DVD-Player Reviews

[...]. Choosing a player is hard their are many choices, this is my first player and working in electronics I put in the mandatory research. I [had a predetermined amount I wanted to spend] and it must have many output options and decoders would be nice but be solid and do its job well. It has no zoom but my experience has been the more bells & whistles the easier it will break down. This is an older model but its a sleeper, [and} it was built well[...]. Rented MATRIX & put in without cleaning it and it played perfect. I chose this over Pioneer 333 & 525 & 434 & Panasonic 56 & cv51,30,31,115 & Sony 300,400 & 700 :Toshiba 4205,1600,1700,2150,220,2300,5109: Jvc 723,523,545:Samsung n501 &2000n,301 & 901 [....]

This is my first DVD player and I must say that I am impressed. Picture and sound quality are great, the weak link here is my TV. As usual, I ignored the instruction manual and installed the unit in about 2 minutes. The connections are straightforward, and the front panel controls and the remote are very intuitive. I did finally look at the manual because the on-screen menu and graphics are a little cryptic. All said and done, I only wish I had gotten one sooner. I can't speak for other models, but the Panasonic DVD-RV65 is a great value. My only recommendation, if this is your first DVD player purchase make sure you have plenty of cash on hand; you will need it for a DVD disk buying binge.

After coming from a two year old Philips Magnavox DVD Player that I found great, I decided to move up to this Panasonic model because of it's features, Panasonic's reputation for quality products, and it's price.

This machine has been superb. Pictures are just as crystal clear as the Philips, the additional play speeds are extremely useful, there is no longer any of the freeze-frame I occasionally had with the Philips, and it starts up the movie extremely quickly. The remote is extremely intuitive to use, albeit a little small. The unit itself feels extremely well built. To top all this off, the price of this player is only a few dollars more than the base DVD Player from Panasonic, making it a great deal.

This DVD Player is a great introductory DVD Player or one for someone looking to replace an aging DVD Player for not a lot of money. It's worth it.

This is an excellent player that I fully recommend to anyone in the market for a DVD player.

The sound and video on this player are outstanding (considering you use the optical connection for the full 5.1 experience). The HDCD is also a nice addition. But, above and beyond any of the bells and whistles, the duel tray is the ultimate perk allowing for those "movie days" permitting you to stay planted on your couch between features.

My only complaint, be it a small one that in no way should influence your purchase decision, is that the DVD tray is a bit slow. It takes about a second to load the DVD into the tray before the tray ejects, unlike a single tray CD Player where the tray pops open immediately on command. A very small price to pay for duel tray capabilities.

Buy this player and you won't be disappointed.

I would echo the plaudits deservedly piled on this unit by other users. The progressive scan video output can't be beat. There are two basics one has to keep in mind, though:

1. Progressive scan only works on a digital TV. If all you have is a regular analog (NTSC) TV, there is no reason to pay this much for a DVD player; there are other less expensive units (including Toshiba models) that would be more cost-effective.

2. Make sure your digital TV is compatible with progressive scan DVD players. All Toshiba digital TVs are, as are some models made by other manufacturers. But some models lock into full-widescreen mode with a 480p progressive signal and may give distorted pictures with some DVD titles. Just be sure to do the necessary research before buying the SD5109 to mate with a non-Toshiba digital TV.

Once again, I had to get a new toy. Owning a Digital TV, I had previously researched getting this DVD player but opted for the Panasonic A-120 at first (because I got it for 99$). After a few months, I sent the A-120 to my Sony TV set and decided to go ahead and make the plunge for this player for my Digital set. I must say that it makes a WONDERFUL difference compared to any other recorded medium I have had hooked up to my set.

PICTURE: The picture is outstanding. My A-120 looked great with the interlaced component outs (possibly because I have a Panasonic DTV), but the Toshiba's progressive scan picture is a notch clearer. There are, of course, no scan lines present and the colours are vibrant and much more stunning than I had expected. I tried popping in "The Matrix" and "The Fifth Element" and was rewarded with incredible clarity. It is difficult to describe how great it looks (even more so if you have not moved up to DVD yet). It still cannot fix bad DVD transfers...

SOUND: One would think that the sound should be equal to video on a higher-end product such as this. Too many times, the product does not deliver. However, this is not the case here. The SD5109 produces just as brilliant sound to compliment the video. A very nice feature is the HDCD decoder which allows HDCDs to show off their superior sounds. Built-in Dolby Digital decoding offers DD 5.1 clarity even if one only has a Dolby Digital "ready" receiver.

FEATURES: As mentioned above, the SD5109 has progressive scan outputs and HDCD decoding. Beyond this, it has interlaced component outs as well as S-Video and regular Composite outs. Two trays make a double-feature easy while the on-screen menus are easy to navigate. The remote is simple enough to use so most features can be operated at the start. I do wish they had included an EJECT button on the remote.

Overall, this was a wise purchase for my DTV set. The progressive scan makes an incredible difference. Do shop around because these can be had for MUCH less than the high MSRP 8-). I also recommend readjusting your TV settings with AVIA, Video Essentials, or a professional because unoptimized settings could cause the SD5109's picture to be not as spectacular as it is capable.

Here is my take on the Aiwa XDDV300 DVD Player:

The menus are plain, has several options, pretty standard stuff. You can choose different menu background colors. The front panel has all the buttons you need to operate it in case you can't find or don't want to use the remote.

The remote -- it's pretty bad. Buttons are small - you need to use your pinky or have pinky sized fingers to press them, and you have to PRESS them HARD or else you will have to keep pressing til it registers. The buttons are really sort of organized, you just have to get used to them.

So far it has played all 200 of my DVDs perfectly.

It plays the menus of DVDs that weren't working on my previous player. It is about 10% slower than my last player, but it makes no noise! The player is pretty silent, you can't hear anything moving inside unless you put your ears to it. If you turn the power off, it goes on stand-by mode, I don't know how to turn it completely off unless you unplug it.

This DVD player has: * Component output * S-Video output * Digital output * VCD playback (CDR - I dont know, probably not) * 4x Zoom (use the arrows to move around)(too bad dvd players dont let you zoom in at 2x, 3x, blah blah blah, it's always 4x only) * Headphone jack (the bigger one, so buy an adapter if you are going to use it) * Comes with regular composite cables, batteries.

All in all, I would recomend this player. This is a GREAT BUY!

The Aiwa XDDV300 DVD Player is awsome. The quality picture and sound produced by it, when compared to the DVD in my high end PC, is unbelievable. The features of the unit are just right. When i am interested in learning a new guitar rift from and audio CD, i simply mark the 'a' or start of the rift, then mark the 'b' end of the rift, and the unit plays it over and over until such time as i have learned it.

One of the other reviews states that the bottons on the remote are too small, but that scare you off, they are more than adequate and actually quite easy to use when compared to my Toshiba TV remote control.

The look of the unit is simply stunning, both front and back. The back especially appeals to me, as it allows connections to fiber, S-video, or standard RCA jack based amplifiers or TV's.

You will not be dissapointed with the Aiwa XDDV300 DVD Player. It is hands down the best price performer available. Am really impressed. Where else can you buy so much joy for such a reasonable price.

...This is a high quality DVD player at a reasonable price.GET IT!

I've read lots of reviews that said after a few hours the screen shut down, and you could hear the movie, but not see it. The back of the Audiovox screen gets hot after 3-4 hours (which I think is normal) so we would shut it off for about 30 minutes, and hoping it would be fine. We have had it for a month, taken several 3-4 hour trips and two 19 hour trips and it is working great. It is easy to use, my 7, 9, and 10 year old kids can work the controls on the player to start the movie, and they like being able to go through the special features on their own now. They all claimed to have a great view while watching in the backseat of our truck. The player also has a contrast adjust which really cut down on the amount of glare on the back window, compared to the TV/VCR we used to use. We used the car adapter the whole time in the car, but I have used the battery for small periods, just to finish up the movie they were watching. I have hooked it up to a TV and it worked as if it were a regular DVD player, with quality sound and picture. I plan to set it up as our second DVD player in the house.

We purchased this DVD player for our children last year and it has been a life saver. We have two boys and travel a lot. We purchased a splitter and two head sets and off we go. Our DVD player has been dropped, stepped on, sat on, you name it, it's been done and it's still going strong. We love the slimline and the size of the wide screen. The clarity and color is so clear. Another plus about our Audiovox, after looking at several other name brands we found that the sound on this brand was great. Others you could hardly hear turned all the way up, even with headphones. This has become a staple in our home...if it broke I would be going to find another (Audiovox)!!! You will not regret it!!!

Great dvd player I got it for my 11th birthday. It is very nice has tons of features and has a 7 inch screen. LCD is very clear at an affordable price. Would buy for double what I payed! Alot better than the Poloried for a certain price and the guy at Best Buy said that he did not reccomend it. I love this player!!

I was a little nervous at first purchasing this system because of some of the negative feedback I heard on other systems from Bose & the high price $1199. ABT electronics did throw in the $120 speaker stands for free which was nice. After I first installed the systems it did not sound as expected; but after some adjustments to the angle of the speakers and raising the bass and treble in the setup menu the sounds is terrific. As Bose states in their manual this system is meant to realisticaly recreate sounds, not overdue certain effects like many systems do. So far I have had great enjoyement listening to CD's and DVD's, Top Gun sounds better than I have ever heard it. The set-up was easy, including the stands it took 25 minutes and then another 30 min to understand all the menus.

This is a great sound, you think how can 2 speakers have a 5.1 surround sound, well it can. I mean the depth, sound is rich in quality.

Pro's: Great sound, 3D depth, sounds like your in the theater. DVD player is a great player.

Con's: The worst con is that it does NOT support progressive scan out put, just regular Video cables, and S-Video.

I just bought this system for my livingroom. I use to have a surround sound system with like 5 speakers and the speakers werent that great and were everywhere in the room. This 3-2-1 Bose System is easy to set up and only had 2 speakers and 1 subwoofer. If you have a small to medium size livingroom this is perfect. Its as if you were sitting at the movie theater. The system sounds so good and is also a dvd player, cd player and am fm radio. Its a dvd stereo system all in one. Im so glad I bought this product. You cant go wrong with this one.

i mainly was using this for the karaoke features, but when i compared the svideo output against my toshiba sd1600 that has component video outs hooked up to my toshiba 65" hdtv widescreen, i saw no difference. i looked at the same movies, same scenes and the picture was great!!! i was truly amazed. plus it has vcd, svcd and karaoke features that my toshiba didn't have. now my toshiba sd1600 is collecting dust while my gpx gets shelf on the entertainment center!

I bought his a week or two before Christmas. I wasn't expecting much -- I'd never even heard of GPX -- I mainly picked it up because it was the cheapest one there and it had a 3x zoom. Let me tell ya', it's a very good player and well-worth the [$] I paid for it. The picture is sharp and the sound is much louder & clearer than anything I've ever heard on a VHS. There's even a pointless karaoke option for when you are drunk and want to embarrass yourself in front of friends & family.

Now it's not perfect, on the newer DVDs -- ones with the dual-layer format -- your always going to get a slight pause an hour-something into the movie when it switches over to the second layer. I'm not positive; but I believe almost every low/midrange player that doesn't have a dual-laser reading thing is going to do this when it switches layers. I wouldn't say this is even that annoying though -- the people putting the movie onto DVD know this and make sure to place the layer switch during a scene break or something. I have 27 DVDs at the moment and none of the dual-layer ones have layer switches during action scenes/when people are talking, or anything like that. Basically, if you blink at the right time; you might miss it altogether.

Now on the plus side, I really like the 3x zoom option. I always make sure to get widescreen versions because you can just hit the zoom button which makes it fairly close to the TV format. The 3rd zoom is kind of pointless though -- none of the DVDs I've played have enough picture quality to show a decent picture on 3x (I doubt many do at the moment).

The only other thing I can think to point out is that you might want to turn it off for about 15 minutes between movies to let it cool down. I had a few very slight freezes once near the end of Saving Private Ryan, and I think the player had been on for about four hours. I have to attribute it to being on so long since that's the only time it's happened.

I recently purchased this product as a gift (for myself :) ) and i didn't expect much. Gpx has never been much of a brand name, and i had no intention of using it that much. Now, after spending countless hours watching ALL of the DVD movies I can get my hands on, i have a new perspective. It is merely the name that keeps this product from being a bestseller. Dont look at external appearances, read into it, watch the EXTREMELY high quality movies, and enjoy life!

I needed a new player and decided to go with a changer (oh, I'm so glad I did. They are so much more convienent than the single disc players). I wanted a quality player that didn't make a spinning noise when playing discs. I was tired of hearing spinning noise at quiet points in the movies. I also wanted a player that had quality slow motion capabilities and progressive scanning.

I did the research, shopped around, and talked to people and I settled on this model from Onkyo. Everything I was hoping for in my player has been realized.

Only complaint is that the remote is not "ergonomically" designed and has no backlight. But that said, the remote is more sturdy and of better quality than some ergonomically/backlit remotes i've had. And the Onkyo remote has more "quick access" remote buttons. A single button leads you right where you want to get to. For example, while watching a movie, if I missed some dialogue, I can just hit the "Subtitles" button on the remote and rewind a little to see it again with subtitles. Hit same button again to turn off the subtitles. So the remote is good too but not awesome in intuitive layout/placement of buttons. But the remote is also the least important thing to me because if it is a serious problem one can always get a universal "high-tech" remote if they don't already have one.

Best DVD player I've owned yet. I'm totally happy with it. i wanted to write this to let others know my experience who might also be wondering about this player. Good luck in your selection.

I did not buy this through Amazon, but I have to let everyone know, it is an awesome product. If you run across the DV-CP701, stay away. It has problems with showing green tint artifacts on backgrounds. The new 702 however has no problems and performs beautifully, especially when paired with the HTR S-760 Component HTiB. Great purchase, if you can find one!

This DVD player has been worth the money. Granted, it is more expensive than many others, but read the reviews on others...they all have problems. The Sony 665 has problems and Consumer Reports wasn't impressed with picture quality. Pansonics have glitches with playback, JVCs are almost as expensive...there is a new Toshiba out that might be worth considering.

The video and audio on this player are impressive...and I've had a Toshiba and Panasonic 5-disc changer in the past. The audio out of this player (digital connection to a Yamaha receiver) is incredible, much better than the others. There is a button for random play on the remote. I read people complaining about the noise on the Onkyo 701...there isn't a noise issue on the 702. People also complained of long times to change discs on the 701 and 702...this is still ture but it is no slower than the Panasonic F87 (which I owned and returned) and the F87 claims to have a fast disk exchange.

Having the 6th disk is nice and ordering it through Amazon/Crutchfield is an added bonus. The player arrived 24 hours after I ordered and I used the free/standard shipping. The item shipped from the east coast, so if you live out west, you might have to wait a day or two.

Great product, no complaints, looks sharp, awesome performace. Highly recommend, despite the price.

After months of research, the pioneer DVD 440 came up top of my list as the most value-for-money in terms of performance, features and reliability. I've been using it for 6 months now, this is my review of the player:

Installation - Very simple, just plug the supplied cable to your TV and that's it.

Picture quality - Brilliant, sharp and crystal clear. You can also adjust/customise the video setting if you want to.

On-Screen Menu - Simple yet practical window-like menu. The text are fairly large and easy to read, unlike other DVD players that uses small graphics/icons which although looks nice but can be difficult to read and use. Got to admit, I almost didn't buy this player because (at first) I thought the on-screen menus are plain and even a little bit ugly, I mean JVC has this super flashy/high-tech menus and Panasonic 31k has this little icons thingies. But in the end I chose the Pioneer because of its easy to use menus and the features available. The features available on the JVC and Panasonic are rather limited. Flashy and good graphics is useless without ease of use and the features to go with it.

The on-screen display is very useful. By pressing the Display button on the remote displays all kind of info like elapsed time, remaining time, total time, transfer rate etc.

Playability - It plays EVERYTHING i.e. DVD/CD/VCD/SVCD/CD-R/CD-RW/MP3. I probably wont use all of them, but its good to know that this player can play them should the need arise.

Audio CD playback - Excellent sound quality. You can have program play, random play etc, all though its on-screen menus. You have to switch on the TV in order to listen to music (at least on my standard cable setting). I haven't figured out how to bypass the TV and go straight to my mini hifi yet.

MP3 - You can program play, random play etc etc...I don't use this feature much though...

Features - plenty of useful features, especially the a time search feature. Just press the "Time Search" button on the remote and you can jump to a specific title, chapter (press TS twice) or time (press TS 3 times) in the dvd. In VCD, you have to press 1 on the remote first before playing the movie to be able to have this feature. It has "memory A-B" so you can watch your favourite scene over and over again running in a loop.

Remote control - Does the job nicely, very comfortable to hold and good buttons layout. My only comment is that some buttons are small.

Absent features - this player does not have a zoom function. What it means is that if you have a normal (full screen 4:3) TV and you want to watch a movie in widescreen format, then you can only watch it in letter box format (black bars on top and below picture) or in 16x9 format (picture appeared "stretched"). Unless of course if your 4:3 TV has a zoom function. If you have a widescreen tv, then no problem.

Others - Very slim design, easy to put anywhere. Actually my player is a gold colour DV-533k, which is the DV440 equivalent for the Asian market. The only difference is that the DV-533k has added karaoke functions. Other than that, its exactly the same as the DV440, it even share the same user manual.

Conclusion: A great all-rounder dvd player that has great pictures, sound, plays everything and lots of features. If you are a first time buyer or an average movie-lover like me, then this is MORE than good enough for you.

First, let me explain my experiences with DVD players. My first was a Sony s330, given to me a few years ago. Then a Toshiba 2109, then a Panasonic RV31 (discussed in another review below), and now this Pioneer 440. This is included so that those with some of the other models have a reference point.

The Sony, because it was my first, set the "standard" for good or bad. On my Toshiba 36in TV, which is supposed to be pretty decent, all of those players looked good. Besides the lack of component outputs and an occasional lipsync problem, the Sony was kept because its remote control was the best (though no lighted or glow-in-the-dark buttons), it has smooth FF and reverse, plus a convenient feature I'll mention later.

The Toshiba had a good image, but I hated the control (I think it has been improved in newer models), and I didn't like the jerky FF and reverse. So I sold it after almost a year.

I bought the Panasonic RV31 next, after reading many reviews on the net. It's apparently one of the few without a red-chroma bug, and its image is supposed to be very good. On my TV it did seem impressive, but I don't know if that was a placebo effect. However, it was returned because of one major problem: if I stop the movie and turn off the machine, it does not continue where it was stopped. Minor you may think, but my wife and I often watch movies late in the evening, and it's nice to continue where we left off before. Also, while it could play MP3s, it could only play them sequentially, not randomly. Kinda annoying. Also, while FF and reverse was smoother than the Toshiba, it was still inferior IMO to the Sony's. Or maybe I'm just used to the Sony.

That brings me to the Pioneer 440. Again, lots of research (its score is really high at audioreview.com), and the price is reasonable. The control is OK, not worse than the Panasonic, but I still prefer the Sony the best. Again, maybe I'm just used to it. The image is great, though again maybe it's the placebo effect. FF and reverse seems smoother than the Panasonic and close to the Sony's, if a little different. It resumes play at the same location after being stopped and turned off. Finally, it can play MP3's randomly.

If all that jabber above doesn't mean much, at least take the following advice. Unless you have a really nice HDTV (then you should get a progressive scan player!), the difference in image quality is not nearly as noticeable as remote control ergonomics and some of the convenience features. Finally, make sure the unit doesn't have any known bugs like the lipsync problem mentioned above, or problems playing certain movies.

Strengths

1. MP3 playback
Wonderful GUI Menu for MP3
Wonderful function for MP3 (random play,program play etc)

2. Video Adjust
Fine Focus, Contrast, Brigtness, Sharpness, Chroma, Hue

3. Robust DVD Mechanism
Very fast response & robust reading capability

4. Wonderful outlook design, Very slim.

5. Beautiful VFD display

6. Wonderful Picture & Sound Quality

7. And many many many many. No need to comment...

I have Pioneer DV-533K, Asian model of DV-440. I have used many DVD players, but Pioneer DV-533K is BEST. It is not a lie.

I abandoned multi-channel DTS, Dolby Digital sound and finalized to 2 channel.

I think Pioneer MP3 function is BEST. It has many unusual functions for MP3 playback. For example, MP3 navigator, random play, folder play, fast search, and etc..

VFD display information is perfect.

Audio & Video quality is excellent for the price. It has also video adjust functions.

Analog Devices ADV7172KST is used for video encoder and

Burr-Brown PCM1742 is used for audio DAC.

And it has many many functions.

I think I will use this Pioneer DVDP for very long time.

It is BEST DVD product for the price.

Great dvd player. It plays about everything I can put into it. You can't beat the price of $39.99! It even came with batteries for the remote control.

I knew Funai is a reputable company. I just trusted the good name and bought it last week. Me and my wife both are very satisfied with the quality of picture and performance. Remote is easy to use. Since my TV has only a coaxial cable input, I had to buy an RF modulator(Philips) from Walmart at $18. So I paid a total of $58.

I read a bunch of reviews on different dvd players. No matter which price range, it seemed like something could go wrong. So why not spend the least amount? For $40, this isn't a bad little machine at all...it doesn't have any fancy shmancy features, but it plays everything I put into it with no problems. I just hope it lasts :)

This is a great multi format player. So far I've been playing a lot of DVD-R's with excellent results. I was having a lot of problems with my previous JVC player.

Fantastic Video, excellent audio, heavy feature set, and looks great...but that's not why I bought it.

In the past, if you wanted max format compatibility, you had to sacrifice video quality. Sure, you can stick a slice of pizza in a Sony DVP-NS725P and it will play a Little Caesars commercial, but the video quality is horrendous. I searched high and low looking for a player that can read a wide range of formats, including DVD +R, without having to sacrifice quality...and just when I was about to give up, someone turned on a Grail shaped beacon.

Enter the Pioneer DV-563A. I dropped in every +R that I have and it played them flawlessly. No skipping, no laser chirping. It even played disks on lower quality media that were burned right to the edge. Absolutely awesome.

By the way, the specs do not advertise +R and I am using a recorder that supports bit setting so your mileage may vary.

I wonder why there isn't more interest in this player that has the unique ability to play both of the new formats. I bought mine for my mid level surround system and couldn't be more pleased.
I don't know it may compare with the $$$ players, but I find
the aural experience of SACD and DVD-A very nice for this price.