Which DVD Player

Hi all.

I'm thinking about replacing my rather old Pioneer 717 for a newer model. I'm not worried about HD just yet I just want a universal player that will also play any region (inc protected discs) without the bother of a handset hack, a chipped player would be ok though!

Budget around £600.00

Sarah,

Save yourself £500 and get down to Richer Sounds to buy a Pioneer DV-575a (multi-region) for £99.99 - like i did recently.

Not only is it multi-region 'out of the box' but it plays RCE (ie 'protected') disks with no bother at all - like my RCE version of Spiderman for instance.

Its a superb machine and 'punches' way above its weight - though you do have to take the time to tweak its video settings to get the very best out of it. They are very easy to do though - and give excellent results.

You also get DivX, DVD-A and SACD playback thrown in - along with progressive scan (PAL and NTSC) and component outputs to name but a few. Its great on RGB scart too. Sound quality is noticably better than anything i've heard at anywhere near the price.

With HD-DVD and Blue Ray technology not too far away its worth holding off buying an expensive player to see what happens with these new HD formats over the next year or so.
In the mean time the 575a will do the job nicely.

[thekingbeyond]

I have the pioneer 575 and the pioneer 757 and for the money the 575 is a bargain at £99, it comes very close to the 757 for picture quality.

Thanks I'll consider that, I mean at that price I can't go wrong if I don't like it my lil sister can always have it

Just been looking the player up, it seems to do an awful lot for the money does anyone know if any corners have been cut to pack so much in?

[zAndy1]

Yes the audio reproduction leaves a lot to be desired and I found mine quite noisy but apart from that it's a great machine with a lot of features for the money. What display will you be hooking it up to? What about the Oppo DV971H http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h.html , it's a cracking dvd player, the PQ is awesome, plays divx stuff as well. If you have a display that can take the upscaled 720p or 1080i signal from the Oppo (i.e. it's got a DVI or HDMI input) I'd get that over the Pioneer to be honest.

Cheers,
Andy.

In this case does anyone have the new 585 if so does it better the 575???

Thanks I will take a looky at that, I'm only using a CRT Loewe Articos so I'm not too worried about HDMI sockets and the like just yet, mainly looking for very good picture quality and decent 5.1 sound playback.

The main reason I wanted a new player was for the DVD audio formats playback and if possible multiregion without a handset hack as I'm getting lazy in my old age and can't be bothered to do it everytime I swap regions!

[zAndy1]

Most dvd players that you make multi region using a handset hack you only have to do it once, i.e. you set it to region 0 (i.e. multi region) and it plays any region discs you put in without you having to do anything. I think the main benefit with the Oppo is it's DVI output and upscaling so perhaps it's not ideal for use with your Loewe tv i.e. you won't get the best out of it. It does do dvd-audio though and if you do get a plasma or LCD display it will have some extra performance in reserve for it!

Cheers,
Andy

[mikeoxsmall]

keep what u have and wait for hd dvd, most dvd players have the same picture ,i have an old 717 and a new 868i and to me there is no difference at all even trhough i-link into a 3 grand ax10i, to much hype out there and people being taken for mugs

That would be cool, I seem to be the only person who has a DVD player that you have to change every time >,<

[mikeoxsmall]

up scaling is no good either ,to much distortion on the picture we really need high def dvd players now into these high performance displays, i am giving up on it all untill we have high def tv(about 4 months time here in sweden) and high def dvd ,and real high def plasmas wich should be coming out soon hopefully, we need full 1250 lines resolution on hd tvs not 760, come on manufacurers get a move on

[mikeoxsmall]

i have spent over 10 grand on my system and i wish i hadn't just b patient and wait a year or 2

Originally Posted by mikeoxsmall

keep what u have and wait for hd dvd, most dvd players have the same picture ,i have an old 717 and a new 868i and to me there is no difference at all even trhough i-link into a 3 grand ax10i, to much hype out there and people being taken for mugs

Thats reassuring to hear you've tried the same player I have and there is little difference, it is indeed a well built tank but I just wanted the option to play back audio DVDs etc as I probably won't be bothering with Hi Definition stuff until its a better established.

Thanks for all the advice people!

[mikeoxsmall]

dvd-a sounds aweful so does sacd, far to bright