New DVD player suggestion
 

Hi all
I'm about to purchase a new replacement DVD player that is now over 10 years old by JVC. What particular make & model currently on the market is best? I have been trying to play some poorer quality mass produced 8 hour discs that simply won't track too well on my old machine (or not at all). Even some of the better quality discs play real dark, poor luminance. I don't want a cheap-O player and just want a few suggestions what to look for. I have a Best Buy gift card I need to use. Thanks in advance

At this point I wouldn't mess with a DVD player, most of them built today are cheap and junky.

You can get a Blu ray player for less than $100 now and it's backwards compatible with DVD's.

I would stick to the majors like Sony or Panasonic, maybe Samsung.
Many of the Videophile crowd like the Oppo brand but they are fairly pricy and I don't think BB has them.

If you really want just a DVD player then I'd hit the Thrifts, lots of late model players showing up for less than $25. Be sure to get a Progressive Scan model, though most of them are these days.
There are even some Blu ray players showing up at Thrifts, I would avoid them unless they are really new, the old ones are very slow.

I didn't know there was a difference between a blue ray & DVD player. I don't know what a blue ray is but as long as it plays DVDs I don't care. Thanks for the 2 cents!

Blu ray is High Definition (1080p) but it will play standard DVD's.
If you are using an older TV just be sure the player has an r.f. output or Composite (Yellow RCA jack) or Component (Red, Green & Blue RCA jacks + R&L Audio) whichever your set supports.

What type of TV are you using (4:3, 16:9?) and how old is it?

If you have a high definition tv, then you'll want a Blu-Ray player soely on the purpose that it will do a much better job of upconverting the video. Plus most of them support Netflix streaming.

I bought an LG for $89. Blu-Ray output is clear and sharp, dvd playback looks stunning on my flat panel (not an easy task), and Netflix streaming is fun.

Even if you have an older non HDTV, like mentioned, mmost DVD players are cheaply made with everything going toward Blu-Ray. If you plan on upgrading the TV, you can jump ahead, get a player and maybe a couple blu-rays.

Finally made the switch to Blu-ray
 

I finally replaced my Memorex MVD-2042 standard DVD player three days ago with an LG Blu-ray similar to the one you have, the reason being that I already have a flat screen TV and wanted a DVD player that could take advantage of the higher resolution FPs are capable of. My experiences with the LG player are identical to yours--great picture on my 19" flat screen, and I swear the image is sharper and clearer than the output from my old DVD. Every disk in my DVD collection (all standard DVDs, no Blu-rays yet), at least the ones I've played so far, looks better than it ever did under the former standard. :yes: Must be the up-conversion feature built in to all Blu-ray players.


I haven't tested my LG player's Internet capabilities yet, because I don't think I have the correct cables. A composite video cable was included with the player, but nothing for the ethernet connection. What type of cable is required to connect a so-called "smart" Blu-ray player to the Internet, solely for the purpose of watching streaming video? :scratch2:

Requires the same connection as a computer.

Thanks much for the info.

I am also wondering why the instruction manual for my Blu-ray player (on a DVD rather than a printed book -- LG must be going green) cautions -- nay, warns -- against connecting a telephone cable directly to the ethernet port. Can this connection damage the player, or will it simply not work, producing little more than a blank screen?

I suspect the ~48 volts from the phone line could damage the network circuit on the player.

In theory a Phone plug shouldn't fit in an Ethernet connector anyway, however it is smaller so there's a chance someone would do it and just happen to make the connection to the voltage.

Some players are wireless capable (or at least the Roku is) but otherwise you just need a Cat 5 cable to connect the player to the Router.

yep - ring voltage can fry things

...

I guess I should hang on to the first generation Sony I have since it has Component, but it's slower than a Yugo with two dead cylinders.

It really shouldn't matter much for use on a vintage set since they don't really have have the resolution to tell the difference.

i can tell you what not to buy , my son on my birthday wanted to get me a real nice dvd/vhs player and record to dvd from vhs. he went to bestbuy and overpaid almost 300.00 for a sony player ,that turned out be the biggest peace of #$%^$ i ever owned sometimes you can watch a movie and make it to the end if your lucky without it skipping freezing , but if you rented two movie's for the night to watch no way skip/freeze/skip/freeze .

...

I hear ya snelson903! Around 2006 I bought 3 EXPENSIVE VHS/DVD combo's. 1 Sony and 2 Toshiba's. OMG.. the most POS things I have ever owned, EXCEPT for the Magnavox VHS/DVD recorder I bought. That thing couldn't track ANY tapes,and that was the reason I bought it... to put some OLD movies on DVD. Plus, the remote control was so very cheap. I've seen better ones that come with a fan.
I took that sucker back to the store.

I bought an LG Blu-ray player earlier this week and am pleased with it, except for the remote. I cannot use it with my Insignia flat screen because there are no remote codes listed for that brand. Also, there is no mute button on the LG's remote. Therefore, I reprogrammed my GE (Jasco Products) remote for the Insignia FP and the LG Blu-ray; now everything works perfectly.

I wonder why LG did not include remote codes for Insignia TVs in the code list for the Blu-ray player's remote. I tried every listed code, but no luck. :no: Is Insignia (the house brand for televisions and video equipment sold by Best Buy) such an oddball, by virtue of having been manufactured from components made by different companies (LG, et al.), that other manufacturers don't bother including remote codes for them? :scratch2: I would think, since Insignia TVs are built largely from LG parts, the remote codes for LG televisions would work, but they don't. There are codes for Insignia TVs, however, listed in the instruction manual for the GE (Jasco) universal remotes (at least the one I have). Go figure.

Whats the deal here? some sort of copyright protection law? I only use HDMI because that gives the best picture... but would still like to be able to connect to older high quality sets with component video when I might need to.

jr

That's exactly it.

HDMI is a "2-way" interface, which will prevent an HD signal from being sent to an "unauthorized" device, theoretically preventing you from making a direct digital copy of a blu-ray disc. The receiving device (TV or monitor) has to pass a "secret handshake" in the form of a decryption key with the player in order for the signal to be allowed to play.

HD component video outputs are analog, and can't support such garbage, so they have been forced out of existence by the MPAA and the rest of the media corporations.

More on this situation here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-ba...ent_Protection
http://www.defectivebydesign.org

...

I am not aware that it is an actual LAW, but rather the requirements of the organizations that control the licenses to make Blu-ray players (and, of course, a similar setup with its own restrictions exists for DVD players).

As others noted, component-video outputs are going away because those signals can be copied easier than HDMI ones. As with most if not all of the copy-protection systems for various media, this will just cause far bigger problems for honest paying customers than for the people who make money from illegal copying (which is illegal with OR without protection schemes). Movie and music companies LIKE it when we have to buy the same item all over again because our first one got damaged (there is no more "wearing them out" as with records, cassettes, and VHS tapes).

The good news even for people who DO wish to make copies of their own discs or music for their own legitimate use is that there are always people working hard to help others get around the restrictions, and the methods can be found online without too much trouble.

RJ11 will plug in to RJ45, I've never had it fry the network card, but it causes a short on the phone line.

My LG is a BD-630. It has excellent upsampling for a cheap player.

As stated, a standard ethernet cable is all you need, provided you have ethernet near it. People wonder why I have a network cable running over to the TV rack...Slingbox and Blu-Ray.