Page 1 of Thanks for NOTHING

I have been reading this forum for 2 weeks trying to make an informed decision about which budget player to buy.

It is difficult because most of the regular posters seem to just reaffirm their love of their own machine (Jimbo) or their hate of others (Bear).

None of this is at all helpful for people like myself who are genuinely seeked advice from folks who know about the dvd scene.

When in a recent post the replies degenerated into obsene, vulgar, personal insults my patience has run out.

So in a last (probably futile) attempt to receive some help..................If there is anyone reading this post who is mentally balanced, mature and knowledgeable about the DVD-player scene then please provide some informed critiques of the popular, available, entry-level mult-region players such as the Phillips 711, Tosh SD-100e, Logix/Manhatten 3000, Pioneer DV535 and the LG 3550.


One last point. I contibute to many online forums and this is the 1st one I have encountered where nobody seems to moderate. People posting such offensive comments as i have read today should be banned from the forum.

Do a search of this forum. Someone has written a detailed account of the Philips 711 and seems quite favourable. I have just purchased a Wharfedale 750S (i.e yesterday!)and its going back due to so many differing views / problems with this machine.

Gothie

Several complaint emails have reached us about your very point. We will be barring certain individuals if it carries on.

You know who you are and you have been warned.

Mark
DVD Reviewer

Very Well said Gothie.

I can`t understand why people write such filth about DVD players. I had problems with two Aiwa before I discovered this forum and came here for help with regard to a replacement. It seems that all players are either absolutely brilliant or so bad that everyone writes a string of obscenities about them. It is very annoying to start reading a thread and then find that most of the postings are vulgar sexual insults and nothing to do with the origianl question. So much technology put to such an unpleasant purpose. It should be moderated out and the people banned.

Anyway, I too want to buy a budget player. The Manhatten review looks quite favourable. Since it is the same as the Scan and the Scan is in black and has 2 scarts I might go for the scan. I am waiting for posts from people who have got the jan 5th batch of scans before I make my decision though.

Cheers,
Bernard.

I understand what you are saying to a point.......

I have just found someone being really unpleasant to someone so I posted a thread and told him so....... didn`t do much though.

But...... Jimbo`s a good bloke, nows his stuff, he has tried about 6 machines and countless others (as he works in electrical retail).

I had the wharfedale 750s and took it back due to problems and managed (with much hassle) to get an AIWA 370.

It is a superb machine (much better than the Wharfy) and cost me £180.

Basically, unless you buy from Tesco, Argos and a few others (you get a 28 day money back gurantee, 16 at Argos), you are running a risk.

I would say don`t pin too much on magazine reviews, many mags gave the Wharfedale 750 and Alba 103 9/10, just look at the postings here to find the hassle people have had.

Its better to find people who have throughly used machines.

Cos the AIWA 370 is so good, I would go for the LG3550E (£189.00 @ dabs.com). Don`t know much about the other machines.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 10th January 2001, 16:08

Gothie,

as it seems that you are very dissapointed (just like Bernie), I will try to be as objective as can be, since i don`t know what you want in a player.

1) Philips 711
+ Good picture, good sound, plays CD-R`s and CD-RW`s, has a remote region hack (although u have to have One4all RC or an equivalent).
- None specific.

2) Toshiba SD-100E
+ Very good picture, good sound, doesn`t seem to have any technical problems.
- Doesn`t read CD-R`s nor CD-RW`s and has to be hardware modified for multiregion playback.

3) Logix/Manhatten 3000
Can`t say anything about this one.

4) Pioneer 535/530
+ Good picture, good sound, plays CD-R`s and CD-RW`s and is very reliable.
- Maybe a little loud

5) LG 3350E
+ Very good picture, good sound, plays CD-R`s and CD-RW`s and MP3`s, has a built in Dolby Digital decoder.
- Doesn`t play VCD


Hope to be of some help.


¦°e\/[\]

I have an LG 3200E, wished I`d have held out for the LG3350 as it does a lot more BUT I am happy with it, cost me 180 notes, although R2 the firmware is not hacable as its only V1.0, later models are hackable to multiregion. It doesn`t play VCD`s unless silver copies, MPeg`s haven`t tried as I have a smokin CD player. It has a nice GUI display, clear to read and understand, has good zoom and x2 x4 x100 fast forward. The picutre quality is good for a budget player, black is black not grey on some players I have seen and it has DTS output for those fortunate enough to have a decent amp connected. And at least it`s silver !

Hope this is of any use, as you can gather I`m not a DVD freak where I need to buy 15 units to try out before deciding on what player to have, the reason for this is given 12 months ANY player you buy now will be old hat so I just want to enjoy DVD movies for the sound, picture quality.

BV

>I have been reading this forum for 2 weeks trying to make an informed decision about which budget player to buy.

Ok either you`re a slow reader or you`ve been reading with your eyes closed! In which case may I suggest the following:

You`ve listed the players you`re interested in why don`t you search through the comments in this forum about the players and make your mind up about which seems better - i.e. less valid complaints and more valid praises. Yes you will find some people write irrelevent crap to amuse themselves or others, but such is life.

However what you are looking for my friend is an unbiased thesis on the best budget player brought to you on a plate! - well good luck because I don`t think you`ll find one. I doubt anyone here will have tested every (budget) dvd player for weeks so that they can tell you, hand-on-heart which is the best. Don`t forget noone owes you anything.

If the thought of doing a little research for yourself seems daunting then you may as well just pick a player at random.

007.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 10th January 2001, 17:00

Just a thought ...but as the dvd medium is exploding more into the mainstream and this IS the DVD site to come to for info, advice and general chat about dvd its obvious we are gonna attract more mainstream opinions to these forums which will in turn lead to more abusive remarks.

If people see they can get away with it for a while there will always be the small (minded) minority who will scare away the "many" ( and remember its the "many" clicks on your banners which pays the bills and buys all that lally kit you have over there )

Maybe... and its just a suggestion that mark and john should think about "recruiting" a couple of Mods from the respectable members of these forums if not now but for the near future.

Or more catagerisation of the forums i.e Hardware ( respectable ) , software ( respectable ) , general ( where u can let it all out as long as its not offfensive)

as i said just a thought

Shaun

This item was edited on Wednesday, 10th January 2001, 17:48

GOTHIE I GOT A SCAN 2000SC FROM SCAN ON FRI 5/1/01
IT WORKS PERFECT AND THE PICTURE AND THE SOUND
ARE EXCELLENT MY MATES GOT ONE AND HIS MATES GOT ONE
AND THEY ARE PLEASED AS WELL AND ALL THIS FOR £175.00
THIS IS AN UN BIASED OPINION AS IF IT WERE CRAP I WOULD SAY SO BUY THE SCAN ITS GOT MORE FEATURES THAN THE REST.


SCAN ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS GOOD LUCK.