MAMA's Techno-Geek Thread

[kriation]

Quote: Originally Posted by AntiqueCarNut (original)

We also need new DVD player. Our 5 year-old H/K decided to stop outputting video the other night . Anyone need a $600 doorstop?

So, are all DVD players about the same these days? We need one with HDMI that upconverts to 1080i (1080p would be nicer) and progessive scan. Other than that I'm not sure what to look for or how much spend.

Do tell.

I've been doing quite a bit of research lately, and the units from Oppo (price/performance) have made my short list. Check them out here: Oppo

[jwardell]

The Oppos are supposed to be some of the best, and not so expensive. If you're on a forced budget like I was when mine died a few months ago, I got a toshiba with hdmi upconversion, dvd-audio, and SACD for $75. Keep an eye on bensbargains for a few weeks.

[Pamlico]

I wasn't going to drop a grand on a Blue Ray or HD DVD player so an inexpensive upscaling player seemed a reasonable way to go while waiting for the others to drop in price. The Phillips player I mentioned a few posts above is the Model DVP 5960/37. Lots of features for the price. I've found the USB input to be handy in playing things directly from a thumb drive.

I may be wrong, but I don't think there are any players in the < $100 range that upscale to 1080p. The upscaled 1080i pic looks pretty good on our 1080p set so we're not unhappy. You'll need an HDMI (or DVI) input on your TV to take advantage of this particular player's ability to upscale as that feature is not available on the player's other video outputs.

We paid about $45 for this directly from Phillips during a special they were running a few months back. At that price it was a very good deal. Price now seems to be in the vicinity of $80 so it's not as attractive, but may be worth considering.

On a somewhat related topic, Amazon is selling the Logitech Harmony 628 Universal remote for $49 after rebate. It's not the top of the line, but anything has to be better than trying to juggle 4 separate remotes.

- dl

[m2smith]

Buy a decent player along the lines of Josh's suggestion - If you have an HDTV it will upconvert to it's native display anyway and almost always looks way better than most cheap DVD players doing the upconversion. Also coming in on an HDMI connection (which is the only way you can take advantage of the upconversion) means you lose any of the scaling options your TV may have (which may or may not bother you) and the cable can cost you as much as the player! If you use the DVD player as a CD changer make sure it does what you want without having to turn on the TV and in a reason for the CD only option is that they are almost universally faster changing discs compared to the DVD equivilent.

[Pamlico]

Quote: Originally Posted by m2smith (original)

........ and the cable can cost you as much as the player! ......

The Monster HDMI cables at Circuit City were priced somewhere around $150. Radio Shack has their store brand cables at $50. Both way too expensive for what they are. Check out Monprice.com, which has a wide selection of many different types of very reasonably priced cables. Depending upon length, the price of an excellent HDMI - HDMI cable is around $6 (yes, six).

[AntiqueCarNut]

Quote: Originally Posted by kriation (original)

I've been doing quite a bit of research lately, and the units from Oppo (price/performance) have made my short list. Check them out here: Oppo

Oppo - thanks! Never heard of these before. Prices seem fair enough.

Quote: Originally Posted by jwardell (original)

The Oppos are supposed to be some of the best, and not so expensive. If you're on a forced budget like I was when mine died a few months ago, I got a toshiba with hdmi upconversion, dvd-audio, and SACD for $75. Keep an eye on bensbargains for a few weeks.

Bensbargains... That's a new one on me. I usually look at Fatwallet.com.

Quote: Originally Posted by Pamlico (original)

I wasn't going to drop a grand on a Blue Ray or HD DVD player so an inexpensive upscaling player seemed a reasonable way to go while waiting for the others to drop in price. The Phillips player I mentioned a few posts above is the Model DVP 5960/37. Lots of features for the price. I've found the USB input to be handy in playing things directly from a thumb drive.

I may be wrong, but I don't think there are any players in the < $100 range that upscale to 1080p. The upscaled 1080i pic looks pretty good on our 1080p set so we're not unhappy. You'll need an HDMI (or DVI) input on your TV to take advantage of this particular player's ability to upscale as that feature is not available on the player's other video outputs.

We paid about $45 for this directly from Phillips during a special they were running a few months back. At that price it was a very good deal. Price now seems to be in the vicinity of $80 so it's not as attractive, but may be worth considering.

On a somewhat related topic, Amazon is selling the Logitech Harmony 628 Universal remote for $49 after rebate. It's not the top of the line, but anything has to be better than trying to juggle 4 separate remotes.

- dl

I will go to $200-ish. Less is also OK, of course. Our TV has 1080P native capability and HDMI inputs.

Quote: Originally Posted by m2smith (original)

Buy a decent player along the lines of Josh's suggestion - If you have an HDTV it will upconvert to it's native display anyway and almost always looks way better than most cheap DVD players doing the upconversion. Also coming in on an HDMI connection (which is the only way you can take advantage of the upconversion) means you lose any of the scaling options your TV may have (which may or may not bother you) and the cable can cost you as much as the player! If you use the DVD player as a CD changer make sure it does what you want without having to turn on the TV and in a reason for the CD only option is that they are almost universally faster changing discs compared to the DVD equivilent.

Good point. I will have to make sure that it'll play CD"s without turning on the TV.

Quote: Originally Posted by Pamlico (original)

The Monster HDMI cables at Circuit City were priced somewhere around $150. {snip} Depending upon length, the price of an excellent HDMI - HDMI cable is around $6 (yes, six).

I've bought HDMI cables from some guy on eBay that's a school teacher and sells cables on the side. Quality is fine and prices are realistic. Monster has quite a scam going with their outrageously priced cables, IMO.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

[Pamlico]

Glad to help - good luck.

- dl

[GadgetGav]

Quote: Originally Posted by snid (original)

Didn't you go to work for someplace that makes pipettes?

Oh, yes. But I left there in September..! Was't too sure about the future of a company that was planning to put its factory on the Israel / Lebanon border..!

[Actual Size]

Quote: Originally Posted by m2smith (original)

- If you have an HDTV it will upconvert to it's native display anyway and almost always looks way better than most cheap DVD players doing the upconversion.

Yup...Secco has an HDTV.

[snid]

I don't know which thread is the right one for this, but it's a brilliant example of "simple":

MoMA Store - World Time Clock

[jwardell]

Lucky you people with 1080p and HDMI... my HDTV is pre-all of that. But, I was enjoying it back in 2001. For the first several years, I had to receive everything over rabbit ears. It pains me to see what you can get for a third the price I paid. My player also only upconverts out the DVI output (but what's the point? Your TV upconverts too.) but it was the only cheap player I could find with both DVD-Audio (of which I have a bunch) and SACD (which I had a short list of titles I was wanting to get). Neither format ever caught on, a shame, because they are amazing.

[snid]

So, Josh advocates the cheap-ass CD / DVD player, but thinks SACD is amazing....

I haven't looked at CD / DVD players in years. My old Sony DVD player (second gen player, who knows how many years old) is still going strong. I don't have HDTV, so I don't care much about upgrading. And I've got a stupid good CD player - a Classe I picked up as a floor model when the local AV store was moving.

That saud, the Sony ES line has always been well regarded. The cheapest of the ES DVD players would be something I'd at least google for reviews on:

SonyStyle.com | ES DVD Video-SACD-CD Player

[jcsinnh]

I knew it, I knew it. Ask this thread a simple ? and see what you get.....
I will order a Onkyo 390 today...6 CD player, no TV needed, no,or few, acronyms included. And for you who, like El Geeko himself, haven't listened to a CD in years, I paraphrase Emma Lazurus in saying, "Send me your tired CDs, your forgotten discs, your downtrodden jewel boxes, your poor liner notes."

Yes, oh you with pockets protected, I will reimburse shipping costs for your CDs. Please limit them to exclude childrens' stuff, the bizarre (well check with me first on that), rap/hiphop, sound effects. Send me stuff you have laboriously loaded onto your bogus mainframes then cutely downloaded onto your yukpods. PO Box 371, Stoddard, NH 03464 will be fine. Include shipping costs and, if a lot at all of interest, I'll reimburse. If junk, I'll return postpaid.

No ABBA cassette tapes, Donna Summer 8 tracks, Jan and Dean 45s, or Monk 33.333s, or Caruso 78s please.

[jwardell]

Quote: Originally Posted by snid (original)

So, Josh advocates the cheap-ass CD / DVD player, but thinks SACD is amazing....

Like I said, a cheap dvd player that plays sacd, dvd-audio, divx, mp3..oh it has hdmi upconversion, and a CF card reader for viewing photos in HD. Make sure it is also capable of playing +/- R, RW etc.

[NoNo]

Hey John, if you're looking for cheap CD's, I like to go to Django's. They have some pretty obscure stuff on there, and you can almost always find used CD's, usually in the $8 range.