[rockadanny]

I don't even have a digital TV yet, but I will (some day ). BUT, my old DVD player (Progressive Scan, baby!) died so time to replace. I never will have > 2 audio channels or an HT receiver/processor, and my preamp only has RCA inputs (wish to connect DVD player to it). And I am more interested in sound quality than picture quality, but don't necessarily want to crap up the picture on my some day in the future HD TV either (whenever I do get one). I mostly watch music videos ... not MTV-type videos, but DVDs like the one I just got for my birthday, Anita O'Day's "Life of a Jazz Singer". (And I cannot even watch it since player broke! )

Any suggestions? Budget $500 (new/used).

[low.pfile]

The default answer always is the OPPO. OPPO BDP-83 retails for $500 online.

There are many audio reviews on the BDP-83 and the newer BDP-83SE

[rockadanny]

low - Thanks for the suggestion.

Anyone - I live in Atlanta ... do I need **REGION-FREE** playback of DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs?

Everyone - Any other suggestions (comparable or better) out there if I do not get an Oppo?

[tabrink]

Yamaha DD S2700 Get them on sleasebay less than $200 brand new. This unit was $999 a couple of years ago. Superb SACD player.   

[Elizabeth]

You would ONLY need a 'region free' player IF you planned on buying bootleg DVDs or DVD for other countries.. region like Japan, or Australia, or Europe.
"regions' ONLY apply to DVDs and Blu Ray. Any DVDs or Blu Ray for sale in stores in America are ALL region '1' (North America) or '0' zero, no region, which can play anywhere.
CDs and SACD do not have regions and you can buy a CD or SACD made anywhere in the world and it will play.
If a friend said you need a 'region free' player it is not needed. Except if you plan on buying those items from regions other than 1 North America sales, or '0' which is any region (documentaries are often region 0).
If you buy DVD or BluRay from Amazon, the page will  mention which region it is for if not North America. So it is easy to avoid wrong region DVDs and Blu Ray.
As for player: Oppo is good for DVd via HDMI
For 2 channel... bunch of used players are good at $200 up. Denon 3910 is used around $225 to $300.

[ricmon]

If you are only interested in DVD play back and not HD (bulray) then look for deck that up-samples such as the defunct HD-DVD.  If you can find one of  those or an en-expensive bluray player you get a deck that up-samples standard DVD's for better picture and music.

good luck
Ric

[Elizabeth]

Nearly all current DVD universal players upsample now. ONly used players from more than three or four years old will not upsample.
All Blu Ray capable players  upsample DVD.

[lcrim]

I still have this, boxed and sitting in the closet.  http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82739.0
It still plays DVD's but its really a nice CD player.  Non-etched and musical.  I actually have three of these, this one is the best sounding.

[BobC]

I use to have an Arcam DV78.  Great DVD player and CD player.  Think I sold it for about $300.

[Dan Driscoll]

The default answer always is the OPPO. OPPO BDP-83 retails for $500 online.

There are many audio reviews on the BDP-83 and the newer BDP-83SE

Big dittos on the BDP-83, for $500 new it simply can't be beat, IMO.

[Demarche]

I'll 2nd the Arcam DV-78  . I just picked one up for <$250 and it's a great unit.

[silver_strings]

I just got a panny bd85 blu-ray player which has analog outs for 5.1, the analog should sound  much better than audio passed through HDMI, It cost me 138 on fleabay Im getting it next week.

[mix4fix]

Denon DVD-2910
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82742.msg797503#msg797503

Panasonic DVD-S35
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=82374.0

[ctviggen]

I just got a panny bd85 blu-ray player which has analog outs for 5.1, the analog should sound  much better than audio passed through HDMI

Why would that be? 

[rockadanny]

Anyone know is these Yamahas are real, fakes, or gray market, from seller "usabargaindeals"?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yamaha-Dvd-s2700-Dvd-Player-HDMI-1080p-HUGE-BARGAIN-/280537920068?pt=DVD_Players_Recorders

[Bemopti123]

Anyone know is these Yamahas are real, fakes, or gray market, from seller "usabargaindeals"?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yamaha-Dvd-s2700-Dvd-Player-HDMI-1080p-HUGE-BARGAIN-/280537920068?pt=DVD_Players_Recorders

He seems to be hawking Yamaha grey market goods.  When he writes "warranty" it does not say whether it is from the manufacturer or simply an "exchange policy" where you pay the shipping and I doubt that you will get the same machine but some sort of credit. 

NEVERTHELESS, Yamaha warranties I think are about 1 year and if you get more than 1 year's worth of play time with the DVD player, then all is good.  BUT, it still entails a risk. 

My last Yamaha 5 CD charger lasted me from 1993 to 2005.  It was used and abused extensively but I do not know whether the new Yamahas are as reliable or durable. 

[mchuckp]

If you want bluray and good sound quality, you can't go wrong with the Oppo.  Plays EVERYTHING.  The best DVD upconversion I have seen personally.  If you don't care about bluray and just want DVD, try and score a used Oppo DVD player.  The one thing I really like about the Oppo bluray player is that is has 2 DACs.  One for multi-channel and one for 2-channel and thus has dedicated 2 channel outputs when that is your preference.

There are plenty of "pretty good" units around and about by many manufacturers.  Just hard to beat Oppo for the money.

I had the BDP83 stock version for about a year and had it upgraded to the SE version.

[ctviggen]

My only problem with the SE version -- and this may not apply to the original poster -- is that the DACs are useless if you have to output via HDMI for multi-channel and don't care about two channel (which I don't, since I don't listen to CDs; all my music is ripped to FLAC).  I looked at the guide for the OPPO, and it does not accept an input where the rear speakers are a larger distance away from the listening position than the front speakers are.  That's how my system is set up, and Oppo recommends having a receiver do the processing, which means HDMI, which means the upgraded SE version isn't useful in my situation.

[TheChairGuy]

Nearly anything made in the past 4 years will do (the newest tends to sound the best with advances in digital audio...and video)

Add a Dakiom feedback stabilizer and an isolation transformer and you have the makings of great audio and video for cheap.

A $49 COBY DVD player and $300 Cambridge (which additionally has DVD-A which I like) sound stellar (and this from the Facilitator of the Vinyl Circle )

John

[rockadanny]

All wonderful suggestions to date. Thank you all.

Got a aline on a cheapo used unit whose review stated:

Without this HDMI audio capability you'll be limited to hearing only the downconverted output over the optical Toslink connection. DD+ or TrueHD signals are decoded and converted to PCM in the player. This PCM signal is then re-encoded as a 1.5 Mbps DTS bitstream, which is then output over the Toslink connection and decoded yet again from DTS to (ultimately) analog by your AVR or pre/pro. This is bad news for those who are still without a DTS decoder in their AVR. They'll be stuck listening to downmixed analog two-channel output from the legacy RCA jacks.

Will the resulting audio sound bad coming from the RCA jacks of this unit (plugged into my preamp)? (Do not have an AVR nor HDMI TV.)