Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

I'm looking at the following:

Philips DVP642 (Plays DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD, MP3-CD, MPEG-4,
Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x)

Magnavox MDV456/17 (Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 CD, VCD, SVCD, JPEG (with MP3))

RCA DRC108N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD, MP3, WMA and
JPEG discs )

RCA DRC240N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD, MP3, WMA, JPEG
and MPEG4 (DivX) discs)

Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad? I probably want the
Magnavox MDV456/17 or RCA DRC108N because both will display jpeg files (I think) and Divx
may not be important. It's for a gift. Are Korean made consumer electronics products
considered as good a Japanese? RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the others.
I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:35:16 -0500, Joe_Gondola wrote:


> Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad? I
> probably want the Magnavox MDV456/17 or RCA DRC108N because both will
> display jpeg files (I think) and Divx may not be important. It's for a
> gift. Are Korean made consumer electronics products considered as good a
> Japanese? RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the others. I'd
> appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.

I have the Philips DVP642 - it plays JPEGs. One thing I don't like (which
may not matter to you, since you state DivX might not be important) is
that it doesn't seem to like mpeg4/DivX etc. on DVD-R/DVD+R -- seems to
be an indexing problem, which causes annoying skips. They work great on
CDs though.

Terry

--
Terry Ross | qnr | <MyFirstName@aliboom.com> | http://linux.aliboom.com
Source Mage GNU/Linux: http://www.sourcemage.org - Tome team & General Guru
GnuPG Key fingerprint = AC11 C1C3 0371 D4E6 50CD 1285 D041 AD9F 68C4 06C2

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

Avoid the Phillips unit ... they are junk.

Of the ones you mentioned I'd choose RCA, we had one before I switched to a
Media Center PC and it was an excellent player. Played just about anything
we stuck in it.

<Joe_Gondola@no.spam> wrote in message
news:smm0o095bhgd6qdommiokl960gj20d2hop@4ax.com...
> I'm looking at the following:
>
> Philips DVP642 (Plays DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
MP3-CD, MPEG-4,
> Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x)
>
> Magnavox MDV456/17 (Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 CD, VCD, SVCD,
JPEG (with MP3))
>
> RCA DRC108N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
MP3, WMA and
> JPEG discs )
>
> RCA DRC240N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
MP3, WMA, JPEG
> and MPEG4 (DivX) discs)
>
> Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad? I probably
want the
> Magnavox MDV456/17 or RCA DRC108N because both will display jpeg files (I
think) and Divx
> may not be important. It's for a gift. Are Korean made consumer
electronics products
> considered as good a Japanese? RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the
others.
> I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

>I'm looking at the following:
>
>Philips DVP642 (Plays DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3-CD, MPEG-4,
>Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x)
>
>Magnavox MDV456/17 (Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 CD, VCD, SVCD, JPEG
>(with MP3))
>
>RCA DRC108N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3, WMA and
>JPEG discs )
>
>RCA DRC240N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3, WMA, JPEG
>and MPEG4 (DivX) discs)
>
>Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad?

All the brands you've specified are known for just being plain bad, especially
RCA.

Are Korean made consumer electronics
>products
>considered as good a Japanese?

Personally, no. LG DVD players seem iffy while Samsung and Daewoo are crap.

RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the
>others.

Philips is Dutch. Magnavox is a name that went from being a Philips property
to a Funai property back to a Philips property.

It should be important to note that not all Philips and Magnavox DVD players
were made by Philips. Some models from these brands were OEMed by Funai.
About the only thing that's worse than RCA is Funai when it comes to DVD
players.

RCA is French. It used to be an American company. RCA was purchased by
General Electric in 1986. GE dismantled RCA and sold the pieces to Thomson,
which is owned by the French government.

The only thing that remains of RCA under GE ownership is NBC.

>I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.

Sony, Pioneer, or JVC.

It sounds like a JVC, like the XVN310B, would be the ideal player as it
supports the stuff that the players you've listed will work with, in addition
to being a superior quality player to Philips, Magnavox, and RCA.
Plus, the JVC model I've specified doesn't cost an arm and a leg for what
you're getting. MSRP is around $79. - Reinhart

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

Jeez man, all of those are pretty much junk. Where are you shopping??


<Joe_Gondola@no.spam> wrote in message
news:smm0o095bhgd6qdommiokl960gj20d2hop@4ax.com...
> I'm looking at the following:
>
> Philips DVP642 (Plays DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
MP3-CD, MPEG-4,
> Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x)
>
> Magnavox MDV456/17 (Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 CD, VCD, SVCD,
JPEG (with MP3))
>
> RCA DRC108N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
MP3, WMA and
> JPEG discs )
>
> RCA DRC240N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
MP3, WMA, JPEG
> and MPEG4 (DivX) discs)
>
> Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad? I probably
want the
> Magnavox MDV456/17 or RCA DRC108N because both will display jpeg files (I
think) and Divx
> may not be important. It's for a gift. Are Korean made consumer
electronics products
> considered as good a Japanese? RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the
others.
> I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

On 28 Oct 2004 20:19:44 GMT, laseranddvdfan@aol.com (LASERandDVDfan) wrote:

>>I'm looking at the following:
>>
>>Philips DVP642 (Plays DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>>MP3-CD, MPEG-4,
>>Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x)
>>
>>Magnavox MDV456/17 (Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 CD, VCD, SVCD, JPEG
>>(with MP3))
>>
>>RCA DRC108N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>>MP3, WMA and
>>JPEG discs )
>>
>>RCA DRC240N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>>MP3, WMA, JPEG
>>and MPEG4 (DivX) discs)
>>
>>Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad?
>
>All the brands you've specified are known for just being plain bad, especially
>RCA.
>
>Are Korean made consumer electronics
>>products
>>considered as good a Japanese?
>
>Personally, no. LG DVD players seem iffy while Samsung and Daewoo are crap.
>
>RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the
>>others.
>
>Philips is Dutch. Magnavox is a name that went from being a Philips property
>to a Funai property back to a Philips property.

I didn't know that about Magnavox.

>
>It should be important to note that not all Philips and Magnavox DVD players
>were made by Philips. Some models from these brands were OEMed by Funai.
>About the only thing that's worse than RCA is Funai when it comes to DVD
>players.
>
>RCA is French. It used to be an American company. RCA was purchased by
>General Electric in 1986. GE dismantled RCA and sold the pieces to Thomson,
>which is owned by the French government.

I knew Thompson and RCA were French. I didn't know they were owned by the government. I
bought a GE VCR a few years back that was crap, made in Korea so I thought the RCA's might
be Korean made as well.

>
>The only thing that remains of RCA under GE ownership is NBC.
>
>>I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.
>
>Sony, Pioneer, or JVC.
>
>It sounds like a JVC, like the XVN310B, would be the ideal player as it
>supports the stuff that the players you've listed will work with, in addition
>to being a superior quality player to Philips, Magnavox, and RCA.
>Plus, the JVC model I've specified doesn't cost an arm and a leg for what
>you're getting. MSRP is around $79. - Reinhart


I see PC Richard has the JVC for that price. I think you may be right about the features
based on their website http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?model...7150&pathId=10

If the description says Jpeg can I assume they are talking about viewing still pictures
from jpeg files?

Just in case they are out of stock, what do you think of this Sony from Best Buy?

Sony $89.99
Model: DVP-NS575P

DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-VR, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3-CD and JPEG playback

Thank you very much for all the valuable information! I cross-posted my reply in case
someone in another group wants to comment.

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 02:40:20 -0500, qnr <terry@timestorm.ross.com> wrote:

>On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 21:35:16 -0500, Joe_Gondola wrote:
>
>
>> Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad? I
>> probably want the Magnavox MDV456/17 or RCA DRC108N because both will
>> display jpeg files (I think) and Divx may not be important. It's for a
>> gift. Are Korean made consumer electronics products considered as good a
>> Japanese? RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the others. I'd
>> appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.
>
>I have the Philips DVP642 - it plays JPEGs. One thing I don't like (which
>may not matter to you, since you state DivX might not be important) is
>that it doesn't seem to like mpeg4/DivX etc. on DVD-R/DVD+R -- seems to
>be an indexing problem, which causes annoying skips. They work great on
>CDs though.
>
>Terry

Thank you.

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 12:19:01 GMT, "Colon Terminus" <Colon_Terminus@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
>Avoid the Phillips unit ... they are junk.

I knew their CD burners had a bad reputation. I didn't know about their other products.

>
>Of the ones you mentioned I'd choose RCA, we had one before I switched to a
>Media Center PC and it was an excellent player. Played just about anything
>we stuck in it.

Thank you.

>
><Joe_Gondola@no.spam> wrote in message
>news:smm0o095bhgd6qdommiokl960gj20d2hop@4ax.com.. .
>> I'm looking at the following:
>>
>> Philips DVP642 (Plays DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3-CD, MPEG-4,
>> Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x)
>>
>> Magnavox MDV456/17 (Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 CD, VCD, SVCD,
>JPEG (with MP3))
>>
>> RCA DRC108N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3, WMA and
>> JPEG discs )
>>
>> RCA DRC240N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3, WMA, JPEG
>> and MPEG4 (DivX) discs)
>>
>> Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad? I probably
>want the
>> Magnavox MDV456/17 or RCA DRC108N because both will display jpeg files (I
>think) and Divx
>> may not be important. It's for a gift. Are Korean made consumer
>electronics products
>> considered as good a Japanese? RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the
>others.
>> I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.
>

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

On Fri, 29 Oct 2004 01:45:12 GMT, "Pug Fugley" <nosir@not.com> wrote:

>Jeez man, all of those are pretty much junk. Where are you shopping??
>

The big chains. They have other brands and models too. I just looked at the low cost
models up to around $70 for the Philips and RCA and saw they had the features I wanted,
not knowing what is junk or good. If I knew what was good and what was junk I wouldn't be
here asking. Thank you.

><Joe_Gondola@no.spam> wrote in message
>news:smm0o095bhgd6qdommiokl960gj20d2hop@4ax.com.. .
>> I'm looking at the following:
>>
>> Philips DVP642 (Plays DVD, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3-CD, MPEG-4,
>> Picture-CD and DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x)
>>
>> Magnavox MDV456/17 (Plays DVD, DVD+R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3 CD, VCD, SVCD,
>JPEG (with MP3))
>>
>> RCA DRC108N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3, WMA and
>> JPEG discs )
>>
>> RCA DRC240N (Plays back DVD, DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, VCD, SVCD,
>MP3, WMA, JPEG
>> and MPEG4 (DivX) discs)
>>
>> Are any of these brands or models known for being good or bad? I probably
>want the
>> Magnavox MDV456/17 or RCA DRC108N because both will display jpeg files (I
>think) and Divx
>> may not be important. It's for a gift. Are Korean made consumer
>electronics products
>> considered as good a Japanese? RCA may be Korean. I don't know about the
>others.
>> I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments. Thanks.
>

Re: Help a newbie pick a DVD player please.
 

>I knew Thompson and RCA were French. I didn't know they were owned by the
>government. I
>bought a GE VCR a few years back that was crap, made in Korea so I thought
>the RCA's might
>be Korean made as well.

General Electric has a contract with Thomson. While GE still makes their own
appliances and jet engines domestically, Thomson manufactures or hires OEM
sources for consumer electronics with the right to use the GE brand.

Thomson doesn't make everything by themselves, so they do hire OEM (original
equipment manufacturer) sources for some of their products.

The Korean made GE VCR was likely one that was OEMed by Samsung for Thomson.

>If the description says Jpeg can I assume they are talking about viewing
>still pictures
>from jpeg files?

Yes.

>Sony $89.99
>Model: DVP-NS575P
>
>DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-VR, CD, CD-R/RW, MP3-CD and JPEG playback

Not a bad player, so far. It just came to market not too long ago and uses the
newly designed PrecisionDrive 3 system.

Previous generation PrecisionDrive systems manipulated the positioning of the
drive traverse to counter for imperfect discs.

The current generation does this witihin the optical pickup instead, which
simplifies the traverse design.

Plus, the DVP-NS575 has extremely fast navigation and is one of the few players
with seamless layer changes, so there are no pauses during the layer switch of
RSDL (dual layer) DVDs with this model.

>Thank you very much for all the valuable information! I cross-posted my reply
>in case
>someone in another group wants to comment.

You're very welcome. I'm glad I was of some assistance. - Reinhart