Time for a new DVD Player

So after a frustratingly short time (about 3 years) it is time to replace my DVD player. It's a Pioneer DV939a and it is a great machine, but it has started becoming very unpredictable. Sometimes it plays a film fine, and other times it just refuses to load a disk. And despite the quality when it is working fine - it has stopped playing my favorite film, Apollo 13, and that is quite unacceptable (and before you impune my trouble shooting abilities, of course I have tried the disk on other DVD players and it works).

Now you can pick up a DVD player from reputable makes like Sony for under £50 but they are no good for me since I need an optical output to link it to my surround sound amplifier. So if the budget market is out, what to choose. Also, should I go for a straight DVD player or a DVD with a hard disk to replace my video as well. Or even a hard disk recorder with a subscription like SKY. My frolleague Cali Clarke is a massive fan of the TiVo, which offers a great user interface and a devoted fan base, but it ain't gonna play my DVDs. Another frolleague Darren Adams is an advocate of the SKY+ box (despite some teething troubles). Once more this cannot play my DVDs, but more importantly, Ali has said she will divorce me if we get satellite TV. Something about the likelihood of me spending 22 hours a day watching the Men and Motors channel apparently :-(

So my current thinking is to go for a combined DVD/Hard Disk recorder. It would get me back in the 21 Century which appeals to my Geeky side, but the ability to stop having to program the video is another big draw. I have been looking lustfully at the Pioneer DVR 420HS romping in at about £300. Has anyone advice, experience or recommendations for these combo devices? Any help appreciated.

Comments

Tony C said…
Panasonic do a range of DVD/Hard disc recorders which I've read good things about. I do expect PVR prices to nose dive soon and already theres one or two cheap models from Korean manufactureres you've never heard of. Tesco sell a Philips DVD recorder for under £200.

And this is but a guess; a further shift in this market will be when the next gen consoles hit the streets. I reckon they'll do the Tivo thing as well...
Tue Apr 26, 11:03:00 am BST
Anonymous said…
Throw out the telly along with the faulty DVD player! ...you know i'm right...
Tue Apr 26, 03:32:00 pm BST
Anonymous said…
I have the DMR E30 and got it around the time it dropped from £1000 to £300. You can pick these (or similar) up for around £250 these days. Costco also have good stock of decent DVD recorders. They still have VideoPlus on if you need to set it out of Heat, TVTimes or your favourite trashy TV Mag, and they're dead easy to use. I like the Timeslip function - great for when the wife wants to watch Location, Location, Location and I want to record The Bill (ahem!) - or something like that.
But best of all, if you have any old video tapes from when you were younger (the ones the family usually sit through at Christmas), you can transfer them on to DVD easily and get rid of that tape.
Sat Apr 30, 10:43:00 am BST
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to remove a security ink tag

Image
Last Monday I was flying to Scotland for a few days to have a chat with a few of our customers up there. I thought I would show them due respect so on Sunday afternoon I popped into Marks and Spencer and bought a new suit. When I got home I set to making our Sunday roast dinner so didn't think about the whistle until about eleven that night when I went to pack. To my annoyance I found this bad boy attached to the arm. Clearly the assistant in the shop had missed it when he was putting the suit in a bag for me. At first I wasn't too bothered. After all - it would just take a bit of brute force to rip it off and all would be well for the morning. However, when I looked at the other side - my heart skipped a beat. What at first look like a simple dongle to trigger an alarm at a security gate was in fact an ink tag. I immediately started thinking of the paint bombs that are placed in bags of money to prevent theft! Was this device explosive? Was it dangerous? I soon came to my sen...
Read more

Remove a security tag redux

Image
A month or so ago I posted a story about how I was forced to remove a security ink tag from a suit I had bought. You can read all about it by clicking here. The feedback I received from that post made me realise how common a problem this is. Little did I expect that so soon I would be faced by a similar challenge. Some top friends of ours bought us this lovely dress for our new born daughter Lucy A quick look under the hem and there it is - our friend the security tag. Aside from the fact that this device is neither green nor from Marks and Spencers, it is apparent that it looks different from the ink tag I documented in the previous story. However, even though it is white and round rather than green and oblong, a quick look at the back shows that it is fundamentally the same. A bigger front piece that holds the "payload" and a pin clicking it onto the garment with some sort of clutch arrangement hidden in the middle somewhere holding the two parts together. Sadly there is n...
Read more