Recommend a good DVD player for $40

Looking for a good home DVD player for $40 or under.

1) Has to play DVDR and DVDR-DL
2) Has progressive scan
3) Name brand prefered...

Thanks!

bump!

Slightly over your budget, but I have the Phillips model that plays DVD+Rs, DVD-Rs, CDRs, CDRWs, MP3s or WMAs on CDRs... and DiVX-encoded movies on either CDRs or DVDRs.

It cost $60, is a name brand, and still works after 6 months. Recommended them to my father in law and he bought two of them. Zero complaints. I'd absolutely avoid anything with the Apex name on it and in all honesty, I'd avoid pretty much anything that wasn't fairly name brand. As DVD players get cheaper and cheaper, we are now in the cut-throat price ranges... Which means if they can save a half a cent per unit for some cheesy inductor, they will.

I got this DVD Player by CyberHome. Small little thing for about $29 or $39 from Walmart a coupla years ago. This thing plays DVDs, MP3s burned on CDs, Some VCDs I burned of my lil daughter's hula lessons. It plays DVDR's, too, but not too sure of what formats, though. Not up to snuff on DVDRs, RWs or anything. Don't have a DVD burner, yet.

But most of what I have played on it, couldn't be read by our newer Sony DVD, or the DVD player that came with our Harmon/Kardon HTS. Go figure! I figured with the beaucoup bucks, I'd get more formats available!

Oh well...

My guess, try looking into a Cyberhome. Maybe someone else has experience with these can chime in?

Hope this helps!

Danno

I'm not familiar with the older Cyberhome products but the danger one always runs with the lesser name brands is, different models can come from different sources. That is to say, the $80 model might be a rebranded Hitachi that may last for 5 years, while the $60 model might be a rebranded model from the dreaded Apex line.

I'm not 100% sure, but from looking on line, I think the one my mom had was the DVD500 that we bought for about $49 from Walmart. It died. It was replaced by another one that died. My experience with Apex was we got one when signing up for some high speed internet service about 4 years ago. It died. It was replaced with one that looked different, but had the same remote, so I assume it was very similar. It too died.

A lot of cheaper DVD players can become damaged from running in small entertainment centers under TVs where ventilation is minimal, but the second Apex that we had that died was in a bedroom being used rarely as a CD player so it should have had ZERO heat issues.

Again, if you can get something like the Philips for $60, I'd be less than enthusiastic at saving $20 for something not of known reliability. I guess I just see that as akin to buying a Huyndai for $500 less than the equilavent Honda. I'm not brand loyal at all, but based on my not super limited experience, I'd stay away from the very cheapest DVD players if I could ante up the extra few $$$.

There are cheap phillips ones out now that still play DivX. There are also cheap sonys. I'll stay away from them, have not had good experinces with their high end VCRs in the past years. (constantly breaking gears, etc). Apex that my friend has can't play any of my burned DVDs, but plays normal ones just fine and is several years old. $20 is a lot to me b/c I don't have a job now. Perhaps I can sell some extra stuff. I just want to get a player because I haven't had one ever and I'm tired of using my computer.

Does any know if Dual Layer (8gig) burned DVD's give any problems to phillips DVD players?

Thanks for the suggestions, and keep em coming!

IsaacHayes said:

Does any know if Dual Layer (8gig) burned DVD's give any problems to phillips DVD players?

Click to expand...

I definately understand about the lack of fundage issues...

My DVD burner can burn the dual layer DVDs, but I can't afford the media to try them out!

EDIT - Also, the Philips model I'm speaking specifically of is the DVP642. At one point, I found a website with tons of feedback on what media will work and what media doesn't work so well... I'll see if I can find that again. My needs were pretty basic... as long as it played DVD+R and DVD-R, I was pretty much happy.

I have a Phillips DVP642, it works well.

I've had the Cyberhome too. They worked as well but 1 of 2 broke down so I got the Phillips. The dead Cyberhome always seemed to run really warm.

And I usually have very good luck with electronics. I don't abuse them. I still have a first generation Toshiba DVD player from back when DVDs and players were initially released in 7 cities. It still works perfectly. I also have a sony that works perfectly a Samsung and the Philips. I've had two dead Cybermates, two dead Apexes and one Sony that skips if there is the slightest scratch on the disc.

Honestly, I've had excellent luck with Toshiba products. The second high end VCR I bought was a SVHS Toshiba and it did blow one fuse but other than that, it's been going strong since about 1998 and it's played a LOT of movies! I had an SVHS (the one with the two jog controls) that had a lot of issues and I got a refund on because of many known issues. I don't have a beef with Sony and their TVs are pretty much top notch, but I'll probably never buy another VCR from them again.

cool, I was thinking of phillips. Walmart had the Divx model on sale a long time ago, like for 40. Hopefully it's that price now.

Of course, the regional price may vary, but two weeks ago, they were $60. I got mine from CompUSA for $50 a few months before Christmas on sale.

I think that was around the time they were on sale too. I recall a few months later they still had tons of them at that price.