Picky person seeks all region DVD player (1 Viewer)

[Charlie O.]

Hey guy, I was wondering if anyone knows of a DVD player with all of the following features? Thanks in advance.

All Region
Correct PAL to NTSC 16:9 conversion
Playback Resume
JPG picture viewer
VCD
DVD-/+R adn RW playback
Progressive Scan with DVI out.
Audio CD


Things I would like but could live without

HDCD
CD+G
CD Text

 

[Max Knight]

I'm using a LiteOn LVD-2001. Right now they are selling the 2002. It should do all your primary list of functions, as well as turn off macrovision. I'm very pleased with it, the picture is fantastic. It also upconverts to 720P and 1080i. To be fair, I've heard the 720P isn't that great, but since my projector loves 1080i I have not bothered to try it out.

I really love this player, and for about $140 you can't go wrong. It even scales 1.66 ratio to widescreen (adds its own side bars) so you don't have to mess with your display. So far the only downside I've found is that since it does scale 1.66 ratio it can be hard to watch non-anamorphic widescreen movies with subtitles. The player can zoom non-anamorphic movies quite nicely, but some movies with subtitles can crop the titles a bit with the player zoom (probably only a factor if your TV locks in full on certain signals as my projector does in 1080i). I have not yet experimented with changing player settings to 4x3 to get around this.

 

[Charlie O.]

Thanks for your suggestion. I just have two questions. Does the player have a DVI out. (I thought all PS players had a DVI out but after looking online i noticed some didn't) and do all non-anamorphic widescreen movies lose the subtitles. I worried about this because I'm an anime freak and this would really bother me. I kind of new to the whole anamorphic and progressive scan thing.

 

[Max Knight]

The player does not have DVI out, though a close relative, the Momitsu player does. I have not fully explored the subtitle issue as this player is new to me. This weekend I watched Master of the Flying Guillotine, which is non-anamorphic but with generated subtitles. Because I was outputting 1080i my monitor (PT-L300U) did not let me zoom, and I had to use the player's zoom. This appeared to cut off the subtitles. My solution was to output in 480P, and do some zooming from there with my monitor. This left me with a smaller image than I would have liked, but worked fine.

Watching a non-anamorphic widescreen movie with burnt-in subtitles (King of Beggars) at 1080i with the player generated zoom was just fine. Subtitles were displayed very well.

I am going to do a little more research tonight with the Flying Guillotine and see what options I can come up with.

 

[Max Knight]

Ok, what I've found out so far about the subtitle issue:

In zoom mode, you can't have player generated subtitles (at least with the most recent firmware).

I've been told that the proper way to display these films is by setting the player to 4:3 pan & scan video output (as opposed to 16:9 or 4:3 Letter Box). I'll test that tonight.

 

[Charlie O.]

I looked up the Momitsu DVD-V880 and it sounds very good. I just need to confirm it does the following

Correct PAL to NTSC 16:9 conversion
Playback Resume
JPG picture viewer

 

[Jeff_HR]

Check out JVB Digital.

 

[JonZ]

My g/f got me this. Its supposed to be a Xmas gift so I wont be able to really use it until then, but I did check it out when it arrived to make sure everything was ok, and was pretty pleased with it.

http://www.220-electronics.com/dvd/pioneer363.htm

 

[Robert Franklin]

I would recommend a JVC from HkFlix. It doesn't have a DVI output though. To me, its more than reliable than some of the other models listed above. Just my opinion though. I will tell you this, I would recommend it, if I wasn't going to buy it as well. However, I don't plan to purchase it until the fist of next year.

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Depending on how willing you are to cross-border shop, or if you happen to know someone in Canada, our Future Shop chain has an incredibly good deal on a Malata DVP-500p player for only $79 CDN (about $60 US). This thing offers everything you're looking for and more, although I'm not familiar with DVI outputs, so maybe this link will help (scroll down a bit for details on how to set it up for all region):

http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30340

The only thing you need to make sure of is that the player was manufactured in Sept. 2003, as versions before it are not region free, and the Oct. 2003 models, while identical on the outside, are substantially different on the inside and subsequently prone to serious problems. Unfortunately, getting a Sept. 2003 unit requires the opening of the box to see the date-of-manufacture sticker on the back, which is why I mention using a contact in Canada if you have one.

Just a thought...

 

[JonZ]

A update on the player I linked to above....

I couldnt be happier. Played Region 3 and 4 DVDs on it today as well as JPG photos I put on a CD.

Excellent