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Author Topic: DVD player upgrade  (Read 7187 times)

Stephen Swaffer

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DVD player upgrade
« on: October 19, 2014, 09:06:17 AM »

Any suggestions on a decent multi format DVD player?  We have been working on upgrading our media and decided to go with an iMac-but they no longer have optical drives in them. We have been using a consumer DVD player for years, but too often get handed odd formats by visiting missionaries, etc.  Primarily will be used for that purpose-don't really need a lot of bells and whistles just something that will play most anything we feed it.
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Steve Swaffer

Caleb Dueck

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2014, 09:10:39 AM »

External player for the computer?
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Jordan Wolf

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2014, 07:13:22 AM »

Stephen,

I recommend you go for a Blu-Ray player...preferably one from a coupe of years ago (new old stock?). They should still have the Component video outputs on them active at 720p; newer models are only allowed to output analog video at 480p, I believe.

Also, what is your setup - how do you plan to interface the player into your setup? Denon/Marantz Professional have a number of units.
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Jordan Wolf
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Kyle Leonard

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2014, 11:36:18 AM »

I got an external USB DVD player/recorder for our mac mini. It's our main projection computer. I also recently purchased a Sony refurb Blu-Ray player for under $50 on Amazon. It's used with a TV we have in the basement for various studies.

I got both for under $100. I think the Mac Mini one is a Samsung and was $40.

Kyle
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Stephen Swaffer

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2014, 01:53:42 PM »

Right now its very basic-we have VGA and composite run to projector.  We only use an unmanned video feed to nursery-not sure where we will go in the future with distro in the building though that is something we will do at some point. 

I have considered an external  drive on the iMac and that may be the best way-but in a case like our missions conference where we have 10-12 visiting missionaries and sometimes videos are in hand last minute it is nice to have a separate device to preview while service is going on so I know exact time, etc.  So looking for options.

Perhaps my terminology was off-not so much concerned with blu ray, as with the ability to play data DVDs with mp4s, or picture cds.  You would think someone traveling from church to church would pick a common format for their presentation, but sometimes I am not sure they even know what format their media is in.
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Steve Swaffer

Scott Holtzman

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2014, 11:30:35 PM »

If you are doing a lot of uprezing as you mentioned the Oppo gear has some of the best processing in the business.

You can pick up an older one with unlocked component outputs for around $400 on Flea Bay.

They still stock rack mount kits even for the older ones.




Sent from my To Be Filled By O.E.M. using Tapatalk
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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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Tommy Peel

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2014, 01:11:33 AM »

Right now its very basic-we have VGA and composite run to projector.  We only use an unmanned video feed to nursery-not sure where we will go in the future with distro in the building though that is something we will do at some point. 

I have considered an external  drive on the iMac and that may be the best way-but in a case like our missions conference where we have 10-12 visiting missionaries and sometimes videos are in hand last minute it is nice to have a separate device to preview while service is going on so I know exact time, etc.  So looking for options.

Perhaps my terminology was off-not so much concerned with blu ray, as with the ability to play data DVDs with mp4s, or picture cds.  You would think someone traveling from church to church would pick a common format for their presentation, but sometimes I am not sure they even know what format their media is in.

Probably a second computer with VLC would be the best option given that you have a variety of formats to deal with. You could copy the video files onto the second machine from whatever media they're on(CD, DVD, Flash Drive, Etc...), check them out, and then send them over your network to the main machine for playback along with notes on where to start/stop. Or if you have a switcher of some sort just play the que'd up file from the second machine. Not as simple as you are wanting but this is the most versatile option; it wouldn't take much of a machine to do this, anything made in the Windows Vista era(2006 or 2007) or later would do the trick.

Also adding an external drive to the main machine would probably be a good idea for when you need simple DVD playback.
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Stephen Swaffer

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2014, 10:47:42 PM »

Bit of a topic swerve, but I have not been impressed with VLC.  That said, I am using a PC running XP (lots of reasons I did not change-mainly stubborn-but XP did everything I needed, I refused to upgrade for upgrading sake!) but it is a fast quad core and even using multiple tracks on cakewalk seems to just be coasting along-is this why I find VLC lacking?  Last missions conference I was handed a DVD after the service started (yeah but beyond my control) DVD player rejected it, so I played on VLC  with a brief preview, but it hung mid-presentation for 5 to 10 very long seconds...
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Steve Swaffer

Tommy Peel

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2014, 11:19:14 PM »



Bit of a topic swerve, but I have not been impressed with VLC.  That said, I am using a PC running XP (lots of reasons I did not change-mainly stubborn-but XP did everything I needed, I refused to upgrade for upgrading sake!) but it is a fast quad core and even using multiple tracks on cakewalk seems to just be coasting along-is this why I find VLC lacking?  Last missions conference I was handed a DVD after the service started (yeah but beyond my control) DVD player rejected it, so I played on VLC  with a brief preview, but it hung mid-presentation for 5 to 10 very long seconds...

Weird. I've never had any issues with VLC on any machine I've used it on. Simply put it's played everything I've ever thrown at it with no issues. I would suspect that the newer versions are optimized for  Windows 7 and above so maybe XP was the problem; I don't believe I've used it on XP before. BTW you should really upgrade if you're using the machine online; with Microsoft not supporting it anymore the risk of a nasty bug being exploited is very high. And no an anti-virus + firewall isn't enough.

Sent from my Moto X(XT1053) using Tapatalk

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George Friedman-Jimenez

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2014, 01:25:03 AM »

Computer does seem the best solution if you need to playback DVDs, USB memory sticks, SD cards, etc. I have also been having problems with VLC, however. Win 7, wav 16/44 and 24/44 music files. VLC 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 both make a brief but loud noise at the beginning and end of most audio files. Other players like foobar 2000 v 1.3.1 or DAWs playing wav files don't make the noise. Also the sound quality is very much worse on some audio songs played on VLC, loudness is uneven and clarity varies from one second to the next. Some videos play ok, others have uneven loudness like the audio. I did not have problems with earlier versions of VLC.
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Jonathan Johnson

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #10 on: October 27, 2014, 03:02:42 PM »

VLC uses an independently developed codec (libdvdcss) not licensed by the DVD Copy Control Association to play encrypted DVDs. Most commercial players use a licensed codec.

Many Linux-based players use DeCSS, also not licensed.

Non-encrypted DVDs should not require these codecs.

In the past -- I haven't tested recent versions -- I've found that VLC seemed to have lower video quality than commercial players.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2014, 03:10:17 PM by Jonathan Johnson »
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George Friedman-Jimenez

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #11 on: October 27, 2014, 04:53:08 PM »

I find VLC 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 make the noises and yield poor sound quality on my original unencrypted wav file audio recordings I have recorded live, which is mostly what I play. It also occurs on commercial audio recordings. I rarely use VLC to play DVDs and can't comment on them. What other PC and Mac dual platform DVD player software do people recommend that is simple to use for performances / presentations, reliable and multiformat?
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Tommy Peel

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #12 on: October 27, 2014, 05:34:01 PM »

I find VLC 2.1.4 and 2.1.5 make the noises and yield poor sound quality on my original unencrypted wav file audio recordings I have recorded live, which is mostly what I play. It also occurs on commercial audio recordings. I rarely use VLC to play DVDs and can't comment on them. What other PC and Mac dual platform DVD player software do people recommend that is simple to use for performances / presentations, reliable and multiformat?

Question: Are you running the audio levels above 100%(white line on the volume slider)? That will cause distortion. It's best to put the volume slider at or below 100% and use your system volume control or the volume control on your mixer/speakers.

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George Friedman-Jimenez

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #13 on: October 27, 2014, 06:50:33 PM »

Yes, I know about gain stages. No, the noises are independent of the position of the VLC gain control, which I usually keep around 50-70%. The noises are not distortion, they are just loud noises for about 1/2 - 1 second before the recorded music begins and after it ends. Older versions before version 2.0 start with a pop but not the same noise. Foobar2000 does not produce the pop or noises. These are 16/44 or 24/44 wav files not MP3s. I am running Win 7, Intel i7, Dell Optiplex 990. I don't see any noise on the waveform beginning or end in Audacity. This has definitely gotten worse in the last 2 versions of VLC.
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Tommy Peel

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #14 on: October 27, 2014, 06:57:18 PM »

Yes, I know about gain stages. No, the noises are independent of the position of the VLC gain control, which I usually keep around 50-70%. The noises are not distortion, they are just loud noises for about 1/2 - 1 second before the recorded music begins and after it ends. Older versions before version 2.0 start with a pop but not the same noise. Foobar2000 does not produce the pop or noises. These are 16/44 or 24/44 wav files not MP3s. I am running Win 7, Intel i7, Dell Optiplex 990. I don't see any noise on the waveform beginning or end in Audacity. This has definitely gotten worse in the last 2 versions of VLC.

Just checking. I'll try some similar wav files on my MacBook Pro and see if I have any trouble; I use VLC as my main player of anything audio or video and haven't experienced any issues.
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George Friedman-Jimenez

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #15 on: October 27, 2014, 07:22:43 PM »

Pilot error here! I uninstalled v 2.1.5, tried a bunch of versions back to 1.1.9 and got pops at the beginning and a wavering sound level during the songs. Finally I went through all the settings in Tools > Preferences > Show settings (All) and under > Audio > Filters I found Volume Normalizer was checked! I swear there is no way I would have checked that box, I don't know how it got checked, it wasn't me, honest! After I unchecked it, the sound quality improved greatly, the noises went away and I am back to being happy with VLC. Apologies to VLC and the forum for the false alarm, sometimes you just have to take the time to systematically start from scratch when there is a problem. Reinstalling keeping the same settings may seem easier but sometimes keeps the same problem.
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Tommy Peel

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Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #16 on: October 27, 2014, 07:24:37 PM »

Pilot error here! I uninstalled v 2.1.5, tried a bunch of versions back to 1.1.9 and got pops at the beginning and a wavering sound level during the songs. Finally I went through all the settings in Tools > Preferences > Show settings (All) and under > Audio > Filters I found Volume Normalizer was checked! I swear there is no way I would have checked that box, I don't know how it got checked, it wasn't me, honest! After I unchecked it, the sound quality improved greatly, the noises went away and I am back to being happy with VLC. Apologies to VLC and the forum for the false alarm, sometimes you just have to take the time to systematically start from scratch when there is a problem. Reinstalling keeping the same settings may seem easier but sometimes keeps the same problem.

Interesting, glad you found and fixed the problem. I'll have to remember not to use the normalizer.  ;D
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: DVD player upgrade
« Reply #16 on: October 27, 2014, 07:24:37 PM »


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