Advice on a new £200-£350 DVD player

[samhain]

Can anyone give me advice on a new DVD player?
I'm willing to spend around £200-£350 for a multiregion, macro-disabled player.
Of course, the most important features are excellent picture and audio, but ideally the player would also have the following features:
Twin scarts
Bookmarking
Fast layer change
And maybe PAL 50 (for VHS backups of R1 disks).

I have tried out the Pioneer 545 and was impressed by the audio/video, but dissapointed by a lack of some basic features, and the very slow layer change.
I have a Samsung 709, so PAL 50 isn't vital.

The Sony DVP-NS700 seems a good player from the specs, but I've found no reviews yet. Can anyone comment on this or an alternative?

Thanks for any help.

P.S. I know this kind of question's been asked a million times before, so sorry about that :)

[sonnyJIM]

I bought a Sony DVP-NS700 (multi-region) last week from Richer Sounds for £350. Can't fault it's picture or sound quality, in fact it's stunning! It looks the business too (the silver one).

However, the layer change is quite shocking, which you don't expect from a £350-player. It's worse than my PS2 for crying out loud!!

I, too, cannot find any reviews of this player, but if you don't mind it's appalling layer change, then certainly go for it!

Hope this helps.

[Justin]

Originally posted by samhain
Can anyone give me advice on a new DVD player?
I'm willing to spend around £200-£350 for a multiregion, macro-disabled player.
Of course, the most important features are excellent picture and audio, but ideally the player would also have the following features:
Twin scarts
Bookmarking
Fast layer change
And maybe PAL 50 (for VHS backups of R1 disks).

I have tried out the Pioneer 545 and was impressed by the audio/video, but dissapointed by a lack of some basic features, and the very slow layer change.
I have a Samsung 709, so PAL 50 isn't vital.

The Sony DVP-NS700 seems a good player from the specs, but I've found no reviews yet. Can anyone comment on this or an alternative?

Thanks for any help.

P.S. I know this kind of question's been asked a million times before, so sorry about that :)

If you can live without Macro off, then consider the Marantz DV4100OSE. Theres nothing to touch it for the money form Pioneer or Sony to match its audio performance, and its fine for video also. The Sonys have a slowish layerchange, just like the Pioneers and toshibas. Only panasonic and Philips based machines have a quicker layer change currently at this sort of price point.

[samhain]

Thanks for that, people.

SonnyJIM, when you say 'appalling', how long are we talking here?
Other than the layer change, and audio/video quality, would you recommend this player? I've heard a lot of complaints about Sony players rejecting perfectly cromulent disks...
The specs for the Sony do sound good, and as pathetic as this may sound, the ability to take a frame from a film and use it as a screensaver sounds so cool. Gimmicky, but cool ;)

Cheers for the layer change info, Justin - I'll read up on the Marantz, and check out your store before I make any decisions.

Are there any players from Philips or Panasonic that anyone can recommend at this price range?

Thanks again for the replies :)

[sonnyJIM]

Originally posted by samhain
Thanks for that, people.

SonnyJIM, when you say 'appalling', how long are we talking here?
Other than the layer change, and audio/video quality, would you recommend this player? I've heard a lot of complaints about Sony players rejecting perfectly cromulent disks...
The specs for the Sony do sound good, and as pathetic as this may sound, the ability to take a frame from a film and use it as a screensaver sounds so cool. Gimmicky, but cool ;)

Thanks again for the replies :)



Well... I might have exaggerated a little but the layer change does take a good 2 seconds. I only say "appalling" because it's no better than my humble PS2.

I've only had it a week so I can't comment on its reliability. So far, it plays all the discs that I can throw at it including RCE. It plays CDR/RW, VCD and SACD (whatever that is). It has its only DTS decoder but that's pretty useless really as most amps nowadays have one built in.

I would recommend this play.... or you could save yourself £150 and get the Pioneer 444, it looks just as good. The choice is yours.........

[stoneranger]

Originally posted by samhain

Are there any players from Philips or Panasonic that anyone can recommend at this price range?

Thanks again for the replies :)

Panasonic RA61 is very good, may be jsut over budget at £360 from Justin. V. good picture and sound and looks nice too next to my Sony 1070 :)

comes with DVD-Audio but i haven't used it yet

[samhain]

Hmmmm, I've already tried out the 545, so I doubt I'll be impressed by the cheaper model. Thanks for the comments on the Sony, though sonnyJIM - I'll have to search for somewhere that can demo it. Decisions...

Appreciate your opinions stoneranger - I'll look up the Panasonic too.
This is going to be an expensive month :)