Thinking about getting a DVD Player

[Trick Or Kill]

Hello everyone,

I just got a real good money flow recently (Close to 300$) and I've been wondering what to do with this hunk of money not being used to having that much. And I've been recently thinking about getting a DVD player.

I got about a month ago a stereo TV with enough audio/video outputs to hook a VCR, my very good stereo and there's still one place left for a DVD player.

I figured I would come here to get people who have DVD players' oppinions on a certain number of subjects because I am not sure about the purchase I'm about to make.

First of all having a limited budget I'm wondering if it's worth it so I'm wondering a few questions.

1-What is VCD and how important of a feature is it for a DVD player to play them?

2-Will it interfere with my VCR connections? Does a DVD require a direct connection into the antena VHF/UHF output of my TV?

3-Is 250$ (Canadian)a good spend on a DVD Player or should I wait collect more money?

4-I read that some DVD's support CD-R and CD-RW, does this mean any burned CD from a computer can be a playable movie DVD? And altough I know this is a duh question, do DVD record?

5-Do all DVD's offer multilangual support?

6-What are the major faults of DVD players?

I don't think I have anymore questions for now but please everyone who can answer these questions do so, I want the most opinions possible before making a decision, thank you.

[Common Sense Man]

300 is fine I bought a very nice Zenith for 160. But there is no upper limit to what you can purchse.


Out.....

[B-ball Dude]

I have a Hitachi DVD player I have so much stuff hooked up that I have to switch the VCR cords with the DVD cords everytime I want to watch A DVD but I think it can be fixed. Other than that it works amazingly and get the Exit Wounds DVD it works so good on mine. mine was 500$ (Canadan) but its one of the best you can get.Id say get and RCA they work pretty good!

[[SD] Bob Plisskin]

Right I'll try and answer each of your questions individually as best as i can.

1-What is VCD and how important of a feature is it for a DVD player to play them?
VCD is basically a cheap version of DVD the quality is poorer and they are often pirated, many eastern companies however sell legal VCDs here is a website about VCDs http://www.vcdhelper.com/ if you have a good connection and no morals you can download movies in divx form and write them to a CD and then play them in your DVD player.

2-Will it interfere with my VCR connections? Does a DVD require a direct connection into the antena VHF/UHF output of my TV?
It depends on what type of player you get, a 'Home cinema in a box' type will require that I think but a bog standard player will just connect through a spare scart socket. It is not possible, however, to run the signal of a DVD player through your VCR and then to your TV because DVD players use macrovision to garble the signal if going through a VCR.

3-Is 250$ (Canadian)a good spend on a DVD Player or should I wait collect more money?
I'm not sure how much money that is or what is on offer in Canada but here in the UK some of the cheapest players can be the best by offering MP3, multiregion and the such like. If you feel sound is an important aspect of film i reccommend you save up until you can afford a 'home cinema in a box' 5.1 setup.

4-I read that some DVD's support CD-R and CD-RW, does this mean any burned CD from a computer can be a playable movie DVD? And altough I know this is a duh question, do DVD record?
It has to be in a specific format (see the website above) but the idea of CD-r's on DVD players is usually so you can record upwards of 10 albums to one CD of your player supports MP3 playback.

5-Do all DVD's offer multilangual support?
almost all software in this country have multilingual support because of the region i'm in but I'm not sure about R1 DVDs I suppose if they're being sold in Canada the must have a french audio track, and probably spanish too. If no audio track is available in another language other than english subtitles are regularly included.

6-What are the major faults of DVD players?
here's a post about all the little nigling things I don't like about DVD players, but I stress they're only little problems http://www.joblo.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000758.html

hope I've helped you there mate, I do highly reccommend getting a player if you love films because they are so much better than videos.

<OB>

[The Heart Collector]

No Morals?

Why thank you. I feel very proud...

[Trick Or Kill]

Thanks for all the great answers now tell me, it this a good DVD player:

DVD value! Compatible with DVD, SVCD, VCD, HDCD, CD-DA, CD-R and MP3. Features Component Video, S-Video, Optical and Coaxial Outputs. Monitor what your childen watch with Parental Control. More than 500 lines of resolution for quality viewing. Colour VFD display. Has display aspect conversion (4:3/16:9) and zoom function. Includes full-function remote control. 8 audio languages.

It's 200 bucks at Radio Shack, would I be making a good deal?

[inglourious basterd]

Make sure that your DVD Player is compatible with Dolby Digital 5.1. If you are looking to ever get a sound system within the lifetime of your player, keep this in mind.