Good upscaling DVD player with USB & DIVX

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Good upscaling DVD player with USB & DIVX

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#66329 17-Aug-2010 11:11

I'm thinking of getting this as a good simple upscaling DVD player with DIVX playback capabilities via USB.

http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/en/product/GH4928

Does anyone have experience with this player (aside from the reviews on the DSE site) or any good alternatives?

1 | 2

88 posts

Master Geek

#368697 17-Aug-2010 14:58

dont bother with dvd player nowadays, go straight to blu-ray player instead

most of br player has a better video processor/scaler compare to dvd player

this way you sort of "future-proofing" yourself

panasonic bd45 or sony s370 will do the job nicely for you (have tried these 2 machines and been impressed with them so far)

these 2 machines have usb connector

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#368736 17-Aug-2010 16:05

Thanks for that - the Sony S370 seems to support streaming from a windows media center machine on your network (with a firmware update) which is quite enticing!

richms

28191 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#368745 17-Aug-2010 16:13

Get a $30 dvd player and crank your sharpness to full and you have a pretty good approximation of an "upscaling" dvd player.

Then buy a WD live box. You will find that you never use the dvd player so are glad you only spent $30 on it.

Richard rich.ms

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#368771 17-Aug-2010 16:49

I am really interested in the WD Live box, but from reading the official forums I got the impression that it was a bit flaky with Vista shares (particularly if you put your vista machine to sleep & then resume)

This stopped me from getting one.

richms

28191 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#368780 17-Aug-2010 17:16

I cant say I have ever put a machine to sleep to try it.

It also plays from windows media centers shared stuff, but it seems to have a problem where it thinks alot of my music is movies making it impossible to find anything.

Richard rich.ms

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#368833 17-Aug-2010 18:50

What OS are you streaming from - Vista? Did you have to name your shares anything special? Does it seem fast and reliable other than the problem you've mentioned?

richms

28191 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#368840 17-Aug-2010 18:59

No, its all 7 or XP here, to tell you the truth I set it up so long ago I cant recall doing anything special. Just works on most content.

The scene divx's are fine, some self made crap on pirate bay causes issues where aspect is wrong by default or some will just not play without me putting it thru virtualdub with both video and audio set to direct stream copy - something to do with the avi isnt right.

With the WD tv live and other similar boxes being so cheap I wonder why anyone would pay more for a TV with that built in to be honest.

Richard rich.ms

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

LittleDude

164 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#368918 17-Aug-2010 21:14

I don't think either of the Blu-ray players recommended play DIVX. Having owned numerous Philips DVD players(for their DIVX support) I expect the 3370 should be fine. As for paying extra for a TV with a built in usb/decoder my Samsung Series 6 LCD is brilliant for AVIs whereas my Panasonic Blu-ray HTiB is crap.

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#369113 18-Aug-2010 09:37

I think I will end up going with the Philips. I am not desperate for HD - we have a 720p Bravia W series 40", a 5.1 non-HD Denon Receiver and so a simple upscaling dvd player with divx along with our new MagicTV box (which I have yet to install) should suffice.

pgs2050

281 posts

Ultimate Geek

#369117 18-Aug-2010 09:40

casewindow: I'm thinking of getting this as a good simple upscaling DVD player with DIVX playback capabilities via USB.

http://www.dse.co.nz/dse.shop/en/product/GH4928

Does anyone have experience with this player (aside from the reviews on the DSE site) or any good alternatives?

I have had this same player for a few months now. I use it primarily to watch scene TV show releases and foreign language movies with subtitles. Both of these content works extremely well and the DivX playback off the front USB is excellent and very convenient.

Have not used the upscaling of DVD feature as yet.

The only issue that comes to mind with this player is that most of the controls are on the remote - for e.g. switching the source from DVD to USB can only be done with the remote. There are very few controls on the actual player. If you can keep track of the remote, this is a useful and cheap device to have.

I have noticed that this model sometimes sells for about $20-$30 cheaper at Dick Smith.

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#369146 18-Aug-2010 10:15

I have a logitech harmony remote so will configure that once it is setup.

I am switching out a zinwell 620HD and a Sony RDR-HX950 HDD Recorder for a MagicTV box and this upscaling DIVX player.

illicit

553 posts

Ultimate Geek

#369617 18-Aug-2010 23:48

I dont get why people buy cheap 'upscaling' DVD players....?

Kopkiwi

2617 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#369668 19-Aug-2010 08:47

PS3? Get one from the States and save yourself $200.

Don't bother WD Live. Instead get an Acer Revo 3610 and install XBMC on it.

casewindow

310 posts

Ultimate Geek

#369686 19-Aug-2010 09:36

I got the Philips DVP-3360.

The reason I wanted an upscaling one is that in our current setup we have two players - a sony HDD recorder/dvd player which upscales and a normal dvd player with normal video out (yellow RCA cable).

The picture on the upscaling player is much better than the little portable.

Now granted, it could be that the little portable doesn't output a great picture, but given my experiences I would rather just go with what I know from experience.

Why do we have two at the moment? The Sony HDD/DVD is terribly finnicky about what discs it will play - ones that seem scratch and smudge free fail to play all the way through whereas on the portable they're fine. It could be the upscaling function is more picky, in which case we may get the same problem with the new one, but it seems a bit unlikely to me.

I am not desperate for full HD (our TV is only a 720p panel at any rate). I'd rather save the money for a second HD5870 on my PC :)

mentalinc

3240 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#369760 19-Aug-2010 12:13

As below but more simply

Do you trust the upscaling function of a $50 piece of kit or what is built into your tv which cost significantly more than this?

illicit: I dont get why people buy cheap 'upscaling' DVD players....?

CPU: AMD 5900x | RAM: GSKILL Trident Z Neo RGB F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC-32-GB | MB: Asus X570-E | GFX: EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti| Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 2560x1440

Quic: https://account.quic.nz/refer/473833 R473833EQKIBX

1 | 2