The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Hi, I have been contemplating buying a new DVD player but there are so many to choose from. As well as all of the brand names, there are multi-region DVD players and single region only which is all abit too confusing for me. I just need some recommendations of a good quality and value for money DVD player.
Any suggestions anyone?
Any suggestions anyone?
Hi, I have been contemplating buying a new DVD player but there are so many to choose from. As well as all of the brand names, there are multi-region DVD players and single region only which is all abit too confusing for me. I just need some recommendations of a good quality and value for money DVD player.
Any suggestions anyone?
Any suggestions anyone?
***WARNING***
This is a long message for teapot and anyone else who is after a new player - there is nothing of interest for existing owners so save your time.
*****END*****
If you want a Region 2 only machine then your choice is easy: get a Toshiba SD100E for at most £200 - hunt around on the net for a better bargain though!
Regardless of what anyone tell you (probably defending their own players) this will give you one of the best pictures you can get on ANY player, regardless of cost. Be warned though that layer changes (where the drive changes from one data layer of the disc to another) can take up to a full second.
You can get a multiregion one for around the same price, but there is an almost unique problem here. New RCE (Regional Code Enhancement) discs like The Patriot won't play properly on it because it can only be made to automatically select the region. RCE basically ask the player if it can play Region 1 and then asks it if it can play another region. If it answers 'yes' both times then the disc knows it is playing on a multiregion machine and will not work. Most automatic region selections get past this for some reason but not the Toshiba. If you don't expect to buy many American discs, or don't mind until problem ones are released over here, then get this player! RCE discs can be player on it using the track memory and playing the film directly. This means you can't get to the menu screen though and have to play the film and extras individually - kind of like buying a CD without a track listing. Read reviews and comments at the sites I told you about in your SCART question to back me up!
Of course there may be more protection on future discs that will mess up the auto select on more players so it's probably best to get one which can be manually region changed.
If that all sounds too much then the next best choices are probably either a Pioneer 530, Aiwa 370 or LG 3350 (mine!). The Pioneer has a rubbish remote, shows layer changes (not too badly though) and need chipping to be miltiregion whereas the other two don't. The Aiwa and LG are the same inside (the Aiwa is a clone of the LG) apart from the LG has an on-board 5.1 decoder and (in my opinion) a much nicer remote. They both use a fancy new C-Cube MPEG decoder (read: both very good) and aren't far behind the Toshiba for picture quality (unless you really know what to look for you won't notice any difference). RRP puts the Aiwa £50 cheaper at £200 (less so on the net - see below) but it seems to be out of stock almost everywhere. The Aiwa is definitely multiregion via a remote control hack. The LG is hackable on the newer firmware versions although, since EVERYWHERE was out of stock last month all of them should now be new ones anyway. Best bet would be to buy from somewhere with a money back guarantee. Mine was from www.bennettsonline.co.uk for £220 and the hack worked fine. If you get one I'll send you the details by e-mail - we don't want this site to get into trouble for broadcasting something not very favourable in the DVD world (still legal though). It's a simple thing to do and is saved so there's no need to do it every time you plug the player in
Hope this helps.
This is a long message for teapot and anyone else who is after a new player - there is nothing of interest for existing owners so save your time.
*****END*****
If you want a Region 2 only machine then your choice is easy: get a Toshiba SD100E for at most £200 - hunt around on the net for a better bargain though!
Regardless of what anyone tell you (probably defending their own players) this will give you one of the best pictures you can get on ANY player, regardless of cost. Be warned though that layer changes (where the drive changes from one data layer of the disc to another) can take up to a full second.
You can get a multiregion one for around the same price, but there is an almost unique problem here. New RCE (Regional Code Enhancement) discs like The Patriot won't play properly on it because it can only be made to automatically select the region. RCE basically ask the player if it can play Region 1 and then asks it if it can play another region. If it answers 'yes' both times then the disc knows it is playing on a multiregion machine and will not work. Most automatic region selections get past this for some reason but not the Toshiba. If you don't expect to buy many American discs, or don't mind until problem ones are released over here, then get this player! RCE discs can be player on it using the track memory and playing the film directly. This means you can't get to the menu screen though and have to play the film and extras individually - kind of like buying a CD without a track listing. Read reviews and comments at the sites I told you about in your SCART question to back me up!
Of course there may be more protection on future discs that will mess up the auto select on more players so it's probably best to get one which can be manually region changed.
If that all sounds too much then the next best choices are probably either a Pioneer 530, Aiwa 370 or LG 3350 (mine!). The Pioneer has a rubbish remote, shows layer changes (not too badly though) and need chipping to be miltiregion whereas the other two don't. The Aiwa and LG are the same inside (the Aiwa is a clone of the LG) apart from the LG has an on-board 5.1 decoder and (in my opinion) a much nicer remote. They both use a fancy new C-Cube MPEG decoder (read: both very good) and aren't far behind the Toshiba for picture quality (unless you really know what to look for you won't notice any difference). RRP puts the Aiwa £50 cheaper at £200 (less so on the net - see below) but it seems to be out of stock almost everywhere. The Aiwa is definitely multiregion via a remote control hack. The LG is hackable on the newer firmware versions although, since EVERYWHERE was out of stock last month all of them should now be new ones anyway. Best bet would be to buy from somewhere with a money back guarantee. Mine was from www.bennettsonline.co.uk for £220 and the hack worked fine. If you get one I'll send you the details by e-mail - we don't want this site to get into trouble for broadcasting something not very favourable in the DVD world (still legal though). It's a simple thing to do and is saved so there's no need to do it every time you plug the player in
Hope this helps.
I came across a DVD player that no-one seems to have known about, despite being in Currys. It's the Grundig GDV520, which, compared to other players, is a bit expensive at £399, but you don't just get the DVD player.
For the money you get a nice, region crackable, player which seems to work with everything I've thrown at it so far and a very nice Dolby 5.1 decoder and set of 5 Beech finish speakers and a massive sub woofer that sounds the business and is probably not recommended for houses with bad foundations.
As I said, the player is in Currys, on special until Febuary, when it goes up in price. It's not in the DVD section of the website either, but searching for 'Grundig' brings it up in the list. I'd recommend it if you have the money, it's a nice complete set up.
For the money you get a nice, region crackable, player which seems to work with everything I've thrown at it so far and a very nice Dolby 5.1 decoder and set of 5 Beech finish speakers and a massive sub woofer that sounds the business and is probably not recommended for houses with bad foundations.
As I said, the player is in Currys, on special until Febuary, when it goes up in price. It's not in the DVD section of the website either, but searching for 'Grundig' brings it up in the list. I'd recommend it if you have the money, it's a nice complete set up.
The best machine I think I've seen anywhere is the Sony DV P-S735D. It has everything you ever need, including Dolby 5.1 and DTS, and has all the outputs you need to connect to any type of TV, coax, S-video, SCART, RGB, digital optical, as well as the usual audio connections. It even has DVD/CD text (a nice little gimmicly thing, and I know not a lot of discs don't do this anyway). The price is a little more at around £450, but I reckon it's well worth it. I have also seen it for £469 (I think) with region free chip which is guaranteed at another site.
It sounds like I work for Sony or something, perhaps I should ask for commision? It's definitely the machine I'm gonna get in a couple of months (when I've got some dosh spare!).
It sounds like I work for Sony or something, perhaps I should ask for commision? It's definitely the machine I'm gonna get in a couple of months (when I've got some dosh spare!).