Topic: Your Thoughts on....

[addicted2dvd]

Well looks like I will have to pick up a new player tomorrow when I head over to Walmart. Unfortunately I need to get something fairly cheap. I already checked their site and they have 3 I can look for... I would like your thoughts on the following players... Which should I pick...

MAGNAVOX MWD7006

PHILIPS DVP5140/37 (Rating of only 1 and a half stars scares me!)

PHILIPS DVP3960/37 (No real info on this one at the site.

not sure what the /37 is on the 2 Philips players... but that is how they have it listed on walmart.com. and of course this is all taking it that they will be at my local walmart. but wanted to hear opinions on these players... especially if anyone has any of them.

Or if you have any suggestions for a good player in the $40 to $50 range... that would be appreciated as well.

[Touti]

Except for the 1st Phillips, they don't give much information about them.  They have nothing for the 2nd Phillips and I think that their details on the Magnavox is incomplete.  I would be very surprised if a player that supports all the disc types only supported DivX format and not MP3, WAV, WMA etc.

I guess you'll know when you get there and start comparing the specs on the boxes.

[m666]

Not sure what you're looking for in a player, but K-mart (surprise)
had some pretty cheap, (under 100) dvd players,
many of which had optical sound out, and/or digital video out

[Touti]

You could also try your local bestbuy, they have a few models under 50$ and a Toshiba on sale at 59.99$, a little bit more than the prices you mentioned but in my opinion it's worth the extra 10$ to get Toshiba quality over Magnavox and Phillips.

[addicted2dvd]

Thanks... will see what I can do... not sure if there is a local Best Buy here... but will check the website to see if one is not to far away.

[rp_63]

i don't know if it matters to you or not, but some of the more inexpensive dvd players can be "hacked" by a simple set of keypresses from a remote to make them region free. Take a look here
http://dvd365.net/ and here is a link to a "hack" for the philips dvp3960/37  http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/textthread.php?catid=18&threadid=716330&print=1
it's down a little ways on the page.
 
This hack was successfully applied to the Philips DVP5960/37 to make it "region-free".
It is the same hack as with the Philips DVP5140:
1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
5. Enter 138931
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
9. Press "OK" on the remote

Rob

[frizzlefryd]

I own a Philips DVP5960/37 and have had no trouble with it. The main reason for my owing it is that it supports Divx, Xvid, Mpeg and several other video formats. The DVD tray feels a little flimsy IMO, but I picked it up for like $40 on sale, so no complaints from me.

[addicted2dvd]

i don't know if it matters to you or not, but some of the more inexpensive dvd players can be "hacked" by a simple set of keypresses from a remote to make them region free. Take a look here
http://dvd365.net/ and here is a link to a "hack" for the philips dvp3960/37  http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/textthread.php?catid=18&threadid=716330&print=1
it's down a little ways on the page.
 
This hack was successfully applied to the Philips DVP5960/37 to make it "region-free".
It is the same hack as with the Philips DVP5140:
1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
5. Enter 138931
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
9. Press "OK" on the remote

Rob

This type of thing for me is a nice feature but not something that is necessary since I only have R1 DVDs in my collection (except 1 that was given to me that sucked!)  So if what I end up with it is available that is cool... but not necessary.

[addicted2dvd]

I own a Philips DVP5960/37 and have had no trouble with it. The main reason for my owing it is that it supports Divx, Xvid, Mpeg and several other video formats. The DVD tray feels a little flimsy IMO, but I picked it up for like $40 on sale, so no complaints from me.

Thanks... I appreciate the info!

[rp_63]

It's killing me!    What one did you get?

[addicted2dvd]

LOL... Dang... forgot to get back to this didn't I? 

Well due to some problems I didn't have much of a choice... I am not driving at the moment do to vision problems... so I had to depend on my brother... he picked me up late and could only go to Walmart. All they had in stock in my price range was a Philips DVP5140... but for only $40 I figured why not... I would give it a go so he could get back to what he was doing.

This is the one that had the rating of 1 and a half stars...but reading the complaints I haven't had any of the trouble the first person talked of... and the second person's complaint don't really bother me... that being the play and pause is all on 1 button. No big deal to me since I seldomly use the pause button anyway. It did take me a bit to find the fast forward/Rewind and how to get the resume to work.. but I been using the player all weekend... and don't have any complaints at all.

[addicted2dvd]

i don't know if it matters to you or not, but some of the more inexpensive dvd players can be "hacked" by a simple set of keypresses from a remote to make them region free. Take a look here
http://dvd365.net/ and here is a link to a "hack" for the philips dvp3960/37  http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/textthread.php?catid=18&threadid=716330&print=1
it's down a little ways on the page.
 
This hack was successfully applied to the Philips DVP5960/37 to make it "region-free".
It is the same hack as with the Philips DVP5140:
1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
5. Enter 138931
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
9. Press "OK" on the remote

Rob

BTW.... went ahead and tried this... and it worked perfectly!

[Touti]

I wish I didn't buy a Sony system......can't be hacked 

[Telecine]

I wish I didn't buy a Sony system......can't be hacked 

Not necessarily. Check here:

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

[Touti]

Unfortunately the only hack posted there is how to get to the system menu but there's nothing in it that shows how to make it region free.