Im in the market for a new dvd player here shortly. Im wondering what the opinions are for the best bang for their buck type of player. Thanks a lot. Everyone on here ROCKS!!!
My personal favorite is the Philips Upconverting DVD Player-5960/37. I've had one for over a year. Liked it so well I bought another one this week. They are on sale at Target for $59.99. This player plays everything I put in it. The upconverting feature makes quite a difference on a poor definition disc. It has HDMI and a USB port. The other thing I like is it remembers where you stopped the last 5 movies that were played in it. So if you have a movie only disc with no menu and want to watch it at different times, it remembers where you were. The display also tells what chapter you are on and how long it has been playing. The only cheap thing about it is the remote-but it works okay.
I'm sure some of the real geeks around here could explain this better, but I will give it a shot. When you play a DVD on your TV, the definition of the picture is measured in pixels per inch. The number you usually see are 480, 720, 1080i and 1080p. The higher the number the more definition in the picture. When you back up a DVD to fit on a single layer disc you lose some of the definition. When you play a dvd on an LCD or Plasma TV you get what ever definition is on your disc. With an upconverting player you can increase the definition. Some discs don't need it, but on others it can make quite a difference. When I back up my movies I usually do movie only to keep as much definition as possible. Even then I find quite a difference on some movies. When I do movie only I usually don't do a menu either. With this player it is still really easy to get around the chapters. I've learned a lot of what I know here on AD. There are some really sharp techies on this site. I hope one of them chimes in and explains it better. You might do a search for Philips DVD players. I know there were a couple of threads in the past that discussed them extensively.
So does the upconverting happen automatically or do I have to hit a certain button or menu option on the dvd player/controller to have it upconvert each time. I appreciate the time telling me all this.
There is a button on the front of the player that will change from one definition to the next. I forgot to mention. This player can be hooked up with RCA connections, S Video, Component, or HDMI. If you decide to get one like this and use the HDMI don't buy an expensive HDMI cable. They run from $30 to $99 at stores. I picked up 2 of them on the internet for $6.99 and they work perfectly. The place I like to watch for good buys is Techbargains.com.
You're welcome. One more thing I might mention that I like about this one. It has a 12 month parts and labor warranty. You usually don't get that on inexpensive players unless you buy an extended warranty.
