Professor Frink

It's time to get a new player, but I need help picking a good one. Here's what's important to me:

• Under $125.
  
• Reliable -- one that doesn't have any track record of not playing disks. My old one never had a play problem, and I want to keep that up.
  
• Progressive scan (?) -- I have no experience with this, but if it really is all that, then I should get a player with it.
  
• Speedy fast-forward. My old one went up to 100x, and that is very useful sometimes.
  
• Able to play all formats (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, VCD, SVCD). And if it can also handle picture disks, that's an added bonus, but not essential.
  
• Able to pick up playing right where I left off after powering it up again. I've seen players that revert back to the beginning of the disk after turning the player off, and that's a no go.
  

I guess that's it. Any suggestions?

emhello

I tried getting a cheaper player in your price range and ended up taking back THREE. They were all very reputable name brands but all ended up skipping on a lot of my DVDs. I eventually got a more expensive Pioneer Elite player ($300-400) and it has yet to skip on ANY format. It was worth the $$ for my peace of mind.

visitor Q

My Pioneer 578A does a pretty good job.

Pioneer 578A

It does the following:

DVD-Video/Audio/DVD-R/RW (compatible w?CPRM) SACD/CD/CD-R/CD-RW/Video CD

.. and can be had for about $100 if you search around.

My observations (don't use progressive scanning as I only have a 27" Sony flat screen (but it does have it) .. and have not tried SACD feature):

1) superquick navigation
2) layer change transparency
3) very good audio output for a budget player
4) video quality looks very good ( to me )
5) continues to play virtually any region 0 and 1 discs that I throw at it regardless of condition. then again, unless it's rented (very infrequently), all my DVDs are in perfect condition. However, I just unloaded a $325 Integra 5 disc changer about three months ago, which had trouble with some of the same discs the Pioneer played flawlessly. I'm assuming it may be a hardware issue since the Integra was four years old.
6) it picks up where you left off within a film after powering down. I can't recall how many films that it will hold in storage, but I'm sure it's more than enough for the average user.
7) it can be used as a jpeg photo viewer .. but i'm not positive on the formats as i've never used the player for this feature.

Downsides:

1) it lacks forward and reverse speeds that you indicate as of importance .. only 4x as quickest.
2) remote is does not allow for A-B testing or repeat modes without accessing main menu system .. which for on the fly routines, does not make it easy.
3) can't think if any others at this time.

Dark-Helmet

I'm also interested in everyones opinion as I am thinking about buying a new player but was wondering if anyone has experience with the divx/xvid playback feature. I'm seeing it on some new models and wonder if there are issues or bugs.

svadas

I am also in the market and trying to decide between the Pioneer 578 and the Sony 775. The Sony is well regarded on the AVS forum. People say the Pioneer doesn't display darker than black, but they also indicate firmware releases will be issued so I dont know. Personally I have more faith in Pioneer than Sony products though.

Lethal Nemesis

Can anyone recommend a good pro-scan player that's around $200? I'm going to be getting a 27" Sony Trinitron with Wega technology and if it's an option, I should use pro-scan with it, right?