Recommended DVD Players?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Recommended DVD Players?

HairyScot

182 posts

Master Geek

#36271 22-Jun-2009 14:41

I am in the market for a DVD player and since I may be relocating to Europe or South Africa in the not too distant future I think it would make sense to go for an international brand.

So my needs are :-

Player must handle DivX, MP3, MPG etc etc
Must be USB enabled and handle external HDD as well as flash drives
Must be "region free' (or is "multizone" the term?)

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

ryanja

52 posts

Master Geek

#228128 24-Jun-2009 22:31

I picked up an Oppo 970 recently and can highly recommend it. It supports all you list, plus some. It outputs either NTSC or PAL, and can be made region free very easily. Video and audio quality are outstanding. I'm very happy with it.

jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#228267 25-Jun-2009 14:17

2nd vote for an Oppo - I've got a 980H, and the PQ is fantastic.

Not available retail, but through this online store: http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/products.php?cat=3

Be warned that it doesn't read the ifo file of a ripped DVD, so no menus and will just play the vobs in order, sometimes with a break in between files.

Have you thought about a small-form computer instead? Since getting the Oppo, however, we've bought a 2nd hand Mac Mini, which is simply so much easier for ripped DVDs, divx files etc - as well coming will all the bonuses of a computer. Plus it's damn quiet - way more quiet than our DVD recorder. We now don't use the USB feature of the Oppo at all.

HairyScot

182 posts

Master Geek

#228272 25-Jun-2009 14:45

$399 is a bit more than I intended to spend, but I guess quality does not come cheaply.

I see on www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/default.asp the player is listed at US$169, but I suppose with duty, shipping etc the final cost will not be much short of rappalloav.

Can someone explain to me just what is meant by "Up-Converting".

Thanks.

jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#228280 25-Jun-2009 15:20

Assume they're talking about up-scaling? If so, think of interpolation - such players (and I assume most HDMI-equipped players are in this category) "up-scale" from the original DVD resolution, and output the picture at a higher resolution -eg 720p, 1080i, 1080p. Note that the Oppo players can also output at the original resolution (eg 576 lines for PAL DVD), which enables all scaling to be done by the TV (or an external scaler), which some may prefer.

70mm

80 posts

Master Geek

#228650 26-Jun-2009 18:44

HairyScot: $399 is a bit more than I intended to spend, but I guess quality does not come cheaply.

I see on www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/default.asp the player is listed at US$169, but I suppose with duty, shipping etc the final cost will not be much short of rappalloav.

Can someone explain to me just what is meant by "Up-Converting".

Thanks.

It may still work out cheaper to buy the Oppo DV-980H DVD player in NZ from www.oppo.co.nz rather than from USA after including USA shipping.

Some people think the OPPO DV-980H is even better than the more expensive OPPO DV-981HD, the image is sharper and many prefer that.

Upscaling DVD players will upscale your standard DVDs 480-576 to HD resolutions matching 1080P or 720P displays. Good ones do work too!

The new OPPO Bluray is now out too and that kills all the rest! Voted maybe the best BD player now on the market. Look for it OPPO BDP-83