Cheap but good DVD players?

Nephilim_X · Post by **Nephilim_X** » 2004-05-26 08:47am

Well, when I get back to my hometown after my internship finishes, Nicole and I are going to go out and buy her a DVD player for her TV.

Because she's a student she has to stay cheap, so I figure we have a budget of about 140 tops (I could provide some extra cash but it isn't a sure thing).

I know there are DVD players that are really cheap (60 bucks) but I want to recommend something that will still look good and have a decent amount of features.

I do know a fair bit about DVD players but it couldn't hurt to get recommendations.

Anyone?

(BTW the dollar amounts I mentioned are in Canadian)

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-05-26 09:27am

Get a low-end Pioneer unit. The really cheap ones (particularly the no-names) seem to work fine at first but you'll find that they can't play discs that have even the smallest scratches.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-05-26 10:04am

Toshiba is good too

Nephilim_X · Post by **Nephilim_X** » 2004-05-26 10:17am

Ok, I've been looking around Future Shops website and so far here are some that I've been considering...

Dressed Link

Dressed Link2

Chicken Ala King

That's about as pricey as I want to go. I think I may have done a Not So Bright Thing by telling her a couple months ago that DVD players have fallen in price to as low as 60 dollars, however I'm more than willing to help her out covering the price. Assuming she only has 60 dollars to spend (Yeah, Im being a bit pessimistic on this calc) I'm willing to cover up to 60 more dollars (I've got a bit of cash stashed away and I really do not want to see her saddled with a crappy player so I don't mind lending it). So basically we're working with a budget of about 120 dollars Canadian.

Are there any more recommendations? Also what are good stores to get them at? I know Future Shop isn't the best place to go for lower prices...

Edit: I recall her saying something about CostCo, so I'm looking there too...

Edit: Costcos site sucks.

Post by **Zaia** » 2004-05-26 10:19am

Don't suppose you could go the PS2 route and do the whole two-in-one thing, hmm?

InnerBrat · Post by **InnerBrat** » 2004-05-26 10:21am

whagh! Dress thy links!

Nephilim_X · Post by **Nephilim_X** » 2004-05-26 10:24am

Zaia wrote:Don't suppose you could go the PS2 route and do the whole two-in-one thing, hmm?

It's 199 bucks; if she really wanted to I could really stretch the pocketbook and help her, but (thankfully) she doesn't seem to be much of a gamer so I don't think a PS2 would be the wisest choice.

I definitely don't want her to get a crap player though; aside from wanting her to have something that'll last, this is a woman who has used the same computer with NO upgrades for over 8 years. I think it's a Pentium 1 chip she has, and frankly she bloody well deserves some quality electronics!

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-05-26 10:28am

Then you can't go wrong with a SONY

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2004-05-26 10:30am

I'm told this Cyberhome is pretty good.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-05-26 10:39am

Nephilim_X wrote:
Zaia wrote:Don't suppose you could go the PS2 route and do the whole two-in-one thing, hmm?
It's 199 bucks; if she really wanted to I could really stretch the pocketbook and help her, but (thankfully) she doesn't seem to be much of a gamer so I don't think a PS2 would be the wisest choice.

I definitely don't want her to get a crap player though; aside from wanting her to have something that'll last, this is a woman who has used the same computer with NO upgrades for over 8 years. I think it's a Pentium 1 chip she has, and frankly she bloody well deserves some quality electronics!

depending on where you go PS2s are actually in the $150.00-$179 range now. go to a pawn shop and you might be able to find one for less.

Nephilim_X · Post by **Nephilim_X** » 2004-05-26 10:40am

Darth_Zod wrote:
Nephilim_X wrote:
Zaia wrote:Don't suppose you could go the PS2 route and do the whole two-in-one thing, hmm?
It's 199 bucks; if she really wanted to I could really stretch the pocketbook and help her, but (thankfully) she doesn't seem to be much of a gamer so I don't think a PS2 would be the wisest choice.

I definitely don't want her to get a crap player though; aside from wanting her to have something that'll last, this is a woman who has used the same computer with NO upgrades for over 8 years. I think it's a Pentium 1 chip she has, and frankly she bloody well deserves some quality electronics!
depending on where you go PS2s are actually in the $150.00-$179 range now. go to a pawn shop and you might be able to find one for less.

Still a bit pricey if all she wants to do is watch movies; plus this year my housemates PS2's laser died twice (that I know of and apparently this is not the first time it happened), so I'm a bit skeptical.

Post by **Zaia** » 2004-05-26 10:42am

Nephilim_X wrote:Still a bit pricey if all she wants to do is watch movies; plus this year my housemates PS2's laser died twice (that I know of and apparently this is not the first time it happened), so I'm a bit skeptical.

I know quite a few people who've had them for years without any problem, but since she isn't much into games anyway, it really wouldn't be worth it.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-05-26 10:44am

Darth_Zod wrote:depending on where you go PS2s are actually in the $150.00-$179 range now. go to a pawn shop and you might be able to find one for less.

Wrong stay away from pawn shop,they mostly sell stolen stuff,and if its not stolen you may pay too much for something that may stop working after a few days,and pawn shops don't refund.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-05-26 12:09pm

I got a Polaroid DVD player from Best Buy for around $40.

The controls on the remote kind of suck and I have to manually turn off subtitles with every movie but it plays just about everything.

It's also a little loud at times (the mechanism inside) and it is slower than a more expensive DVD player when using the menus but it sounds good, and plays pretty well.

Not a bad deal if you want to go ultra cheep.

You'd probably be less frustrated going with a Panasonic (usually pretty cheap) or the low end Pioneer.