Advice on buying a DVD player

[treg50]

So I'm shopping around for a DVD player right now, I've never owned one before. I'm looking at spending $149 approx., which seems like a popular price for the average one. Future Shop and Best Buy have some nice units and they've got pretty good store-policy warranties too. I'm looking at Panasonic, JVC, Sony, and Toshiba. I don't have an HDTV.

Some features I want are (I know there's better but I'm fixed on the $149 point):
- multi-format read (ie. CDR, CDRW, MP3, SVCD, WMA, etc.)
- video output: coaxial and optical, s-video component (not a big deal since I don't have HDTV)
- progressive scan (not a big deal since I don't have HDTV; plus almost all DVD players just come with it now).
- 192/24 Audio D/A converter
- 54/10 Video D/A converter
- DTS and Dolby Digital decoders

Why is that for some DVD players they specify that the DTS or Dolby Digital decoder is "2-channel"? What does that mean, "2-channel"? Does that mean it won't use 5.1 or 6.1?

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by treg50
So I'm shopping around for a DVD player right now, I've never owned one before. I'm looking at spending $149 approx., which seems like a popular price for the average one. Future Shop and Best Buy have some nice units and they've got pretty good store-policy warranties too. I'm looking at Panasonic, JVC, Sony, and Toshiba. I don't have an HDTV.

Some features I want are (I know there's better but I'm fixed on the $149 point):
- multi-format read (ie. CDR, CDRW, MP3, SVCD, WMA, etc.)
- video output: coaxial and optical, s-video component (not a big deal since I don't have HDTV)
- progressive scan (not a big deal since I don't have HDTV; plus almost all DVD players just come with it now).
- 192/24 Audio D/A converter
- 54/10 Video D/A converter
- DTS and Dolby Digital decoders

Why is that for some DVD players they specify that the DTS or Dolby Digital decoder is "2-channel"? What does that mean, "2-channel"? Does that mean it won't use 5.1 or 6.1? i cant really help u find a dvd player...mainly it comes down to u get what u pay for.

as for 2 ch decoders...it means that they can downmix the 5.1 to 2 channels and output that to a 2 channel system. however, if u just feed the digital stream from te dvd player to a receiver (with toslink or coax) that can do 5.1 decoding then u are fine.

[MerfBall]

If you want to play SVCD you are pretty much limited to JVC. Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic rarely if ever have a dvd player that can support SVCD. But go here for actual detailed info on specific models: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers

[treg50]

I'm looking at two DVD players, both for $149. One has coaxial and optical outs (JVC), the other only has optical but has a slightly better feature set (Panasonic). My receiver has both coax and optical. The sales-guy was suggesting I get the JVC because based on the fact that it has coaxial as a back up in case the optical goes. I 'm set on using optical cables anyway for the best signal.

Anyhow, now I'm wondering about the durability of optical ports and optical cables. Are they anymore fragile/finicky than other types of ports in general? ie. USB, FireWire, RCA, S-video, etc. I'm the average user and take care of my stuff, it won't be in a particularly dirty location or it won't be getting shoved around a lot.

[MerfBall]

When your comparing quality between Panasonic and JVC, it really doesn't make much of a difference, they are the same company (Matsushita). But, I would go JVC, JVCs by far support the most formats and I can almost guarantee the Panasonic does not support svcd. But double check in the above site to make sure that the JVC model you have in mind does support SVCD, JVC did release a couple players that do not support SVCD.

[Ed the SOHC]

fs has a nice JVC DVD player (http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=11&WLBS=fsweb11&sku_id=0665000FS10026104&catid=&newdeptid=11) that plays svcd and other formats no problems. personally my favorite to sell because it's loaded with all the correct outputs.

[illeagle]

PIONEER, or wait till Boxing day.

[Dj_Stylz]

yea boixing day you can wait and get a nice one

[frostyda9]

Originally posted by treg50
Anyhow, now I'm wondering about the durability of optical ports and optical cables.

My cat chewed on my Toslink cable when I was gone to BC for a few days. It still works fine. Don't worry about having a backup, you won't need it .

[crazyning]

One that plays divx - there's one called the PHOMASTER. To bad it's out of stock.

www.ncix.com

[kenny]

I'd go with the JVC, its probably Futureshops best selling DVD player as you can see there are huge piles of them scattered around all their stores.