[Serow]

I'm looking for a DVD player to give to my father as a Christmas gift. With finals coming up, I don't have a lot of time to research a good model, and I would appreciate some help.

Criteria:
-Fairly cheap, under 200 USD.
-Good S-video output (Best our present TV has)
-Most important, high quality/reliability.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[gaineso]

Panasonic, JVC, Pioneer.

I've had some personal reliability issues with Sony and wouldn't buy anything Sony branded if it was on sale for 1/2 price. Too hard to get it back out of my system to be fixed, again, and again, and again.

The 3 I've mentioned all have very good products in that range and excellent reliability.

 

[Budgie]

I have had two Toshiba DVD's crap out after about 1 year each. They both died from the same problem (even though they were different models internally and externally.)

 

[chych]

Pioneer DV-343 ~$150ish

Great DVD player, great transport

'nuff said

 

[Serow]

Thanks guys, that is the sort of information that I am looking for. I am going to see how much a DV-343 is around here, if it is too expensive I will be looking for some more comments.

 

[gloco]

I dont know if its still happening, but Pioneers are known not to play certain movies, so avoid them. I have a Sony since 1998 and it works perfectly, and i use it all the time...never had a problem with it. Panasonic sounds like a good pick if you dont want a Sony.

George

 

[freethetree]

Playstation 2 baby!

 

[pearle]

I've had a Toshiba SD6200 for over a year now. Love it to death.

Make sure it's progressive scan, whatever you get.

- pearle

 

[Hirsch]

Progessive scan is only necessary if you have, or are planning to get soon, an HD-ready TV that can handle 480p (a 480 line progressive scan signal). An S-video connection will only handle 480i (480 line interlaced, which is NTSC standard), so your father will never use progressive scan unless he upgrades his TV.

 

[dhwilkin]

FWIW, my Toshiba 2200 has lasted 1 1/2 years, no problems. Though it's a bit outdated now, so that Pioneer sounds like a good option.

 

[Serow]

Looks like my mother may be a closet electronics geek. She asked me if the Panasonic DVD-R31 would be good right before I was going to tell her to buy that exact model! I read some excellent reviews of it online, and it sounds like a solid player.
Thanks for the quick replies.

 

[bpm2000]

this seems alright..
http://www.cc-inc.com/pcmall/shop/de...502&PID=227502

no progressive scan

 

[Vertigo-1]

It's outta your price range, but did you consider the Sony NS-500V? It goes for $300, but I think you can get it from Oade for just a bit over $200. If you got that, it'd be a player that'd last you for quite a well as it's a multichannel SACD/DVD/CD player with built in DTS and DD decoding, and just a ton of outputs...two of each in fact. A totally great bang for the buck player.

 

[Serow]

Thanks Vertigo, but I think we're going to pick up one of the Panasonics locally. It just makes it easier for my parents to make warranty claims etc without shipping it to a different country. I, on the other hand, might want one of those...