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I have a big DVD collection. I'm not interested in Blu-ray as I am already invested in DVD and too damn stubborn to change. For the last few years I have been watching on this beast:

I picked this metal monster up at goodwill for five bucks. I love this DVD player because it has a nice, bright LCD display and it has all the controls on the front panel (even a jog wheel). This unit sports component video out, two composite video out, s-video out, two analog stereo outputs, and digital audio via optical or coax.

This DVD player was great for listening to music as well. The extra audio outputs made this unit easy to connect to my stereo system. The LCD display and front buttons allowed me to control the CD player functions without turning on my TV set. The only drawback was that he didn't like CD-Rs.

Unfortunately, this monster is aging; he doesn't play like he used to. Every DVD and CD skips, and the DVD lens cleaner doesn't seem to fix the problem. I wish I could make it work again.

I have been shopping around for a new DVD player lately. I think my old DVD player has spoiled me. Every DVD player on the market looks like a cheap plastic piece of crap with no buttons on the unit itself, no LCD display, and insufficient outputs. It seems like all the reviews on DVD players focus on points that don't interest me at all, like maximum resolution.

Here are some of the points that really matter for me:

• LCD on the front of the unit.
• Buttons on the unit. (including up, down, left, right, play/pause, ffwrd, rewind)
• Easily connects to my speakers through analog stereo or 5.1
• Component video output
• Plays CD-Rs

Here are some points that would be nice gimmicks, but not necessary:

• Jog Wheel
• VGA or DVI output
• region-free
• Netflix
• USB
• Upscaler

Here are some points that I don't give a damn about, but aren't necessarily deal-breakers

• HDMI (Not one of my TVs or monitors has an HDMI port.)
• Blu-ray playback (I don't car if it plays Blu-rays or not as long as it plays DVDs and CD-Rs.)

What do you think Racketeers? Can you find the right DVD player for me?

I love the Jog Wheel which is pretty much obsolete on current DVD players. Any unit that has a Jog Wheel very likely is an older unit that will not upscale, if that is a concern. Most that have the Jog will have 480p component though. All the buttons are gone on newer players too, what a pain!

Just keep hitting the Thrift Stores. You can test the players out in most of them, hooking it up to display TVs. This is the best inexpensive route in trying to find a Jog Wheel unit as well as verifying certain features.

ITEMS TO BRING WITH TO TEST PLAYER
1. Component and RCA Audio cables.
2. DVDR burned movie.
3. CDR with JPGs
4. DVD Movie that is widescreen 1.85:1 ANAMORPHIC

The DVDR will confirm compatibility and a good reading laser eye. Older models do not work with DVDRs. The JPG CDR will confirm the picture slide show ease of use. If a unit can read DVDRs it will fare better at reading less then pristine movie rentals.

Probably the biggest issue for me is the Anamorphic capability which sometimes is an issue on older DVD players. My older Jog Wheel Phillips will not maximize Anamorphic movies to fill the screen, however my other DVD players do. To verify, set the player to FULL or WIDESCREEN to ensure the full use of all the TV screen. A 1.85:1 Anamorphic movie should fill the entire screen without black bars, even on a 4:3 TV. A 2.39:1 Anamorphic movie will still have black bars, but less prominent with a matched Anamorphic capable player.

EDIT
There are Jog Units that even can play DVDRDLs. I picked up a beautiful Panasonic DVD-RP56 that has a ton of buttons, Jog Wheel and of course Component 480p. Unfortunately, Anamorphic DVDs do not fill the screen, you can see the black bars on top and bottom even with a 1:85:1 Anamorphic movie. Its not bad, did bring anamorphic DVDs up with thinner black bars over non anamorphic. Something to "watch" for when trying out different DVD players.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&p=630043#p630043

samsonlonghair wrote:
Here are some of the points that really matter for me:

• LCD on the front of the unit.
• Buttons on the unit. (including up, down, left, right, play/pause, ffwrd, rewind)
• Easily connects to my speakers through analog stereo or 5.1
• Component video output
• Plays CD-Rs

Do you want these options on a new dvd player, because if so there is a good chance you'll be paying more for those options over a solid Blu-Ray player that is equipped with an internet connection.

What fits many of your criteria is a Piooneer BDP-09FD. It is an early model Bluray player that has one of the best upconverters for that time, 8 separate audio dacs (one per channel), HDMI/Component/Svideo/Composite, Front LCD, and Front buttons. Also it falls in the $200-300 range now, it was $2200 at launch.

Another feature that might be worth looking at is a USB port. Even some inexpensive new DVD players have this. This allows popping in a memory stick or USB hard drive for watching downloaded videos.

CRTGAMER wrote:Another feature that might be worth looking at is a USB port. Even some inexpensive new DVD players have this. This allows popping in a memory stick or USB hard drive for watching downloaded videos.

I think most new televisions also have at least one USB port. So convenient when sharing music with friends.

And Samson, you may want to consider looking at Blu-Ray players after all, as most "upgrade" the quality of your existing DVDs.

Thanks for all the quick replies. I knew this forum would rise to my challenge. I am going to try to address everyone here.

CRTGAMER wrote:I love the Jog Wheel which is pretty much obsolete on current DVD players. Any unit that has a Jog Wheel very likely is an older unit that will not upscale, if that is a concern. Most that have the Jog will have 480p component though. All the buttons are gone on newer players too, what a pain!

You're speaking my language here, brother.

CRTGAMER wrote:Just keep hitting the Thrift Stores. You can test the players out in most of them, hooking it up to display TVs. This is the best inexpensive route in trying to find a Jog Wheel unit as well as verifying certain features.

ITEMS TO BRING WITH TO TEST PLAYER
1. Component and RCA Audio cables.
2. DVDR burned movie.
3. CDR with JPGs
4. DVD Movie that is widescreen 1.85:1 ANAMORPHIC

The DVDR will confirm compatibility and a good reading laser eye. Older models do not work with DVDRs. The JPG CDR will confirm the picture slide show ease of use. If a unit can read DVDRs it will fare better at reading less then pristine movie rentals.

Thanks for the tip concerning DVDRs. I don't think I own any pirated DVDs, but I'll look into it. I don't think anamorphic is a great concern to me. For instance, I've been on an Indiana Jones marathon the last four nights. The THX sound is awesome in 5.1, but the video is presented in super-widescreen with black bars at the top and bottom. I don't think the movies would look right if I stretched them to fill up the whole screen.

CRTGAMER wrote:There are Jog Units that even can play DVDRDLs. I picked up a beautiful Panasonic DVD-RP56 that has a ton of buttons, Jog Wheel and of course Component 480p. Unfortunately, Anamorphic DVDs do not fill the screen, you can see the black bars on top and bottom even with a 1:85:1 Anamorphic movie. Its not bad, did bring anamorphic DVDs up with thinner black bars over non anamorphic. Something to "watch" for when trying out different DVD players.
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&p=630043#p630043