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| Thread ID: 24377 | 2002-09-09 11:09:00 | Do I need a DVD-ROM? | Susan B (19) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 77989 | 2002-09-10 04:18:00 | I've got 2 DVDs with software on them. They are magazine cover discs. So it's coming. I got a (new, but "8X") drive for $120 at trademe. But it'll be a year or two before it's a must-have item. To watch movies, I have an idea that it will be less trouble using a consumer DVD player which plugs direct to the TV. I saw on in the Stationery Warehouse for $299 yesterday. "Zone free", too. A drive for a PC was about $175 in DSE. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 77990 | 2002-09-10 04:33:00 | I bow to the superior knowledge of others. I have only been involved with and repairing Video recorders and systems since 1971. This includes the father of DVD - Laservision. This was released in 1978, used a 12inch (300mm) disc, and played for one hour. Quality was excellent. It did not sell because you could not record with it even though all surveys at the time showed more than 80% of VCR owners had never ever recorded anything. Incidently the first Television set displayed by John Logie Baird in 1928 was a disc based system. | Tom B. (864) | ||
| 77991 | 2002-09-10 04:37:00 | No, you don't need one, but I do. My address is... I expect it to arrive within 1-3 working days :D IMHO a standalone player is a better opiotn. I have a $500 1yo Casio standalone that plays all zones, and even NTSC on my PAL TV. I have only come across one DVD that did not have subtitles, and this was a obscure filmfestival film. In fact subtitles are a little annoying on my player as it ignores the subtitle menu, and always turns them on forcing me to manually disable them with the remote, I especially get annoyed when there are 12-25 different languages, or instances of the same language as I have to cycle thru them all to get to "no subtitles". Other than that it is great, and even plays CD's with mp3's on them. Great if the PC isn't near the stereo - just burn to CD and play mp3's thru the DVD player. So far the only prob I have had is "stickmen" would play with garbled images. I fixed this by skipping to the middle of the disc which was OK, and then "rewinding" (fast rewind) to the start as this seemed to fix it - must have been a prob with the coding at the beginning of the track. The video store later confirmed it was a bad disc. G P |
Graham Petrie (449) | ||
| 77992 | 2002-09-10 04:53:00 | But that was the Nipkow disk (a spinning disk with holes in a spiral) ... this gave the scanning of the modulated light beam. Electronics World (was Wireless world) had a story a while ago with pictures from a video disc --- it was a pressed record which played on the 78 rpm gramophone, the signal then sent to the Televisor. It was sold for 7s/6d as a test tool. The quality was not all that good. (It was about 32 lines ...) The pictures were "just" recognisable. They located a (still alive) lady whose picture (singing) was on the 193x disc. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 77993 | 2002-09-10 05:27:00 | What a fantastic response, thank you for the very helpful information everyone . :-) The consensus appears to be go for a stand alone DVD player so I will heed that advice and not worry about getting a DVD-ROM for the new PC later this year, for now . Now all I have to do is research which one . Yikes!! Where do I start?! Work out how much we can afford to spend first, I suppose, then look at Robo's article in last month's PC World for his tips on what to look for . If anyone wants to rave about their DVD player and what its got and does, I'm listening! :D Same goes for anyone who doesn't like theirs . . . |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 77994 | 2002-09-10 06:22:00 | Well Susan, mine was the cheapest name brand on the block when I got it for $500. Now most are under this anyway. I think it is great as it has all the importnat functions in a simple, stylish design. I think there are several important points for the novice DVD buyer (technical people can tell you about the details like frequency tolerances, etc) Make sure it will play all zones, but at the very least zone four and one as these are the most common in the video store. Make sure it supports dolby digital sound, and not just dolby prologic as if you ever upgrade your sound system, you WILL want this. Make sure it has S-video out as well as RCA. Choose a well known brand. Make sure it is easy to use. MP3 playback is handy, but not essential. Make sure your TV can accept RCA input. Mine doesn't, and I haven't yet found a RFU to RCA adapter. At the moment I am using a "boat anchor" VCR which doesn't play videos as a giant converter. I am too lazy to bother pulling it apart to just get the required bits. I will have a think about more info and post back. I am sure there is plenty more. G P |
Graham Petrie (449) | ||
| 77995 | 2002-09-10 07:29:00 | Well, as I said before Mustek/Yukai has all you could want - never had any probs with mine and it gets thrashed. I got it from Global Junxion (www.globaljunxion.co.nz). They have a review for it here (http:). No I don't work for them :) If you can afford it, go the whole hog and get the Auriga Home Theatre Amp & Speakers as well. Expect to spend approx 5 hours putting it together tho (mind you, I did have to untangle the existing TV/video/stereo/pc mess) :) |
antmannz (28) | ||
| 77996 | 2002-09-10 08:11:00 | Susan, you never asked us if you needed that pair of shoes you bought last month, and you needed them less than you need the DVD drive....but you bought them anyway. | godfather (25) | ||
| 77997 | 2002-09-10 08:45:00 | > Make sure it has S-video out as well as RCA. More importantly, make sure it has DVD component output, which gives a far better output than either S-Video or RCA (compared with DVD Component output, S-Video and RCA are pretty much the same), so that when you upgrade the TV you'll get the best picture available. Mike. |
Mike (15) | ||
| 77998 | 2002-09-10 10:09:00 | Excellent stuff - thanks for the tips guys . My poor Cardfile is groaning LOL . > Susan, you never asked us if you needed that pair of shoes you bought last month, and you needed them less than you need the DVD drive . . . . but you bought them anyway . I haven't worn them yet, I'll take them back and buy the DVD player instead . :D |
Susan B (19) | ||
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