whats the best dvd player out there?

jackdaniel5

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hi all ...can anyone tell me what the best dvd player is on the market at the minute...i need a hd one, but not a recorder cos i have sky+.....thanks
 
Do you want a HD DVD player (new format) or do you want an upscaling DVD player?
 
High definition DVD players, such as HD DVD and Blu-ray are the new format of DVDs and play to full 1080P resolution.

Upscaling DVD players on the other hand do not play the new high definition DVDs. All they do is (sometimes a superb job) upscale standard DVDs to a higher resolution.

Watching a High def DVD compared to the upscaled version of an SD DVD are worlds apart (imo of course)
 
cheers for that, im going to buy the high def dvd player but which one is value for money.. i have £150... is that not enough or too much?
 
If you mean the HD DVD player, then you can get the Toshiba E1 for about £170 now I think. Or if you have the Xbox 360 you can get the HD DVD add on for about £90 now.
 
thanks for that.....just one more question my tv is 5 months old(37"lg lcd) and was just wondering if it would accept the frame rate on the dvd...1080/24?
 
thanks for that.....just one more question my tv is 5 months old(37"lg lcd) and was just wondering if it would accept the frame rate on the dvd...1080/24?

Its not a question of how old your TV is (within reason), but a question of what the specs for that telly are. IE what native res is your TV display, what model etc.
 
cheers for that, im going to buy the high def dvd player but which one is value for money.. i have £150... is that not enough or too much?

You should also read up on the differences between Blu Ray and HD DVD. If you buy one, it won't play the HD dvds from the other. Plus, you will have to pay more money for the High Definition DVDs, eventhough, these players all do an admirable job of upscaling SD DVDs. For SD DVDs, most can't be made region free.
 
You should also read up on the differences between Blu Ray and HD DVD. If you buy one, it won't play the HD dvds from the other. Plus, you will have to pay more money for the High Definition DVDs, eventhough, these players all do an admirable job of upscaling SD DVDs. For SD DVDs, most can't be made region free.

I agree, judging by your posts you are clearly new to the HD DVD and Blu-Ray formats. You should spend some time looking into the technology before you commit and shop around. As emthree says, there are two differing and incompatible technologies available and either one of those could become obsolete.

Also, Greg has given you the impression that these devices are cheap- but he has only given the most basic low-end examples. In reality, a good HD DVD player such as the Tosh HD-XE1 will set you back over £400, and Blu Ray players up to a grand.

Ironically, the Playstation 3 is the cheapest Blu Ray player on the market- something I am seriously considering!

If I were you I would either spend your money on a quality standard dvd player with upscaling capabilities (there are loads available in your price range), or put the money in a savings account and wait for the inevitable HD price drop. £150 won't get you very far in the world of High Definition DVD at this moment in time.
 
£150 won't get you very far in the world of High Definition DVD at this moment in time.

Why ? I have an original Tosh A1 that's now over a year old. The image quality is very good with upscaled DVD and superb with HD DVD. The E1 and A2 are great value with full HDi support including network interactivity.

AVI
 
thanks for that.....just one more question my tv is 5 months old(37"lg lcd) and was just wondering if it would accept the frame rate on the dvd...1080/24?

What is the model of the TV ?
Are your DVD R2 (UK) or R1 (US) or a mixture ?
Do you have a surround sound amp etc ?

AVI
 
Why ? I have an original Tosh A1 that's now over a year old. The image quality is very good with upscaled DVD and superb with HD DVD. The E1 and A2 are great value with full HDi support including network interactivity.

AVI

I'm assuming that jd is going to want a bit of change for actual movies?!- I still suggest waiting a) until prices drop and b) there is more choice available at the lower end of the market- IMHO. In any case, he should study the format before spending a single penny.
 
I'm assuming that jd is going to want a bit of change for actual movies?!- I still suggest waiting a) until prices drop and b) there is more choice available at the lower end of the market- IMHO. In any case, he should study the format before spending a single penny.

I'm all for people making informed decisions but £150 for an upscaling DVD player or £170 for a HD DVD is a no brainer assuming the OP doesn't require MR DVD. Think of it as a very good quality upscaling DVD player with the added bonus of HD DVD playback. :)

AVI
 
I'm all for people making informed decisions but £150 for an upscaling DVD player or £170 for a HD DVD is a no brainer assuming the OP doesn't require MR DVD. Think of it as a very good quality upscaling DVD player with the added bonus of HD DVD playback. :)

AVI

£170 still seems a staggeringly low price for a HD player to me. Magazines such as What Hi-fi still rate quality Standard dvd players ABOVE most of the £500+ HD players! They also advise choosing carefully before jumping into the new format.

Still, if you recommend your HD player, who am I to argue!
 
Magazines such as What Hi-fi still rate quality Standard dvd players ABOVE most of the £500+ HD players!

I am not sure I have ever seen this, I see the quality of both DVD and HD players varying depending on the make and how they are engineered AND WHAT THEY PLAY, the Toshiba E1 here is an excellent DVD and HD DVD player and is an absolute bargain. If you are of a single region, it is a complete no brainer. It you are multi region, then it is 'more difficult'.

What Hifi would be about the bottom of my list of 'trusted' information.
 
£170 still seems a staggeringly low price for a HD player to me. Magazines such as What Hi-fi still rate quality Standard dvd players ABOVE most of the £500+ HD players! They also advise choosing carefully before jumping into the new format.

Still, if you recommend your HD player, who am I to argue!

I do not consider What HiFi? to be a reliable source of review in any way, shape or form.

I have a decent SD DVD setup and HD DVD video and sound is in a completely different league even from a basic HD DVD player. There isn't a huge difference in upscaled DVD performance between the low cost HD DVD player and my higher cost SD DVD setup. That's why I say it's a no brain decision and great value. :)

AVI
 
I'm all for people making informed decisions but £150 for an upscaling DVD player or £170 for a HD DVD is a no brainer assuming the OP doesn't require MR DVD. Think of it as a very good quality upscaling DVD player with the added bonus of HD DVD playback. :)

AVI

Well you're absolutely right HD-E1 is very, very cheap- just did an internet search. Had no idea they were this cheap already. Impressive looking player too with a reasonable spec.

If Jack can stretch his budget a little, maybe this is the player for him.

Can't help wondering, however, why prices of HD DVD players are this low, whilst Blu Ray players remain in the £600- £1000 range. Do I detect panic in the HD DVD camp?....
 

Their review info is often inaccurate and there claims are at best misleading or just plain wrong IMO.

For example I read their recent article (May 07 page 53) suggesting upgrading to a £70 Monster PS3 HDMI cable to produced better image quality. I quote -

"Colours are more vivid, and images solid and three-dimensional with good depth of field. It's almost entirely free of any noise, and only the occasional touch of smearing with motion and fractionally soft edges mark it down against the very best HDMI cables at this price point" - Really..... :confused:

In their in depth "HD Audio" review (July page 55) they also claim the Tosh E1 doesn't decode/support Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. - It does :confused:

In the September issue BDP-LX70 review (page 21) they claim "this player doesn't support HDMI 1.3a. So if you want to listen to the latest codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD fromat, they'll have to be decoded in the player and piped to your receiver via 5.1 analogue outputs." This can also be achieved over HDMI. :confused:

Personally I woudn't trust their reviews based on past experience.

If nothing else it's an entertaining read in the bathroom and useful when the loo roll runs out. ;)

AVI
 
HD DVD made a calculated decision in that 'technology' developments would be made in software and that hardware could be 'very similar' to DVD technology. This has turned out to be correct and the players are therfore cheap to produce. Blu ray bet on the other side and developed expensive hardware.....Both are legitimate solutions to the problem but cost different amounts to make at this stage and for the forseeable future also. Expect to see another £50 off HD DVD players by new year.
 
Their review info is often inaccurate and there claims are at best misleading or just plain wrong IMO.

For example I read their recent article (May 07 page 53) suggesting upgrading to a £70 Monster PS3 HDMI cable to produced better image quality. I quote -

"Colours are more vivid, and images solid and three-dimensional with good depth of field. It's almost entirely free of any noise, and only the occasional touch of smearing with motion and fractionally soft edges mark it down against the very best HDMI cables at this price point" - Really..... :confused:

In their in depth "HD Audio" review (July page 55) they also claim the Tosh E1 doesn't decode/support Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. - It does :confused:

In the September issue BDP-LX70 review (page 21) they claim "this player doesn't support HDMI 1.3a. So if you want to listen to the latest codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD fromat, they'll have to be decoded in the player and piped to your receiver via 5.1 analogue outputs." This can also be achieved over HDMI. :confused:

Personally I woudn't trust their reviews based on past experience.

If nothing else it's an entertaining read in the bathroom and useful when the loo roll runs out. ;)

AVI

These are pretty much the main problems I have had with What Hi-Fi over the past few issues. Firstly, they persistently claim that a more expensive HDMI cable can somehow improve the colour and depth of an image sent over it. To me, this implies that the cable must have some sort of super-deluxe digital re-encoding image enhancement chipset in it which, of course, it doesn't. Secondly, they have, as you say, repeatedly insisted that HD players such as the Toshiba HD-E1 cannot decode HD audio simply because they don't have 5.1 analogue outputs or bitstream over HDMI. This is very misleading and I nearly wrote to them myself about it but the latest issue seems to suggest they have finally figured out that decoded HD audio can be sent in LPCM via HDMI from players like the E1.
 
What HiFi have historically published some complete and utter bull, including rating some kit as thoroughly useless when it is in fact superb if you buy it according to what you actually need - their reviews tend to reflect the manufacturers advertising spend, and their list of recommended shops is by no means thorough - their Cyrus reviews are always good though, so they must have some taste at least.
 
What Hi-Fi is well known in the hi-fi industry as the poor relation of the hi-fi press. As one CE rep once put it to me many years ago "If Hi Fi News is The Times of hi-fi mags, then What Hi-Fi is The Daily Sport."

Every time I pick it up for a quick look I see little to change that opinion. Some of their reviews and howling errors re. technical specs are laughable.
 
Surely every HiFi/ AV magazine is as guilty as What Hifi in shouting the praises of ultra-expensive HDMI cables!
 

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