't have a home theatre setup yet, but would like to simplify the cable connections.

Thanks,

Cparker
 
The Home Theater Forum is also a great resource for home theater gear.



<< Also a question to the guys who know about such things as DVDs and VCRs. I want to run the composite video output of the DVD along with the analog audio output through my VCR to the TV (an older sony that only has composite video/analog audio inputs). Is this possible or will the dvd copy protection cause problems? I don't have a home theatre setup yet, but would like to simplify the cable connections. >>



Macrovision protection on DVDs will likely create problems in doing this. Does your TV only have one set of A/V inputs? If so, you can always buy an A/V selector box (Recoton makes one that sells for about $40 at Best Buy). Another alternative is using an RF modulator and daisy chaining both the VCR and DVD through coax cables (although this method vastly degrades picture and sound quality).
 
Won't work as the copy protection on the cd will sense the signal going into the vcr and kick in.You may get sound but the screen will be black.
Been there done that.
 
Don't forget the $15 off $100 code at Amazon! 😀

Which is the better buy, the Pioneer 343 or Panasonic RV31S? The Pioneer comes out to ~$145 shipped, the Panasonic for $165 shipped (after coupon), but the RV31S has that cool MP3 capability.
 
OK, I found an rca cable switchbox lying around with dual channels. I might even have another lying around so for the time being I should be able to bypass the VCR without having to reconnect the cable all the time. If the audio doesn't pass through and if I can't find the other switchbox I'll just switch the video run the audio output from the DVD to a little stero amp with speakers that would sound better than the TV anyway.

Thanks for your help. Of course I might get lucky and my 1994 VCR might not have macrovision, but somehow I doubt it, it's a panasonic.

As to the best buy on the DVD, the panasonic vs the pioneer, well, they both seem like great buys. If you are going the Amazon route I'd do it fairly soon as they tend to suddenly drop the specials and then switch them to other brands/models. I ordered the Panasonic after reading the close to 50 reviews on the Amazon site. Before that was about to get a Toshiba 2700 also on special there, but then the special was terminated just as I was about to order. I never thought much about MP3s but the more I read about it the nicer that feature seemed since I do have lots of MP3s on my computer and could burn them easily.
 
Thanks everyone. I almost went out and bought one today. But wanted come back and see the replys here. I have some reading to do. 🙂
 
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