Page 1 of Which DVD Player For My Budget

Hi there,

I have around £300 to spend on a DVD Player but no idea which to buy.

I am more concerned about high quality picture and sound for the player, moreso than features such as VCD, SVCD, MP3 etc...

I will be using it mainly to play DVDs and audio CDs so being able to play CDRs would be nice but not a nescessity.

Also VCD, SVCD, MP3 would be nice but not first priority.

So bottom line is excellent picture and sound for £300 or less and the other features after

What do you reccomend and also are there any other good places to buy other than Dixons, Currys, Comet etc...

Thanks for any help.

I don`t really have much of an idea about what DVD player to buy for the £300 you have but going by posts from others I`d give www.richersounds.com (or .co.uk I`m not sure) a try as they seem to sell off hi-spec stuff at good prices. I also think that it might be a good idea to have a look at the site clayts has recommended .Try posting a new message titled "Help needed clayts" or something like that. The site gives you some excellent reviews of some of the popular makes on sale at the moment. HTH

....isn`t this blatant advertising? On another thread RoydMP admits he`s from afterhours (and promotes a couple of products, too). Now I know he`s trying to help, but I feel the suggestions *may* have a certain bias.

The original poster asked about a DVD player - not a sound package too. I`m sure there are players in the £300 range that will do things better than the Kiro - how about the Marantz DV4100SE, or even the Toshiba 220 (which can be got for around £150 multiregion, in fact). Also the new Philips Q50 is meant to be a bit of a belter, too - £250 from http://www.hifibitz.co.uk

This item was edited on Thursday, 4th July 2002, 08:11

Hi there,

For top performance, the Pioneer DVD646A is a cracking, understated player boasting excellent spec and spot on replay.

It also has DVD Audio, though don`t get excited as there`s about as much chance of finding decent software as there is of VHS making a comeback!

You can get it from here; http://www.homecinemaheaven.com for £299 multiregion.

Or try this, http://www.qed-uk.com/?i=OO09Z0TA-zZ0&bg=114&bp=700s&v=8 another great player, this time with SACD. Better than DVD Audio, but again, not a lot of software!

Both are great alternatives to the Tosh Richard mentions above, though in all fairness if you want to think with your wallet, you can`t go far wrong than the Tosh, available for peanuts at http://www.unbeatable.co.uk.

Good luck!

Westy

Thx for the help guys...

I`m gonna go for the Philips Q50, unbeatable.co.uk seems to be the best price at £239 unless you know of a cheaper price?

Also what sort of scart cable should I buy, just a cheap one from dixons
or a more expensive one?

Thx.


Forgot to add:
In some reviews it says the Q50 isn`t multiregion but the shops say it is, will i need a "hack" or will it be ready for any region straight out of the box.

This item was edited on Thursday, 4th July 2002, 23:16

No, get a good scart lead. Get a BTech ribbon one from http://www.beyondhifi.net - £12-£15 delivered (depending on length). Probably not that different in price from a "cheap" one from Dixons.
Here`s a review of the Q50 http://www.whatvideotv.com/testbench/DVDPlayers/Philips/PhilipsDVD-Q50.shtml
I`d also consider Westy`s suggestions seriously.
Q50 hack - no problem - it`s here on this very site : http://www.dvd.reviewer.co.uk/info/multiregion/hackable.asp?Page=19

Ive been looking into them a bit more now and im really not sure :/

I know I said £300 but that was at a very maximum really so does the Pioneer one justify the extra price?

Sony one seems reasonable at £200 at Richer Sounds

BTW, that Philips Q50 hack you need either a special remote control or palm top, I don`t have either and wouldnt be able to make one so I have to go out and buy some special remote control to make it multiregion?

Surely if unbeatable.co.uk describe it as a multiregion DVD Player, its multiregion straight out of the box otherwise its false advertising? Or is this not the case?

If you want great sound as well as pictures, you`ll find the Multi-Region enabled SONY DVP-NS700 (available for £199.00 down fom £400 from Richer Sounds and a few other on-line reatilers) just the ticket. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and it`s great!! Plays DVD-R`s CDR`s, CD-RW`s and SACD`s, comes equipped with a very high quality DD/DTS decoder and will output a 24bit/96hz digital signal from it`s coax/optical Digital out socket so playing DAD discs into an outboard DAC is also a possibility.

The picture is excellent if not quite up to the level of Toshibas on detail (still, it`s better than just about anything else) and I haven`t yet found a disc that causes problems (unlike Toshiba...).

The sound is also excellent. On CD it`s as good as a £2-300 player and on SACD it`s simply awesome... Check out the review in Hifi-Choice - you should find it on-line through Google.

Short of spending mega-money, it`s got to be the player of the moment. Nice remote control too...

Good luck!