3times

I am looking to buy a DVD player. I am not major into it so do not really want to spend more than £200.

Costco have got the Toshiba SD210E for £148 (not multi region). Popped into Richer Sounds who have got multi region for £189 but tell me that if the disc is RCE the Toshiba will not play it. What the **** is RCE.

They did try yo sell me an LG 4750 multi region for £159 or a LG 4950 multi region for £199. Must admit they did push the cheaper one. Both of these can play RCE discs, apparently.

The Toshiba comes out well in What HiFi.

Any thoughts!

K30

3times.

it is worth spending a bit extra. i have a problem with space so i got a samsung (£400) joint video & dvd in one.
as with all these things, dont buy cheap. pay as much as you can afford (wait for the sales). try buying what dvd magazine. they should give you a few pointers. if u want a basic system, maybe u are better off with a ps2 or a cheapie £100 job, but look around.

cheers
adam

Si.t

I've got a pioneer 535 dvd that cost 200 quid in november 2000, which I saw in virgin shop a few months ago for 130. Its a little gem and the picture quality, sound q and operation is absolutely fine. The remote control and the set up options are a bit tack, but who cares? Its worked perfectly with no disc probs and unless you are a complete audiophile I wouldn't spend much more than 200 quid. Having said that, try b 4 u buy... just make sure the time delay between switching surfaces on the disc isn't too long.

make sure you stick with a decent brand, and remember last years' models availiable from somewhere like richer sounds may save you a packet on the latest ones

good luck

[Edited by Si.t - 5/13/2002 8:40:28 PM]

SiCotty

Got a Pioneer 525 which has never let me down on a single disc. Pioneer make their players simple to hack anyway. Mine has a little bit that plugs in through a slot on the side. Anything wrong pull out little bit and back to a normal player. Apparently the scan DVD player is very good www.scan.co.uk

Si

Geezer

I've got a Pioneer DV545. Excellent player, very compact as well. Plays DVD VCD SVCD CD-R CD-RW DVD-R DVD-RW and MP3 CD. Has DTS sound output if you want as well. Multi-region and has macrovision disabled, all still under warranty. Bought it online, though I cannot remember where from !!!!! Doh!

Cost about £240 quid

Geezer

Steve 555

Mines the Pioneer DV515. Multi region, never had an ounce of trouble with it.

Go for multi region. You will have far greater choice of DVD's. If a DVD is not a multi region, check on the web. Some are upgradable by punching in a code in a sequence on the handset. These codes, if available, will be available on the internet.

RCE is an acronym for Region Code Enhanced. Some studios now use this to stop us region 2 bods (thats UK / Europe) playing other regional disks in our multiregion machines. It all depends on the player as to whether it will be resricted. For what it's worth, my DV515 Pioneer plays them no problem. To check out your own machine, borrow a RCE disk and see if your DVD plays it before you start buying them.

Hope you found this info useful

Steve

3times

Thanks for the replies. Have also been on the web and found some useful sites.

ps. how do you get the smilies etc to come out where you want in the message?

sillysi

Have a look at a Scan SC-2500 DVD you can find them on the web. It cost around £140 and comes with dolby dig, dts and can play every format currently available such as cdr,cdrw,mp3 etc. It is also software upgradeable for future formats and multi-region.

[Edited by sillysi - 5/14/2002 11:33:50 AM]

Maz-old

3times,

Try www.techtronics.com for multi-region players so that you can order DVD's from the States and play them here. The DVD's in the states often have better special features and come out sooner even than films here come on in the cinema.

Maz.

Swift Nick

I have the Pioneer DV-444-K. Also bought through Techtronics.com

Multi region and super video DVD as well

Nick

3times

Thanks for the advice,

Tried Techtronic, looks like I will be buying the Toshiba 220E multi region RCE compatable from them.

Tony

dharbige

Multi Region is only of use if you want to buy DVDs from America, or borrow them of others that have.

IMHO, Multi-Region is not as essential as is was in the early days of DVD, as films seem to be being released in the UK not too long after the States.

You also need to have an NTSC compatible TV (or a DVD player that can convert NTSC to PAL), although most modern mid-high range TVs will support NTSC.

Edited to add:
RCE is ONLY relevant to some Multi-Region modified players. RCE discs should play on ANY non-modified DVD player, so long as the Region Code of the disc matches the Region Code of the player.

[Edited by dharbige - 5/17/2002 1:04:13 PM]

fatnutsac

i've never looked back since getting my betamax video player.
beautiful

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

dharbige: I'm afraid I disagree, multi-region is as essential now as it has ever been. Although I agree that release schedules no longer seem to be staggered as much in favour of the US as they once were, pricing is another matter.

I still tend to buy most DVDs now from Australia, where they're considerably cheaper than anywhere in the UK. They are also in PAL and so don't suffer the lower resolution and 3:2 pulldown effects of NTSC.

RCE discs are another can of worms, although they don't present a problem to most multi-region machines nowadays. It's wise to check compatibility, though. (I don't get your comment about RCE discs playing on any non-modified player as long as the region codes match - we're talking about importing discs, so of course they won't match, that's the point. In fact the studios were embarrassed when RCE came out, because they actually didn't work on a couple of popular North American R1 machines. Not sure how they dug themselves out of that particular hole )

For the uninitiated: RCE is a result of the movie companies *******ising the DVD standard in order to implement region coding in a different way, in an attempt to catch out modified multi-region players. Check with whoever you buy your DVD player from that it's compatible - you may need a setting that allows you to choose regions manually. I believe Techtronics' Toshiba mod is fully automatic, which is clever.

Andy.

D8UGF

Try www.dvdreview.com
its quite good for hardware reviews etc

Dougie

Houlbt

the LG-4950 is xcellent... and beats the pants of everything under £300 IMHO.

I bought one from Richer Sounds the other week and been v.pleased with it.