Philips DVP5992 DVD player

Be impressed with this Philips DVD player with HDMI digital video and audio connection. Step into another home entertainment arena as you immerse yourself with High Definition video (720p / 1080i/1080p).

Philips, what can I say? It plays VCD’s KvCD’s, Divx etc. (for those that don’t know, u can take an .avi file, burn it as data and watch it on here. I don’t know if that works for other types of media files tho. Burning as data is very fast.) I live by Philips for being one of the few DVD players that can handle probably any type of disc thrown at it. I have a DVD movie that I brought and after some months it stuttered on my Go Video, then locked it up. Philips handled it like a dream. Even if it was scratched or the Go Video needed cleaning, I didn’t have to find out using Philips. I just found out part of my answer: I put in a scratched CD just now and no stutters.

Remote has an eject button on the remote, can also use the button to close the disc drawer. (yea I’m lazy at times) It has volume control. Don’t really know what its for yet, but its there. If connecting by HDMI and/or to a HDTV, make sure u go into the picture setup page of the DVD player & the screen size settings of your TV and do trial n error to get the best picture. Just selecting 720p, 1080i/p in the DVD settings doesn’t necessarily mean you get the best picture. U can create .mp3s from CD’s. You can set the bitrate (192kbps shoulda been the default tho, not 128kbps,) and some other things that I thought I could only do on my PC. Nice.

One added feature thats a plus for some of you on the net: it has a lip sync feature. What it does: you can adjust the audio speed in movies & videos that are out of sync. So for those movies where the audio doesnt match the video, u can fix it. Something else I thought I could only do on my PC. Nice!!!

Philips DVP5992

Sony BDP-S560 Blu-ray Disc player

The Sony BDP-S560 Blu-ray Disc player delivers Full HD 1080/24p True Cinema video over HDMI and can upscale your standard DVDs to near HD quality . It also includes built-in wireless functionality (802.11N/G/B/A), allowing you to easily connect to the internet to download and stream BD-Live content such as additional scenes, shorts, trailers, movie-based games, and more. While compatible with most home wireless routers, the BDP-S560 Blu-ray Disc player also supports Wi-Fi protected set-up (WPS), for a quick and easy conection to WPS enabled wireless routers. The BDPS560 even supports Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD audio codecs for up to 7.1 channels of high-definition sound.
Product Details

Features
* Built-in Wi-Fi networking for accessing BD Live bonus materials as well as streaming photos from your PC
* Full HD 1080p output for Blu-ray Discs and upconversion of standard DVD video to 1080p
* 24p True Cinema capable lets you watch films at their intended 24 fps (frames per second); Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD
* Outputs: 1 HDMI, 1 component, 1 S-Video, 1 composite, 1 analog audio (2-channel), 1 digital optical audio, 1 digital coaxial audio, 1 Ethernet
* Includes remote control and composite AV cable; measures 16.9 x 8.1 x 2.8 inches (WxDxH)

Sony BDP-S560

DV-983H Universal DVD Player

DV-983H is the new flagship model in OPPO’s line of award-winning up-converting DVD players. Featuring Anchor Bay’s leading video processing technologies, 7.1-channel audio, and 1080p HDMI up-conversion, the DV-983H Universal DVD Player delivers the breath-taking audio and video performance needed to make standard DVDs look their best on today’s large screen, high resolution displays. The DV-983H provides a rich array of features for serious home theater enthusiasts. By applying source-adaptive, motion-adaptive, and edge-adaptive techniques, the DV-983H produces an outstanding image for any DVD, whether it’s mastered from an original theatrical release film or from a TV series. Aspect ratio conversion and multi-level zooming enable users to take full control of the viewing experience ¿ maintain the original aspect ratio, stretch to full screen, or crop the unsightly black borders. Special stretch modes make it possible to utilize the full resolution of ultra high-end projectors with anamorphic lens. For users with an international taste, the frame rate conversion feature converts PAL movies for NTSC output without any loss of resolution or tearing. Custom home theater installers will find the DV-983H easy to integrate into whole-house control systems, thanks to its RS-232 and IR IN/OUT control ports. To complete the home theatre experience, the DV-983H produces stunning sound quality. Its 7.1 channel audio with Dolby Digital Surround EX decoding offers more depth, spacious ambience, and sound localization. Additionally, the player supports DTS Digital Surround, Dolby Digital, and Dolby Pro-Logic II to accommodate any sound track found on a DVD. Music lovers will enjoy the precise rendering of CD, Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio. The DV-983H incorporates high resolution 192kHz, 24-bit audio D/A converters, isolated power supply circuitry, and quality passive components to deliver clear treble, deep bass, and a broad dynamic range.

Features
* Flagship model from well-known up-converting DVD player expert OPPO Digital; Exceptional picture and sound quality.
* Recognized by many reviewers and videophiles as the ultimate DVD players to get the best possible video quality from standard DVD disc on your HDTV
* Powered by ABTs Video Reference Series technology (DVDO); Delivers a clearer, smoother, film-like and true-to-life picture that is free of artifacts.
* DVD-Audio, SACD and DVD-Video universal playback; superior audio with 7.1, 5.1 or 2.0 channel output with Dolby Digital Surround EX decoding
* Up-conversion to 1080p over HDMI; High resolution photo slide show (HD-JPEG); USB 2.0 interface; RS232 connection; IR In/Out

OPPO DV-983H

OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player

Complete Media Support: Blu-ray Disc; BD-Live; DVD Up-Conversion; DVD-Audio; SACD; Additional Media Formats – Additional disc and file formats, such as audio CD, HDCD, Kodak Picture CD, AVCHD, MKV, and other audio/video/picture files on recorded discs or USB drives can be played back on the BDP-83. Unparalleled Video Quality: VRS by Anchor Bay; Full HD 1080p Output ; True 24 Video ; Source Direct Mode; Multiple Zoom Modes; HDMI; High Fidelity Audio: Dolby TrueHD; DTS-HD; 7.1-Channel Analog Output; Dedicated Stereo Output; Digital Optical and Coaxial Outputs; Ultimate Convenience: Dual USB Ports ; PAL/NTSC Conversion ; Back-lit Remote Control; Universal Power Supply ; External IR ; RS232 Control (optional) ; HDMI CEC

Features
* Universal Blu-ray disc player providing playback for a myriad of video formats
* Supports Blu-ray, SACD, DVD-Audio, DVDs, and CDs
* Two USB ports allow for playback of media stored on a flash drive
* Uses award-winning video processing chip for a clear, true picture
* Device measures 17.0 x 3.0 x 13.25 inches (WxHxD)

OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player

Toshiba DR420 DVD Recorder

This unit is really great! We recently got a 40″ HD TV and needed a replacement for the VCR — we wanted to record shows (and On-Demand movies) at a good enough quality for HD viewing.

One option was DVR from Comcast for $10/month (which might or might not allow recording of On-Demand movies and transfer to computer for disc-burning). Another option was using a computer with a video acquisition device and record to hard drive. The third option was this unit for $110, delivered, from Amazon — hands down the most practical choice.

Though this unit doesn’t record in true HD resolution, the quality is about the same (in 2 hour mode, 16×9) as regular 16×9 enhanced DVDs. At first I was worried the recorded discs might not play on other DVD players; but they did, no problem at all on any of our equipment (that is, after the recording is finalized). The recording time for a DVD-R disc (on high quality mode) was 2 hours and 8 minutes. (On lower quality modes, it’s 4+ hours and 8+ hours.)

Navigating the menu system is easy enough, and each recorded disk is given a simple menu with the various recordings available to choose from (which by default have the date & time of recording as the title, but can be renamed).

Upconversion of commercial DVDs is quite good (enough so that we’re not that motivated to get a Blu-Ray player yet .

Our only complaints (which are very minor) are that the tray-eject is a little slow & noisy and that there isn’t component video inputs (just composite video & S-Video inputs). But it was easy enough to hook up to our cable box (or TV) to record from their outputs.

This will be a great unit to have until Blu-Ray recorders become less expensive.

Features
* Records -R/-RW, +R/+RW Formats
* Playback:MP3, VCD, JPEG, Kodak Pic
* 1080P Upconversion and DV Input
* Auto-Finalization
* HDMI connection

Toshiba DR420 DVD Recorder