new member here (although not brand new, I have posted a few posts already).
I have about 100+ DVDs, mainly films but also some fine music ones, and currently no DVD player. I miss watching them, but can’t get myself to buy a player. I used to have one, but I sold it when I thought of ripping my discs on a hard disk, a task that turned out beyond my patience and competence.
DVD players are obsolete to say the least, but I want one; amazon is full of things in the €30~90 area, but I am undecided: too many negative reviews. So I ask here, should one want to buy a simple (not BluRay, no internet, no apps) DVD player for a TV, how much is it sensible to spend? What brands are reliable?
I really enjoyed and still do the process of ripping!
Completed my 14,000 CD collection and 1,500 DVD’s.
With the latter I keep it simple using ‘MakeMKV’ that allows me to see the DVD files select the main film with sound options and rip as one file beginning to end.
There is no chapter/scene selection but I as I say keeps it simple. About 3 to 4 minutes to rip a DVD and boxes to the loft or if you want to be a bit naughty off to the charity shop.
As you can buy a current Sony Blu-Ray player from John Lewis for £79, it seems a bit pointless looking for DVD-only player. As Robert says above you just need to make sure you can connect via HDMI.
Any Blu-ray or game console with cd drive can read dvd’s.
Ripping could be a good solution, but you have to have a computer to do it and the space to get the files, if using a NAS you can then install Plex or a similar software and stream to your tv and devices from the NAS.
thanks for your replies. I’ll read them carefully and consider options. My TV is a modern Panasonic with HDMI and HDMI-ARC. I use the ARC one with a soundbar.
If you just want a DVD player, then looking at Amazon uk, there’s an “Amazon basics” one for £22 with hdmi (there are 2 models one hdmi plus component, the other composite video output so make sure to pick the right one). Also sony/Panasonic for £35/£40, both with hdmi. No idea who makes the Amazon one, I’d probably just pick the Sony.
Or as suggested above, lg bluray £65, Panasonic £70.
thanks - it looks simpler and more interesting this way. I am good enough with CD ripping, but had an idea that DVDs were as nastier beast to treat digitally… I’ll take a look at ripping softwares, I already have an AppleTV connected to the TV set. And an iMac with an optical drive to do the dirty work…
I think there are some sophisticated techniques of re-running the ripped file through handbrake and inserting the chapters but it all got too technical and long-winded.
MakeMKV is free and I’ve been using it for years. Worth a try.
I don’t really need chapters safe in some musical DVDs; I took a look at MakeMKV and it seems to be available for Windows only. I’ll consider all options with care, thanks a lot for now.
Hi,
yes I’ve found it. Thanks for the suggestion. As far as replay is concerned, I still don’t know. Would my AppleTV see the NAS once I found a suitable UPnP/DLNA app? What do you think?
H.
When I had a DVD5 a few years ago (as part of my AV setup), I was impressed by how good it sounded as a CD Player.
IIRC it didn’t have an HDMI socket, so the way to use it was DVI to HDMI lead, and audio via optical or coax digital lead for sound. Or was it the AV2 that didn’t have the HDMI. In my defence it was a long time ago!
It’s now attached to my eldest granddaughter’s SuperUniti. Still sounding good.
It would not automatically see a NAS configured to serve media.
If you have an AppleTV with downloadable apps (those after AppleTV 3), then theer will be a few apps which would be able to see served media on the network - I’d probably suggest Infuse assuming your NAS doesn’t run Plex to serve media. Not certain but Infuse may have moved to a subscription model which may not be ideal.
4K discs