Home Theater/HDTV/et al...

niko2x wrote:Hey groink, I think somewhere in dvdrhelp.com, you can even find dvd players that can play divx (avi) files. It also connect to the web so if you need a certain codec for playback, it'll go automatically to search out that codec. I've seen it before on the site, but I forgotten where. :( . It's in there, tho.

Yep. The search engine under "DVD Players" lets you selelct filters to weed out a player or players that have the features you want. Very nice! :)

niko2x wrote:Hey groink, I think somewhere in dvdrhelp.com, you can even find dvd players that can play divx (avi) files. It also connect to the web so if you need a certain codec for playback, it'll go automatically to search out that codec. I've seen it before on the site, but I forgotten where. :( . It's in there, tho.

Yup, the LITEON model that bmwracer mentioned can do DivX, which is actually the real reason I'm shopping around for a new DVD player. My current player is a SONY, and it has trouble with writable CDs and DVDs. The critical thing, however is that even though a DVD player can play DivX, it may have problems with legacy versions of the codec. Through my research, many of the players cannot play DivX 3.11, which some Jdoramas could possibly be using. So it's best to find a unit that includes reviews that mention this sort of stuff.

--- groink

groink wrote:
Yup, the LITEON model that bmwracer mentioned can do DivX, which is actually the real reason I'm shopping around for a new DVD player. My current player is a SONY, and it has trouble with writable CDs and DVDs. The critical thing, however is that even though a DVD player can play DivX, it may have problems with legacy versions of the codec. Through my research, many of the players cannot play DivX 3.11, which some Jdoramas could possibly be using. So it's best to find a unit that includes reviews that mention this sort of stuff.

--- groink

Groink, which model Sony DVD player do you have?

I know that some of the older Sony models (like mine, 2+ years, DVP-S360) is REAL finnicky with CD/DVD media and will only play CDRs/DVDs from certain manufacturers... After craploads of research, I found that my Sony will only play CDRs from Princo and E3Works... The same might be true for DVDRs as well, but I don't have a DVD burner, so the point is moot.

Also, have you tried the laser alignment diagnostic on your Sony (see earlier post for the link)?

Choose one here

http://www.hkflix.com/hardware/

I think all of them are Region free and can play Pal DVDs(didn't check every single one), I bought mine about a year ago and I'm very happy with it. I have the JVC XV-SA502 probably the previous model of the XV-SA600/602 .

avi playing would be very nice..... no more tedious convertions... :applaud:

I heard Sony DVD players are very unfriendly, can't even play burned CD-Rs

Takez0 wrote:Choose one here

http://www.hkflix.com/hardware/

I think all of them are Region free and can play Pal DVDs(didn't check every single one), I bought mine about a year ago and I'm very happy with it. I have the JVC XV-SA502 probably the previous model of the XV-SA600/602 .

avi playing would be very nice..... no more tedious convertions... :applaud:

Hmm, they have a pretty good selection of players. But they are a bit pricey... It might be worth it if they're Region-Free, though...

I heard Sony DVD players are very unfriendly, can't even play burned CD-Rs

The older models (2+ years old) are... The more recent ones don't seem to have any problems...

bmwracer wrote:
The older models (2+ years old) are... The more recent ones don't seem to have any problems...

ohh Ok, because some friends of mine can't even borrow my cd-rs because it won't play on their Sony DVD players

Takez0 wrote:

ohh Ok, because some friends of mine can't even borrow my cd-rs because it won't play on their Sony DVD players

Yep, sounds like my player. If you can get 'em, try CDR discs from Princo or E3Works... They work with the Sony. At least they do with mine (DVP-S360)...

bmwracer wrote:
Groink, which model Sony DVD player do you have?

I know that some of the older Sony models (like mine, 2+ years, DVP-S360) is REAL finnicky with CD/DVD media and will only play CDRs/DVDs from certain manufacturers... After craploads of research, I found that my Sony will only play CDRs from Princo and E3Works... The same might be true for DVDRs as well, but I don't have a DVD burner, so the point is moot.

Also, have you tried the laser alignment diagnostic on your Sony (see earlier post for the link)?

I'll have to wait until I get home to read off the SONY model number. The unit is pretty ancient, however... At least 4 years old! On a very good day where the heavens are in balance, there's peace throughout most of the world, and Noriko-chan's on a flight to Hawaii, the SONY can play a CD-R. It's definitely a CD-R brand issue. More specifically, I think the very light colored CD-Rs are very problematic. It doesn't seem to have a problem with the black Memorex CD-Rs, or my older Verbatim media with the very dark blue color.

To put it in simple terms, the brand of CD-R and the make of the DVD player's drive is a total hit-n-miss situation, which makes trading via snail-mail somewhat complicated. For me, I've only had one instance where a trader couldn't play some of my VCD CD-Rs, and it came down to being a CD-R make situation.

And, even if you stick with a major brand (Memorex, TDK, Verbatim, etc.), they may CHANGE the manufacturer of the media itself. Verbatim was famous for this... Early on, Verbatim didn't own a CD-R factory, and instead had a totally different company make the media for them, then stick the Verbatim name on the finished product. Within the past few years, Verbatim changed manufacturers several times. If you're a Joe Customer, you would never know any of this because the media looks almost the same. However, if you read the serial numbers on the media, and use a special tool to read the embedded manufacturer information, you'll see the differences. About three years ago, I wrote an article for my local Macintosh users group on this matter, where I took a bunch of my Verbatims over a 4-year span, and discovered that four different manufacturers made the media. That in itself could give you problems if your CD-ROM or DVD drive is picky about the make/brand of media you use.

--- groink

Hi, i'm new to this site and thought i'd participate in this discussion.

I've also been looking for DVD player with DIVX playback capabilities.
If you do a search for DIVX DVD on e=bay, you'll see a long list of these RJ Tech's RJ4000 player for about $120. i read some mixed reviews on it. Now the player that seems the most ligit is this one:

http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=dp558&v=users

The KiSS DP-558 plays standard CD/MP3, Ogg Vorbis, DivX, XviD, CD-RW and DVD+-RW. it gotta 80 gig hard drive, ethernet connection, tv tuner, firmware upgradeable, but the thing is so expensive. like over $300.
You guys know anything 'bout these DIVX multimedia machines?

june12 wrote:Hi, i'm new to this site and thought i'd participate in this discussion.

I've also been looking for DVD player with DIVX playback capabilities.
If you do a search for DIVX DVD on e=bay, you'll see a long list of these RJ Tech's RJ4000 player for about $120. i read some mixed reviews on it. Now the player that seems the most ligit is this one:

http://www.kiss-technology.com/?p=dp558&v=users

The KiSS DP-558 plays standard CD/MP3, Ogg Vorbis, DivX, XviD, CD-RW and DVD+-RW. it gotta 80 gig hard drive, ethernet connection, tv tuner, firmware upgradeable, but the thing is so expensive. like over $300.
You guys know anything 'bout these DIVX multimedia machines?

Welcome aboard, june. :D The more the merrier.

Thanks for the info... No surprise about the price of that player: it's sounds more like a PC than a DVD player. Heh.

Groink might be more in the know about this DivX stuff than me.

What say you, Groink? Front and center, bud. :D

groink wrote:I'll have to wait until I get home to read off the SONY model number. The unit is pretty ancient, however... At least 4 years old! On a very good day where the heavens are in balance, there's peace throughout most of the world, and Noriko-chan's on a flight to Hawaii, the SONY can play a CD-R. It's definitely a CD-R brand issue. More specifically, I think the very light colored CD-Rs are very problematic. It doesn't seem to have a problem with the black Memorex CD-Rs, or my older Verbatim media with the very dark blue color.

I've done some investigating on the color aspect, but it's been inconclusive... Have you tried CDRW discs? Oddly, they work with my Sony. And maybe yours as well. I've had no playback issues with CompUSA, Princo, and Memorex CDRW discs. Go figure.

To put it in simple terms, the brand of CD-R and the make of the DVD player's drive is a total hit-n-miss situation, which makes trading via snail-mail somewhat complicated. For me, I've only had one instance where a trader couldn't play some of my VCD CD-Rs, and it came down to being a CD-R make situation.

I hear ya. I've bought several VCDs on eBay, and only two sets work on the Sony, due to the media issue. Fortunately, both were Ryoko-chan series! Heh. :D The others only work on my PC: hardly the best venue for viewing 9-12 VCDs over a period of time...

And, even if you stick with a major brand (Memorex, TDK, Verbatim, etc.), they may CHANGE the manufacturer of the media itself. Verbatim was famous for this... Early on, Verbatim didn't own a CD-R factory, and instead had a totally different company make the media for them, then stick the Verbatim name on the finished product. Within the past few years, Verbatim changed manufacturers several times. If you're a Joe Customer, you would never know any of this because the media looks almost the same. However, if you read the serial numbers on the media, and use a special tool to read the embedded manufacturer information, you'll see the differences. About three years ago, I wrote an article for my local Macintosh users group on this matter, where I took a bunch of my Verbatims over a 4-year span, and discovered that four different manufacturers made the media. That in itself could give you problems if your CD-ROM or DVD drive is picky about the make/brand of media you use.

Yes! Lotsa companies use OEMs for their media and just repackage them... Makes things quite hairy, neh?

Maybe it's a good thing if a trader sent a single disc to the other party just to try out the disc and see if it works before sending the entire set. Tedious, but it would circumvent any problems. Or if the other party knows what disc manufacturers do work for them, the trader can use those discs for burning, but that's messy and tedious as well... No simple answer, really.

bmwracer wrote:Groink might be more in the know about this DivX stuff than me.

What say you, Groink? Front and center, bud. :D

Man, I'm still learning about the DivX stuff myself. To summarize, the latest version of the DivX codec is 5.1. Virtually all of the players I've looked at so far that mention DivX support plays v5.1 encoded media just fine.

However, the earlier Jdorama rips may have issues because they used an earlier version of the DivX codec. I have no idea how you'd find out exactly which version of the codec was used just by checking the AVI file, but I'd imagine there's a way.

To break the DVD player issues down, they are:

- The DVD drive's compatibility with certain brands/makes of media. I already talked about this earlier.

- The decoder chip

- The firmware version

The decoder chip is hardware-based component that contains the licensed software to decode DivX and other video/audio codecs. Two chipsets that are popular: ESS chipset and the Sigma 8500 chipset. To summarize, the ESS chipset has better compatibility, however most of the DVD players use the Sigma 8500 chipset. Unfortunately, the chipset is NOT upgradable. So if there's a flaw in the chipset, you'd have to send the unit back to the original manufacturer for a replacement. In otherwords, it's best to buy the player from a reputable manufacturer (SONY, Panasonic, JVC, etc.)

When looking for a player, make sure the firmware is upgradable. The firmware is software that handles the operation between the DVD drive and other components, including the chipset. There are various methods of upgrading the firmware, including compactflash modules, and firmware burned onto CD-R. Bottom line, just make sure the DVD player you choose is firmware upgradable. In some instances, a firmware upgrade will improve compatibility with different makes of media, or improve compatibility with decoding certain types of movies by patching the defects found in the decoder chipset.

--- groink

groink wrote:

Man, I'm still learning about the DivX stuff myself. To summarize, the latest version of the DivX codec is 5.1. Virtually all of the players I've looked at so far that mention DivX support plays v5.1 encoded media just fine.

However, the earlier Jdorama rips may have issues because they used an earlier version of the DivX codec. I have no idea how you'd find out exactly which version of the codec was used just by checking the AVI file, but I'd imagine there's a way.

To break the DVD player issues down, they are:

- The DVD drive's compatibility with certain brands/makes of media. I already talked about this earlier.

- The decoder chip

- The firmware version

The decoder chip is hardware-based component that contains the licensed software to decode DivX and other video/audio codecs. Two chipsets that are popular: ESS chipset and the Sigma 8500 chipset. To summarize, the ESS chipset has better compatibility, however most of the DVD players use the Sigma 8500 chipset. Unfortunately, the chipset is NOT upgradable. So if there's a flaw in the chipset, you'd have to send the unit back to the original manufacturer for a replacement. In otherwords, it's best to buy the player from a reputable manufacturer (SONY, Panasonic, JVC, etc.)

When looking for a player, make sure the firmware is upgradable. The firmware is software that handles the operation between the DVD drive and other components, including the chipset. There are various methods of upgrading the firmware, including compactflash modules, and firmware burned onto CD-R. Bottom line, just make sure the DVD player you choose is firmware upgradable. In some instances, a firmware upgrade will improve compatibility with different makes of media, or improve compatibility with decoding certain types of movies by patching the defects found in the decoder chipset.

--- groink

Excellent. :applaud:

BTW, I was late in responding to your previous post... See above ^

to find out which drama avis are using which versions of Divx use a program called G- SPOT . it even tells you what codecs were used to make the avi (video and audio), and which programs were used to encode the file.
it is available at dvdrhelp.com under the tools section.
:mrgreen:

i've also been looking at divx compatible dvd players, and bought the Liteon model as mentioned in this thread, i haven't received it in the mail yet, but ill be throwing all types of drama avis at it!

amrayu wrote:to find out which drama avis are using which versions of Divx use a program called G- SPOT . it even tells you what codecs were used to make the avi (video and audio), and which programs were used to encode the file.
it is available at dvdrhelp.com under the tools section.
:mrgreen:

i've also been looking at divx compatible dvd players, and bought the Liteon model as mentioned in this thread, i haven't received it in the mail yet, but ill be throwing all types of drama avis at it!

Thanks for the G-SPOT information. I'll definitely pull that puppy down.

As for the LITEON brand... I'm leaning towards that line myself. Just about every make/model I've read about have issues, but the LITEON seem to have the least of them. Where did you buy yours from?

--- groink

hi groink-
i bought the liteon model from: mypcgoodies.com
theirs was the cheapest that i found so far, at $107.00 bucks. they have free ground shipping as well, but since i live in California, there was tax (since the company is in CA also). so the total came out to be: $115.
decent price (even compared to ebay), ebay sellers i saw were selling these machines for $108-$130 (shipping excluded). :google:

amrayu wrote:i've also been looking at divx compatible dvd players, and bought the Liteon model as mentioned in this thread, i haven't received it in the mail yet, but ill be throwing all types of drama avis at it!

Way cool, amrayu. When you get it I'd (We'd?) love to see what your thoughts are on this player... Sort of a user review, I guess... If you have the time between doramas, that is. :D

bmwracer wrote:
Way cool, amrayu. When you get it I'd (We'd?) love to see what your thoughts are on this player... Sort of a user review, I guess... If you have the time between doramas, that is. :D

hi bmwracer-
i'll be sure to test the player out with all the jdrama i've downloaded/traded. i'll post a review of this player after i've had it for a couple of days. :mrgreen:

amrayu wrote:

hi bmwracer-
i'll be sure to test the player out with all the jdrama i've downloaded/traded. i'll post a review of this player after i've had it for a couple of days. :mrgreen:

That would be great. Thanks!

Hmm, that's a mighty fine price for the LITEON as well: I stopped by PC Club as ways back and they wanted $130 for it. Plus tax. Of course, if I did have a problem with it, I could just take it back to the store. :)

bmwracer wrote:
Cool. What's the model number? Is it a recent model?

Of course, Region-free players may be more accessible where you're at than here in the States... :(

DVD-S128 (http://www.samsung.com/ve/products/dvdplayer/dvdplayer/dvd_s128.asp). It's not a recent model since we've had it for 1 or 2 years. it doesnt say on the site if the firmware is upgradeable though. i hope it is!