Best standalone for overall playback?

[kdiaz]

I'm in the market for a new DVD standalone, and I wanted to know if I could get some feedback on the best one I could buy for most compatible playback with Burns, VCD, SVCD, etc...

any suggestions?

[EcchiNut]

usually those cheap Apex models work good. But go checkout vcdhelp.com and their online DVD database. Click highest user rated. You'll see in there a list of top dvd players by users, with what features those dvd players support from their personal playback attempts.

[markrb]

For most compatible you really can't beat the Apex, but there are a couple of gotcha's with them.

1. Sued by Philips and forced to remove VCD support on most units.
2. Not built like tanks, pretty flimsy.
3. Video quality not as good as more mainstream companies.

I own an Apex 5131 and it's fine for my needs.

Besides www.vcdhelp.com check out www.nerd-out.com as well. They stick with the cheaper models, but some good info is to be had. Recently I picked up a Mintek based on their tests and so far so good.

Best is kind of a catch all term. Best to figure out what you want for and find one that fits those needs. No player is perfect so find one that is best for you.

Mark

[spruceland]

The best is a panasonic rp82 hands down. It's a progressived dvd player and costs around $220. Visit the avs forums and you will see that many many people agree that this is the best bang for your buck; it even plays mp3 songs on dvd-r. Good luck

[kdiaz]

So this panasonic has no problems with DVD-R /RW, VCD, SVCD, and DVD+R /RW playback at all?

[waldok]

I just bought a Proline 1040, 99Euros (please do the maths if you're not in Europe).
This small beast simply accepts everything.

Plus, image quality is really good through S-Video connection (sharp and colorful) and it even can read mpeg files burnt as regular files on a standard CD-ROM.

Incredible player at this price (at least here in France).

Hope this helps

PS : Proline 1040 seems to be some "APex" clone, but I can't remember which exact model.

Waldok :cool: