Come on guys, we've all got one and we all use it all the time. Yup, it's the DVD player thread. Post some pics and a quick review. I'll start off with mine:

Philips DVP-5990

Pretty new, got it at Best Buy for $60. Glossy black finish, looks beautiful. Very good PQ after turning the sharpness down in the menu (on the DVD player, not the TV). Has a very nice FL display that shows time and chapter (I've got a thing for FL displays, dont ask me why). Very responsive, no sluggishness at all when moving through menus. This thing is worth its weight in gold because its got a USB port. I've got tons and tons of DivX and MPEG videos on my computer. I load them on my USB drive and watch them on my TV with this player. I've yet to find a video it won't play. Highly recommended.

It's a good thing it has a usb port, so when the drive fails it's still usable. My current player has different card slots which is a good thing because the drive is starting to act up.At least is will have some use. This is the last one I am going to buy. I treat my stuff very well and it should last more than a year. Just think of all the space taken up in the landfill by junk dvd players. Many areas charge because it is hazardous waste. I could go on about the economy and tariffs and pollution for days. But I am going to skip that.
What I am going to do is, I am going to buy one of those terabyte media players and rip all my movies with my computer with its robustly made dvd drive. And have many years of peaceful viewing pleasure without the anxiety of waiting for the dvd player crap out on me.

I agree, most modern DVD players are crap, and I'd be surprised if this one lasts more than a year or two, but that's not the point of this thread.

Do you want to discuss "antique" (pre-2000?) :) DVD players, or current equipment? There is a Home Theater and Video forum here on AK for fans of current/recent equipment. This (solid-state and rectangular-CRT TV) forum is intended for "vintage" equipment, I think.

If you want to discuss early players, I still have my first DVD player, a Sony DVP-S500D from 1998, in my garage. When I found out computers were better players than set-top units (late 2000), I quit using the Sony. I have long since moved on to HD players.

This isn't about discussing DVD players in general, it's just that we all have old TV's and I was wondering what we're feeding them with. The modern link in the chain, if you will, and if it makes any sense :)

...

We should start a class action lawsuit against macrovision.

We should start a class action lawsuit against macrovision.

Should have started that in the early 80's when they used it with VHS.

My best DVD player is a Pioneer DVD-V5000. The others I tried either had poor video (Panasonic) or poor audio (Cyber-Home and Sony) and died within one year of purchase.

We have a Sony high-end unit from the early 2000s, and it only plays about 10% of the DVDs we try. We also have a cheap portable that Kay got free for buying a piece of veterinary medical equipment for the horse rehab hospital. It works fine, but weighs about 2 oz. I wonder how long it'll work? It's branded Majestic. Made in Thailand.

I have a Sony combo VCR/DVD that I got at Costco since they have such a liberal no-questions-asked electronics return policy. So far so good; 2 years & maybe 25 DVDs played. VCR is out of alignment though (was from the factory).

Charles

The most reliable, durable DVD player ever made were from the earlier years in the late 90s and were Made in Japan. First-generation DVD players include Toshiba SD-3006, Sony DVP-S7000, and Panasonic DVD-A100. All were built like a tank. I have a Toshiba SD-3006 still running fine after 11 years, but I don't use it anymore because it has no progressive output.

It's pretty much hit-or-miss with cheap stuff. I've seen Funai stuff go a long time.

I would definitely look for an older Japanese-made DVD player, but I love the USB feature on my Philips dearly and most players don't have it, not even modern ones that are in stores right now. I might recap it with Matsushita capacitors and see how long it lasts, as the #1 cause of failure in modern players is crappy chinese capacitors from what I've heard.

#1 cause of failure in modern players is crappy chinese capacitors from what I've heard.

Also the #1 cause of failure in many modern guitar amps too (Fender, Crate, Ampeg, Vox...).
I've replaced many of those little Chinese firecrackers in them.

I don't have a picture yet; but, mine is just some cheap silver Apex job. I got it from my neighbor's son when my neighbor passed away. I doubt it's had 10 hours of use on it. I've only used it long enough to see if it worked. That will change when I breakdown and buy some old TV shows on DVD.

Yup, #1 failure in most modern electronics (especially computers) is capacitors. Motherboards, power supplies, modems, set-top boxes, LCD monitors.... It's sad. Here are the good capacitor brands:

Matsushita/Panasonic (Best)
Rubycon (Best)
Nippon Chemicon (Better)
Sanyo (Better)
Nichicon (Good)

Funny how they're all Japanese brands. Coincidence?

Anything else is most likely crap, although OST, Teapo, and CapXon can go a long time if they don't run too warm. Jamicons dry out and lose their capacitance pretty quick. All this info is from badcaps.net, a place I frequent pretty often.

Anyway, back on subject, radiotvnut we've got an old Apex that's stood the test of time pretty well. 2004 I believe. it's seen heavy use on the road with an AC/DC converter (hooked up to a 13" Orion TV) plus moderate use at home, and it's still doing great today.

It's pretty much hit-or-miss with cheap stuff. I've seen Funai stuff go a long time.
First-generation Funai VCRs (1985-1988) were the most longest-lasting products ever made by them. No one can argue that. :no:

000

Didn't know that, Andy. That is good from a serviceability standpoint. Haven't cracked one open recently.

I have two DVD units besides my computers at the moment: One is a Magnavox (philips) DVD recorder with a VERY finicky interface; the thing is so slow to respnd. It does work nicely otherwise. The other player is a basic model JVC which I like.I've used it as a CD player in my audio system and it sounded really good.

When dvd players first came out you could swap drives. But all the ones I have seen in the last few years have stripped down drives with some kind of nonstandard ribbon cable.

I've had a Panasonic DVD-A120PX since 2002, but it always had been a picky player - no CD-Rs, CD-RW, or DVD+Rs - though I like its menu graphics. My family has a low-end Sony DVP-NS325 that has lasted years (and is used 3+hours daily) without issue. Also, I have recently picked up a NOS Sony RDR-GX7 and I'm anticipating its failure - though I do like it's build quality.

One of the oddballs I had was a "Sansui" (Orion) VR-DVD2005 DVD recorder I picked up for a few bucks last year because of the non-functioning DVD recorder. Because of it's cheep layout, you could replace the original Pioneer DVD burner drive with any inexpensive IDE computer drive. Unfortunately, it had a LOT of shortcomings when it came to the interface (slooooowww, clunky, and awkward). Sold it a few months ago, which recouped for the drive that was replaced.

I also had Funai-made Magnavox MWD-200F which I picked up as supposedly "broken" for $1 at a pawn and to my surprise, that thing worked well - so well that I gave it to a friend of mine, as his Apex decided to crap out (bad caps) after playing a couple of zombie movies.