Hi,

As a poor 21 year old, I can't afford to buy decent new equipment. So i've been buying second hand stuff, mainly off ebay.
What I might buy new (if I can't find anything decent 2nd hand) is a DVD player.

What I'm looking for is basically a DVD player that's a very good CD player for under £200. As basically more time is spent listening to cd's than watching movies. But obviously decent DVD playing capability is needed. So more a cd player that can play DVD's.
I've heard that marantz DVD players tend to be good for what i need.

Any help would be appreciated.

Pioneer's DV-575A universal player is reckoned to be one of the best of the cheaper universal players around at the mo. Check out Alan Sircom's opinion in the Reviews section...

Got a pioneer 575 sitting alonsde my tosh rd sx 30, mainly 'cos the tosh is region 2, and doesnt do prog scan, for my money the pioneer is a great little dvd, should fulfill all your criteria.

I'd go for a cheaper unit myself, and use a good coaxial lead to make sure you get the best sound out of it. How much were you looking to spend?

I agree with Will. You can buy a good £40 one from Parkard Bell and they allow you to play WMA and MP3 files as well.

Here's the review for that product.

http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/article.asp?SP=&v=3&UAN=332

Will, you can get the Pioneer DV-575A at digico.co.uk for less than £100 delivered and it is quite good with music, especially DVD-Audio (and SACD). BUT it depends what you're going to connect it to if you'll use those formats.
I can tell you this; I also have a Toshiba SD-340E, and the Pioneer 1/ sounds better; 2/ plays music CD's that the Tosh won't because of dirt, scratches etc.

For COAX lead, try Superfi's Van den Hul "The Name" at £20 delivered! If you're going to use DVD-Audio, you'll need 3 sets of RCA's; try
cpc.co.uk and search for Puresonic 5050A , 3 at £6-24 + vat + delivery = £26-68. What Hi-Fi give them 5 stars at £17 each!!!

One more thing? NO DVD player at this price will sound AS GOOD with music as a dedicated CD player, okay? It offers more flexibility though.

Hello Robert from another Robert!
I guess it depends how much (or how little?) you want to spend, but Will's right; get a good Coax lead. Plus good component leads if you're connecting to a prog.-scan capable screen.
The HP sounds okay, for £40 you can't go wrong but I have the Pioneer and I can recommend it for sound quality from CD.

Could someone explain what a coaxial lead actually is/does?

I suggest you take a look at trusty old wikipedia Will

wikipedia

Hi Will
A Coaxial lead is "usually" a 75 ohm shielded cable.

I was told by someone that it passes the digital signal, 1 stream of data from your source to AMP and you can achieve the same result with an RCA cable

I don't know how accurate this description is but it does the job nicely on my system.

Perhaps if I bought/used a "proper" one my listening experience would rocket into the stratosphere.

Hi All

Hope someone cn help - I have the Nokia 2221 Freeview Mediamaster Digi box - i have recently bought a JVC DVD recorder with hard drive capability - I can record analogue and digital freeview channels directly to the hard drive with no problem at all - I can also dub the analogue program(whatever has been recorderd) over to a DVD-R disk e.g - however, the problem is that I cannot dub the recorded digital channel -no mattter what program it was over to teh dvd disk - it simply says that it cannot dub this title! I have tried 3 different DVD recorders now an its still teh same - so I phoned Nokia up - they say i cannot unlock the digi box and it is a problem taht ???? some programs are copyrighted and teh combination with digital and teh new DVD recorder - Can anyone advise me as its a waste of money having the recorder - as I could easly record digi channels onto video tape with no problem. JVC say tehre should not be a problem recording and dubbing both ways any helpers out there ?? many thanks

?
Don't get it! I recorded CSI (2 types) from freeview where I get the best picture onto Hard Drive and then dubbed over 2 hours-worth onto my DVD+RW on my Sony RDR-HD710 without any problem. In a few simple steps, I "dubbed" 2 hours of CSI from my hard drive to DVD+RW in about 8 minutes, finalized and it plays on all my other three DVD drives no problem! First time I did that, so I checked purposely. My freeview box is the Sony VTX-D800. I'm no "Sony Freak" either, in case you wonder. As a PC builder hobbyist, I have found Sony unreliable in that department with products failing just after their warranty expires but I thought I would give their HC products a chance. Out of interest though, the Humax F2-Fox-T outputs through a normal aerial lead (to DVDRW) if needs be and this SHOULD stop your problem too; scart to TV and aerial socket to DVDRW. For £70 or so online, maybe worth a go and cheaper than another new DVDRW?
I hope this helps a little; feel fee to ask if you don't understand.

P.S.- Bunker Bob, just try one? That's just what I thought until I tried a "proper" set of leads and the difference???
Just see.
Try the Puresonic 5050A interconnects from cpc.co.uk for RCA(£7-odd + del., What Hi-Fi 5*), then a Van den Hul "The Name" from Superfi (£20 inc del) and hear the difference.
If you can't hear a difference, keep what you're happy with. Simple as that.
But FOR ME there is a noticable difference.
Enjoy trying, at (relatively) little expense.

THANKYOU BOB FYFE
for your kind explanation - but you are right - I do not understand sorry - i must be a nerd - my wife is not keen for me to spend more ££ ooops - any suggestion sor things i can try - only once i have ever managed to send a fibmles recording from the freeview to dvd r or rw - never again from freeview

sorry to be a pain but do appreciate your time
thanks

In reply to Roberts original question, and forgive me for not being politically correct here, but if you want a good CD/DVD player check out your local Tesco store for a unit at about £23. I purchased one last week and it’s fine, I could go into esoteric euphemisms about it, but with 24 bit conversion and DVD capability as well then for £23 it’s a bargain, and does sound exactly the same as my previous Sony full size player that cost some £200 (but does not suffer the RF interference problems).
My experience of most Hi Fi gear is that cost alone is no guarantee, with electronic items and even more so with cables etc. so don't think for one moment you have to spend £1000's on equipment to achieve that Hi Fi nirvana. The system I am presently enjoying is, the above CD player, a Tripath amp, and boot sale 'Tangent Acoustic' speakers at £30 the pair.
And that has kept me up till 8 in the morning listening to many recordings again and again!!
Bear in mind that a CD player only has to recover the 0 & 1 bits off a CD to be perfectly capable and nothing more, the rest is in the D/A converter, so if that’s good then then what else, I believe the error correction algorithms must be the same in all players, and that leaves only the final output amplifiers able to make any sonic difference.
In a nutshell then, to pay £3000 for a player with 15mm of front ally panel has nothing to do with sound quality, it is mealy a fashion statement, as are so many Hi Fi misconceptions.