DVD Player questions.

We have an at least 6 and maybe 8 year old DVD player.

We noticed recently that it would not play all of the DVDs my cousin lent us.

It was not that the unplayable disks were Blue Ray either.

Anyhow my sister thinks and I agree that we ought to get a new player.

The question is if we get a Blue Ray player is it backwards compatible to old DVDs?

And since we don't have a Hi Def TV would it make ANY sense to get a Blue Ray player???

Thanks in advance!

A blu-ray player is backward compatible with older red-laser DVDs. If you don't have an HD set yet, I'd suggest grabbing any of the $40 DVD players that seem to be flooding the market right now. That will buy some time for Blu-Ray players to drop in price a little more.

Thank you for that info and suggestion and goodnight my friends!

Went through this too with commercial DVD's in addition many of my vids are AVI based. I don't enjoy watching on the monitor so I picked up a few of the 1080P upconverting that play DiVX/AVI files. Very happy now and I don't have to convert the AVI to VOB so it saves pooter time.

Gotta check out the adds!

Thanks again my friends!

Just buy a PS3... all in one :twothumbs

stangliter04 said:

Just buy a PS3... all in one :twothumbs

Click to expand...

The AVI support isn't particularly good.

Okay... a few further questions.

I notice a lot of the new DVD players use "upconversion".

But we don't have an HDTV instead we soldier along with my wonderful old RCA tube 32".

So would these newer DVD players work ok on my TV.

I am partial to RCA and Sony and a Sony ???700H DVD player looks pretty good to me.

What say you?

Probably some of the unplayable disks were dual layer which won't play on an old player.

Upconversion won't make any difference with an old tube TV but it won't hurt. Eventually your TV will give up the ghost and then at least you'll have a DVD player which allows you to take advantage of the higher resolution of a new HDTV. I think all DVD players have an S-video connection and even a regular coax, so they should be compatible with older TVs.

Yeah, I GOTTA have S-Video!

I found out some of the real cheap ones don't have that.

There is a Rube Goldberg bunch of wiring behind my TV. Just unplugging the S-Video from the old player and into the new one will simplify matters greatly!

If I get some motivation I'm planning to go to Best Buy and/or Circuit City to shop for one.

jtr1962 said:

Probably some of the unplayable disks were dual layer which won't play on an old player.

Upconversion won't make any difference with an old tube TV but it won't hurt. Eventually your TV will give up the ghost and then at least you'll have a DVD player which allows you to take advantage of the higher resolution of a new HDTV. I think all DVD players have an S-video connection and even a regular coax, so they should be compatible with older TVs.

Click to expand...

most dvd players do NOT have a coax (75 ohm) output for older tv sets. You will have to buy an RF modulator box to use one. DVD recorders may an coax output if they have a tuner built in... many do not come with one because of the new frequencies are making them obsolete now and the new tuners haven't come down in price yet.

I had NO motivation....

I have a spiderweb of coax wires going into my TV thanks to Dish Network.

My current DVD player goes S-Video into the TV and uses channel 00.

That's why the new one must have S-Video out!

S-Video does have a little bit more resolution than composite video, and there's less chroma-crawl on highly saturated colors also.

A freind of mine was loaning me dvd`s he had burned himself and many would not play right. The problem ended up being that he was useing paper labels on the dvds. After he quit useing the labels they play fine.

I agree with those who say just buy a cheap player for now. When you are ready to move up to a hi-def tv...then consider blue ray. Longer you wait the lower the price will be.

Old dvds will pay just fine on a blue ray...

Has anyone seen a portable Blue-Ray player--like the tons of cheap DVD players that are out there now?

I use the portable player enough that it is not worth paying extra for Blu-Ray disks that are less useful for me.

The other question is that with many simple DVD players, there a ways to
"turn off" region coding for DVDs. My wife was born overseas, so when she wants to watch DVD's from there, being able to put in a 4 digit code to turn off region coding is very handy--no need to have a second (or even third) DVD player just to be able to watch them.

I have not seen any Blu-Ray players that can have region coding that can be changed (for DVDs).

-Bill

There is an approx. $70 Sony upconverter at Walmart that only differs from the ones I found online by being /something other than the /B online.

Opinions?

Oppo Digital 983H allows you to turn off region coding and play PAL discs as well. Additionally it is probably the finest standard DVD player with regard to upconverting made period. Unfortunately I believe they have stopped production of it but you may be able to find some on ebay or on AV forums. Oppo is coming out with their long awaited BD player so many videophiles are or will be dumping this model in favor of it. This player will breathe new life into your standard DVDs. They look beautiful at 1080P. Bonus: it also has a audiophile level SACD/CD/DVD audio playback.

Earlier Oppo models (973?) may also allow multi-region playback but I'm not familiar with them.

If you have a large collection of standard DVDs this is the player to have to complement you collection. When their new BD player comes out it may rival this for DVD playback but specs and actual model isn't out yet so kind of an unknown. However Oppo puts out fantastic products and I expect this one to continue in that vein.

Do not expect to pay $80 for the 983H. It's around $300 new IIRC and used will hold its value for some time. Well worth the cost if you have a lot of DVDs particularly if when you consider the vast number of DVDs which will not make the transfer to BD.

I have the 983 and hope to take advantage of cheap DVDs for some time as the market switches to BD. Nothing better then picking up a $7 DVD and getting near hi-def quality when compared to the $20+ cost of BD.

No I don't work for Oppo but rarely does a product live up to it's hype. This one does. Sorry if this is a little off topic.

I have 4 5dvd changers..... 3 are sony and one panasonic. the sony ones are not able to do multi region but remember at least the last 7 dvd stop points which means you can play a movie and turn it off and it will start back where you stopped when you turn it on again, eject that movie and stick in 3 others to play and come back and it remembers still. they have progressive scan and tend to play harder to play discs (damaged) better than many supports -+R/RW dvds too. I have one that has HDMI and also does 1080i upconverting. Since I started using a 5dvd changer I have never looked back I sometimes stick 3-4 dvds of a set in it and can play without getting up and swapping. When they make a 5 or 6dvd BluRay changer I will start looking at getting one.

PlayboyJoeShmoe said:

There is an approx. $70 Sony upconverter at Walmart that only differs from the ones I found online by being /something other than the /B online.

Click to expand...

That's the model I have, the Sony DVP NS700H/B (ending in B is black, S is silver accent). It's a solid player, works pretty much seamlessly especially when connected by a single HDMI cable (though it does have an S-Video and Component out jacks). It's a good bang-for-the-buck buy :thumbsup:

Ended up getting a $48 Toshiba 4100 at Best Buy.

Man said if you don't think you're replacing your TV for a couple or more years an up-converting player makes no sense.

Except for any unforseen death of the TV that is exactly correct.

By that time Blue Ray will be next.