Name your best/worst, no name, cheapo DVD player that plays anything!

gargleroadside · 07-09-2006, 16:34

What's the best (or worst) cheapo, no brand name DVD player you've owned that plays anything thrown at it (or maybe it doesn't)?

When DVD was new it was cool to have a top brand player. Now that it's old hat and with supermarkets selling them for £20 upwards, it's a challenge nowadays to find the best cheapo, no name brand DVD player that plays as many formats as possible. These machines and their ability to play nearly anything (MP3, etc) has also killed off the expensive hi-fi CD player market.

More often than not the brand name of the cheapo player is an obscure company you've never heard of. Also how well did this machine compare to the well known brand name DVD player you might've bought previously?

It seems that the brand name DVD manufacturers don't want us to have too much fun (region free, Xvid TV shows from internet downloads, etc) but the cheapo, no brand name manufacturers couldn't give a hoot

and their machines come fully loaded with features.

I have a Dual DVD 860 bought from Asda (they don't sell it anymore) which plays DivX/XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG (S)VCD and has 2 memory card slots all for £40.

God bless those Chinese and Far East manufacturers!

07-09-2006, 16:58

Killed off the expensive hi-fi CD player market? I think not.

Entirely different market. I will confess that I'm in both camps -- as far as vision is concerned most TVs don't do the expensive DVD players justice, so I have el-cheapo sets around the house, and use a better quality DVD recorder usit for the main player.

Hi-fi CD players are uncompromising pieces of kit -- even a very high-end DVD player does not come close to a proper CD player for sound quality (and likewise a CD player doesn't come close to an LP12, but that's another story).

My best cheapo isn't even a DVD player. It's a 2.5" hard drive caddy with remote control, that plays DVD files, DiVX, XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG, S/VCD, will copy files from a digital camera directly, has VGA and digital outputs, and acts as a full-speed USB2 portable hard drive for the PC, all bought from China for £8.99. Now that's a bargain!

If only they'd build the above with a 7" screen and built-in headphone amp, it would wipe the floor with any ipod or Archos!! And probably still come in under £100 without the HDD.

gargleroadside · 07-09-2006, 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase1

Killed off the expensive hi-fi CD player market? I think not.

There are some cheapo DVD players that play Super Audio CDs (I know nothing about them as I don't own any Super Audio CDs). I downloaded a DTS audio CD album. MP3 and other CD formats (karaoke) means I would be very reluctant to buy just an ordinary £100+ hi-fi CD player anymore like I would've done say 10 years ago (unless it was a Denon DN-S3500).

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase1

My best cheapo isn't even a DVD player. It's a 2.5" hard drive caddy with remote control, that plays DVD files, DiVX, XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG, S/VCD, will copy files from a digital camera directly, has VGA and digital outputs, and acts as a full-speed USB2 portable hard drive for the PC, all bought from China for £8.99. Now that's a bargain!

That sounds great! What's the model and brand name?

Last edited by gargleroadside : 07-09-2006 at 17:30.

08-09-2006, 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by gargleroadside

There are some cheapo DVD players that play Super Audio CDs (I know nothing about them as I don't own any Super Audio CDs). I downloaded a DTS audio CD album. MP3 and other CD formats (karaoke) means I would be very reluctant to buy just an ordinary £100+ hi-fi CD player anymore like I would've done say 10 years ago (unless it was a Denon DN-S3500).

Ah but £100+ isn't high-end though!! The CD player I have is a Cyrus dAD3Q, which I bought new in 1998 for £870, and to be honest that is still only considered "mid-range"! (The Denon is specialised, and the chances are that as a pure hifi player it probably is nothing special). That player is still quite highly regarded, and is probably equivalent to a decent mid-range £600 or so CD player now.

The point is that you can load a player with features, but that doesn't make it sound any better. And you buy a CD player to listen to, not play with.

Quote:

That sounds great! What's the model and brand name?

It doesn't have one. If you look up "HDD MP3" they're on sale on ebay.

Last edited by jase1 : 08-09-2006 at 22:08.

iDan · 08-09-2006, 23:36

Jase1, you, my friend, are correct, no CD player can match an LP12!

Personally, i've got a Marantz CD63SE which cost just short of £300, it's quite decent, running through a 9 year old Arcam amp.

Much prefer my Revolver Rebel with Linn Akito arm though.

With regards to DVD player, i've got a Toshiba SD140 which cost me £30 from Richer Sounds and it plays most of it, i use the 'resume' feature a lot, whereby i turn the player off, and when i turn it back on, it resumes, many of the cheaper no-name players don't have this.

alanwarwic · 09-09-2006, 12:30

it is sad that Dual are reduced to selling cheap stuff. Assuming it has connections to my old Dual 505 turntable!!!!!

I recall testing my Dark Side of the Moon LP on this turntable and comparing it to my Dark Side of the Moon CD (yep good enough to buy twice!!!!) playing on my highly rated Marantz CD player.

The CD player sucked.

Am I wrong in thinking that an Ultra cheapo DVD/CD player that has digital out linked to a good Digital-In amplifier will sound identical to a £1000 CD player linked to same amplifier?

09-09-2006, 16:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

Am I wrong in thinking that an Ultra cheapo DVD/CD player that has digital out linked to a good Digital-In amplifier will sound identical to a £1000 CD player linked to same amplifier?

One word : jitter. Also audio CDs employ real-time error correction, and often the output from an inferior transport is riddled with errors which are quickly corrected as it goes along, so while the sound may appear perfect from a casual listen, in reality it is anything but.

That said, if you take a modern PC DVD-ROM drive (which can capture the audio stream bit-perfect, at many times normal speed) and buffer the output sufficiently, correcting the timebase as you go along, theoretically the output from such a system would be the equal, if not better, than any CD player on the market.

Problem is that cheapo players don't go to the trouble of doing all this.

It's interesting that none of the hifi manufacturers have taken MP3 technology on-board to improve sound quality. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but if you were to copy an entire album, bit-perfect, onto a flash memory device in PCM format, at a stroke all the problems of transport errors would be zapped. Shame no-one's done anything like this.

There are devices which can play out PCM files to an audio digital output, but unfortunately you still need a very high quality circuit to counter the jitter effects. See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter . But if one of the hifi companies were to produce such a device they could use their expertise to produce a pretty much perfect digital signal from solid-state. Unfortunately these things don't seem to exist.

Last edited by jase1 : 09-09-2006 at 16:53.

09-09-2006, 17:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

Am I wrong in thinking that an Ultra cheapo DVD/CD player that has digital out linked to a good Digital-In amplifier will sound identical to a £1000 CD player linked to same amplifier?

One word : jitter. Also audio CDs employ real-time error correction, and often the output from an inferior transport is riddled with errors which are quickly corrected as it goes along, so while the sound may appear perfect from a casual listen, in reality it is anything but.

That said, if you take a modern PC DVD-ROM drive (which can capture the audio stream bit-perfect, at many times normal speed) and buffer the output sufficiently, correcting the timebase as you go along, theoretically the output from such a system would be the equal, if not better, than any CD player on the market.

Problem is that cheapo players don't go to the trouble of doing all this.

It's interesting that none of the hifi manufacturers have taken MP3 technology on-board to improve sound quality. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but if you were to copy an entire album, bit-perfect, onto a flash memory device in PCM format, at a stroke all the problems of transport errors would be zapped. Shame no-one's done anything like this.

There are devices which can play out PCM files to an audio digital output, but unfortunately you still need a very high quality circuit to counter the jitter effects. See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter . But if one of the hifi companies were to produce such a device they could use their expertise to produce a pretty much perfect digital signal from solid-state. Unfortunately these things don't seem to exist.

Quote:

it is sad that Dual are reduced to selling cheap stuff. Assuming it has connections to my old Dual 505 turntable!!!!!

Dual was a German company who were bought up by Schneider (a German equivalent of Amstrad) in the 70s (so in reality Dual were always a bit of a budget company, just one of the better ones). I think they were gobbled up by a Korean company when Schneider went bust a few years ago. The Dual stuff you see now bears no real relation to the Dual kit of the past, as it's just a brand name (just like the Bush of today is a totally different company to the Bush of 1975). Even then, the Dual stuff we see here is different to the Dual kit in America, as the name has been subcontracted to an importer in the UK who uses it on cheap Chinese imports.

One more example of why you can't trust the name on the box anymore!!

meltcity · 10-09-2006, 12:43

Interesting comments jase1.

The sound quality from my Pioneer separates CD player is, unsurprisingly, better than my budget DVD player. I am using analogue interconnects though so perhaps the D/A converter on the Pioneer is better as well as the jitter correction (although I'm not even sure the Pioneer has jitter correction).

My DVD player can read memory cards so I will try ripping an audio CD to WMA using a ripping program with jitter correction, then copy it to an SD card to hear what difference (if any) this makes to the sound quality differences between the two players.

Is it true that compressed audio formats are immune to jitter, regardless of the transport mechanism?

The_Master · 10-09-2006, 14:10

Perhaps someone can help here, a little off topic perhaps, but someone may know some answers.

I recently copied a CD on my PC CD RW drive.
I tried to play it on my Acoustic Solutions CD player, which I got from Richer Sounds. It sounded like a scratchy old record. I tried a different track and that was Ok, so I tried another, that was scratchy. I ejected it and tried again, it was all scratchy that time.
I tried it in my Liteon DVD recorder, it played fine.
I tried playing it on the PC that made it, with Windows Media Player it was scratchy, Realplayer wouldn't touch it, but Power DVD plays it fine.
My Laptop plays it fine.
Any ideas? Is my CD player knackered? It is supposed to be CD R/RW compatible and play MP3 as well.

gargleroadside · 11-09-2006, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Master

I recently copied a CD on my PC CD RW drive.
I tried to play it on my Acoustic Solutions CD player ... It sounded like a scratchy old record.

Use Exact Audio Copy. This is THE best CD ripper for Windows. It has error correction.

It's been very interesting so far reading about how well or poorly these cheapo DVD players fair against real hi-fi.

Last edited by gargleroadside : 11-09-2006 at 18:31.

alanwarwic · 11-09-2006, 18:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Master

Perhaps someone can help here, a little off topic perhaps, but someone may know some answers.

I recently copied a CD on my PC CD RW drive.
I tried to play it on my Acoustic Solutions CD player, which I got from Richer Sounds. It sounded like a scratchy old record. .

When the data is bad it is best to use the setting 'Record via soundcard" or "record analogue".
Means if the CD player can 'error correct' to anlogue you get it ok'
Inside the computer you have to see a tiny analogue cable running from the CD player to the sound card. A few manufactureres are lazy and forget to fit it.

Fast copying used the data signal that gets corrupted whe n the 'data extraction' fast copying method is used.!!!!!

Error Correction tick box seldom helps.

Last edited by alanwarwic : 11-09-2006 at 18:51.

The_Master · 11-09-2006, 19:17

Thanks for that.

JBlink · 11-09-2006, 19:24

Back to the OP:

Quote:

What's the best (or worst) cheapo, no brand name DVD player you've owned that plays anything thrown at it (or maybe it doesn't)?

I would be interested in opinions as I am about to invest £30, maybe stretch to £40 if I sell a child, in one of these.

The sad thing is, it probably will have more features and better picture quality, albeit in a cheap tinny skin, than my £450 Sony DVD player from 2000. Interestingly, I was told it would not play R or RW discs of either gender. In fact it is very happy with all of them and is a cracking player. I just need a DVD player for another room.

gargleroadside · 12-09-2006, 02:10

After much Googling I think this one might be the best at the moment:

Umax Kazuki DVD-7400X MPEG4/DivX/DVD Player

DivX/XviD, USB 2.0 and memory card inputs, £36.99

GoodieGuyDon · 24-09-2006, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by gargleroadside

After much Googling I think this one might be the best at the moment:

Umax Kazuki DVD-7400X MPEG4/DivX/DVD Player

DivX/XviD, USB 2.0 and memory card inputs, £36.99

Are you sure it is USB 2.0 and not 1.1?

Is the SCART RGB?

Arcas · 25-09-2006, 00:22

Jase2 and Telly_ man, it is good to see that vinyl junkies are still alive and well.

I confess that I was a very early convert to CD, but I do still have a Linn Axis (poor man’s Linn Sondek LP12) to play my vinyl on.

gargleroadside, no way has the high end CD market been killed off. Meridian and many other UK manufacturers are still going strong, as are manufacturers in many other countries, and every month the hi-fi press is full of new expensive models. Denon, Marantz, Sony and other far east manufacturers also still produce high end models.

Cheap and cheerful supermarket CD and DVD players are fine if you are playing them through a basic system and are not too fussed about sound and vision quality. A high end player will typically be much more solidly constructed and durable, will have much better quality components and will have a lot more thought and money spent on the audio and video output stages, as well as far better error correction etc.

Arcas · 25-09-2006, 00:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by jase1

…My best cheapo isn't even a DVD player. It's a 2.5" hard drive caddy with remote control, that plays DVD files, DiVX, XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG, S/VCD, will copy files from a digital camera directly, has VGA and digital outputs, and acts as a full-speed USB2 portable hard drive for the PC, all bought from China for £8.99. Now that's a bargain!...

jase1, I would be very interested in details.

I have two similar devices, though they were a bit pricier (circa £100 each without a disk) and use 3.5 in IDE disk drives. The are marketed as video juke boxes and I bought them primarily to play mpeg files that I record from Sky.

They are a Dvico Tvix and an Dacos Rhapsody. Essentially they are about the size of a big hardback book and can accommodate a standard 3.5inch IDE drive. They contain audio and video circuitry and can handle a wide range of audio and video standards, mpr, ogg vorbis, mpeg2 etc.

I am still experimenting with them. The video quality from both is very good but I have reservations about the audio quality, particularly the Rhapsody.

rufnek2k6 · 02-10-2006, 18:34

Best DVD Player: Proline DVD1050, bought this for £20 and has never failed me on any CD/DVD i try

Worst DVD Player: Limit, dont know the model name as i have now put it away and hardly use it. Is absolutely useless and a waste of £35 as it can only play DVDs even though in the manual it says it can play MP3 and VCD. The nearest thing it got to playing a vcd was once when it showed the menu then crashed.

gargleroadside · 08-11-2006, 11:40

After some Googling I've just come across this machine:

BIOSTEK XS-240 Pro DVD/DivX player

It costs £19 (+ P&P from £5.50). I can't find anymore info about the machine.

gargleroadside · 28-11-2006, 14:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by gargleroadside

After some Googling I've just come across this machine:

BIOSTEK XS-240 Pro DVD/DivX player

It costs £19 (+ P&P from £5.50). I can't find anymore info about the machine.

This machine seems to have disappeared and has been replaced with two other ones.

BIOSTEK XS-250 Pro DVD/DivX/MPEG4 Player £19

BIOSTEK XS360 USB DVD/DivX/USB Player £25

I still don't know anything more about these machines or brand.

the-tick · 26-12-2006, 18:03

Wharfedale dvd3210dvx £9.99 from richersounds, hardly plays **** all.

It's really picky with dvd+and-r but ok with +-rw ???

icefall · 26-12-2006, 18:51

I bought a cheap compacks dvd player from woolworths around about 3 years ago, I paid £39.99 (its selling for under £20 on amazon and ebay currently) and it played everything I put in it. I did not put in Divx as I was not aware of that format at the time.

I multi-regioned it easily using the remote and google, it played evey audio cd, including back ups, and every type of dvd. Its also very small and unobtrusive, really neat in appearance, nothing like the big box like dvds around just a year earlier (at the time). I gave it to family a year ago and it has played everything they put in.

The remote was very light and plasticky in appearance and weight, but thats a minor detail. I was very happy with that player, but I upgraded to a player with bult in Freeview eventually.

JBlink · 26-12-2006, 20:14

Not sure if it is still available, but I bought an Alba from Argos (same as a Bush model - Korea or China clearly). Plays all DVD formats except RAM, is multiregion and plays MP3 CDs etc. Even came with batteries for the remote and phono (RCA) cables. £18 and 3-4 months in is still reliable. £18! and they wanted £24 for the extended warranty....no way!

DJPT · 28-12-2006, 11:01

Those Pacific branded ones from Asda are alright. I won one at work a few months ago in a competition. When I got it I didn't expect much but I was suprised, for £18.00 you can't go wrong.

07-09-2006, 16:34	#1
gargleroadside Banned User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, England, UK Posts: 4,433	Name your best/worst, no name, cheapo DVD player that plays anything! What's the best (or worst) cheapo, no brand name DVD player you've owned that plays anything thrown at it (or maybe it doesn't)? When DVD was new it was cool to have a top brand player. Now that it's old hat and with supermarkets selling them for £20 upwards, it's a challenge nowadays to find the best cheapo, no name brand DVD player that plays as many formats as possible. These machines and their ability to play nearly anything (MP3, etc) has also killed off the expensive hi-fi CD player market. More often than not the brand name of the cheapo player is an obscure company you've never heard of. Also how well did this machine compare to the well known brand name DVD player you might've bought previously? It seems that the brand name DVD manufacturers don't want us to have too much fun (region free, Xvid TV shows from internet downloads, etc) but the cheapo, no brand name manufacturers couldn't give a hoot and their machines come fully loaded with features. I have a Dual DVD 860 bought from Asda (they don't sell it anymore) which plays DivX/XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG (S)VCD and has 2 memory card slots all for £40. God bless those Chinese and Far East manufacturers!

10-09-2006, 12:43	#9
meltcity Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 1,770	Interesting comments jase1. The sound quality from my Pioneer separates CD player is, unsurprisingly, better than my budget DVD player. I am using analogue interconnects though so perhaps the D/A converter on the Pioneer is better as well as the jitter correction (although I'm not even sure the Pioneer has jitter correction). My DVD player can read memory cards so I will try ripping an audio CD to WMA using a ripping program with jitter correction, then copy it to an SD card to hear what difference (if any) this makes to the sound quality differences between the two players. Is it true that compressed audio formats are immune to jitter, regardless of the transport mechanism? Last edited by meltcity : 10-09-2006 at 12:45.

07-09-2006, 16:58	#2
jase1 Posts: n/a	Killed off the expensive hi-fi CD player market? I think not. Entirely different market. I will confess that I'm in both camps -- as far as vision is concerned most TVs don't do the expensive DVD players justice, so I have el-cheapo sets around the house, and use a better quality DVD recorder usit for the main player. Hi-fi CD players are uncompromising pieces of kit -- even a very high-end DVD player does not come close to a proper CD player for sound quality (and likewise a CD player doesn't come close to an LP12, but that's another story). My best cheapo isn't even a DVD player. It's a 2.5" hard drive caddy with remote control, that plays DVD files, DiVX, XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG, S/VCD, will copy files from a digital camera directly, has VGA and digital outputs, and acts as a full-speed USB2 portable hard drive for the PC, all bought from China for £8.99. Now that's a bargain! If only they'd build the above with a 7" screen and built-in headphone amp, it would wipe the floor with any ipod or Archos!! And probably still come in under £100 without the HDD.

07-09-2006, 17:28	#3
gargleroadside Banned User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, England, UK Posts: 4,433	Quote: Originally Posted by jase1 Killed off the expensive hi-fi CD player market? I think not. There are some cheapo DVD players that play Super Audio CDs (I know nothing about them as I don't own any Super Audio CDs). I downloaded a DTS audio CD album. MP3 and other CD formats (karaoke) means I would be very reluctant to buy just an ordinary £100+ hi-fi CD player anymore like I would've done say 10 years ago (unless it was a Denon DN-S3500). Quote: Originally Posted by jase1 My best cheapo isn't even a DVD player. It's a 2.5" hard drive caddy with remote control, that plays DVD files, DiVX, XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG, S/VCD, will copy files from a digital camera directly, has VGA and digital outputs, and acts as a full-speed USB2 portable hard drive for the PC, all bought from China for £8.99. Now that's a bargain! That sounds great! What's the model and brand name? Last edited by gargleroadside : 07-09-2006 at 17:30.

08-09-2006, 21:46	#4
jase1 Posts: n/a	Quote: Originally Posted by gargleroadside There are some cheapo DVD players that play Super Audio CDs (I know nothing about them as I don't own any Super Audio CDs). I downloaded a DTS audio CD album. MP3 and other CD formats (karaoke) means I would be very reluctant to buy just an ordinary £100+ hi-fi CD player anymore like I would've done say 10 years ago (unless it was a Denon DN-S3500). Ah but £100+ isn't high-end though!! The CD player I have is a Cyrus dAD3Q, which I bought new in 1998 for £870, and to be honest that is still only considered "mid-range"! (The Denon is specialised, and the chances are that as a pure hifi player it probably is nothing special). That player is still quite highly regarded, and is probably equivalent to a decent mid-range £600 or so CD player now. The point is that you can load a player with features, but that doesn't make it sound any better. And you buy a CD player to listen to, not play with. Quote: That sounds great! What's the model and brand name? It doesn't have one. If you look up "HDD MP3" they're on sale on ebay. Last edited by jase1 : 08-09-2006 at 22:08.

08-09-2006, 23:36	#5
iDan Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 8,812	Jase1, you, my friend, are correct, no CD player can match an LP12! Personally, i've got a Marantz CD63SE which cost just short of £300, it's quite decent, running through a 9 year old Arcam amp. Much prefer my Revolver Rebel with Linn Akito arm though. With regards to DVD player, i've got a Toshiba SD140 which cost me £30 from Richer Sounds and it plays most of it, i use the 'resume' feature a lot, whereby i turn the player off, and when i turn it back on, it resumes, many of the cheaper no-name players don't have this.

09-09-2006, 12:30	#6
alanwarwic Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: the wild world web Posts: 28,132	it is sad that Dual are reduced to selling cheap stuff. Assuming it has connections to my old Dual 505 turntable!!!!! I recall testing my Dark Side of the Moon LP on this turntable and comparing it to my Dark Side of the Moon CD (yep good enough to buy twice!!!!) playing on my highly rated Marantz CD player. The CD player sucked. Am I wrong in thinking that an Ultra cheapo DVD/CD player that has digital out linked to a good Digital-In amplifier will sound identical to a £1000 CD player linked to same amplifier?

09-09-2006, 16:32	#7
jase1 Posts: n/a	Quote: Originally Posted by alanwarwic Am I wrong in thinking that an Ultra cheapo DVD/CD player that has digital out linked to a good Digital-In amplifier will sound identical to a £1000 CD player linked to same amplifier? One word : jitter. Also audio CDs employ real-time error correction, and often the output from an inferior transport is riddled with errors which are quickly corrected as it goes along, so while the sound may appear perfect from a casual listen, in reality it is anything but. That said, if you take a modern PC DVD-ROM drive (which can capture the audio stream bit-perfect, at many times normal speed) and buffer the output sufficiently, correcting the timebase as you go along, theoretically the output from such a system would be the equal, if not better, than any CD player on the market. Problem is that cheapo players don't go to the trouble of doing all this. It's interesting that none of the hifi manufacturers have taken MP3 technology on-board to improve sound quality. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but if you were to copy an entire album, bit-perfect, onto a flash memory device in PCM format, at a stroke all the problems of transport errors would be zapped. Shame no-one's done anything like this. There are devices which can play out PCM files to an audio digital output, but unfortunately you still need a very high quality circuit to counter the jitter effects. See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter . But if one of the hifi companies were to produce such a device they could use their expertise to produce a pretty much perfect digital signal from solid-state. Unfortunately these things don't seem to exist. Last edited by jase1 : 09-09-2006 at 16:53.

09-09-2006, 17:04	#8
jase1 Posts: n/a	Quote: Originally Posted by alanwarwic Am I wrong in thinking that an Ultra cheapo DVD/CD player that has digital out linked to a good Digital-In amplifier will sound identical to a £1000 CD player linked to same amplifier? One word : jitter. Also audio CDs employ real-time error correction, and often the output from an inferior transport is riddled with errors which are quickly corrected as it goes along, so while the sound may appear perfect from a casual listen, in reality it is anything but. That said, if you take a modern PC DVD-ROM drive (which can capture the audio stream bit-perfect, at many times normal speed) and buffer the output sufficiently, correcting the timebase as you go along, theoretically the output from such a system would be the equal, if not better, than any CD player on the market. Problem is that cheapo players don't go to the trouble of doing all this. It's interesting that none of the hifi manufacturers have taken MP3 technology on-board to improve sound quality. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but if you were to copy an entire album, bit-perfect, onto a flash memory device in PCM format, at a stroke all the problems of transport errors would be zapped. Shame no-one's done anything like this. There are devices which can play out PCM files to an audio digital output, but unfortunately you still need a very high quality circuit to counter the jitter effects. See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter . But if one of the hifi companies were to produce such a device they could use their expertise to produce a pretty much perfect digital signal from solid-state. Unfortunately these things don't seem to exist. Quote: it is sad that Dual are reduced to selling cheap stuff. Assuming it has connections to my old Dual 505 turntable!!!!! Dual was a German company who were bought up by Schneider (a German equivalent of Amstrad) in the 70s (so in reality Dual were always a bit of a budget company, just one of the better ones). I think they were gobbled up by a Korean company when Schneider went bust a few years ago. The Dual stuff you see now bears no real relation to the Dual kit of the past, as it's just a brand name (just like the Bush of today is a totally different company to the Bush of 1975). Even then, the Dual stuff we see here is different to the Dual kit in America, as the name has been subcontracted to an importer in the UK who uses it on cheap Chinese imports. One more example of why you can't trust the name on the box anymore!!

10-09-2006, 14:10	#10
The_Master Banned User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Essex. Posts: 2,623	Perhaps someone can help here, a little off topic perhaps, but someone may know some answers. I recently copied a CD on my PC CD RW drive. I tried to play it on my Acoustic Solutions CD player, which I got from Richer Sounds. It sounded like a scratchy old record. I tried a different track and that was Ok, so I tried another, that was scratchy. I ejected it and tried again, it was all scratchy that time. I tried it in my Liteon DVD recorder, it played fine. I tried playing it on the PC that made it, with Windows Media Player it was scratchy, Realplayer wouldn't touch it, but Power DVD plays it fine. My Laptop plays it fine. Any ideas? Is my CD player knackered? It is supposed to be CD R/RW compatible and play MP3 as well.

11-09-2006, 18:26	#11
gargleroadside Banned User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, England, UK Posts: 4,433	Quote: Originally Posted by The_Master I recently copied a CD on my PC CD RW drive. I tried to play it on my Acoustic Solutions CD player ... It sounded like a scratchy old record. Use Exact Audio Copy. This is THE best CD ripper for Windows. It has error correction. It's been very interesting so far reading about how well or poorly these cheapo DVD players fair against real hi-fi. Last edited by gargleroadside : 11-09-2006 at 18:31.

11-09-2006, 18:50	#12
alanwarwic Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: the wild world web Posts: 28,132	Quote: Originally Posted by The_Master Perhaps someone can help here, a little off topic perhaps, but someone may know some answers. I recently copied a CD on my PC CD RW drive. I tried to play it on my Acoustic Solutions CD player, which I got from Richer Sounds. It sounded like a scratchy old record. . When the data is bad it is best to use the setting 'Record via soundcard" or "record analogue". Means if the CD player can 'error correct' to anlogue you get it ok' Inside the computer you have to see a tiny analogue cable running from the CD player to the sound card. A few manufactureres are lazy and forget to fit it. Fast copying used the data signal that gets corrupted whe n the 'data extraction' fast copying method is used.!!!!! Error Correction tick box seldom helps. Last edited by alanwarwic : 11-09-2006 at 18:51.

11-09-2006, 19:17	#13
The_Master Banned User Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Essex. Posts: 2,623	Thanks for that.

11-09-2006, 19:24	#14
JBlink Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Hampshire Posts: 2,926	Back to the OP: Quote: What's the best (or worst) cheapo, no brand name DVD player you've owned that plays anything thrown at it (or maybe it doesn't)? I would be interested in opinions as I am about to invest £30, maybe stretch to £40 if I sell a child, in one of these. The sad thing is, it probably will have more features and better picture quality, albeit in a cheap tinny skin, than my £450 Sony DVD player from 2000. Interestingly, I was told it would not play R or RW discs of either gender. In fact it is very happy with all of them and is a cracking player. I just need a DVD player for another room.

12-09-2006, 02:10	#15
gargleroadside Banned User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, England, UK Posts: 4,433	After much Googling I think this one might be the best at the moment: Umax Kazuki DVD-7400X MPEG4/DivX/DVD Player DivX/XviD, USB 2.0 and memory card inputs, £36.99

24-09-2006, 20:36	#16
GoodieGuyDon Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 270	Quote: Originally Posted by gargleroadside After much Googling I think this one might be the best at the moment: Umax Kazuki DVD-7400X MPEG4/DivX/DVD Player DivX/XviD, USB 2.0 and memory card inputs, £36.99 Are you sure it is USB 2.0 and not 1.1? Is the SCART RGB?

25-09-2006, 00:22	#17
Arcas Banned User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Arcadia of course Posts: 1,589	Jase2 and Telly_ man, it is good to see that vinyl junkies are still alive and well. I confess that I was a very early convert to CD, but I do still have a Linn Axis (poor man’s Linn Sondek LP12) to play my vinyl on. gargleroadside, no way has the high end CD market been killed off. Meridian and many other UK manufacturers are still going strong, as are manufacturers in many other countries, and every month the hi-fi press is full of new expensive models. Denon, Marantz, Sony and other far east manufacturers also still produce high end models. Cheap and cheerful supermarket CD and DVD players are fine if you are playing them through a basic system and are not too fussed about sound and vision quality. A high end player will typically be much more solidly constructed and durable, will have much better quality components and will have a lot more thought and money spent on the audio and video output stages, as well as far better error correction etc.

25-09-2006, 00:33	#18
Arcas Banned User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Arcadia of course Posts: 1,589	Quote: Originally Posted by jase1 …My best cheapo isn't even a DVD player. It's a 2.5" hard drive caddy with remote control, that plays DVD files, DiVX, XviD, MPEG, MP3, JPG, S/VCD, will copy files from a digital camera directly, has VGA and digital outputs, and acts as a full-speed USB2 portable hard drive for the PC, all bought from China for £8.99. Now that's a bargain!... jase1, I would be very interested in details. I have two similar devices, though they were a bit pricier (circa £100 each without a disk) and use 3.5 in IDE disk drives. The are marketed as video juke boxes and I bought them primarily to play mpeg files that I record from Sky. They are a Dvico Tvix and an Dacos Rhapsody. Essentially they are about the size of a big hardback book and can accommodate a standard 3.5inch IDE drive. They contain audio and video circuitry and can handle a wide range of audio and video standards, mpr, ogg vorbis, mpeg2 etc. I am still experimenting with them. The video quality from both is very good but I have reservations about the audio quality, particularly the Rhapsody.

02-10-2006, 18:34	#19
rufnek2k6 Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Tardis, Kormacetocyplos Posts: 3,521	Best DVD Player: Proline DVD1050, bought this for £20 and has never failed me on any CD/DVD i try Worst DVD Player: Limit, dont know the model name as i have now put it away and hardly use it. Is absolutely useless and a waste of £35 as it can only play DVDs even though in the manual it says it can play MP3 and VCD. The nearest thing it got to playing a vcd was once when it showed the menu then crashed.

08-11-2006, 11:40	#20
gargleroadside Banned User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, England, UK Posts: 4,433	After some Googling I've just come across this machine: BIOSTEK XS-240 Pro DVD/DivX player It costs £19 (+ P&P from £5.50). I can't find anymore info about the machine.

28-11-2006, 14:47	#21
gargleroadside Banned User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Birmingham, England, UK Posts: 4,433	Quote: Originally Posted by gargleroadside After some Googling I've just come across this machine: BIOSTEK XS-240 Pro DVD/DivX player It costs £19 (+ P&P from £5.50). I can't find anymore info about the machine. This machine seems to have disappeared and has been replaced with two other ones. BIOSTEK XS-250 Pro DVD/DivX/MPEG4 Player £19 BIOSTEK XS360 USB DVD/DivX/USB Player £25 I still don't know anything more about these machines or brand.

26-12-2006, 18:03	#22
the-tick Forum Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: South Norwood Posts: 1,719	Wharfedale dvd3210dvx £9.99 from richersounds, hardly plays **** all. It's really picky with dvd+and-r but ok with +-rw ???

DS Forums

Name your best/worst, no name, cheapo DVD player that plays anything!

26-12-2006, 18:51	#23
icefall Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: whatm Posts: 7,027	I bought a cheap compacks dvd player from woolworths around about 3 years ago, I paid £39.99 (its selling for under £20 on amazon and ebay currently) and it played everything I put in it. I did not put in Divx as I was not aware of that format at the time. I multi-regioned it easily using the remote and google, it played evey audio cd, including back ups, and every type of dvd. Its also very small and unobtrusive, really neat in appearance, nothing like the big box like dvds around just a year earlier (at the time). I gave it to family a year ago and it has played everything they put in. The remote was very light and plasticky in appearance and weight, but thats a minor detail. I was very happy with that player, but I upgraded to a player with bult in Freeview eventually.

26-12-2006, 20:14	#24
JBlink Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Hampshire Posts: 2,926	Not sure if it is still available, but I bought an Alba from Argos (same as a Bush model - Korea or China clearly). Plays all DVD formats except RAM, is multiregion and plays MP3 CDs etc. Even came with batteries for the remote and phono (RCA) cables. £18 and 3-4 months in is still reliable. £18! and they wanted £24 for the extended warranty....no way!

28-12-2006, 11:01	#25
DJPT Inactive Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 4,122	Those Pacific branded ones from Asda are alright. I won one at work a few months ago in a competition. When I got it I didn't expect much but I was suprised, for £18.00 you can't go wrong.