I'm trying to find a dvd player for a friend, like the title says I don't need every bell and whistle. Basically I'm looking for a player that has a good remote, easily navigated menu, and obviously reliability. The tv it's going to play on only has s-video and composite connections. I'm trying to stay under a $45-$50 budget. I've found a number of players that generally fit my criteria yet fall short in one aspect or another. Could anyone suggest a specific brand or model that can do the basics and last? On a side note almost all of the dvd's are going to be retail originals, however when I visit I bring backup's made on dvd+r. The current dvd player is roughly 10 years old and can play almost every audio codec including Dolby 5.1 EX and dts neo 6.1. I would like the new dvd player be able to read Dolby and dts 5.1 at least. I've never tried to find a bare bones/budget dvd player before so any help would be appreciated thanks.
A family member has been using a cheap Magnavox dvd player for about 3 yrs. now, and it has worked very well. It plays backups very well too. It usually runs around $30 - $35 at Wal Mart. I think about all players will play DD and DTS soundtracks now. Just go into the player's setup menus, and set the audio output to "Bitstream", not PCM. Good luck! I don't know if the Magnavox plays xvid, and that type of stuff. We only play regular dvds. Good luck!
Alright I finally got around to picking up a dvd player... I tend to procrastinate; I grabbed a Philips dvp3960 for $40. It plays backups and has a lot of functions that probably won't be used but performs well. There's a display in the on-screen menu that shows the bitrate. My backups average between 35 and 45 while originals appear to hold closer to 80..? There seems to be no difference in backups with higher or lower/no compression. All the backups test and play fine so does this bitrate mean anything? I also found out that my friends tv only has one av input in the back, (it's an old 32" Sony from 94) I’m trying to find a basic 2 input composite switch box with a manual switch. So far I can only find 3 to 6 input switch boxes that seem rather large. I’m trying to find something that resembles a small ps2 power brick that I remember seeing a few years back that can simply hide behind the tv.
Something like this? http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...kw=a/v+switch&kw=a/v+switch&parentPage=search
That's just what I was looking for, one problem though there are only two power outlets next to the tv and they're the old non-grounded kind. I think I can dredge up the extra composite cable and a multi-outlet adapter I was just trying to keep this under $50. That was sort of the agreed amount to spend/exchange on gifts but these things happen... oh well tis the season. Thanks for your help; radio shack somehow slipped my mind. There's actually a radio shack within walking distance that claims to have the switch box in stock.
