Help in purchasing new DVD player? Name brand vs no names?

[m500]

With much choice out there I don't know what to choose from? Now a days so many factory OEM that are going for less then $100.00 over the name brand badge counter part. I'm kind of puzzle of what to get? Name brand or OEM? Is there a major differences or visual, audiable differences there?

One of the brand I'm considering is below. Its doesn't support SACD or DVD_A but everything else is included with Kareoke & Media slot.

http://www.rjtech.net/p_dvd_players_color.htm

[m500]

Anyone??? I'm interest in getting on of the Standard DVD from RJTECH as they seem to be offer a lots of feature for the money. I know, I know there are colored ones but not for me, maybe a present for my teenage niece.

[ericl]

I've never heard of that brand. I do know that Toshiba's 39xx series of DVD players get great reviews, and are about $50. They seem to be pretty reliable. I had one for a while before I gave it to my friend, and I had no complaints about it. Don't know about that brand, but I'd bet your teenage niece would love the colored players.

-Eric

[RGA]

Heck Wal-Mart in Canada is selling some nifty colour DVD players top loadres for $39.99 Canadian. Includes remote and batteries. No LCD though.

You may ant to consider the 49XX of Toshiba's as they seem to get raves. it really depends on the features you need -- If you want SACD some inexpensive players from Pioneer have ti as well i think a Toshiba.

I've been pleased with the Apsire DVD player I bought Boxing Day 2003 for a whopping $50.00Canadian. It had at the time a pile of features and nice looks and a very well appointed remote control -- better than the Pioneer I paid $300.00+ for anyway a few years prior.

If it's cheap and it has a warranty then you can;t go too wrong. If it lasts three years you're doing good -- basically they're appliances.

[Geoffcin]

With much choice out there I don't know what to choose from? Now a days so many factory OEM that are going for less then $100.00 over the name brand badge counter part. I'm kind of puzzle of what to get? Name brand or OEM? Is there a major differences or visual, audiable differences there?

One of the brand I'm considering is below. Its doesn't support SACD or DVD_A but everything else is included with Kareoke & Media slot.

http://www.rjtech.net/p_dvd_players_color.htm

If your not hooking it up to a quality TV then you might want to stick with a cheaper brand. If your TV has them, and you do plan on hooking it up with component jacks, at least make sure it's got progressive scan.

[Woochifer]

RJTECH is not really a "no name" brand in the karaoke market. Every store I've been to that stocks karaoke players carries the brand. No idea how good their general DVD players are.

You're right in that DVD players are largely OEM components with different brand names slapped onto them. There are only a few companies that manufacture the transports, and only a handful of companies that make the processing chips. The rest of it is all about specifying the components and manufacturing the players. Keep in mind though that companies like Toshiba, Pioneer, and Panasonic with their own manufacturing capacity control more of the production themselves, so you get a bit more consistency. With knockoff brands, they get manufactured by a variety of different outsource manufacturers, many of which might not be around a few months from now. (I've read that about 90% of the Chinese DVD player fabricators that were in operation two years ago have since gone bankrupt)

Also, an advantage of buying a name brand is that it's more likely to have been tested for performance and you can gather more information by reading reviews. That way, you know more about how well the player reads different disc formats, and if it has specific issues like audio sync problems, trouble with seamless branching DVDs, and if it has the chroma upsampling error.

IMO, the main difference between no name brands and more well known brands is the customer support. Apex Digital sold millions of cheap DVD players, and had fewer than 20 people handling customer support. But, with even well established companies like Toshiba and Panasonic selling basic DVD players for less than $80, that might not really matter much. If it breaks, you just buy another one.

[shokhead]

You get what you pay for. Dont go to cheap or go used.

[grigore]

I don't trust NO Name companies. My advice : buy a DVD from a serious company. I've got DVD S47 from Panasonic and I'm very satisfied. The image is very good and the sound too. On cd it sounds even better then other cd-players . It haz a very clean sound on midrange and especialy the highs are cleen and smoot. I highly recommend this model and no other from panasonic becouse it sounds very good. You may buy it ,probably with no more then 130 $.