JP1 Remotes

My old Pioneer DVD player is played out (heh) and I am in the market for a new one. I want to make sure whatever I get has discretes (at least discrete off and if possible on). Anyone have any recommendations? I don't need anything fancy, no hdd or recording or vhs.

Thanks,
Mike

I usually can't stand their products, because I feel that you pay for the name, but I really like the Sony optical products like DVD and CD players. An alternative, that seems to have as good a quality and rock solid build, is JVC. Both brands have many discrete codes.
Jim

Another thing you might want to keep in mind is whether you can make the player region free. This is not so common with the name brands, but is very common among the less common brand names that seem to keep popping up in the DVD world. (A region free player can play DVDs from anywhere in the world, not just US releases).

A big plus would be the ability to make the player Macrovision free, but this is almost unheard of these days.

Depending on what you demand from your new player, you've got different choices. if you want region-free, macrovision free (another way to state this does it upconvert to either 720p or 1080i via component or dvi) or hdcp-free you have one set of choices. If you want just plain old 480i or 480p but want hi-res music capabilities (SACD or DVD-A), then you have another set choices. Bad news is the sets of choice don't really overlap.

If you have a relatively modern hd display, then the current favorites are panasonic s97 or s77 and the oppo D971H. Both upconvert via dvi and produce pretty much the best picture quality (pq) around. If you display is susceptible to macroblocking, then you might try the sony ns70h or one of the mid-range pioneer elites. any of these players are solid

If you want a player (non-upconverting) that also plays hi-res music, then the pioneer 588 is a good choice. The samsungs also are a popular choice (841, 850, 950). some of these can be hacked to be region-free, hdcp-free and upconvert via component. the reviews of the pioneer is pretty uniformly good, while that for the samsungs are spotty, so YMMV.

If you want more exotic capabilities such as wireless/wired steaming, etc. then that's a whole other discussion. visit avsforum.com in the dvd players (standard def) forum for more info:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdis ... ne=60&f=18

Best,
jeff