I think I might be in the market for a new DVD player, but I don't know that much about them, and I can't ask my techie husband 'cause I want it to be a b-day present. So naturally I thought of you all.

The DVD player we have, we got because it could play lots of different kinds of files -- specifically, files that Kel downloaded & burned to disk. It mostly works. But it has this really annoying habit of turning itself *off* when you hit the "play" button after pausing the show.

So, anybody know a great DVD player that can play lots of files/formats and has a good remote? That costs less than $100?

Our TV is 4-5 years old and *not* HDTV. Other details, I don't know but could find out if I knew what to ask for...

Thanks,
PJ

John recommends this player - it's a Phillips, will play DivX and lots of other formats, including PAL if your TV supports it. It's got a USB port - meaning that if you 'acquire' episodes through means other than purchasing the DVD you can copy them from your hard drive to a USB flashdrive and plug it straight into your player - and it also supports HDMI.

Currently $60.

And here\'s the hack to make it region-free.


Wendy

We got ours at Sam's Club. No brand you've ever heard of. Pretty cheap. But it works.

We picked it because it's a DVD/VCR combo and it has a DV port on the front (which allows us to plug in the camcorder and get high quality digital input).

I don't see it listed on their site anymore. Not really surprising.

Point is... a DVD player is a DVD player. You stick a DVD in it, it'll play it. That's the most important part, and pretty much any one you buy will do it pretty well.

Look at the features on the box. You can maybe take a look at some reviews at cnet.com, epinions.com, amazon.com, and suchlike. See what appeals to you.

You'll probably want to keep an eye out for a player that also records. It's a handy feature, for one thing. But it's also one that generally indicates that the player can also handle other things. If it can burn recordable disks, then it must be designed to read them. And if it has the processing power to record a disk, it should be able to handle other things, like various file formats.

So, for what it's worth, that's my advice. Go to your favorite store. Look for the cheapest DVD recorder on the shelves. Check out the box to make sure the advertised features sound like what you want. If so, go for it.

Really, it's hard to be more specific than that. There are so many models, you never know what you'll find in any given store. And even that's liable to change from one week to the next.

Thanks, Wendy & Paul! I appreciate you taking the time to do the research I didn't do!

DVD player purchased, fingers crossed...

PJ

Wow, I'm so glad you posted this! Currently, my DVD player plays Region 1. I had to set my pc for Region 2 BUT I also have to work with Region 4 sometimes...so I end up having to traipse all over to find a machine that does that region. It's NO fun watching long movies on hard chairs.

I'm fed up and going to buy something region free--so this is SO helpful.

Do a google for your player and region free and see if a way to make it region free is posted. The makers can't IIRC make the region free out of the box since that violates the contract they they signed for the sw to decode DVDs, but they often make it easy to change afterwards.