Patman

Just thought I'd get some epinions on what the best DVD player under $220 is nowadays? I keep going back to the Panasonic RP56, but if there any other players I should consider? This'll be a X-Mas gift to myself to replace an ailing 3 year old Proscan DVD player.

cubanx

A t htis pice point i'd go with the RP56 or Toshiba 3750 . Both progressive of course and both are pretty good. RP56 is the better unit if you watch alot of "video" mode matierial. The Toshiba has more features and is slighty cheaper.

Foole

Amazon just delivered my RP56 today and I must say I am mighty impressed...It playes MP3s, AWESOME progressive video, and I got it for $214.99 shipped in under a week (used the MAPCAPVSACRD $15 off $100 coupon code and FREE SHIPPING on DVD players).

This is essentially an updated version of my 2 year old A120U with progressive video (my old remote can control it and the user interface is identical, which for me is a good thing ) Quite an upgrade for the price and a very SMALL learning curve.


See how it stacks up against other progressive players (VERY favorably)
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...-2-8-2001.html

Go for it!!

jabbas

I was torn between 2 models, the Panasonic RP-56 and the JVC XV-SA70 (or XV-SA60 if you don't want DVD Audio) and I did a lengthy side by side comparison, and found the JVC to be the far superior player. While the Panasonic was very good, the JVC gives a sharper picture on film-based DVDs in progressive mode and had much deeper blacks, and has a much better construction, remote, menus, appearance...essentially every other factor is in favor of the JVC.

Go to www.hometheaterspot.com, and look in the JVC forum, and you'll see mine and lots of other posts about the RP-56 vs. the JVCs, and most people will agree that the JVC is the superior machine.

And if you have/are planning to have a 16:9 TV, I HIGHLY recommend the JVC because it has an auto scaling feature which will let you play essentailly any movie on your 16:9 free of picture distortion, and this essentially turns non-anamorphic movies into anamorphic ones. The Panasonic RP-56 will distort non-anamorphic movies and mess up the aspect ratio. In addition, watching 4:3 programs on the PAnasonic gives you anoying gray bars on the side, while the JVC has black bars.

the JVC SA-70 with DVD audio can be had for $234.51 shipped from vanns.com using a 25 off 250 coupon, and the SA-60 (same player minus DVD audio) can be had for $210 shipped.

nekobus

I have to disagree. It depends upon your setup. We watch a lot of interlaced material and the RP-56's Sage chip performance beats the JVC for us. We returned the JVC and kept the Pannie RP-56.

Patman

Just to update folks:

I went with the JVC XV-S62SL (same model as the XV-60/XV-65 available in various stores), and haven't regretted the purchase so far.

I took advantage of the 10% off customer appreciation sale on Saturday at Sears and picked it up for $207 plus tax. You can get the same price until 11/7/01 at hifi.com with free ground shipping.

I'm still using an old RPTV (interlaced/non-progressive), and might move up to a progressive-capable RPTV next year. But I was happy with the video performance of the JVC, and I was avoiding the Panny RP-56's flicker bug by going with the JVC.

Time will tell if I stay happy, but I think it's a step up from my 3 year Proscan DVD player.

cdstewart2

I did the exact same thing. I recently purchased a new RPTV and wanted the progressive capabilities. I was very happy with my A120 (never had any problems with it), and from the Benchmark tests, I chose the RP56 as my step up. Definitely a good choice. I am in 65" widescreen progressive heaven now!

digitalfreaknyc

Please don't flame me...but what does a progressive player do?

I can't seem to find an answer.

Fielding Mellish

So, do Panasonic players still have that little problem with dying three days after the warranty and having the company deny there's any problem with them?

-A slightly embittered former A-110 owner.

Janitor

Hmmm. The post from jabbus that you chose to disagree with never claimed that the JVC was better on video source - just on film source. Most people would agree with that statement.

That it depends on your viewing habits as to which is better is obvious. Of course if you watch more video source than film source, and you don't have a need/desire for output scaling, then the Panny may be superior for you.

However you feel about it, those two decks seem like the two to beat if you read around on hometheaterspot. But as near as I can tell, they're the (by far) most popular as they're the only (low end?) machines that don't suffer from the YC delay problems the rest have. I'm not sure if anything else really differentiates them.

Patman

Basically: a non-progressive player will output an interlaced video signal that puts up frames of video that has interlaced lines of video resolution on display (then on the next pass of video signal for the frame, the other set of interlaced lines are displayed). This happens twice for each frame of video. Interlaced is like you see every other line of video information per frame, but the display gets refreshed so that it seems like the video picture is "acceptable" for viewing video content.

Progressive players are able to output non-interlaced video signals that present both sets of interlaced lines to the TV/monitor that is capable of displaying the video resolution. This allows all of the lines of resolution to be displayed and yields a more coherent and stronger video picture on the TV which makes it look film-like, rather than "VHS video-like" which is a mainly a non-progressive video source.

nekobus

I was also including the thread he referenced in his post.

That it depends on your viewing habits as to which is better is obvious. Of course if you watch more video source than film source, and you don't have a need/desire for output scaling, then the Panny may be superior for you.

This is a given and is why I wrote that it depends upon your setup. There is no one "perfect player" at this time. It's different horses for different courses right now.

Janitor

Ahhh - I didn't know how far back, and in how many discussions you had issues with. I guess I still stand on my statements though. Most of the people on hometheaterspot in most of the Panasonic vs JVC threads agree that it's (the Panasonic) better on video source material.

Yup. And that's why I agreed with you on this. Neither player is a wrong choice.

jabbas

As far as the panasonic being ebtter on video based material, it is, but don't believe the extremity of some people's remarks. Some people are calling the JVC "unwatchable," which is ludicrous.

I tested it out with 3 sources: Simpsons, X-Files, adn a making of documentary from Start Wars Episode I. In both Simpsons and X-Files, I could tell almost no difference between JVC and Panasonic, and in the extra material from SW:Ep I there was an advantage to the Panasonic. It was a bit sharper, and the JVC was eveen a bit grainy, especially in some darker shot, but this graininess was improved by switching to interlaced mode.

So, anyone who buys the JVC shoudl know up front that they're sacrofocing a bit of video-based DVD quality, but seeing how most viewers spend grater than 90% of their time watching film-based sources, I think that's where the JVC really shines over the Panasonic

reverb

JVC XV-SA60

The JVC seems clearly superior to the Panasonic in the majority of tests and opinions. It has no known bugs (tha Panasonic has a flicker issue), is superior for film based material, has superior downsampling, and offers far more picture control via two sets of adjustments (the Panasonic has none), and in my op has both a better remote and is a more attractive component.

Neither has the chroma bug inherent in the Sony and Toshiba and other players...

JiM T

I just bought the RP56 at Sears for $200 after a price match & their 10% off weekend. Now, I'm thinking that I should've gotten the JVC S60. Does anyone know if Sears will honor their 10% off deal on a trade-in? Also, are there any web sites with great prices on the JVC S60 that I can have them match? $200 was a great deal on the RP56, but it seems I bought the inferior model. Gotta have that scaling feature!

Thanks...

JiM T