ColinU

Following on from the "Tesco's 750S" thread...

Rather than go to the audio-visual bullet-in boards and get a load of “boffin” responses, I thought I’d solicit the opinions of <B>real</B> people…

I’m looking to buy a sub-£200 DVD player. Do any of you have some recommendations for me?

I’m not looking for anything particularly fancy - just something with good picture quality, reasonable sound, and no glitches (all through a decent 28” Panasonic TV). I don’t have any home cinema-type audio equipment (and don’t plan to get any ‘cos my livingroom layout would give lousy reproduction/staging), so at best I may plug the DVD’s audio through a midi-hifi that sits next to the TV. Basically I'm sick and tired of watching fuzzy video rentals - I'd prefer to see a clear picture of what I'm watching!

The front runner from what I can figure out is the <B>Wharfedale 750S</B> (£179 from Tesco’s). The only negative I’ve read in any reports is that the DVD mechanism can be a little too noisy at time (annoying when watching a film with a piece of quite soundtrack… but maybe this only applied to the ‘old’ 750 model). Would anyone who has direct experience of (i.e. owns) a 750/750S like to comment?

Another a mate told me about is the <B>Grundig GDV211</B> (£200 from Dixons). One thing that sold it to him is the fact (rumour?) that when they figure out how to record to DVD there’ll be an upgrade for this model to make it record. Is this really going to happen in the foreseeable future? Is this “feature” really worth it? Do any other manufactures/models/ have this upgradability built in (e.g. the Wharfedale 750S)?

Thanks in advance for your replies.


Cheers,
ColinU.

P.S.
Features that would interest me include being able to zoom around the screen, being able to bookmark where you are, and being able to access “movie info” mid-movie (such as who the hell that actor in this scene is).

P.P.S.
Yes, Xmas is just around the corner


[This message has been edited by ColinU (edited 09 November 2000).]

wacko

Check out

Markus

I would suggest that you take a look at:

Chris L

Another one for you:

Sith

Markus

True, he 709 did have some problems. Forgot about that.

Thought that most of the problems, ie; dual layer discs (the Matrix being the first one to cause many probs) were sorted with firmware fix?

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Lecson from Debenhams £199, (£189) if you use your card, it has been given very good reviews, will play other regions by entering a code from the remote.
Allan

CRAFT

don't take any notice of the sales people
as they talk crap! just go with your instincts, we looked around first to see which had the best deals(free DVD's) and settled with a matsui, not a top name but does the same job, and at £180 with 3 DVD'S of my choice(matrix(a must),payback,enemy of the state) this was from dixons, all be it
11 months ago, also look around for deals on
disc's(3 for 2) and if you have one locally
join MVC and get £2-£5 off

ColinU

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies. You've helped me whittle it down to 3 choices:

* <B>Toshiba SD100E</B> (£176 from

Neil Smalley

The Scan player has been getting some bad press recently. It's supposedly unreliable and a few people have had trouble with Scan's aftersales service.

The Toshiba is a good machine but has had problems with the new RCE region coding protection.

Best of the bunch IMHO is the Wharfdale 750S(note the S at the end!)

[This message has been edited by Neil Smalley (edited 10 November 2000).]

ColinU

Yes, I kind of picked up the Scan "bad press" while browsing the web this afternoon.

Pro's/cons of the other two seem to be:

<B>Toshiba SD100E</B> - great picture quality, but some issues with RCE and 'layer changes' (what is layer changing?).

<B>Wharfedale 750S</B> - great all rounder, no outstanding strengths, average picture quality (some reviews say 'grainy'!)

As it's the 'grainy/fuzzy' quality of VHS rentals that's making me switch to DVD, whould the 'average' picture quality of the Wharfedale end up pissing me off?

- ColinU.

[This message has been edited by ColinU (edited 10 November 2000).]

[This message has been edited by ColinU (edited 10 November 2000).]

Neil Smalley

Yes, I kind of picked up the Scan "bad press" while browsing the web this afternoon.

Pro's/cons of the other two seem to be:

<B>Toshiba SD100E</B> - great picture quality, but some issues with RCE and 'layer changes' (what is layer changing?).

<B>Wharfedale 750S</B> - great all rounder, no outstanding strengths, average picture quality (some reviews say 'grainy'!)

As it's the 'grainy/fuzzy' quality of VHS rentals that's making me switch to DVD, whould the 'average' picture quality of the Wharfedale end up pissing me off?

Layer change. Most disks these days store the movie on only one side of the DVD. The other being a pretty picture. To achieve this(and stop you having to flip the disk over half way) the movie is encoded on two seperate layers on the disk. To play each layer the laser reading the disk is adjusted so it only picks up the required layer. Hence layer change

The Layer change is the small delay in the movie when the laser is moved. This is usually less than a second and is timed to coincide with a 'lull' in the movie. A DVD player that takes ages(1-2 seconds) to change the layer will make a noticable effect in the movie and it will soon miff you off.

To be honest, ANY DVD player is going to be better than VHS. The Picture difference between a 200 quid Wharfdale and a 500 quid Sony is barely noticeable, and only then on a few disks and to a few people. You pay the extra for the name, trick play features, connectors, decoders and possibily build quality.


Check this out

TRIGGER

A couple of the magazines reviewed a new BUsh machine which they seemed to think was pretty good at £150. Not sure if was able to easily convert to watch R1 but worth a look.

ColinU

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice. <B>I’ve decided to go for the Toshiba SD-100E</B> (the Wharfedale 750S being a close second). Yes, off the shelf it’s only R2 compatible… but 99% of it’s use is going to be with R2 rentals, so no real problem there.

I’d found that Costco were selling them for £119+VAT (£139), but that was a 1-week-only offer which ended a few days ago… and I missed it . Next stock in my local Costco arrives on Dec 6th at the princely sum of £149+VAT (£175). Still the cheapest price in the UK, so I’ll wait until their stock arrives. Another plus with Costco is that they give a 3 year guarantee on all electrical goods they sell.

- ColinU

harryh

LG DVD player here

Mick

iTrader: (1)

Colin

Got your Toshiba yet?

I'm tempted by the same choices. I was in Tesco today and they have run out. Did you get a multiregion version?

Anyone know if MI-2 is available here yet?

Mick

ColinU

Mick,

I haven't bought the Toshiba yet - I'm waiting until Costso have it in stock again (£175 incl VAT, in stock Dec 6th). It's only the R2 version... no problem for me as I only intend to use it for R2 rentals.

chiark

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works, but has anyone seen a review of a UK spec Playstation 2 on DVD playback? There's rumours that they'll have the same hardware as the Wharfedale player (as opposed to software decoding, like the US/Japanese stuff)...

I know it's more than you want to spend, but I thought that I'd try to hijack the thread as I'm wondering about a PS2 or &lt;£200 DVD...

AWD

I've heard that the US and UK PS2s will have hardware DVD playback (as opposed to the software DVD on the Japanese version). I read this on

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

I think it unlikely that that rumour would be true as software decoding essentially costs them nothing, where as the internals from a DVD player are likely to be somewhat more expensive, not to mention space consuming. I would guess that the case would have to be redesigned to cope, and the price to be even higher to cover the increase in costs, just my opinion of course.

AWD

Have a look at this:

Sith

Soon! Its available on pre order.

P.

chiark

DVDreview.com will have a review on Friday of PS2 playback...

gregh

Colin,

Why not the Wharfedale, only £4 more and you can walk into Tesco's and take one away, no waiting for Costco to get a delivery.

Mick - I think you can get the wharfedale from Tescos web page,

ColinU

gregh...

If I needed a sub-£180 DVD player tomorrow I'd be staright down Tesco's for the 750S. However, as it's an Xmas stocking filler for me and wife the purchase can wait for a couple of weeks.

More importantly (from everything I hear/read) the Tosh SD100E beats the 750S hands down when it comes to picture quality/stability. This is the main factor in my buying decision (don't need R1, whizzo functions, etc) hence the Tosh is the machine for me.

AWD

With the cost difference between R1 and R2 discs it's always worth having R1 compatibility if you can get it IMO.

Mick

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure I've seen the Toshiba as a multiregion for £199. That sounds like a good deal then !?????

Mick

AWD

Do Techtronics sell it? They will be able to modify it and their prices are pretty good.

AWD

Have a look at