What bells and whistles are necessary?
09-11-00, 12:13 AM
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My main reason for a DVD player is to watch anime (Japanese Animation). For this I know I'll need subtitle capability, and multiple language capability. I however don't know what else I need and what is superfluous. I also know that some of the low end DVD players will not play all DVDs, and I need to know how high up I need to go to be safe from that. I don't need it to hold multiple DVDs or something like that. Also I am working on a limited budget, else I wouldn't care what is superfluous and what isn't. Any knowledge is helpful to me, I am not very savvy in hardware (I'm not looking of a DVD drive, but a player to hook up to the TV), and I don't know much on this subject. I thank you all for at least taking the time to read my message. If I can help in return I shall.
09-11-00, 04:27 AM
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bdshort is correct; the features you want are on the software, not the hardware. Here are some things you may want to look for in hardware, though:
Do you plan on buying import discs from Japan? If so, you have to have a player that is capable of playing Japanese discs, which are encoded differently than US, European, etc. If you need this, do a search on multi code/region players. Apex had a model that was sold at Circuit City for $150 that would do this, but the newer models no longer play international DVDs.
Try to get something with a Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder on board, and DTS capability. If you choose to upgrade your sound system, these will give you the full home theatre experiance.
There are others here who can tell you much more...just thought I'd throw in my .02.
Do you plan on buying import discs from Japan? If so, you have to have a player that is capable of playing Japanese discs, which are encoded differently than US, European, etc. If you need this, do a search on multi code/region players. Apex had a model that was sold at Circuit City for $150 that would do this, but the newer models no longer play international DVDs.
Try to get something with a Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder on board, and DTS capability. If you choose to upgrade your sound system, these will give you the full home theatre experiance.
There are others here who can tell you much more...just thought I'd throw in my .02.
09-11-00, 02:15 PM
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MidnightBomber,
Why would you shell out the extra cash and get a player with a built in decoder when anyone with a halfway decent sound system has a Dolby Digital Decoder and or DTS decoder on board in the reciever?Just connect the player to the reciever digitally and get the same effect without shelling out the extra money for an onboard decoder. Am I missing something or is there some advantage to having it in the player rather than your reciever?
Why would you shell out the extra cash and get a player with a built in decoder when anyone with a halfway decent sound system has a Dolby Digital Decoder and or DTS decoder on board in the reciever?Just connect the player to the reciever digitally and get the same effect without shelling out the extra money for an onboard decoder. Am I missing something or is there some advantage to having it in the player rather than your reciever?
09-11-00, 02:51 PM
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It took me until the Pioneer DV-525 was discontinued before I picked it up. It's my second player, and I've waited so long because I occasionally followed discussions to see which players had glitches. My 525 doesn't on anything released thus far, and same goes for my old Toshiba 3107 (after firmware upgrade).
Just look around and follow glitch threads. You don't have to spend very much on a player that does all the standard stuff plus a few extras.
Just look around and follow glitch threads. You don't have to spend very much on a player that does all the standard stuff plus a few extras.
09-11-00, 04:11 PM
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Yeah, if you're mainly in it for anime, you might want a code-free DVD player so you can import titles from other countries. Either buy a modified player or buy a player that can be easily modified in the future. All DVD players sold in the US can only play DVDs made in the US.
09-11-00, 10:32 PM
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Reliability, reliability, and picture quality.
Although there are sub MSRP $200 dvd players out there (Apex, Orbitron, Zenith, RCA, Raite ...), they suffer in reliability and picture quality EVEN for budget players.
Three particular models/brands stand out for entry level players:
Pioneer: the 525 ($210) and the replacement 333 ($250) are excellent players w/very few reported playback problems of any kind. Excellent performance- a little skimpy for features (bad scans), build quality. A bit loud.
Toshiba: the 2109 and replacement 1200 ($225) at least as reliable and frequently can be bought w/special deals for less than $200. One of this forum's all-time favorites. Anamorphic conversion a bit rough, but most anime are 4:3 anyway.
Sony: 360 ($250) another fantastic player - probably the best in overall performance and features balance. The model before 330 had quite a few reports of lip synching (also probably not a problem w/anime - especially the dubbed variety
!), but the 360 is has few/no reports of problems.
Going code free makes sense if you read/speak japanese. It is expensive for the players listed above, at least another $200 on top of MSRP, unless you get a Apex/Raite player. You open up your possibilities to direct import Japanese titles - but have a substantially higher risk of playback problems (lock-up, no play, skipping).
My short experience w/Apex was somekind of problem w/about 1 out of 4 disks.
W/o going code free, there are still ALOT of region 1 anime titles from UN Manga. Netflix.com has several anime hundred titles for rent (Lodos, Arislan, Area 88, Macros, DragonBall, ...).
Hope that helps.
Although there are sub MSRP $200 dvd players out there (Apex, Orbitron, Zenith, RCA, Raite ...), they suffer in reliability and picture quality EVEN for budget players.
Three particular models/brands stand out for entry level players:
Pioneer: the 525 ($210) and the replacement 333 ($250) are excellent players w/very few reported playback problems of any kind. Excellent performance- a little skimpy for features (bad scans), build quality. A bit loud.
Toshiba: the 2109 and replacement 1200 ($225) at least as reliable and frequently can be bought w/special deals for less than $200. One of this forum's all-time favorites. Anamorphic conversion a bit rough, but most anime are 4:3 anyway.
Sony: 360 ($250) another fantastic player - probably the best in overall performance and features balance. The model before 330 had quite a few reports of lip synching (also probably not a problem w/anime - especially the dubbed variety
!), but the 360 is has few/no reports of problems.Going code free makes sense if you read/speak japanese. It is expensive for the players listed above, at least another $200 on top of MSRP, unless you get a Apex/Raite player. You open up your possibilities to direct import Japanese titles - but have a substantially higher risk of playback problems (lock-up, no play, skipping).
My short experience w/Apex was somekind of problem w/about 1 out of 4 disks.
W/o going code free, there are still ALOT of region 1 anime titles from UN Manga. Netflix.com has several anime hundred titles for rent (Lodos, Arislan, Area 88, Macros, DragonBall, ...).
Hope that helps.
