DVD Player Recommendation

[moerl]

I'm trying to find a DVD player... and it's harder than I thought it would be. There are so many of them out there.. and I guess the reason it's a bit hard to find one for me is because I'm looking for a region-free DVD player so we can play our European DVDs as well as US ones, plus one that that has good picture and audio quality. We have an HD Sony TV and that's also a hurdle.. trying to find a player that will meet the above criteria and also go along nicely with our HDTV. There probably are differences between DVD players that aren't designed for use with HDTV's and those that are. That's what I'm trying to find.

To sump up, really, all I'm looking for is the perfect match of a DVD player for our TV, with the one special requirement that it's multi-zone, or region-free or whatever you want to call it.

Recommendations, links, suggestions, anything is welcome! Oh yeah.. price-wise, we'd like to stay under 200 dollars if possible. If not, slightly above is no problem. It would be nice if the remote's keys were backlit...

Thanks

EDIT:
Here's what's been recommended to me so far, given the above criteria:

• PIONEER DV-383S
• Oppo OPDV971H

 

[Tempest]

denon 1920

http://www.fotoconnection.com/viewitem.php?IndexID=21526&RefTag=froogle

I own this one and like it. Great picture with my TV listed in signature. Audio is very nice and plays SACDs and DVD Audio discs.

 

[moerl]

I think I've decided. This is what it'll be: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00078GLJY/sr=1-1/qid=1130127239/ref=sr_1_1/103-9130158-2351007?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance

 

[pemike1973]

Try out hte Pioneer Dv-585

I own this one and ltruely enjoy it, its DIVX compatable and reads everything you throw at it, Great picture and audio is very nice and plays SACDs and has progressive scan, a great feature to have if you have plasma or lcd display.

Good hunting

 

[j_garcia]

The Oppo got an excellent review from Secrets in terms of video. That's the one I would go with.

 

[moerl]

I ended up getting the Oppo

I haven't received it yet. It's been shipped on Monday and I never got a tracking number, I don't think. I'll need to check up on that.

Thanks

 

[gene]

The Oppo got an excellent review from Secrets in terms of video. That's the one I would go with.

Um did you read our review of this player which tested it a bit more extensively? A good score does not a good player make if the test is too easy to pass.

While the Oppo is a good budget player, it has a lot of shortcomings and is by no means in the category of some of the top players currently offered on the market.

Here is a link to our review

 

[moerl]

I was not looking for anything close to the best of what the market has to offer. For the money I'm sure it's an amazing player. It beats what most people buy spontaneously, I suppose. That also means those who do not do any research and just go out to get any dvd player.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I've heard good things about the Oppo and the Panasonic S77 seems to be getting favorable reviews.

I am a strong proponent of common sense, and common sense to me says that spending more than a couple hundred bucks on a DVD player is silly unless you have gobs of cash. HD player will be out. For quality, that is the way to go, and if money is tight, then saving your cash to get a HD player makes a lot of sense. A couple hundred will get you a good upconverting unit that will last for years.

If you just are hooking it to a regular 4:3 television then even cheaper models will do you nicely. Region free is hard.

Want to buy my old Apex DVD player? It only outputs s-video, but it is region free.

 

[Vancouver]

I've heard good things about the Oppo and the Panasonic S77 seems to be getting favorable reviews.

I am a strong proponent of common sense, and common sense to me says that spending more than a couple hundred bucks on a DVD player is silly unless you have gobs of cash. HD player will be out. For quality, that is the way to go, and if money is tight, then saving your cash to get a HD player makes a lot of sense. A couple hundred will get you a good upconverting unit that will last for years.

If you just are hooking it to a regular 4:3 television then even cheaper models will do you nicely. Region free is hard.

Want to buy my old Apex DVD player? It only outputs s-video, but it is region free.

this may be true for video, but if you are at all interested in sound quality especially multichannel formats I have recently found that a $200 player is a lot difference then a $1000 player.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

I tried some "budget players" and finally i said screw it and stepped up to the Denon 2910. I got it for $875 Canadian. 100% satisfied and worth every penny. Why invest thousands in speakers, a TV, and a receiver and then go cheap on the DVD player???? A couple hundred bucks more. Do it.

 

[moerl]

I totally agree with Johnny Canuck. Realize, however, that I don't have a sound system or a multi-speaker setup. All there is with me is the TV and its speakesr and the DVD player. That's it! It would be insane for a college student to be spending thousands to set up a full home entertainment system. I just wanted a good player for the money that would output a very good video signal to our HDTV. Being that we use the TV's built in speakers, I don't think we would notice the difference in sound between a 1000 dollar DVD player and the Oppo I ordered.

 

[Johnny Canuck]

Well if mutichannel audio is not essential, I would look at the Panasonic models, the 97 or the 77. They are close to the Denon and if they played SACD, I would probably have that over my Denon.