DVD Players, what to look for?

[Alan]

I have successfully made quite a few AV's which, apart from my computer are usually shown via a digital projector.

Now I want to produce some of them as AV1's to show via a DVD player which I do not yet own.

Talking to colleagues it seems that there is less risk of rejection with the cheaper players than with the fussy expensive ones.

My question is, what specific characteristics should I be looking for in a player to play AV1's as well as DVD's etc?

I'd prefer a cheap answer! Many thanks. Alan

[Ken Cox]

Alan

welcome to the forum.

i have 5 dvd players and none will play avi's- 2 of them will play some mpgs. the same 2 will play mp3's burned on a dvd-r

the cheap ones today - $50 are playing nearly all you throw at them

see

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

so you need to make up several disks

mixed jpg's/mp3 cdr's

dvd-r dvd-rw cd-rw with stuff on them and go shopping/trying what will work

you also need to look at what type your family/friends use

ken

[Guest Techman1]

Alan,

As Ken says, one of the key features for me these days is the DVD players ability to read DVD+RW (rewritable DVDs). This allows me to burn my slideshows or other videos onto a rewritable DVD and then completely view it on the DVD player prior to actually burning a DVD. Although DVDs have come down in price, I'm still cheap and hate to waste a good DVD because I didn't do something correct (like titles being to close to the edge, etc.).

It's nice also having the MP3 ability to play on the DVD player if you have it connected to your sound system also. The last three DVD players that I've purchased all have these abilities and again as Ken said they were relatively inexpensive ($50-$75 range).

Good luck.

Fred

[GLS48]

I have 2 Philips DVP642 progressive scan DVD players I picked up at Wally World “WalMart” for around $60 bucks. They have played anything I have put in them including AVIs, JPGs, VCDs, SVCDs and DVDs. I sometimes burn a test DVD on a DVD-RW and run it in the Philips before committing the show to an R disk. This may not pertain only to the Philips, but I can burn any show that will fit on a CD using a DVD mode and I am hard-pressed to tell the difference from DVD. I can save several AVIs to a disk and it will play each. We have as many as three full length movies on one disk that look as good to me as DVD. This player will also find jpeg files buried in directories and play them in a slide show. I am very pleased with them.

George

[Alan]

Thank you all very much for the info and the welcome, plus any future comments offered.

After a little more research I'll take the cheap plunge with little to lose and expand my scope for educational errors.

That's my excuse anyway.

Cheers Alan