Page 1 of Need advice on what player to buy

I`ve been looking around the web for awhile now, trying to find a good, quality DVD-player (not one of those cheap budget variants) that has good audio & picture quality, and preferably has a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder. I`ve also been thinking of the support for CD-R playback, but is it really worth it? I would use it for VCD`s, but maybe it`s no real idea?

In the beginning, I was looking at Sony`s players, but when I discovered that they can`t play CD-R`s I instead started looking more closely at the Pioneer DV-530, but this one doesn`t have a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder.

The amp i`ve got now is a really really really old Technics one, so I guess I really need a built-in DD 5.1 decoder on the DVD-player. Or maybe I`m better off buying a player without a decoder, and then I buy a new amp afterwards?

Anyway I`m lost, and I thought that maybe someone here can help me, since many of you have players of your own, so you know what you`re talking about. What player would you recommend?

This item was edited on Tuesday, 14th November 2000, 18:50

Sorry I only have a budget player myself.

But have you tried ?:
http://www.techtronics.com/
http://www.unbeatable.co.uk/
they might help. They both seem to have a good range of players.
Techtronics also have user comments on most pages.
(I am not affiliated with any of these. Prap`s I should be, might be sum money in it ;-))

When you say CD-R do you mean CD-RW or VCD perhaps? I thought that a burned CD-R would play on almost anything that supported the format i.e. audio or video, etc. e.g. My cheap CD player can play an audio CD-R, but it doesn`t mention it in the specification. I have noticed that manufacturers have started listing support for CD-R, but I think this is the same as when car manufacturers started putting 16V in the specs of cars, that had the feature already.
Also to make matters worse there is more than one version of VCD and SVCD!
CD-RW on the other hand only works where there is specific support for it.
I am sure that this will be true of DVD-R, which will probably play in most DVD players. DVD-RAM will probably be similar to CD-RW requiring specific support.
The rare issues that occur are sometimes caused by the dyes that are used in CD-R media.
If I am wrong, someone please correct me.

The problem is caused by manufacturers mixing formats with media types.

I opted for a budget player that supported most formats DVD, VCD, SVCD, CD-DA, MP3, (Media - DVD, CD, CD-R & CD-RW), rather than a quality player that doesn`t. It does warn me not to use DVD-RAM or PHOTO-CD. It doesn`t however support HDCD.

U pays yer money...................

This item was edited on Tuesday, 14th November 2000, 19:22