Difference between $1500+ and $150 DVD players?

Hello,

I soon will be buying home theatre system. I have been looking at various DVD players. Can someone explain to me what is the real difference between $1500 and $150 DVD players?

Thanks,

cephas,
Toronto, ON

WOW.... this is such an open ended question... i cant wait to read all the opinions on this

FWIW- i think you can get a pretty good quality DVD player, that plays all sorts of formats, for around $250-$350. you CAN pay more if you want to, and there is nothing wrong with that.. and the higher priced units do offer DAC and processing speeeds that are greater than the cheaper ones.. but, as someone once said, it just comes down to the laser reading the 1's and 0's..

i cant truly say that the more expensive ones are THAT much better than the cheap ones, cause i have never had the pleasure of watching or hearing one of the expensive ones.. but what i am saying is that you can find a very functional player, that you will be completely happy with, for less.

bigjohn

Usually the build quality, DAC's, and most importanly the de-interlacer. (Also about $1350)

Do you want a dvd/cd player or a universal player that will also play DVD-A and SACD? What kind of TV do you have?

Here's a handy site that does extensive testing on dvd players. They only rate the video performace, but it's by far the most extensive list of dvd testing out there.

Can everyone tell that Craig has been brushing up on the advantages of more expensive players? Craig, if all else fails, put together a PowerPoint presentation on the advantages to impress Roger!

Hehe. So, Craig I want an update once Roger sees your new baby.

jr

I can second the site Spiffnme provided you as a good starting point. Select the features you want, your price range and start reading.

When I was in the market for a DVD player, I was looking for something cheap (but "as good as I could get" cheap, as an interim measure till universal, high definition players come down in price (perhaps 2 yrs.). I wanted a player that has a half decent de-interlacer (cause I have a xga projector) so can produce a fairly good image, can play CD's and MP3's and responds to the remote commands fairly quickly. Based on the reviews from the site, I narrowed my choice down to 3 playersin a $80-250 price range. I then went to Best Buy, bought all 3, demo'd them for a couple weeks and returned the two I decided against.

I ended up selecting the cheapest one, the Toshiba 3960 (actually the 3860 in Canada) for a mere $80. I'm quite happy with it as it does all of the above. But it is definitely a cheap unit. It weighs what seems like about half a pound and when I push in the component cables the back plate pushes in a bit. I just wonder how long it will last (3 months so far).

In hindsight, this doesn't really address your question.

Sorry - Paul

Thanks for the response. Eventually I will have the dvd player connected to plasma. (ED - not sure if I am willing to spent extra for HD).
So basically you are telling me that I am paying avg of 1200 or more for hardware deinterlacer and more powerfull CPU (DAC)?
So is there any place to find out what company installs what deinterlacers? I am interested in ARCAM and Denon.

Thanks,

cephas,
Toronto, ON.

For an ED plasma the Denon 2900 would likely be your best bet. The only players which scored higher than the 2900 on pq were the units with digital outputs that up-rezed the images. If you're sticking with ED, you'd likely not need that.

In reply to:
I ended up selecting the cheapest one, the Toshiba 3960 (actually the 3860 in Canada) for a mere $80. I'm quite happy with it as it does all of the above. But it is definitely a cheap unit. It weighs what seems like about half a pound and when I push in the component cables the back plate pushes in a bit. I just wonder how long it will last (3 months so far).

Paul....apparently Toshiba changed the chip in that player after the test/review. The newer units do not perform nearly as well. You can research it on AVS.

Hmm, that could explain why the picture through my projector didn't look any better or worse than the Sony or Pioneer that weren't as highly rated by hometheaterhifi.com.

Oh well, for $80 bucks I can't really complain.

Thanks Paul