best dvd player

[SiliconSoul]

I KNOW I KNOW its in the faq and on www.vcdhelp.com

BUT! www.vcdhelp.com sucks because too many people have no clue about what the max bitrates are and the options and other problems...

WHAT PLAYERS WORK THE BEST FOR YOU GUYS THE ONES TESTING THEM WITH SVCD all the time?


:)

[markrb]

I know it's a copout, but that is a super hard question since most of us here only tried a couple of players max for SVCD's.

I know that I love my Pioneer 343 that was very highly rated at vcdhelp. I found most of what they said to be right on target.

Some people seem to love their Apex players, but the build quality can be suspect at times.

I just read a really good review of the new Apex does it all player. It plays DVD Audio and SACD audio as well as SVCD's, MP3's and just about every other normally played format. Not very expensive either considering. They said that the DVD Audio and SACD playing had a bit to be desired, but for the money it did a very good job.
Kinda the Swiss Army knife of DVD players. Model number was AD-7701. US list $350.

Mark

[beber75]

I got a tokai 715 and everything is working fine. My brother's got a Tokai 815 and we never success to view subtitle on it and select different audio tracks. So, be careful; same manufacturer could made different models from worst to best results... :(

[Bob01605]

The Apex AD-1500 is inexpensive at $80 - $90 US dollars and is a good buy for the money. It has no component video out but has composite and SVHS outputs. The nicest thing about it is that if you get one with a serial # beginning with an A, B, C or D the Rom can be flashed to make it macrovision and region free. The newer AD-1500's with SV serial #'s cannot be flashed. After flashing, I can now play any disk from any region and the output can be sent into a VCR for a quick backup tape copy with no macrovision. I just picked one up for a second DVD/audio system I have downstairs. Mechanically it seems a little flimsy but it works well and has a picture output as good as the Pioneer 525 I have upstairs. It even plays mp3 files directly. I have ONE 80 min ( not any more - lol ) Cd with about 10 HOURS of mp3 "Golden Oldies" music. I use shuffle play and it will play the 311 songs at random for about 10 hours while I work downstairs in my home office area.

Bob

[SiliconSoul]

i have access to a apex 5131 ( i think) its the 3 disc changer and apex ad-1000 (original good one that is flashable).

the 5131 SUCKS for svcd and vcd... ive burned multiple copes of stuff EVEN AT 1x and i am still getting audio and video messup distortions that are not there in the original mpegs or bins. i used daemon tools to test the bins. and dvd2avi to view ... tell me if im doing it wrong... and even when i preview or play it in powerdvd it does not messup


the apex ad-1000 on the other hand also messes up but not as bad video distortions as my other apex.

i saw in the reviews in the forums that someone said the CAT players were the best and top of the line...

i would like a player that plays svcd with subs either way.
max video bitrate close to 3000+ and then audio on top of that...


i would like a player that will take most media. im using verbatim datalifes and TDK data ( the damn good expensive ones) and with my current players it does not matter which i use... the cheaper verbatim seems to work better! which really makes me mad!
you would think paying more for something would work better. i mean it does with audio and data but with svcd its only okay with tdk.

p.s. i think im going to have to start my own company and make the best svcd/vcd/dvd/mp3/etc.. player out there

:) :D

[Franklin2K]

Hi,

@markrb: I own a Pioneer DV-444 since a few days and i'm very happy with it. But I've got one question: What is the limit for the "max" bitrate in DVD2SVCD? I have read, the maximum is 2600 kbps-Audio1-Audio2, in my case 2600-192=2408 kbps. But others tell me, they user 2500 kbps (only video!) without problems.

What are your experiences with the max bitrate & Pioneer players?

Franklin2K

[caliburn]

What a fabulous player for the money.
It may not have the fancy menus of more expensive players, but this puppy will play anything.
I put in the paper insert from my 50 pack spindle of Fuji CD-R's , and it played a lost episode of "The Prisoner".
I'm kidding of course, but I'm not kidding about how great this player is.

Caliburn

[warthawg]

Best bang for the buck! $79 US at Circuit City. Plays everything i've tried thus far, SVCD, VCD, XSVCD, XVCD, CDR, CDRW, CVD Subtitles (NO SVCD Subtitles). Component video would definitely be nice, but at the price i cant complain! Region / Macrovision Free hack is easily applied ( if you have the right model). You can even create your own background :). Same as above applies for the AD1000 model as well (no LCD, but the AD1500 LCD is pretty cheezy anyway).

Also the Pioneer DV440 is a very nice player that supports all of the above features (except Subs). Also has the component out, etc. @ $200 US.

Good luck finding whats right for you :)

[markrb]

Franklin2K I don't own that player so I can only tell you what I know about mine. Everywhere I read said 2600kbps, but never mentioned whether it was video or the video and audio stream. I did some testing and found that it was the video only. I could use 2600 + 224 audio no problem. That is until DVD2SVCD version 1.06. I have no idea why or what happened, but all of a sudden I could not make discs greater then 2525 MAX and have them play correctly on my system.

Do some test encodes with a CDRW disc. Spend a day or two and use a very needy disc like Waterworld to push your player. You don't have to do the whole thing, just pick a chapter or two that looks like it is complicated. Pay attention to the audio, because that is where I first notice bitrate problems on my player.

Mark

[Kandor]

I have tried the 2 arcam dvd players dv88 and dont remember the name of its big brother.
but what can I say, never seen better picture quality on both svcd or dvd than any of them.
the big brother cost about $3000 in sweden if you convert the swedish krona so that one is way to expensive.
but the arcam players are the only dvd players that have descent sound playback for cds.
and I have a pioneer 737 that dont play svcds but have superb picture quality for dvd and that one looks like shit if you compare it to the arcam players.
thou the arcam doesnt seem to be able to change sound stream on svcds and display subs it still have the best picture and sound quality that I have encountered.
and it played 3000 kbit svcds with no problem, (havent tried higher bitrate than that).

[mkanar]

I have a Pioneer DV-C503 5 disc changer.

I don't bother with XSVCD (above-spec) discs as the standard bitrates are fine now with DVD2SVCD and CCE. As such, I'm not certain about the upper-limitation regarding bitrate.

The player is great except for lack of subtitle support and the inability to disable regions or macrovision. The Macrovision is a problem for me as my daughter has a very old television. I rought the DVD player through the VCR to get it to the television but Macrovision messes it up.

If anyone else has the Pioneer DV-C503, here is a tip: hit the 'next' button to start the SVCD instead of the 'play' button. This way, the player will automatically move to the next disc when the previous disc is done playing.

why the player lacks cvd and svcd subtitle support is beyond me.

[SiliconSoul]

ive encoded a movie with a max of 4000 and an max average 2600 and my apex 5131 played it... there were some video screw up but no bad for how high i set it...

you can do this too my turning off the warning for max bitrate...

im not sure what it will do to your player but mine held its own!

i thinking of trying 4000 with an average of 3500 im sure it will messup more but the quality will be alsome with 4 pass vbr and prob take 3 cds for most movies.

[jasond]

We have a hitachi 415U and love it!

plays almost everything.. if audio is 128 in svcd, it skips a bit, but plays svcds @ 224 Perfect!


I would highly recommend this player!

[Sixr]

Apex 5131 works great for everything I've thrown at it..

[SiliconSoul]

what cdr or cdrw brand are u using?

for me the apex 5131 is worse than the apex 1000

anyone here tried the new apex 1100 it looks nice i wonder how it plays ...