Is there really a difference between DVD players

[BG3]

I am just about to purchase a Marantz DV6400 or VC5400, both players are in the high $400 range. Other than DVD-A and SACD I am hard pressed to see a difference in specs between the Marantz players and players in the low $100's. Also it is real hard to do a side by side comparison between Marantz sound/picture quality and low cost players because they are rarely sold in the same showroom.

As a new person to the world of DVD could anyone tell me if more expensive means better? Is there really a difference that is worth $200-300?

As background this unit will be hooked to a Marantz receiver and played on a DLP HDTV.

Any help would be welcome.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am just about to purchase a Marantz DV6400 or VC5400, both players are in the high $400 range. Other than DVD-A and SACD I am hard pressed to see a difference in specs between the Marantz players and players in the low $100's. Also it is real hard to do a side by side comparison between Marantz sound/picture quality and low cost players because they are rarely sold in the same showroom.

As a new person to the world of DVD could anyone tell me if more expensive means better? Is there really a difference that is worth $200-300?

As background this unit will be hooked to a Marantz receiver and played on a DLP HDTV.

Any help would be welcome.

More expensive might buy you more frills
CD, DVD players have become a commodity component. So cheap and so good, that you buy the less expensive and throw it away if it fails outside of warranty.
If you are into multi channel audio, but a universal player.

 

[Rob Babcock]

There's definately a difference in image quality between DVD players. How obvious it is depends on what your watching and what you're using for a display. At a very minimum, the very cheapest miss some features I consider essential. One example is a video memory buffer- you might not realize how obvious layer changes are until you get a player with a vid buffer and never notice it again.

 

[BG3]

Thank you for the reply. The display I am hoping to go with is a 51" DLP sometime in the next 6-12 months. Most DVD players I have looked at do not tell you if they have a video buffer, is there a way to tell? Also do the $100+ players usually have a video buffer?

I am grateful for the initial input, and would welcome any additional thoughts on what the difference might truly be between a Marantz DV6400 for $450+ and a Panasonic multi-disc unit for $139.

Thank you!