[Dave 909]

Out local Lidl have 2 dvd players on offer at the moment and I'm looking at getting 1 of them. But I'm a little unsure of which to go for.

The cheaper 1 is the £32.99 HDMI player branded as Silvercrest. I did'nt give this 1 to much attention at first. But it it does play mpeg4 files and has the HDMI connection of cause. The only 2 features of which I'd get get this 1 for.

The mpeg4 side alone, does anyone know if these HDMI enabled players can in theory play hi-def films\content if put onto dvd if encoded correctly?.

The other 1 is a Targa home cinema system for £49.99. This is the player and the 5.1 speaker set. It says on the box that it has the 5.1 and DTS decoders. The box also mentions Pro Logic 2 but fails to say if thats part of the decoder. But this seems to only mention DivX compatability while I'd have prefered Mpeg4 for better pic quality.

Does anyone have any experience of either to know which is the better 1 to go for?.

[duanedibley]

Nice features at first glance, but the HDMI output seems unable to feed a cable more than about 2m reliably, so if you want to locate your kit at a distance from your TV you'll probably be out of luck.

I got one of those to put under the stairs with a 10m HDMI lead to the TV. No dice at all even on 576p believe it or not.

I took it back of course, and stuck with my old Philips.

[bobcar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by duanedibley

Nice features at first glance, but the HDMI output seems unable to feed a cable more than about 2m reliably, so if you want to locate your kit at a distance from your TV you'll probably be out of luck.

I got one of those to put under the stairs with a 10m HDMI lead to the TV. No dice at all even on 576p believe it or not.

I took it back of course, and stuck with my old Philips.

It may well have been okay with a better cable. When the cable is long is where HDMI has problems and a better made cable will make a difference.