kennywsp

Looking for a player for my dad for Xmas.It does not need any bell's or whistle's.It will be hooked up to a 19 inch sony flat screen that has only one set of input's (video/stereo) so Dolby or Dts is not a concern for me.so any help you guys can give me would be great!

renaldow

Almost every DVD player under $100 is going to have the same functions: DTS/DD out, plays DVD, VCD, MP3, CD, CDR, CDRW, PAL/NTSC conversion. Outputs will be 2 channel and digital coaxial for audio, and Composite, SVideo and Component for video. This is because almost every DVD player under $100 is a chinese player, and that seems to be their standard functionality.

What you're going to run into is that many of these models have quality control issues, which means you might get a flawless unit, or you might not. It's sporadic at best.

Most of the major manufacturers have dropped their prices dramatically over the past year, so if you kick in another $20 or so, or find a good deal you can probably pick up a Toshiba, Sony, etc. for around $100 or so. If not, and you've got to go with an under $100 model my vote is for Apex. They've actually instituted quality control in the last year, and don't have the problems that have plagued them in the past. Other brands like Samp, Oritron, and any other brand you've probably never heard of can't say the same.

For a run down of the cheap chinese players, check out www.nerd-out.com

alisa4392

Has anyone used the Cyber Home DVD player they have at Best Buy for 70 - 80? It has progressive scan & I was just wondering if anyone has comments on the brand.

thanks!

dolphinboy

You might want to ask about the Toshiba SD2805 5-Disc Carousel DVD and CD Player. It's on sale at Amazon for $99. I don't know anything about it, but I was tempted. I ended up paying nearly double for the Sony 5-disc player. I've never had anything other than Sony and was afraid to take a chance.

You mentioned no bells and whistles, but I chose to get a 5 disc mostly so that I could put both discs from 2 disc sets into the player right away. I find that I don't watch the special features as often when I'm done watching a film because I'm tired and don't want to get up and change discs.

If some people give you some good feedback on the Toshiba, you should consider it for your dad. Plus, he'll think you spent more than $99 and that look on his face when he's opens his gift will be awesome.

Sirwanksalot

Just recomended to neighbor that he get unit becuase it also handles VCD's (not SVCD's though)

It's your lucky day

$99 Toshiba SD2805 5-Disc Carousel DVD and CD Player
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...360679-1217521
Unit Plays VCD's plus region change by remote according to discussion / reviews
http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.ph...arch&#comments
Get 10 free DVD rentals at HollyWood Video when you buy Toshiba DVD player
http://www.toshiba.com/tacp/offers/o...woodVideo.html

Sirwanksalot

FYI

Hkflix sells a hacked "region-free " version of the Toshiba SD2805
for $280.

Unit also plays PAL DVD's

http://www.hkflix.com/hardware/toshiba_sdx805.asp

Sirwanksalot

dyerjp

go for th cyberhome ch-dvd-500. it is at best buy for 79.99 it can region hacked through the remote and it does an awesome job with PAL to NTSC playback.

dleedlee

dyerjp, or anyone else with a CH-500. I bought one last Friday and have been putting it through the paces. So far, I've run into a couple of oddities/glitches.

Have you encountered this problem? Any thoughts?

http://www.mhvf.net/forum/scifihorro...124238881.html

renaldow

I picked one up on Sat to check out and mess with. I've watched 3 movies on it and haven't experienced the video drop out problem. It could be a cable prob, or just a defective unit. Cable problem would be easy enough to check by using a different cable. You may want to exchange it while you still can. Have you contacted Cyberhome about it? From what I've read on another board www.cyberhome.com has been very responsive to support emails.

dleedlee

I swapped cables last night and it still blinks (same spot when loading the menu). So far only noticed on two discs, both are oddball discs (R2/Mylene Farmer video collection II/III and Ball Above All, a hoops disc)

I checked my BB receipt and it falls under gift return guidelines, so I have until late January to return, assuming they aren't all sold out.

Last night, after swapping cables, I played SW1-TPM and oddly, the subtitles would not stay off. The setting kept reverting to the English subs track after some minutes of viewing.

More PAL/16:9 testing tonight...

So far I've tried HKL's Miracles, R2/ITMFL, R2/Tears of a Black Tiger,R3/NTSC/CTHD w/o problems. HKL's Iron Monkey was a problem, but it may be because it's badly scuffed from being loose in the case from delivery from UK.

Icculus

The other day I went into Best Buy to return a game that I bought from BB.com. While I was in line I watched two people in front of me (the customer service line in my local Best Buy is always ridiculously long) returning these players. They also had another one behind the desk... I haven't had any personal experience with these players but that definitely doesn't seem like a good sign.

renaldow

That's kind of how it is with the cheap chinese DVD players. Poor quality control out of the factory = higher percentage of poorly made players. FWIW, what I've read on other forums about the player, the main defect seems to be a tray problem, it won't eject.

From my experience w/ cheap chinese players, if it runs right out of the box when you hook it up the first time, it probably will keep on running.

Sartana

It's not Chinese. The company is based in California.

Shon

parts are from china, its assembled in California.

renaldow

From their website:

CyberHome designs and manufactures custom OEM DVD solutions in our state-of-the-art factories in ShangHai and QingXi China.

http://www.cyberhome.com/misc.asp?Page=1

Right at the top of the page, big bold headline letters. CH is based out of CA, but the players come from China. Han Yang is their parent company. CH is basically just a US importer of chinese electronics made in China by Han Yang.

skar

I would highly recommend the Panasonic RV-32.

cdrakejr

I second the recommendation for the RV-32. I have it as a second player and can find no faults with it for the "ordinary" home user.
It is especially a good buy since you can get it for @$88.00.
Sears surprisingly has one of the best prices, $119.99. Wait for one of their frequent 10% off sales and it will be $108. Then send in the Panasonic $20 rebate and you have $88 plus tax.

Here are links to the Panasonic DVD list, the Panasonic rebate, and some reviews of the RV-32.

http://www.prodcat.panasonic.com/sho...goryid=%202977
http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_el..._dvdplayer.asp
http://www.techtv.com/freshgear/prin...385859,00.html
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/equ...?ArticleID=138
http://www.timefordvd.com/hardware/r...DVD-RV32.shtml

dleedlee

Just to update, I figured out the problem and temporarily fixed it by directly connecting the player to the TV (instead of through the receiver). Actually, since going back to my original hookup, CH-500 to receiver to TV, I haven't encountered the blue screens/video drop outs. Probably isolated to specific discs or scenes. Anyway, that's what the other 3 players are for.

So, still recommended for 69.99/49.99.