Opinions on DVD players under $100 (1 Viewer)

[anthony_b]

Need opinions on the following players only on video performance and DVD-R/+R playback capability.:

a)JVC XVN412 (with firmware upgrade)
b)Panasonic DVD-S47S
c)Pioneer DV-275

I'm also open to other suggestions. It will be used on a upscaling 1080i HDTV monitor. Progressive scan performance is not crucial (I like the job my tv does) but it would help.

 

[EricRWem]

Consider the Phillips 642 also. It'll play everything you throw at it. Mixed bag on video quality, but it's tweakable and boy, is it moddable!

Not to put too fine a point on this, but considering you're using a nice TV...you may want to consider splurging a little bit more for a little bit nicer DVD player to do that nice TV some justice.

In that event, consider the Panasonic s97, Sony 975, Zenith 318,418, the HK 31.

Above that price scale, we come to the Denon 2900, which can be found for $550 at Ecost and in the $600's or so new depending on if you shop around. Pretty awesome player, especially at an MSRP of $699. It just depends on what you're willing to spend.

Just don't shortchange that nice TV of yours.

 

[Jerome Grate]

That's my question, what are you using this for. If this is a secondary room or bedroom then a model less than a 100 bucks is good. There are some pretty decent players for that amount, but if you are using it in your main HT, then I think it would be best to put up some extra money for a much better and more substantial player. Progressive scan now come in players that are about in the 50 to 60 dollar range, but no where near the quality of the upper scaled players.

 

[anthony_b]

I'm quite happy with the non-faroudja players. I'll be using it in my main setup w/ 48 inch hdtv. I'm currently using an Onkyo that is having a slow death (disks errors,slow response). But my biggest gripe is that it doesn't pass PLUGE in progressive mode, making dark backgrounds look washed out.

I'm now also looking into the Toshiba 4960 for added DVD-A
capabilities.

 

[Jim Mcc]

Hometheaterhifi.com recently rated the Toshiba 3960 the best budget DVD player.

 

[anthony_b]

Jim Mcc, thanks I just saw that yesterday. I might pick up the 4960 for the added DVD-A/SACD and then I could sell my stand alone SACD player (sony 222es).

 

[anthony_b]

I finally purchased the JVC XVN-510 with DVD-A....I love the "tweakabilty" of this unit. Every aspect of the picture can be modified to your liking. It plays every type of media I've thrown at it....I was able to obtain the perfect picture for my display with all the user options it contains. It also has decent bass mgmt. for DVD-A......I already have a dedicated SACD player, so I overlooked the Pioneer 578a for $99 at Best Buy.

 

[ChrisAG]

The 4960 looks fine for a low-cost player, but I doubt it would do as well as the 222ES for SACD, and especially redbook CD. Why would you sell the Sony?

 

[anthony_b]

Chris, when it came time to pull the trigger I couldn't see myself selling my Sony 222es, plus after playing around with the Toshiba at the store, the response time of the player was annoying, but the video quality was decent....I'm extremely happy with the JVC.