Cheap DVD Player advice needed.

[elnero]

Well it happened, our old Philips DVP642 finally gave up the ghost last night and it couldn't come at a more inopportune time with Christmas just around the corner. I had figured my next DVD player would be one of the Oppo's but given the time of year and the fact I can't get one here and it would probably cost over $200 to get one online and have it shipped here I'm not sure if I can sell the wife on it or not.

The DVD player will be used mostly for Divx capabilities so maximum Xvid and Divx compatibility is a must. It will also be used with a Mission Cyrus 1 and Paradigm Atoms for music, mostly background, but we still like it to sound decent. There's also the possibility it could be used as a transport down the road but with the Pico coming soon my main source for serious headphone listening will move to the computer for now at least. So with all that in mind are there any of the cheaper DVD players which will meet our needs that stand out as a better choice?

Sorry I know this isn't really a serious source question but I wasn't quite sure where to put it, if the mods wish to move it feel free.

[Dusty Chalk]

Oppo Oppo Oppo Oppo Oppo

[n_maher]

I just wish today's DVD players weren't so fricken tiny. Back in the day (3 years ago) when I built my entertainment center DVD players were still the size of most receivers so I budgeted space accordingly. Now I've got this tiny little DVD player in this huge opening. :shrug:

[Duggeh]

Use the space to put down your most played discs.

[Dusty Chalk]

You could recase it. Or just put little potpourri baskets around it. No, wait, bad idea (dust near player -- subwoofer causes dust to cloud up, etc.).

[Fitz]

I guess smaller = better?

[Duggeh]

I guess smaller = better?

Thats not what yer maw said.

[Fitz]

:'(

[elnero]

Well I broke down and ordered the Oppo DV-980H, I just couldn't fathom buying something a bit cheaper that wouldn't have the same performance and features just to save a couple of dollars.

[thrice]

Now I've got this tiny little DVD player in this huge opening. :shrug:

Kinda like throwing a hot dog down the hall.

Get an older Pioneer player (ca. 1990) and recase it...those things were freakin' huge......oh or a denon3910 or 2900...those are decent players and they take up a good amount of space.

Or a hot dog.... a big hot dog.

[tkam]

The Oppo players are really hard to beat and support both divx and xvid. I've played back plenty of xvid encoded files (on both cd's and dvd's) without any troubles on my Oppo 981.

[elnero]

The Oppo players are really hard to beat and support both divx and xvid. I've played back plenty of xvid encoded files (on both cd's and dvd's) without any troubles on my Oppo 981.

I'll be curious to see how well USB works, it would make transfering xvid and divx files around far easier. Too bad the USB couldn't be used with the Pico.

[postjack]

Well I broke down and ordered the Oppo DV-980H, I just couldn't fathom buying something a bit cheaper that wouldn't have the same performance and features just to save a couple of dollars.

good choice. also fun for listening to 5.1 layers of DVD-A and SACD discs.

[grawk]

I use my mac mini for everything except sacd and dvda at this point. I just need a better switch than the one I have right now. One day I'll spend money again, and get a good hdmi 1.3 capable pre.

[elnero]

Well I got the Oppo 980 a couple of nights ago and I must say I'm duly impressed. Sound quality out of my admittedly mid-fi speaker setup (modded Mission Cyrus I and Paradigm Atoms) is very nice. To be honest I don't remember the MiniMax sounding a whole lot better out of this system. I'm not suggesting the Oppo is at that level though, more I expect I'm seeing the limitations of the amp and speakers. I'll be interested to see how it performs when I get the Pico and am able to listen to it with my E500's.

What has really impressed me about the Oppo though is the feature set, ease of setup and use and the video quality. Even on our crappy old Fisher 24" CRT the difference over the Philips is easily noticeable on both divx/xvid and DVD. I even tried an xvid straight from USB thumb drive last night and it played without a hiccup. Build quality is also a nice step up from the Philips, it just seems a little more solid, polished and well thought out as a design. My only gripe so far is that a DVD burned with divx/xvid content automatically starts playing the first track, to get to the menu you have to press stop twice. The Philips had a similar function but you could turn it off so that the Menu came up first after inserting the disc. Maybe it's possible on the Oppo but I haven't found a way as yet.

[Jon L]

I even tried an xvid straight from USB thumb drive last night and it played without a hiccup.

Does the manual say the USB thumb drive will play Flac or WMA Lossless files at all?

I also heard people say the USB thumb drive can be hooked up a external USB hard drive (Fat32 only) but that only the first 700 files will play or something like that...

[elnero]

Does the manual say the USB thumb drive will play Flac or WMA Lossless files at all?

I also heard people say the USB thumb drive can be hooked up a external USB hard drive (Fat32 only) but that only the first 700 files will play or something like that...

I haven't noticed anything in the manual, but I haven't really looked, I'm not even sure if the player itself will recognize FLAC or Lossless, if it does then I don't see why it wouldn't be able to off the thumb drive.