12/29 What is Progressive Scan DVD player? Looking for a nice region-free
DVD player with multilingual OSD menu features. Recommendations?
\_ word of advice? by 40 dollar dvd players from Costco,
anything above 100 bucks breaks down too fast and too
expensive to replace..
\_ What is OSD menu features?
\_ On screen display.
\_ Progressive scan means it can output non-interlaced video,
thereby providing better resolution. It doesn't matter if you
don't have an HDTV.
\_ The resolution shouldn't change but the way the image is
displayed will. Regular TV sets display an interlaced image,
which is one reason why computer monitors have always had a
better picture compared to regular tv sets (computer monitors
display non-interlaced video). If you don't have a TV set that
can display non-interlaced video, then the progressive output
will look like garbage. Many TV sets cannot display
non-interlaced video, newer "HD ready" or "Digital" sets
usually can.
\_ The resolution of the video data on the DVD doesn't change,
but the resolution perceived by the viewer will, which is
what I meant. (480 scanlines at one time versus 240 scanlines
separated across 2/~60ths of a second.)
\_ Yes, technically the same resolution but presented in a
less crappy fashion.
\_ I've had good luck with the cyberhome 300S - very cheap ($30 on sale
at radio shack), region free, small profile. Make sure you get one
built after March/April 2004, previous versions had heat issues.
\_ I have a few minor gripes with the CH300S. The remote is hard to
use in the dark (small, uniform buttons). There's a long-ish
pause during a layer change. The JPEG viewer will not show any
more than 255 images in a single directory. On the plus side,
you can enter a secret remote-code to make it region-free.
\_ Unless you are going sub $50 or so, get an upconverting DVD
player.
\_ Philips DVP642. I saw it at Target for $70. You have to unlock
region-free yourself via the remote.
\_ I bought this and then returned it the next day. The remote
feels like a toy, and on my DivX files it was unable to FF or RW
(not to mention in one case the sound wasn't synched). Also, the
max FF/RW speed was 8x.
\_ can you suggest better? that thing looked good to me. -!op
\_ I'm afraid not. I currently have an old Aiwa XD-DV170
which has great OSD menu features, but can't play some
newer disks (the extra disks in The Two Towers:EE don't
play for instance).
\_ I've had a Toshiba 5-disc DVD player from costco, really nice
unit, which turned out to be a region free one. Had I known that,
I would've gotten 2. I don't think they carry it anymore. I also
got a Daewoo DVP480 player from Costco, which I got it because it
is a region free player. But the Toshiba is much better in terms
of build quality and operating noise. Get a cheap DVd player from
costco, it may be region free. Don't get the Sony one, I am sure it
is NOT region free. |