Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

Ok, my in-laws are going to get me a DVD player when I (finally) graduate from LeTourneau U. in May. What should I look for when purchasing a DVD player? What separates one DVD player from another?

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James Hromadka
VisorCentral.com
Personal Website: http://www.Hromadka.com

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 17

For your own good...

I must point you to www.hometheaterforum.com

The hardware forum is fantastic

All the best,
Brad

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 434

DVD and VCD
AC-3 and DTS
Built-in AC-3 is NOT a benefit.
Component video outputs are a benefit, if they're willing to invest in a TV to complement it. Even better is a progressive scan DVD player, but they are expensive, as are the TVs.
Toslink AND coaxial cable digital output is good. Getting one or the other only limits your choices of receiver.
HDCD is a no real benefit.
ALL DVD players can read 96 kHz 24 bit music - don't let the salespeople tell you otherwise. (Not all can output at that resolution but who cares?)
Best bang for the buck are the "low end" Panasonic models.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/gendvdlink.html

Eug

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA
Posts: 255

I too would recommend the hometheaterforum. Excellent place and if you have a question by all means post it there and you will get a bunch of responses probably that day.

Some of the people there have 10s of thousands of dollars worth of equipment and I usually trust most of what they all say. If you'r enot sure, there's always like 6-7 people who will comment so you can at least make your own judgment with a decent amount of people speaking for you.

Myself, I have the toshiba 2109 and love it. You can get it now online for 250 and I've even seen best buy sell it for 236. Excellent player.

And J -- If you want to know some places to get all your movies for dirt cheap, just let me know (I currently get mine sometimes between 7-15 bucks)

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Valparaiso, IN
Posts: 146

Eug,

Built in Dolby Digital (AC-3) IS a benefit if you have a Pro Logic receiver with 6-channel inputs. As you probably know, it allows you to get 6 channels out of a receiver that can only decode 4.

Okay, I'm done nit-picking now. I agree with the rest of your post as far as what to look for. It will be interesting to see if DTS stays alive. Any thoughts?

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 434

You are correct. I made the possibly incorrect assumption he didn't have one of those. Anyway, a receiver with built-in AC-3 usually has better adjustability than a setup as you have described, and quite often is as cheap in the end.

DTS? I dunno. My DVD player is almost two years old, and my receiver is around 1.5 years old. Ie. I don't have DTS, and I actually don't care either. Most of the movies that tend to be DTS are big action flicks. While they're nice to watch, I don't tend to purchase them. I tend to purchase movies which often have only stereo tracks. (What I hate though is stereo encoded as AC-3 tracks in stereo, esp for music. Quality does suffer often.)

And, for recent movies, AC-3 can be as good as DTS. (One of the "problems" with AC-3 is that anybody with the proper equipment can code it so the quality really varies. DTS is pretty much consistently good though, although some of the stuff (like some AC-3) seems overly loud in the surrounds.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Clinton, UT 84015
Posts: 71

Ihave purchased four DVD players. Things I look for in a DVD player are the following:

Connectivity: Coaxial or Optical. I happened to want optical.

Decoding: Does your home receiver have AC-3/dolby Digital or DTS decoding built in? If not, you'll want your DVD to have it.

Newer models: some of the slightly older models have had problems with DVDs (such as the Matrix). I had one that had a problem with the first DVD I purchased (Rush Hour), and I promptly returned the DVD player.

I have purchased 2 JVC and two RCA DVD players.

I love my JVC DVD player. I use it with the JVC DTS/DD reciever and my big screen. I almost have no reason to go to the movies anymore.

Thomas

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

I don't have the model number on me, but I have an RCA 53" television. It does have jacks for SVGA, and the remote has a DVD label on it. I don't have a kick-ass stereo, but do run the audio through my wife's cheap stereo for som extra oomph sometimes.

I found the DVD FAQ at hometheaterforum.com, thanks for the link.

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James Hromadka
VisorCentral.com
Personal Website: http://www.Hromadka.com