DVD player question and Heroes marathon question

[tzikeh]

1) A friend is looking for a DVD player that plays dvds from any region as well as dvds burned with DivX files and the like. I seem to remember you could get one that plays DivX files, and then there's a special code you punch in on the remote to make it region-free, but I don't recall any players that do both out of the box (at least not that I can find currently for sale) - do you guys have suggestions for a player that can do it all, is reasonably priced (under $100), is sold through online merchant outlets (no e-bay), and is reliable?

2) Does anyone know if SciFi is going to show the full episodes, or cut-up-for-syndication episodes, during this Saturday's run-up-to-the-finale Heroes marathon?

ETA: Does anyone know why SciFi would air a marathon of the whole season of Heroes as a run-up to the finale, but air them *all out of order*?! ... or is that a stupid question. That's a stupid question, isn't it.

Comments

[rhiannon-jehane.livejournal.com]

A friend is looking for a DVD player that plays dvds from any region as well as dvds burned with DivX files and the like. I seem to remember you could get one that plays DivX files, and then there's a special code you punch in on the remote to make it region-free, but I don't recall any players that do both out of the box (at least not that I can find currently for sale) - do you guys have suggestions for a player that can do it all, is reasonably priced (under $100), is sold through online merchant outlets (no e-bay), and is reliable?

CyberHome CH-DVD 300S Progressive-Scan DVD Player (http://www.amazon.com/CyberHome-CH-DVD-300S-Progressive-Scan-Player/dp/B0000A0AJH/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8382581-5608915?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1179356090&sr=8-1)

I bought one of these a few years ago so I could watch The Professionals. It's easy to program it into a region-free player, it plays everything including homemade DVDs and VCDs, it works beautifully, it's tiny, and it's cheap. I highly recommend it.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Hm. It says it plays home-made DVDs and VCDs, but that is not the same thing as dvds containing .avi or .mov or .divx files. Those formats are not mentioned anywhere that I can find.

[klia.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I was given one of those really small CyberHome units, and it died within a few months, so I don't have a lot of faith in them.

I'll also strongly rec the Philips 642. It's amazing and cheap.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've seen bad things about the CyberHome units. Everyone likes the 642, so that's what I'm gonna recommend to my prof. Thanks!

[feochadn.livejournal.com]

Just about any Philips player: I recommend the DVP642. Plays avi files, and just about everything else, AND has the simplest region hack ever. And is usually about $40-$50. Circuit City, Target, and Best Buy all carry them.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Awesome - I will look into this. Philips is generally reliable, yeah?

[feochadn.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. At least more reliable (and durable) than any other player I have owned. The newer player, um, 5130 or something like, looks pretty simple to hack also, if you can't find a 642.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Are all of the hacks easy to locate online?

[feochadn.livejournal.com]

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Heartily seconding Jo's comment. In fact, I'm actually getting another one so I can use one for vidding and one in the living room, and am giving up my other players. They are great, and they also have progressive scan if you have HDTV and composite cables.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

W00T - which model do you have?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I have the 642, which is basically last year's model, but still available many places (Amazon has one for around 50, I think). I may get the new one, but I think I remember that one having some trouble with discs at the con last year, though i could be wrong, maybe it was just disc problems themselves. the remotes are small and many keys are multifunctional, so take some getting used to, but overall, it's my fave player. great audio, too.

[heresluck]

Agreed -- the DVP642 is wonderful, versatile, cheap, and easy to hack. And it's turned out to be much more reliable than my old Norcent, which was great while it lasted but started having all sorts of mechanical difficulties after about three years.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Rock. Everyone seems to be recommending this one. I say yea.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know why SciFi would air a marathon of the whole season of Heroes as a run-up to the finale, but air them *all out of order*?! ... or is that a stupid question. That's a stupid question, isn't it.

Looking at the actual schedule, the only think I can think is that Sci-Fi might be required to show them in order, but the network has to pick up where the last episode aired left off. The episodes actually are in order from Homecoming through Landslide and then, it starts back up with the pilot at 11:00 p.m. That's the only thing that makes sense to me: the last re-run aired prior to this marathon was Nothing to Hide, so the network is required to start the marathon with the episode that follows it -- Homecoming.

Now, I think that's silly -- since they're marathoning the whole series, they should just start at the beginning -- but there's no telling what SciFi agreed to contractually when it enterered into the "repurposing" agreement with NBC Universal.

[inthekeyofd.livejournal.com]

They aren't airing one of the episodes too, which makes no sense either, but I've watched other marathons for other shows on SciFi and they always do that--airing them out of order.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

wtf. out of order and missing an episode? And the purpose of this would be...

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

That's a stupid question, isn't it.

Well, duh. *G* Airing them in order would make way to much sense for a television network.

I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions for DVD players, but when you talk about DVD players that play .avi and .divx files, what exactly do you mean? Are there actually DVD players out there that can play video files that are just stored as data on the disk?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Are there actually DVD players out there that can play video files that are just stored as data on the disk?

Lots and lots and lots. And lots. :) Sampo, Apex, Norcent were the early ones - now Philips, Pioneer, Toshiba, etc. all make them. You just burn 11 episodes (half a season) onto one dvd in .avi format and wham - viewable on a set-top.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

ZOMG!

*runs to piggybank clutching hammer*

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Looks like everyone recommends the Philips DVP642 -

For $50, you can buy it here:
http://tinyurl.com/2cv8at
or here: http://tinyurl.com/28vvc8

Enjoy!

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

My DVR schedule is listing them as 60 minutes, whereas the new ones on NBC are listed as 61 minutes... so I'm guessing a little chopping will be involved. :(

Which sucks as I need to re-record some that have weather warnings and crap through them.

(Btw, I did another Polka - all Heroes, all the time. :)

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Ooh - is the Heroes Polka up online anywhere?

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

We have a Yamaha DV-55750 that plays AVIs, all regions of DVDs, and pretty much anything else we throw at it. We bought ours at Scarecrow Video in Seattle but I'm sure it (or an updated equivalent, since we've had ours a couple of years) can be had in the usual places.