Help me choose my next DVD player, I keep changing my mind

FlimsyFeet · 25th June 2004, 11:57

Help! For the past month I've been trying to decide on a new DVD player to buy, and my head hurts from all the searching I've done.

My new player must:

be able to read CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R & DVD+R discs
play VCD & SVCD
have SCART with RGB output
have component out with PAL progressive scan (for when I get a new telly)

It would be nice if:

it could read DVD+RW & DVD-RW discs as well
it can play AVI/MPEG-4, particularly if it is able to play XviD and output an AC-3 stream through the digital out

I'm not bothered about:

audio formats MP3, WMA, SACD or DVD-A
viewing JPEGs

And it must not:

suffer from the "chroma bug" i.e. the MPEG decoder must be free from chroma upsampling errors - some people can live with it, but it really irritates me

I'm in the UK and looking to spend up to £150. I'm really looking for recommendations from people who have actually bought or tested players; I've spent ages reading user manuals and looking for reviews online but they never seem to tell me what I want to know! Anyone have a Toshiba SD340E or a Pioneer DV-470?

lobster · 25th June 2004, 22:07

Can't find any technical info about Pioneer DV 470. Is it something new?
I bought an Elta 8883 month ago but was not satisfied - the DVD drive was very noisy and it had serious problems reading DVD-RWs. I got my money back and I'm searching for another one. I spent a lot of time with it. Going through many forums I got the feeling that all the players based on Mediatek chip (Yamada 6600, Xoro 400 Pro etc.) have problems with noisy drives (not all drives but the probability that you get the noisy one is rather big) and the drives are not IDE compatible, so you can't replace it with another one.
Now, I'm looking for some DivX player with VGA output. Up to now I know about Xoro 400 Pro only. Are there any other players?

magneez · 6th January 2005, 22:11

these play MPEG4 (divx/xvid etc)

Avayon DXP-1000 http://www.avayon.com/pages/our.html
Pioneer DV575
Pioneer DV470
Prosound DIVX9000ST
ORBIT 2950
LG DIVX8721P
Toshiba SD340
Philips DVP630
Hyundai HUDIV3899
Apex DVX2102
Vertex D601
Vertex 312A
Lenco LDVX3453
xennon XN-6066

most of them are chinese crap. avayon might be good i dont know. xoro is not so great i have one. that mediatek chip has to have specially encoded xvids with no bitrate peaks, otherwise things get jumpy. also it has a slightly noisy drive, and the drive itself is very thin and sortof fragile. also it loads really slowly and the subtitles are with no black BG so cant be seen on white shirts etc. but its considered a good machine so i guess this is what we have these days.

tpol069 · 30th January 2005, 15:22

I have a waitec vision slx myself, it does all you asked for with no problems. I think this one might be what your looking for.
However i don't know if it has those upsampeling errors you spoke of. No idea what that is.

Anyway, here's a link to their website.
www.waitec.com

tpol069 · 30th January 2005, 18:53

I forgot to mention mpegplaycenter's website has a review for the waitec aswell as several other players.

www.mpeg-playcenter.com

magneez · 31st January 2005, 21:21

i tested the ORBIT 2950 and its a replica of the XORO. it also uses the MTK chipset, its pretty good.

25th June 2004, 11:57	#1 \| Link
FlimsyFeet Registered User Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 318	Help me choose my next DVD player, I keep changing my mind Help! For the past month I've been trying to decide on a new DVD player to buy, and my head hurts from all the searching I've done. My new player must: be able to read CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R & DVD+R discs play VCD & SVCD have SCART with RGB output have component out with PAL progressive scan (for when I get a new telly) It would be nice if: it could read DVD+RW & DVD-RW discs as well it can play AVI/MPEG-4, particularly if it is able to play XviD and output an AC-3 stream through the digital out I'm not bothered about: audio formats MP3, WMA, SACD or DVD-A viewing JPEGs And it must not: suffer from the "chroma bug" i.e. the MPEG decoder must be free from chroma upsampling errors - some people can live with it, but it really irritates me I'm in the UK and looking to spend up to £150. I'm really looking for recommendations from people who have actually bought or tested players; I've spent ages reading user manuals and looking for reviews online but they never seem to tell me what I want to know! Anyone have a Toshiba SD340E or a Pioneer DV-470?

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25th June 2004, 22:07	#2 \| Link
lobster Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 11	Can't find any technical info about Pioneer DV 470. Is it something new? I bought an Elta 8883 month ago but was not satisfied - the DVD drive was very noisy and it had serious problems reading DVD-RWs. I got my money back and I'm searching for another one. I spent a lot of time with it. Going through many forums I got the feeling that all the players based on Mediatek chip (Yamada 6600, Xoro 400 Pro etc.) have problems with noisy drives (not all drives but the probability that you get the noisy one is rather big) and the drives are not IDE compatible, so you can't replace it with another one. Now, I'm looking for some DivX player with VGA output. Up to now I know about Xoro 400 Pro only. Are there any other players?

6th January 2005, 22:11	#3 \| Link
magneez Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 13	these play MPEG4 (divx/xvid etc) Avayon DXP-1000 http://www.avayon.com/pages/our.html Pioneer DV575 Pioneer DV470 Prosound DIVX9000ST ORBIT 2950 LG DIVX8721P Toshiba SD340 Philips DVP630 Hyundai HUDIV3899 Apex DVX2102 Vertex D601 Vertex 312A Lenco LDVX3453 xennon XN-6066 most of them are chinese crap. avayon might be good i dont know. xoro is not so great i have one. that mediatek chip has to have specially encoded xvids with no bitrate peaks, otherwise things get jumpy. also it has a slightly noisy drive, and the drive itself is very thin and sortof fragile. also it loads really slowly and the subtitles are with no black BG so cant be seen on white shirts etc. but its considered a good machine so i guess this is what we have these days.

30th January 2005, 15:22	#4 \| Link
tpol069 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 10	I have a waitec vision slx myself, it does all you asked for with no problems. I think this one might be what your looking for. However i don't know if it has those upsampeling errors you spoke of. No idea what that is. Anyway, here's a link to their website. www.waitec.com

30th January 2005, 18:53	#5 \| Link
tpol069 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 10	I forgot to mention mpegplaycenter's website has a review for the waitec aswell as several other players. www.mpeg-playcenter.com

31st January 2005, 21:21	#6 \| Link
magneez Registered User Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 13	i tested the ORBIT 2950 and its a replica of the XORO. it also uses the MTK chipset, its pretty good.