What Player Is The Best?

[birdy]

I guess the subject of this thread on a forum like this is very tempting for mods and admins to just flame you!
It is also a good one for some users to shout out, use search or .....

But honestly in this specific forum "Hardware Players" this should be answered on a sticky on top of the first page!

I Know people have different taste! Also its not about promoting a player or not promoting another. Its about the fact that most people who come to a forum such as this one love and enjoy their encoding and playback hobby and want to get something good and get shared experience.

I hope we can figure out some kind of poll where all players could be listed but somehow voted so it would allow ignorent newbies like me to figure out and learn form other peoples experience and knoledg!

I have read for few hours now and I am still totaly lost!
Is after all best thing to buy a PS2 for my xvid - divx playbacks?
So much poeple talking about Philips 642/630. and many more.
Ofcours you can not go totaly wrong with what info there is already!
But with a more detailed compared, info you can be sure to make the right choice.

[musicnyman]

i can tell you what not to buy :)
i've tried both the dlink dsm-320 and pinnacle showcenter and not very happy with either. still looking for a good divx/xvid player myself.

[esseker]

can someone tell me which player is better:

i was thinking between Kiss dp 1000 and Pioneer dv 470 or 575

according to the test on http://www.divxtest.com/resultats.php3,

Pioneer 575 scored overall better than Kiss dp 1000.

but i am still unsure.please help me?

thanks.

[SeeMoreDigital]

If you're only interested in playing "standard-definition/resolution" media, then the Siemssen SCO5000 ND player, seems to offer the most flexibility at the moment!


Cheers

[esseker]

i cant buy that player in Croatia.

then there is a warranty question, and possible repairs.

and i have already made up between Kiss or Pioneer.

so which is better?

[telemachus]

esseker, you can buy the siemssen on the internet, they deliver to you. I live in the UK, they shipped it from Germany - and you are a LOT closer to Germany.

I had a kiss player (500) for a few days and returned it because it could only play about 1/2 of my disks... maybe I had a dud, I dont know, but I would not buy a kiss in a hurry.

mark.

[marcellus]

From siemssen's site:
For shipping outside Germany the following amounts are valid - we only deliver to these countries!
Austria
Belgium
Danmark
Luxembourg
Holland
€ 9,61
France
Great Britain
Liechtenstein
Schweiz € 11,82
Italy € 20,32

[Zhnujm]

Originally posted by esseker
and i have already made up between Kiss or Pioneer.


I vote for Pioneer.
Excellent player, only problem is that Xvid in combination with more than 1 bframe and packed bitstream does not play smooth.

[Guest]

@birdy

Please observe rule 12. Thank you.

[Sharro@Home]

Philips DVP720SA, why ?

-Very similar to Pioneer 575.
-Cherry / New Age owns same brand / different model.
-I own one.
-Excellent construction quality.
-It's fast (never seen a slowdown on my 1gb video of disney's animations at 720 or 704 with dual ac3 - 1.5gb avi size)
-Packet bitstream easily with Mpeg4modifier (sadly I had already burned a few dvd-'r with packed bitstreamed avi's.)
-For quite a while I've not been using Packed Bitstream
-Packed bitstream bug should be the next bug to kill (Yamada FW v1 had no problems with it) so solution is latent for Philips)
-Still, I follow SeeMoreDigital threads, he's more long term demanding regarding mpeg4 playability , I'm more demanding on my Xvid encodes and QPEL is definetly a must... :D:
-I keep on dreaming on the perfect firmware.

All the best,

Sharro

[telemachus]

Originally posted by neuron2
@birdy

Please observe rule 12. Thank you.

Rule 12 is a bit stupid IMO.

A lot of people, myself included, dont have the technical knowledge to be able to decifer the pro's and cons of various players. On top of that, there arent a lot of really good places to make comparisons, even less can you borrow or go to a shop with 100 disks to test out a variety of MPEG4 machines. They exist mostly on mail order. So i think it is perfectly reasonable for someone to arrive here and ask those who have informed opinions to share some of that knowledge.

Not sharing knowledge makes people elitist, and IMO one of the best things about the net and forums in general is the willingness people show for helping one another...

"What player is best?" is a perfeclty viable question IMO, difficult to answer empirically, but all one wants is another's informed opinion or personal experience.

Peace out,
Mark.

[RedDwarf69]

Perhaps more than "what player is the best" we need a "list of players with special qualities/problems".
We have the basic player (a lot of them) with only AVI container support, only MP3 and AC3 audio support and only MPEG-4 ASP without QPel and/or 3WP GMC and only text subtitle support (at least in srt format).
Then there are some players with OGM or MP4 support, some players without subtitle support!!!, some with AAC support...

Would be a list with all "better than normal" players, not a single best one.

[spectra]

Originally posted by RedDwarf69

Would be a list with all "better than normal" players, not a single best one.

good idea !

would start with 'special features' of

Pioneer 470/575 (FW 2.09)
- plays .OGM-Container well, but only 1st track of MultiAudio files and no chapter support of ogm.
- plays ogg audio-files
- subs in .srt, .sub, .ssa, .smi
- up to 10 external subtitle files per movie (each for a language)
- heard of supporting idx/sub files but didn't play around with that

with hacked firmware ( http://mtz.softpedia.com/ )
- subs up to 50 characters/line and the size is very similar to movie subtitles of TV Stations. Maximum 2 lines. Outlined. No annoying grey background.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by RedDwarf69
Perhaps more than "what player is the best" we need a "list of players with special qualities/problems".
We have the basic player (a lot of them) with only AVI container support, only MP3 and AC3 audio support and only MPEG-4 ASP without QPel and/or 3WP GMC and only text subtitle support (at least in srt format).
Then there are some players with OGM or MP4 support, some players without subtitle support!!!, some with AAC support...

Would be a list with all "better than normal" players, not a single best one. I think there's plenty of information about such questions already on this forum and other forums!

But, if there were some kind of "definitive player information list", cracks would quickly start to appear as soon as such players received a firmware update...

Given that there are now hundreds of different badged and branded Mpeg4/DVD stand-alone players out there. What you are suggesting could almost amount to being a full time job for someone!


Cheers

[birdy]

thank you guys.
You can not even imagin how precious this thread is to me.
At least I will not go buy something that I will regret 100% and will not be able to use.
For a guy like me who find not his money easy this is important :)

From what I could understand 2 no1 choices for now are :

Pioneer 470/575
Philips DVP720SA


I love buying popular machins. Lots of support and hack comes with those while wit some fantastic and better machins you will find urself alone in your misery !

Oh and for rule 12!
although if breaking it was very benefic to me, but I explained in my posting about mods and admins fire and hoped to be excused :)
I wish mods would break rule 12 and make thisone sticky ! ;)

[nwpsys]

I have a Kiss DP-1000 and it has been great.

It plays packed bitstream without a problem, and the file browser shows the full file name.

If you follow the Kiss community, there have been HEAPS of problems with firmware releases messing various things up. I guess I was lucky, I have a unit with a Toshiba drive and firmware 2.84 and everything has just worked.

I also know about the Philips LX3900SA ( which has the same chipset as the 720, I believe ) as I got this for my partner. It's a full home cinema system, so may not fit your needs. I upgraded the firmware to the latest New Age which gives a much better file browser, and the only "problem" left is the packed bitstream which can be fixed with MPEG4Modifier as mentioned.

If you are prepared to get under the hood with these players and are happy to mess with firmware, then I would recommend either.

( Just remembered, with the DP-1000, it doesn't downmix DTS audio to two channel, so if you are connecting to your TV via a SCART cable, you won't be able to hear DTS soundtracks on DVD ).

Happy to discuss further.

nwpsys

[SeeMoreDigital]

What make/model of chip-set is in the Pioneer DV575A? Is it the same one that was in the DV565A?

I must admit, from the players specification, it looks to be a great "all round" player!

EDIT: Ooops, never mind... somebody has already posted the information here: _

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76406


Cheers

[lordbelial]

Buy a modded Xbox and put Xbox Media Center on it. Plays 99% of all codecs that windows will play.

[telemachus]

Originally posted by lordbelial
Buy a modded Xbox and put Xbox Media Center on it. Plays 99% of all codecs that windows will play.

hmmm, you may as well go the whole hog and buy a laptop with a Y/C output and plug that in unmodded, it plays absolutely everything! ;)

[nathannihilator]

Well, since this thread isn't too old I'll revive it so I can't personally get blamed for the rule 12 violation. :P

Anyway, of the 3 interesting looking recommendations I can't find a single place to purchase one in the US. How about something that is actually for sale or am I missing something? I know this forum leans a little Euro, but there have to be people buying players in the US.

Actually, what would be really useful is some links to some non-forum sites geared to providing this kind of comparison info.

Thanks!


edit: Well, I think I am leaning towards the Philips DVP642. Cheap, does a lot, has a few known issues but they aren't bad, and they are for sale everywhere. All in favor...

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally posted by nathannihilator
.... Well, I think I am leaning towards the Philips DVP642. Cheap, does a lot, has a few known issues but they aren't bad, and they are for sale everywhere. All in favor... I'm not!

The ESS Vibratto II Chip-set (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82765) is capable of offering a lot more functionality than Philips is willing to give DVP-6xx player owners!

But it's your buck!


Cheers

[nathannihilator]

Do you have a alternative (non-PAL) model to recommend that is using this chip to its best advantage? I think cost is the biggest consideration. I have HTPC for watching movies which drive my projector. This is mostly to hook up to the TV for watching Std-Def. kids movies, TV rips, and home video.

Speaking of which, since from what I have seen you have a interest in long term playability of archived mp4, I will have to search up some threads on the subject. I have a lot of video to archive.

[gonzalo76]

Does anybody know why Pioneer models don´t come with DVD+R/RW support?

[video]

Originally posted by birdy
thank you guys.
You can not even imagin how precious this thread is to me.
At least I will not go buy something that I will regret 100% and will not be able to use.
For a guy like me who find not his money easy this is important :)

From what I could understand 2 no1 choices for now are :

Pioneer 470/575
Philips DVP720SA


I love buying popular machins. Lots of support and hack comes with those while wit some fantastic and better machins you will find urself alone in your misery !

Oh and for rule 12!
although if breaking it was very benefic to me, but I explained in my posting about mods and admins fire and hoped to be excused :)
I wish mods would break rule 12 and make thisone sticky ! ;)

birdy you may look at here (http://www.mpeg4-players.info/index.php?page=players.php) sorry that's site defineteley not in english. In the right part you may go to combo 'Lista rendezés' (ordering) and select 'tudásszint szerint' (features). selecting a link from the 'termék' (product) coulmn you get detailed features list, reported by owners/users

[video]

Originally posted by gonzalo76
Does anybody know why Pioneer models don´t come with DVD+R/RW support?
'coz pioneer in the '-' (dvdforum) league... (?) :)

[gonzalo76]

Originally posted by video
'coz pioneer in the '-' (dvdforum) league... (?) :)
Yes, you're right.
Anyway, Pioneer supports dvd+r/rw perfectly well.
The thing is that they don't tell you this in the manual or specifications page.
I wonder why.

[birdy]

Originally posted by video
birdy you may look at here (http://www.mpeg4-players.info/index.php?page=players.php) sorry that's site defineteley not in english. In the right part you may go to combo 'Lista rendezés' (ordering) and select 'tudásszint szerint' (features). selecting a link from the 'termék' (product) coulmn you get detailed features list, reported by owners/users

Great site man.
thanks. very useful.