My roommate wants to buy a DVD player for someone as a gift and asked for my advice. Just wondering if anyone could offer any recommendations for a good mid-level player. I personally have a Toshiba 2109 and have encountered a few problems with it, but other than that, it's my best friend in the world.

I love my good ole, codefree Pioneer DVD 333. Never gave me any trouble. NEVAH.

I highly recommend a Pioneer ANYTHING. I have a DV-434 and absolutely love it! Plays everything I throw at it with the highest quality I've seen yet. DVDs, VCDs, SVCDs, SeVCDs, SxVCDs, etc. Whether homegrown or manufactured, the discs play wonderfully.

If you have any intentions of playing VideoCDs, then you should avoid Sony, Toshiba, and Apex... they don't play non-DVDs very well. Their DVD playback quality is barely acceptible.

Smartt- Does the Pioneer do PAL to NTSC conversion for you?

I'll second the Pioneer recommendation. But check out AudioReview.com for any problems with any player you're interested in.

I have a Toshiba 3109 that's served me well (except for a problem with some incompatibilities here and there, Dogma SE and the Godfather bonus disc being the worst), and I've bought several other models of Toshibas for friends and family with no complaints, so that's a generally good brand too.

By the way, this is a purely hardware based topic, so I'm moving it to DVD and Home Theater Hardware for you. You should get some very good recommendations there as well.

I agree with your recommendation of Pioneer, but I do not understand your Sony and Toshiba bashing. They put out some of the better units on the market, and their high end players are truly reference quality. Their DVD playback level is more than acceptable. Apex is a cheap budget player I would never recommend, but Sony and Toshiba are right there with the best of the best.

J