[ranmart]

My PS2 is not working and my dvd player is skiping the dvd's.What is the best bottom of the line dvd player I just need something with a good picture and good loading tray.I dont care about the sound in movies just on cd's.Thanks in advance ranmart

By bottom of the line I mean less then $250 canadian I'am just starting my new job and don't have a lot of money yet but need a player now.Thanks

[Tonto Yoder]

Tried cleaning the player and discs??  I use the Optrix spray on discs that don't play right, especially ones borrowed from the library. It often works.

I also use a Radio Shack lens cleaner for the player.

[bubba966]

I'd look at Pioneers & Sonys for a player in that price range.

The entry level Pioneers have a bit better picture than the Sonys. And the Pioneers will usually play dirty & scratched discs a bit better.

Either companies entry level DVDP will certainly be a step up from a PS2. You can't really go wrong with either.

[rosconey]

AVOID LOWER PRICED SONY'S, they dont last(do a search at audio review, sony's dont last), i have a 2 year old toshiba that works darn good for 149$

[Carlman]

I agree the Pioneer would be a great choice.  I'll never buy another cheap Sony product... which probably means I won't buy Sony.  Their cheap stuff (sub-$500) really took a nose dive in the mid-to-late 90's.  From what I can tell it hasn't gotten any better.

Pioneer products on the other hand, have improved in quality many times since the late 80's and 90's.  I never would've thought I'd recommend a Pioneer anything.... but, I've got the 444 model DVD player and it's solid.  It replaced the Sony 560D.  The Pioneer has better picture quality and sound quality... and hasn't had a single issue.

Toshiba is also a good brand but, I don't have as much knowledge of their current lineup's quality.

Good luck.
-Carl

[BikeWNC]

I agree with Carlman.  I also have a Pioneer DV440.  Though I have never used it for video, it does make for a good transport.  Especially when modded by Dan Wright.  

Andy

[byteme]

If you can still find one try a Panasonic CP72 - it's a 5 disc changer and it is essentially the same as the RP82 single disc which scored the highed rating ever for video on a DVD shootout.  I hooked up some friends with it for $170 US after rebate.  You WILL NOT find a better DVD player for video.

[BlackCat]

I, too, recommend a Toshiba.  Have had no problems with mine (2.5 years old), still plays great and sounds pretty good (never sounded GREAT).  But for the price....

[Thump553]

I got a five DVD Onyko (sp?) carousel refurbished from OneCall for $99 US a few months ago and its fine.  They run this deal every once in a while.

One warning-the dang thing is pretty big, check the dimensions first.

Another warning-if try to use the carousel to its fullest capacity, avoid the Big Gulp sodas unless you have an empty container nearby.

[Sa-dono]

If you can still find one try a Panasonic CP72 - it's a 5 disc changer and it is essentially the same as the RP82 single disc which scored the highed rating ever for video on a DVD shootout.  I hooked up some friends with it for $170 US after rebate.  You WILL NOT find a better DVD player for video.

You obviously haven't heard of the fli2300 chip

[hoxuanduc]

I auditioned the Sony ns-500v and 775 a while back.  Both are great machines for the money.  In stock form, 775 is better than 500v (it's also more detail than the B&K 307's internal DAC I had at the time).  I ended up keeping the 500v for convenience (DVD/CD/SACD) and had it modded by Ric Shultz.

I prefer it to the Philips SACD 1000 (more dynamic & transparent, a bit more analytical though)

[byteme]

You obviously haven't heard of the fli2300 chip

Wrong.     It's the next generation of the chip in the RP82 and CP72, supposed to do video scaling (ala RP91) as well as great video.  However I wasn't under the impression that chip was shipping in any products yet.  I'm also not under the impression that any player it would be shipping in would be under the $250 canadian cost mark.  Besides, from what I've heard the only real difference in the chipset is the addition of the scaling so video it shouldn't be too much different than the current chip that way.

[JoshK]

I never use the scaling feature of my RP91 as I have scaling on my plasma.

[Sa-dono]

You obviously haven't heard of the fli2300 chip

Wrong.     It's the next generation of the chip in the RP82 and CP72, supposed to do video scaling (ala RP91) as well as great video.  However I wasn't under the impression that chip was shipping in any products yet.  I'm also not under the impression that any player it would be shipping in would be under the $250 canadian cost mark.  Besides, from what I've heard the only real difference in the chipset is the addit ...

Well at least I was right that you didn't realize that it was shipping in any products..so there were products with a better picture. And isn't $250 Canadian like 1 Dollar? Okay...cheap shots at the Canadians aside...there are quite a few products that are out there with the fli2300 chip, and it does scale up to 720p and 1080i (something the RP91 does not do..so you're mistaken again). If you feel that makes no difference then so be it.

[ZooDog]

I have two Panasonic RP-62's and they work great.  You can probably find one for $100 US.

[byteme]

Well at least I was right that you didn't realize that it was shipping in any products..so there were products with a better picture. And isn't $250 Canadian like 1 Dollar? Okay...cheap shots at the Canadians aside...there are quite a few products that are out there with the fli2300 chip, and it does scale up to 720p and 1080i (something the RP91 does not do..so you're mistaken again). If you feel that makes no difference then so be it.

What's with the burning need to be right?  You certianly make a great first impression...

[audioengr]

I would highly recommend the $139 Pioneer player being offered by Audio Advisor.  It has 24/96 DAC's inside that are superb.  Pioneer really keeps up with the technology treadmill, offering more new products than any other manufacturer.  With mods, this player is among the best.

[Sa-dono]

What's with the burning need to be right?  You certianly make a great first impression...

Just correcting the untrue information of, "You WILL NOT find a better DVD player for video." If you stated it as opinion, or that it is certainly one of the best DVD players for video, and maybe included a link to Secret's comparison, then that would be one thing. When I read statements like yours I just have to

[shokunin]

The Panny RP82 and some of the others I believe had DCDi chip.  However, the fli2200 chip is used only for deinterlacing.  Majority of DVDs don't do any scaling besides scaling from 480i to 480p.  Better DVD players do proper deinterlacing from 480i to 480p using chips like the fli2200.   Nowadays the cheaper DVD players have all-in-one superchips, that do mpg decoding and video processing in a single chip vs. separate mpg decoding and FLI2x00 based deinterlacing chips.

I believe the DVD consortium does not want DVD players to scale the dvd to anything higher than 480p.  I haven't seen any off-the-shelf non-modded DVD players that scale DVD"s to anything higher than 480p.

The Fli2300 chip (used in some scalers and projectors) can scale 1080i  HD material (simple bob/weave), but it does not properly deinterlace 1080i material using inverse telecine and other more advanced methods.

[byteme]

What's with the burning need to be right?  You certianly make a great first impression...

Just correcting the untrue information of, "You WILL NOT find a better DVD player for video." If you stated it as opinion, or that it is certainly one of the best DVD players for video, and maybe included a link to Secret's comparison, then that would be one thing. When I read statements like yours I just have to

Sorry, I didn't know I needed to qualify the statement with anything other than the context of the orginal post where he was looking for a <$250 canadian player.  

In the intrest of full disclosure...  I've read the product brief for the FLI2300 previously and it sounds to be a great chip.  However according to the Shootout "At the time of this writing, Genesis has just released a new chip, the FLI2300, which contains all of the features of the FLI2200 plus the video “enhancement” features of the FLI2220 (an edge and detail enhancement chip that we are not entirely fond of), plus scaling features that will allow scaling SD video to HD resolutions, as well as aspect ratio control for non-anamorphic discs."  So, arguably, the FLI2200 may still end up having a better picture.  They are the folks the scored the RP82 at 91 - the highest rating ever ( http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=5 ).  However, that player isn't around anymore other than used or people gouging for it on ebay.  So, based on the fact that you can still (maybe) find a CP72 which has the same chipset as the RP82 - that's why I said you won't find a better player for video.  What I should have said was "based on your criteria you probably won't find a better player than the CP72 for video.  There are new player being produced all the time with 'better and more' features so you could wait for one of those.  However, be warned that in that case that you may never ever buy a player because something new will always be coming along."  My bad for not putting it that way to begin with.  However, I will stand by the original statement that for <$250 canadian, brand new, is there a better player - video wise - out there right now?  You stated this is untrue but haven't yet contributed anything worthwile to the orginal poster about a decent DVD player the fits his criterea.  All you seem interested in doing is making sarcastic comments about other peoples posts.