Best/Cheapest DVD Players in Ireland?!

GerryBoy

Anyone out there want to recommend a good DVD Player?

I have a 32" Panasonic TV, with Dolby Pro-Logic surround with 5 speakers and a
nicam stereo video.

What is the cheapest/best value model and where have you seen it? There doesn't seem to be much in the line of on-line bargains for Ireland (I am based in the mid-west).

I am looking for these features (in order of importance):

* Multi-region (Nobody seems to know anything about this, except paying over another £70-£100 to have it 'chipped' - no thanks!)
* Good picture quality - no 'layer-change-delays'
* Good sound quality - deep bass.

Optional:
* Multi-disc loader
* MP3 playback
* CD-RW playback

I know that a lot of these player come with built in Dolby 5.1/DTS/THX decoders for the sound - do I need these or will I just be able to run a scart lead to the TV and let it handle the surround sound?

Any opinions appreciated!

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Life is too short. You are what you think you are.

TwoShedsJackson

If you want multi-region you will almost certainly have to have it chipped - I have yet to see a single multi-region player on a retail shelf in Dublin.

Likewise even the best players have a slight pause at the layer change - I have a Phillips 955 which was near top of the range when I bought it in January and it pauses for around a second at the change - it's more noticeable on some titles then others.

Any other player I have seen in operation also has a pause - frankly if you can't accept a one second or so pause in the middle of a two hour film then don't buy a DVD player

Bard

Multi region? - Isn't the Playstation2, which (allegedly) comes out next month, a multi-region DVD device?

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Bard
_____
-me-

_CreeD_

On the surround front, if you're happy with Prologic, and your TV accepts - and will decode from a Stereo-Audio connection then you're fine.
But - Dolby Digital, and DTS, are a hell of a lot better than prologic. If you really like your surround sound then shell out for a separate decoder.

gandalf

All I can talk about is my Player. Its a Samsung 709 and it hasn't given a days trouble (yet). You can make it multi-region using the famous "Aiwa Hack". I have its audio outputs running into my Dolby Prologic Surround Sound Stereo and it sounds great (just missing that big **** off sub-woofer, but then again the neighbours would end up calling the cops after Saving Private Ryan).

I don't know what price the 709 is going for at the moment, I do know it has just gone end of life with the Samsung 511 replacing it (don't know if thats hackable).

Try www.709online.co.uk for more details on the hack.

Gandalf.

Figment

Well I bought my scan DVD from England http://www.scan.co.uk/hw_idx.htm and its great £185 sterling and 30 for delivery(couple of days) and its great. region free, macro vision disabled, VCD, CD, mp3 and CDR player. Picture is great and its really sturdy. review here http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/reviews/hardware.asp?Index=2120

The only problem I had with it is the down mixing to stereo on the TV was crap. The manual said this can depend on the type of TV you have but it doesn't matter much as I got the creative/Cambridge Dolby digital decoder(£239) and I now have glorious surround sound and sub-woofer. For the money I found it to be the best amp as it has everything included 5 speakers, sub-woofer and connectors. I can even connect normal TV audio through it!

If you do get surround, first movie you have to watch is the matrix, the sound is amazing.

Shinji

Bard - no, the PS2 doesn't play anything but Region 2 discs. The Japanese version was easy to region hack, but the DVD consortium leant on Sony and the new Jap models, like the US and European models, will not have region hacking software built in (like most modern players do; you can usually select a region free setting by holding down certain undocumented buttons). Basically, you're gonna need a Gen2 PS2 chip to hack it for DVD playback (ie, a normal chip won't do, as it only hacks for region-free games, not region free DVDs or region free PS1 games) and none of the Gen2s we've seen so far actually work.

Er, in summary, don't buy a PS2 as a DVD player if you plan on getting US discs.

Actually, better summary - don't buy a PS2.

GerryBoy

Thanks a million for the info, lads - very useful.
LittleFigment,that player you have sounds like the dogs wobbly bits, but I have been told that you should add 70% to UK prices to cover currency, vat, delivery etc. Did you find this? What is the story with vat anyway? I thought once you have ordered and paid for it, that was that?
What kind of TV do you have, and has it had any problems with stereo from other inputs?
What does 'downmixing' do and can it be avoided?
Thanks also for the very helpful links to the review site - I am bug-eyed from going through them - I'm half tempted to just buy that Wharfdale DVD in Tescos when they get it in again!!
Cheers!

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Life is too short. You are what you think you are.

Yossarian

If you live in dublin try dropping into Richer Sounds on the quay's or check there webpage
http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/index.asp

Worth a look.

Stephen.

Figment

Sorry GerryBoy for taking so long in getting back to this. Been busy.
Im waiting on the visa bill, ill let you know but a quick check on the yahoo curency converter brought it all in at about £290.Vat was included in price i gave.
Ive got a panasonic wide screen tv and its been great with normal stereo inputs. I recently found the fault of the bad stereo sound to be a setting in the tv favouring music over voice so i didnt realy have to get my surround sound amp but im so glad i had and excuse to.
Downmixing is where the normal 5.1 channels of sound on a dvd (front,stereo front and two back and a sub) are mixed to just a sterio signal for normal tvs and hi fi's.
I think the Wharfdale DVD is getting a bit old now and from what i read the scan model beats it no problem plus the mp3 option on the scan is fantastic. Im gona get rid of my sterio now cos i got that. And as well as the multiregion option you can also disable macrovision in case you ever need to back up your films to video.


[This message has been edited by LittleFigment (edited 10-10-2000).]

GerryBoy

Thanks again for the info. In the meantime, I have taken the plunge... I bought a Wharfdale DVD in Tescos (!!!) - they had it in stock in the Ennis branch.
Before I parted with the cash (£219) I asked if it was multi-region.
"Multi-wha?" was the general reply, however the guys working there were dead sound.
If I am not happy with it, I can bring it back to any Tescos - with the receipt - and get a full refund. Can't say fairer than that!
I am borrowing a region 1 disk tomorrow to see if it works. The hack for the one they had around christmas was to open the disc drawer and type 0,1,2 and 3 on the remote. I have done this, but didn't see any great response, so heres hoping.

My only concern is that the hack is for model DVD-750, whereas the one on sale is DVD-750s - whatever the 's' stands for??

I have tried an audio CD in it, but no sound came through the TV. I am using a SCART lead. I'll try a different/extra lead and see what happens.

Anyone else got one of these DVD players?

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Life is too short. You are what you think you are.

sixpack's little hat

my brother bought one of those dvd players from tescos this week and he had no problems with it. Watched the Matrix yet again and it was fuppin class!

p.s. those people in tescos are all *******s, they're only pretending to be nice :P

[This message has been edited by sixpack's little hat (edited 20-10-2000).]

GerryBoy

UPDATE:
Well, I finally got to test the player with a region 1 disc. And it works!
You just have to open the drawer (eject), type '1111' then the region you want.
If it is Region 1 (NTSC) then you select this on the SETUP menu. Press play and you're away!
I don't think the picture quality is as good on NTSC discs, but I have only tested the one - 'Ronin'
Anyone else got one of these?

gandalf

Depends on what way the Wharfdale handles the converstion between NTSC and PAL and also if your TV can handle direct NTSC. Yes there is a difference in quality between PAL and NTSC, PAL has more lines in resolution (but it is very hard to see tbh), the other side of this is sometimes a PAL feature can be heavily compressed sometimes showing more digital artifacts on the disc. You can notice a judder if your converting from NTSC to PAL because NTSC id 24fps and PAL is 25fps so a frame is repeated every second hence a judder. If your player has the option for Quasi-PAL try it out it shuld fix that problem.

Thats all for now,

Gandalf.

[This message has been edited by gandalf (edited 24-11-2000).]

Figment

I could be remembering this wrong(i knew i should have paid more atention in college) but isnt ntsc the better resolution? its 30 frames per second where as pal is 24fps.These frames are then devided into odd and even frames for the tv signal which means 60 fields to the 48 in pal.Cant remember if they have the same amount of lines per screen. My scan dvd player has a little degrading in quality when it has to deal with the extra frames on ntsc on some scenes. I should have another look at the settings for that quasi-pal.

Draco

Originally posted by LittleFigment:
I could be remembering this wrong(i knew i should have paid more atention in college) but isnt ntsc the better resolution? its 30 frames per second where as pal is 24fps.These frames are then devided into odd and even frames for the tv signal which means 60 fields to the 48 in pal.Cant remember if they have the same amount of lines per screen.

From what I remember from college, NTSC (nickname Not the Same Colour) is inferior to PAL 'cause PAL has more lines and has better resolution. Or something. I can't remember much of fourth year...

Slosh

Im using a Phillips DVD 750. Multiregion. (says so on the box )

Have it 6 months now - nay bothar. It IS a multiregion player - the guy in the shop (in Waterford) activated it with a code from the remote - it'll play anything.. none of this chipping malarkey...

Only 279 Irish pounds...

[This message has been edited by Slosh (edited 25-11-2000).]