Sub £20 DVD players - current offers (merged)

seth

mondeo wrote:

Hello, I have a number of Divx films on my computer. How do I then put these on a DVD to use in this player and watch on my TV ? - can I use Nero to do this ?

You could convert the Divx AVI files to DVDs, but I'd advise against this

1) It is complex and error prone even if you do things right
2) It is slow, very time consuming
3) The process produces poor quality images at best

The reason for this is that DivX and Xvid encoded AVI files contain an MPEG4 video. DVDs are very old format MPEG2.

A better options is to simply burn the AVI files to a Data disc (CD, DVD etc) I'd recommend using a rewriteable one, using Nero, or the software that came with your drive / PC. This data disc can be read by any DivX/Xvid DVD player (these players play regualr DVDs, PC and MAC data discs with AVI, JPEG, MP3 etc)

Lidl have an DivX certified DVD Player on offer from the 12th November including 7 slot card reader for an amazing £19.99 I'd recommend that.

If you have a lot of AVI files you might want to consider a DVD Player with WIFI support so you can read the files over your wireless network (or ethernet / copper network) Brands Like KISS range are very good, around £99 for the player and WIFI card.

Where possible try and get a Player with MPEG4 and DivX Certified, the KISS and Lidl ones are, these will play the widest range of encoded AVIs. If you have an AVI that player on your PC and not on a DivX/Xvid MPeg4 player check the encoding with a program like the freeware GSpot Program.

Some DivX player (like the ones from Ebuyer made by H&B) have a USB port where you can plug in a USB Hard disk.

bagand96

The Argos Acoustic Solutions one will be Region 2 (Europe) only. However, all DVD players are manufactured with multi region capability, just a software setting that makes them region specific. Even better is that nearly all can be changed via a "hack" through the remote control.

I won't post any links, because I don't know where I stand posting such information. Google it and its not hard to find. I've done it with the 3 DVD players in my house with no problems Amazon.co.uk actively publish the remote control hacks on the "multiregion capable" DVD players they sell so it can't be that wrong!

seth

adr0ck wrote:

.. (W)hat does progressive scan mean(?)

From a consumers viewpoint: It is a nice feature to have on a DVD player, and may improve you picture now and into the future.

The reason for Progressive scan is because televisions create their images by scanning lines of light on the CRT face, left to right, top to bottom, to produce a picture over the entire screen, tradionally these are "drawn" odd lines first, then even: Interlaced.



Sources which are truly progressive in nature are hard to come by right now basically High definition only! DVDs are not true sources of progressive scan, only HD output (eg. SKY-HD, XBox 350-HD, Sony PS3 -HD) there is nothing much in the UK at present.



Movies on DVD are decoded by the player as interlaced fields. All of the film's original frames are there, but they are just divided into "halves", so the progressive scan feature of the DVD recombines the halves.



It is a nice feature to have on a DVD player.

More info here:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_7_4/dvd-benchmark-part-5-progressive-10-2000.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_scan

redfox

There was a DVD player at £19.98 in Tescos today, big stack of them too. Didn't look too long because I already have enough players but I did notice it said Progressive Scan and I think it said multi region but can't be sure on that.

seth

bagand96 wrote:

The Argos Acoustic Solutions one will be Region 2 (Europe) only. However, all DVD players are manufactured with multi region capability, just a software setting that makes them region specific. Even better is that nearly all can be changed via a "hack" through the remote control.

I won't post any links, because I don't know where I stand posting such information. Google it and its not hard to find. I've done it with the 3 DVD players in my house with no problems Amazon.co.uk actively publish the remote control hacks on the "multiregion capable" DVD players they sell so it can't be that wrong!

There is no problem by-passing the region code settings on a DVD Player.

Retailer in the UK (e.g. Sainburys, Asda, Richer sounds, etc) sell units that are not locked to a specfic region. Some unlocked units cost more than locked units, this is just a marketing ploy in most cases. It is a ligitmate practice where the retailer need to modify the players hardware, however most players are unlocked by a code on the remote, so paying £10 extra to unlock a locked player seems a bit of a con IMHO.

There are many legitimate reasons to unlock a DVD player to make it multi region. You can do this for example to play a disc from another region not available in the UK (region 2)

To find how to to this for you player,

1) got to www.vcdhelp.com, this is one of the best video sites on the web along with Doom9 IMHO,
2) click on the DVD Players section on the left
3) use the search screen to find you player the link is here
4) read the reviews for you player, there is a section for remote unloking etc..

The reasons for region coding where designed by the movie companies over 10 years ago so they could control the release of titles accross the regions. But with other pressures the release schedules are much tigher now .

If you want to purchase LEGAL DVDs region one DVD, using a scheme approved by HM customers and excise, and shipped entirely buy the Royal Mail from a bonded warehouse, so they are VAT exempt under personal import rules try http://www.dvdboxoffice.com/. Their prices include shipping worldwide I order and get discs within 3 days in the UK. They also ships large orders in bits so you will not have to pay VAT on items less than the threshold value for the law (I think this is around £17.99)

This is not illegal companies like 7day shop and mymemory do this for camera and computer kits, these 2 operations are based in the CI.

Hope this helps.

madmumatuk

I've just seen the same dvd player on Ebay for £9.99. I don't know what price it will finish at, but it's worth trying!

netlang

Look at this baby then...

EKE Karaoke DVD/VCD/MP3/CD/ Player

The EKE Karaoke DVD player with remote has a 5.1 audio chann..

Retail Price £29.38 inc. - Saving £10.64 £15.95 exc, £18.74 inc.

I saw this at http://www.aria.co.uk/specials.asp

rinkrat

I can confirm that the argos DVD is multi region out of the box ( no hack is required ) I have one of these bought last christmas and one 2 weeks ago !

Good DVD for price IMHO and no messing around for a hack !

RinkRat

swood75729

Can anyone suggest a good DVD recorer/palyer that Plays formats: DVD-RW/DVD+RW/DVD/DVD Audio/Audio CD CD-R/CDRW/
MP3 playback/JPEG picture and supports DivX and Xvid encoded AVI files

Thank goodness for this forum I was just about to buy one from currys but didn't know that I wanted the DivX thingy

Any help greatly appreciated

fi3007

Yesterday I bought a £19.99 Alba DVD player from Sainsburys - you'll also get your nectar points (and of course additional points if you have Amex nectar card).
DVD/CD/CD-RW
DVD 65 Player Super Slim
Works fine