Home Theater/HDTV/et al...

[bmwracer]

pcmodem wrote:

Yeah, at CompUSA this weekend, I couldn't find Single Layer DVD media faster than 8x, and no Dual Layer media either. Was embarrassed, my namesake store with such little variety.

Oh man, don't get me started on CompUSA... I hate that place. I'd rather go to Fry's and deal with those incompetent idiots there than buy something from CompUSA...

[amrayu]

bmwracer wrote:

Oh man, don't get me started on CompUSA... I hate that place. I'd rather go to Fry's and deal with those incompetent idiots there than buy something from CompUSA...

CompUSA is overpriced.

I used to be one of those incompetent idiots that worked at Fry's. I worked at the reg at first, then transferred to the Components section after a week. I was the only girl there, so I felt very lonely... also I would try my best to ignore customers. I guess it didn't work out, because I only stayed there for 3 weeks and stopped showing up. Now I'm always hesitant to go to Fry's, because I didn't quit the "proper" way.

In regards to divx/xvid standalone dvd players, there is not a perfect one out there. I've given up on looking for the perfect one (that fits my needs), so I've been looking at a Home Theater PC.

[dochira]

amrayu wrote:

CompUSA is overpriced.

And their return policy sucks...

amrayu wrote:

I used to be one of those incompetent idiots that worked at Fry's. I worked at the reg at first, then transferred to the Components section after a week. I was the only girl there, so I felt very lonely... also I would try my best to ignore customers.

The problem with Fry's is if you ask the wrong person a question, they'll just pass you to someone else and leave you.

amrayu wrote:

... so I've been looking at a Home Theater PC.

Have you thought about building one using MythTV or Freevo?

[bmwracer]

amrayu wrote:

I used to be one of those incompetent idiots that worked at Fry's.

Gulp.

[amrayu]

dochira wrote:

The problem with Fry's is if you ask the wrong person a question, they'll just pass you to someone else and leave you.

This is common, because about half of the workers there do not receive commission, and have a crappy base pay. Not only is the pay crap, but if you work in other departments besides the REG, you'll end up getting out of work at about 12am (if you're lucky) or around 1am. Also the discounts suck too (except on car stereos).

dochira wrote:

Have you thought about building one using MythTV or Freevo?

Not sure if i will put in a tv tuner or not, since i already have a stand alone dvd recorder, and 2-3 tv cap cards that i don't use. I'm still shopping around for the perfect case.

[pcmodem]

amrayu wrote:

I used to be one of those incompetent idiots that worked at Fry's.

If Ahoch' had known you worked at Fry's, he'd have been your best customer!

Just got back from the Fry's on Brokaw, same thing: no blank DVD media faster than 8x, but they did have 2.4x Dual Layer media.
-PCM

[amrayu]

pcmodem wrote:

If Ahoch' had known you worked at Fry's, he'd have been your best customer!

pcmodem wrote:

Just got back from the Fry's on Brokaw, same thing: no blank DVD media faster than 8x, but they did have 2.4x Dual Layer media. -PCM

i think it's better if you tried buying DL media online. I use supermediastore.com often. Free shipping on certain items too. Also shipping is fast, since they are located in California.

[pcmodem]

amrayu wrote:

pcmodem wrote: pcmodem wrote: If Ahoch' had known you worked at Fry's, he'd have been your best customer! pcmodem wrote: pcmodem wrote: Just got back from the Fry's on Brokaw, same thing: no blank DVD media faster than 8x, but they did have 2.4x Dual Layer media. -PCM i think it's better if you tried buying DL media online. I use supermediastore.com often. Free shipping on certain items too. Also shipping is fast, since they are located in California.

Thanks for the tip.

On second thought, if you still worked at Fry's I'd visit you once too, just so I could tease Ahoch' that I met the great Amrayu Jolie, the longtime object of his affection and imagination. It would drive Ahoch' crazy.
-PCM

[bmwracer]

amrayu wrote:

i think it's better if you tried buying DL media online. I use supermediastore.com often. Free shipping on certain items too. Also shipping is fast, since they are located in California.

Yup. Loaded up on 100 Prodisc 8X DVD-Rs a couple of weeks ago... Too bad you have to pay sales tax.

[eltinator]

Okay so I did get the RJ-800 off ebay and it came in like last week. Paid $75 +20 more for shipping so slightly under $100.

What do I think of it? I watched Witch Hunter Robin (anime) straight through this weekend and luckily it didn't break down

J/k, the player plays like a charm. It certainly is more quiet than the DVP642 when playing, in fact, I haven't heard it make noise loading a DVD yet! As for playback, I didn't have any freezing problems or anything. I did see some pixelated picture from time to time but I can live with that. Not sure if it's my episode, dvd, tv, or player's fault. As for QPEL and GMC playback, I have no idea if my anime was encoded in those formats so until I find something that can't play I have no complaints. Also it has a fix for tv overscan. It will let you zoom out 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4. 1/2 is the smalles zoom out and the picture IMO is a bit too small but I just sit on a closer chair to the TV and it's cool. My TV isn't too big in the first place so no big deal

Now the knock on the RJ-800 is the looks! The DVP642 looks way better than it and was put together much better! I'm not sure if it was just my player or all of them but the open disc button on the player is a bit crooked and the remote seems to have like a 8 feet operating distance max. Sometimes it doesn't fully work if you don't aim it at the player. Looks like it was cheaply made but it's damn savage in playing DVDs

It ain't perfect but it does what it's supposed to do so I'm happy. If you want perfect playback you won't get a perfect Divx DVD player but maybe connect your laptop to your TV. That might be the easiest way to play divx files on the TV

[bmwracer]

eltinator wrote:

Okay so I did get the RJ-800 off ebay and it came in like last week. Paid $75 +20 more for shipping so slightly under $100. What do I think of it? I watched Witch Hunter Robin (anime) straight through this weekend and luckily it didn't break down J/k, the player plays like a charm. It certainly is more quiet than the DVP642 when playing, in fact, I haven't heard it make noise loading a DVD yet! As for playback, I didn't have any freezing problems or anything. I did see some pixelated picture from time to time but I can live with that. Not sure if it's my episode, dvd, tv, or player's fault. As for QPEL and GMC playback, I have no idea if my anime was encoded in those formats so until I find something that can't play I have no complaints. Also it has a fix for tv overscan. It will let you zoom out 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4. 1/2 is the smalles zoom out and the picture IMO is a bit too small but I just sit on a closer chair to the TV and it's cool. My TV isn't too big in the first place so no big deal Now the knock on the RJ-800 is the looks! The DVP642 looks way better than it and was put together much better! I'm not sure if it was just my player or all of them but the open disc button on the player is a bit crooked and the remote seems to have like a 8 feet operating distance max. Sometimes it doesn't fully work if you don't aim it at the player. Looks like it was cheaply made but it's damn savage in playing DVDs It ain't perfect but it does what it's supposed to do so I'm happy. If you want perfect playback you won't get a perfect Divx DVD player but maybe connect your laptop to your TV. That might be the easiest way to play divx files on the TV

Function over form, Elt.

[eltinator]

Ok maybe I spoke too soon. I tested an anime that I know was encoded with QPEL and wouldn't play on the DVP642. The RJ-800 certainly plays it like it advertises, however the audio seems to be off. It was a bit choppy at first but then the picture was fine but the audio is noticeably off. I guess it doesn't guarantee perfect playback on QPEL episodes

I did upgrade firmware and didn't do anything to help it. Doesn't look like RJtech will be releasing any new firmware any time soon either

[Eve]

groink wrote:

Yo! I'm in the market for a new DVD player. The features I'm looking for specifically are: - CDR, CDRW read - DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW read - VCD, SVCD, DivX/XviD/MPEG-4 (version 3.11 and later) - Progressive scanning - NTSC The one model that has great reviews and does everything I'm looking for is the Technosonic MP-101. Unfortuantely, I can't find any US based source that sells this model. Here's the DVDRHelp web site listing the features of this model: http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=2594&Search=Search&#comments Any other recommendations on make/models and places to buy them are appreciated! Thanks! --- groink

My Philips DIX capable plays about every format under the sun. However it has its little quirks. No open and close button on the remote. You have to hold down the stop buttons instead. Also the display is pretty useless. Otherwise its a great unit and very reasonably priced.
_________________

Trade or Distro
It's all good!

Check out my drama trade list: http://www.freewebs.com/evendrama/

[bmwracer]

Eve wrote:

No open and close button on the remote.

Well you have to get up to insert or remove the disc anyways, so you just press the open/close button on the player...

[amrayu]

eltinator wrote:

Ok maybe I spoke too soon.

Time to get a home theater PC.

[bmwracer]

amrayu wrote:

Time to get a home theater PC.

Or convert everything to MPEG2.

[amrayu]

bmwracer wrote:

Or convert everything to MPEG2.

With the stuff that ELT does for fansubbing and distro?? LOL... i doubt if he had time to convert everything to MPEG2, author, and burn. He would have to multitask and have atleast 2-3 computers.
Also with certain fansubs, converting would give ELT the same problem with TV overscanning of the subs. There's a work around, but it would require some time and trial/error.

[bmwracer]

amrayu wrote:

have atleast 2-3 computers.

Doesn't he??

[eltinator]

amrayu wrote:

With the stuff that ELT does for fansubbing and distro?? LOL... i doubt if he had time to convert everything to MPEG2, author, and burn. He would have to multitask and have atleast 2-3 computers. Also with certain fansubs, converting would give ELT the same problem with TV overscanning of the subs. There's a work around, but it would require some time and trial/error.

Hahaha, yea mpeg-2 conversion is a hassel but I do it to all my jdramas. It's just that anime has 26 eps and there are so many of them so I'd rather burn it off on an ISO and watch

Usuallly for jdramas or any dvd-mpeg2 conversion I just set the resolution as 330x450 on center custom size with tempgenc and that covers the tv overscan ^_^

But 2-3 comps would be awesome! One for subbing, one dvd encoding, and one for whatever else

[amrayu]

eltinator wrote:

Hahaha, yea mpeg-2 conversion is a hassel but I do it to all my jdramas. It's just that anime has 26 eps and there are so many of them so I'd rather burn it off on an ISO and watch

Try doing mpeg2 conversions for korean dramas... 16-24 episodes average per drama... I've given up totally on mpeg2 conversions after i started collecting korean dramas.

eltinator wrote:

But 2-3 comps would be awesome! One for subbing, one dvd encoding, and one for whatever else

For me, it would be one for subbing, one for ripping/encoding, and one for downloading/uploading.