Page 1 of Need help finding a reasonably priced dvd player.

I`ve been thinking of buying my parents a dvd player for Xmas. It needn`t be too fancy (confusion limitation!), but I want one that`s not too expensive but is hackable etc!

I got a cheap Schneider last year (£99.95) so I`m looking along the lines of something like that.

Cheers.

I`m probably starting to sound like a broken record now, but you could do a heck of a lot worse than the Alba 114, available from some Argos stores for £69.99. You`ll have to ask for it by name, though, since Argos have several Alba players under the same order code (108, 108Xi, 109 and 114).

I`ve had my 114 for a couple of months and I`m very pleased with it. It`s multi-region (and RCE compatible) out of the box, and it supports DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-R/RW; plays MP3, SVCD, VCD and "mini-DVD"; and has RGB SCART/S-Video/composite video outputs alongside both optical and coaxial digital outs.

On the downside, it doesn`t let you disable Macrovision and the remote is a bit on the cheap side, but for the money it`s superb.

If you can`t get hold of the 114, the Bush 2024 is identical and is available from larger Tesco branches.

Mike

This item was edited on Saturday, 14th December 2002, 14:50

hi i agree buythe alba ive had mine for 3 months and think it great for £69.99 from argos plus i recieved a £5-00 voucher at the time i have no problems it does play all regions etc regards peter.

I reckon buying a multiregion player of Amazon could be a good idea and there are still 4 days left for guaranteed xmas delivery here`s some good priced players at Amazon from £80:

JVC XV-S302 is £100 plays all formats

Pioneer DV350 £120 good reviews on the site, but doesn`t seem to play SVCD/VCD which probably won`t matter if it is for your parents

PanasonicDVD-RV32EBS £120 doesn`t play VCD either, but all the others MP3 etc

Toshiba SD220e £120 will play everything including the kitchen sink, excellent player with was won a string of awards.

Toshiba SD120e £100 won`t play MP3 unlike the others but is in the £100 budget if you can`t spend more.

SVA D-1800 £80 plays anything like the SD220, but you`d be taking a gamble with the brand as they have no reputation, wouldn`t go for it myself.

Id check with the Pioneer DV350 as i have the old 340 and that has no probs playing the svcd`s and so on. Doubt the insides changed that much just addition of RGB scart and bit better build.


If you wanna stretch a bit more then get on the bandwagon and buy the Toshiba SD220E from Richersounds at £120 - -bargain for a player that defnitely does everything for the budget player.

CS

it not really to do with pricing i`ve just bought a alba 114 and i put the region free hack in and the movie i used is greenmile region 1 but i played in black and white and i have region 2 movies the colour is ok please help me...

This item was edited on Saturday, 28th December 2002, 13:24

I have no knowledge of this particular machine but the problem you have seems to be universal in that you are watching a NTSC (R1) disc with a PAL (R2) output. In your Set-UpMenu you need to check that the output for TV settings is set to Auto which will automatically (obviously) switch from PAL to NTSC and vice-versa whenever you play a disc. If you cannot set it to Auto (unlikely) then you need to change it manually to NTSC before watching a R1 disc.
Hope this helps.
Aslan

"it not really to do with pricing i`ve just bought a alba 114 and i put the region free hack in and the movie i used is greenmile region 1 but i played in black and white and i have region 2 movies the colour is ok please help me..."

Your TV is not NTSC compatible, hence the lack of colour.

Go into the Display menu and set "Preferred Video Standard" to PAL, rather than Content Specific. This will make sure that all NTSC DVDs are output as PAL 60Hz, which your TV should support.

Another option is to use a RGB connection, provided that one of your TV`s SCART sockets is RGB compatible. Just connect a fully-wired SCART lead between the player and the TV.

Mike