Travis Hedger

I thought most sub $100 players would be of decent quality.

Last week I had a very unfortunate event of 2 of my DVD players dying very close to one another.

One was my beloved Toshiba SD3109 dual disc.

The other, the orignal Apex 600a that cuased a buzz back in 2000.

Since I was DVD Playerless I decided to go to Wal-Mart in a pinch and just get one of the newer Apex players, the 1250 model I believe. Was about 48 bucks. It went back very soon. This player complained at the most minute scratch that my Toshiba, and previous Apex players simply laughed at. If it encountered something it didnt like there would be huge pink and green splotches everywhere. And it paused in fricking chapter changes! How the hell?

Anyway I went back and out of the choice around the $68 mark (remember, I was in a pinch here and needed something cheap, but one that would at least hopefully just play a DVD cleanly) I got an RCA. Even had progressive scan even though my TV doesn't support it. One thing that sold me on it was a Tivo like function where if you hit the "again" button it would go back 10 seconds. I was like hey cool, I use this on my Tivo all the time, I would love to have this on a DVD player. Well...when you press the button it grinds pauses, grinds louder, then picks up where you actually pressed the button, doesnt actually go back, and magically turns on subtitles. That player is going back this weekend.

Im gonna pony up an extra $30ish bucks and go with a $99 player. It seems like you have to hit that price point for minimally acceptable quality.

A good friend of mine got a Panny player that was nice all over and had terrific picture on his HDTV. So if they are in stock, I will likely pick one of those up.

This ends my rant, sorry for it being so long.

I would just think after 7 years in development that a low priced DVD player would WORK. Guess I was wrong.

HD DVD? Check! Blu Ray? Check! High Definition Satelite? Check! HD Gaming systems? Check! 100% High Definition across the board!
http://mrbiggles.blogspot.com

John Garcia

Nope. To get that cost down to those levels, they have to really cheap out. Basically, most of these sub $100 players are crap.

"The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain't so." - Mark Twain

HT: Marantz SR-8300, MA500 monoblocks x 2, 5X GR Research A/V-2s, Adire Audio Tempest sub, Denon 2900, Oppo 980H, Toshiba HD-A2, RC2000MkII remote, Panamax 5100, Panamax Max2 sub, Slim PS2, PS3 60G + 320G USB

Bedroom: Marantz PM-7200 Integrated, GR Research A/V-1s, Sony 222ES SACD, RC3200 remote, Panamax M8EX

Audio: Audioquest * Video: Bluejeans

My DVDs My HT

Travis Hedger

As I have personally found out.

Im going 3 for 3 now. Just got back from BB with a Panny DVD-S47S. My friend has this player and it didnt have anything blatently jump out at me in the first 10 minutes at his place as these other 2 players did.

HD DVD? Check! Blu Ray? Check! High Definition Satelite? Check! HD Gaming systems? Check! 100% High Definition across the board!
http://mrbiggles.blogspot.com

Don_Berg

Thats right, most of the lowend players are junk. You have to at least go with a major brand player like JVC or Pansonic for reliablity. Try a JVC they load fast and have the least problem with marginal discs.

Dave Milne

Yeah. A CD/DVD player is one area where I wouldn't skimp. If you think about it... the delicate transport mechanism must track a stream of pits not more than 0.0001" wide... picking up (and processing) nearly a half-million bits of data every second... while the disc is spinning at 3000 rpm!

But if it makes you feel any better, I've had minor problems with $1800 Sony (my current primary player), $1100 Yamaha, and $500 Carver players. The only machine I've ever owned that was flawless for its entire "tour of duty" was a $2000 Sumo "Axiom" transport / "Theorem" DAC combo. I should never have sold it

Chester II

Dudes,

You get what you pay for right?


Dudes,

Chester