Which DVD players that play EVERYTHING!

[Steveb]

I need some help from the AV experts out there....

I'm in the market for a new DVD player. i want one of those jobbies that play EVERYTHING! There is a cheapie in Lidl branded Silvercrest that will play avi's, mp4's any region DVD and all manner of DVD/CD formats. It will also play movies straight off removable media like memory cards and even USB pen drives. It also has 5.1 outputs! But, I suspect the quality of the output is crap and it'll only read media cards upto a max of 1gig, which is a bit pants.

So basically, I want one like that one, only better quailty and able to read bigger cards, the ability to plug an external drive into the USB port would be really handy.

So, what is out there?

[Steveb]

Oh, and if a PS3 will do this, please don't tell me, as I really can't afford to buy one but i really want to buy one.

Although, out of interest, will a PS3 do this sorta thing?

[thetrailbuilder]

ps3 pritty much everything, not sure about avi though, will do 7:1 surround as well

[penguinni]

For 20 quid or so one of the budget machines out of Asda or Lidl is hard to beat. They are very versatile and picture quality isnt at all bad. Or you could pick up a DVD Upscaling machine for little money on eBay. I had a Samsung which had an HDMI out put and gave very impressive results for 30 quid ish! And it played everything and anything. Looked great too. Now I have a Samsung Blu-ray player. Picture and sound quality are excellent but it is very fussy what it plays back - no Xvid for example and its picky about DVD-Rs and RWs etc. And it was pricey at 175 and will be obsolete very soon - newer machines are becoming cheaper, better featured and smaller! I have an Xbox 360 ( and had the HDDVD) otherwise I would have gone the PS3 route. For that money the Blu-ray ability is excellent and now there are some pretty good games for PS3.

That big telly deserves a good AV source!

[Chris_Comber]

For 20 quid or so one of the budget machines out of Asda or Lidl is hard to beat. They are very versatile and picture quality isnt at all bad. Or you could pick up a DVD Upscaling machine for little money on eBay. I had a Samsung which had an HDMI out put and gave very impressive results for 30 quid ish! And it played everything and anything. Looked great too. Now I have a Samsung Blu-ray player. Picture and sound quality are excellent but it is very fussy what it plays back - no Xvid for example and its picky about DVD-Rs and RWs etc. And it was pricey at 175 and will be obsolete very soon - newer machines are becoming cheaper, better featured and smaller! I have an Xbox 360 ( and had the HDDVD) otherwise I would have gone the PS3 route. For that money the Blu-ray ability is excellent and now there are some pretty good games for PS3.

That big telly deserves a good AV source!

Which Samsung blu ray player do you have?

I have the BD1500 and with the latest firmware it now plays xvids.

Steve, I had a chepie Phillips DVD player that played everything;cost about £50 in Richersounds.Tesco have one for £27 http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-3114.aspx.

[penguinni]

I have the 1500 as well - must check for firmware upgrades!

Thanks!

[Chris_Comber]

I have the 1500 as well - must check for firmware upgrades!

Thanks!

Here is the link to v2:

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/download/supportDown.do?group=homeentertainment&type=blu_rayplayer&subtype=blu_rayplayer&model_nm=BD-P1500&mType=FM&dType=D&vType=R

[Conor]

I have a Samsung system that plays everything, including AVI and DIVX CDs/DVDs, USB sticks and external hard drives. But it is a cinema system and cost £180.

[penguinni]

Thanks Chris...I have a permanent ethernet connection and assumed it would always update automatically. Ill update this afternoon when Im home from work.

[Steveb]

Chris, that one in Tesocs doesn't appear to play AVI's and MP4's, or have card slots, unless you know otherwise?

Penguinni, what is the older model of Samdung you had? Sounds like it might be worth looking one out.

[penguinni]

Mine was the DVD -HD850. I sold it 2 weeks ago to a chap in work for £20. They were around 30 ish on eBay. This is a similiar machine:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SAMSUNG-DVD-HD870-DVD-PLAYER-HDMI-UPSCALING-SUPERB_W0QQitemZ230306847712QQcmdZViewItem?hash=it em230306847712&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1301%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318

[penguinni]

The 850

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/dvdpvr/0,39030417,39193325,00.htm

[Steveb]

Thanks for that Chris. I've looked at that review, but can't get much info from it. Dos that machine have card and USB slots or does the media need to be put onto a DVD first? Also will it play MP4's?

TVM

[Chris_Comber]

Steve, another suggestion:

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3437710/Pioneer-DV-600AV-K-Universal-DVD-Player-With-HDMI-Output-And-USB-Host/Product.html

I had a Pioneer player a few years ago and it played anything I threw at it.

In your first post you mentioned 5.1 audio outputs, do you really need these? Most amps can accept either opitical or coaxial digital inputs.

[Steveb]

Thanks for that Chris. I've looked at that review, but can't get much info from it. Dos that machine have card and USB slots or does the media need to be put onto a DVD first? Also will it play MP4's?

TVM

Sorry, that should have read.... Thanks for that Penguin

That one on Play looks a goer too.

Many thanks for the help so far guys.

[Chris_Comber]

Not a problem.

I know feek all about bikes, but DVDs and TVs I know.

[Steveb]

Whereas I know feck all about both!

;-)

[penguinni]

Youre welcome!

It didnt take cards or USB - but do you really really need that ability?

And Im not sure about MP4 - it did play everything I asked it to....including various backups.

[Steveb]

I do really, but thanks for the help anyway.

Think I'm going to go for that one on Play as it seems to tick all the boxes. If it turns out otherwise then I can blame Chris ;-)

[Chris_Comber]

I do really, but thanks for the help anyway.

Think I'm going to go for that one on Play as it seems to tick all the boxes. If it turns out otherwise then I can blame Chris ;-)

I usually get blamed for things anyway, so no change there :D