Warm: Liteon DVD player lvd-2001 $127 - plays DVD, Mpeg4, Xvid

[jimmyjam]

Originally posted by: handydave
Someone pointed out this unit as well

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=90123771


It's $249, but is lan attached and the PCMCIA slot can handle a wireless card.

thanks for the link. that was enough incentive for me not to buy anything. i was very, very close to ordering the lite-on, but now that i see lan dvd players are available i think im gunna hold out. i dont necessarily think i will purchase the oritron @ $250, but i think its only a matter of time before something similar is available at a lower price, probably in the very near future.

 

[ColdFusion718]

Didn't your mom teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say, shut your word-hole?

Originally posted by: gnawrot

I am sorry but I don't buy it. SVCD is not looking as good as DVD (pretty close - around 85% of the time) and it takes 700MB per 30-35 minutes (usually don't dare to fit more than 35 minutes on one CD-R). I really doubt that 2 hours DIVX movie recorded on one 700MB CD-R, will be close to DVD. Even DVD does not look great all the time - especially scenes at night. Sorry but quality requires space and there is no workaround. As I said DIVX might look very good on 13 inch TV when watched 10 feet away.

As far as encoding is concerned, even some DVDs are not encoded well.

 

[chanfo]

Originally posted by: ColdFusion718
Didn't your mom teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say, shut your word-hole?

Originally posted by: gnawrot

I am sorry but I don't buy it. SVCD is not looking as good as DVD (pretty close - around 85% of the time) and it takes 700MB per 30-35 minutes (usually don't dare to fit more than 35 minutes on one CD-R). I really doubt that 2 hours DIVX movie recorded on one 700MB CD-R, will be close to DVD. Even DVD does not look great all the time - especially scenes at night. Sorry but quality requires space and there is no workaround. As I said DIVX might look very good on 13 inch TV when watched 10 feet away.

As far as encoding is concerned, even some DVDs are not encoded well.

Be nice coldfusion718. His mama taught him to give his opinion whenever he disagreed on something. Mama also taught him proper manners which is nice

 

[cordite]

Originally posted by: shuan24
Is it really worth $140? I mean, you could easily build a custom "DVD player" for the same price or cheaper, but with all the mods you want. IMHO, I really dont see the advantage in this player, other than the fact that its already built for you. With the custom player you could install all codecs (like FFDshow) and not just watch Divx/Xvid only.

If you can build one from scratch for $40 or less, I'd like to hear the details...

 

[lostatlantis]

Originally posted by: gnawrot

Originally posted by: Davinci
Divx and XVid quality can be almost as good as DVD on TV. The problem is most of divx movies are badly encoded.

The problem I see with this player is that the divx/xvid technology evolves way too quickly. Their formware will always lag behind. For example it probably does not support the latest xvid codec, OGM and OGG codec.

Otherwise it looks great !

I am sorry but I don't buy it. SVCD is not looking as good as DVD (pretty close - around 85% of the time) and it takes 700MB per 30-35 minutes (usually don't dare to fit more than 35 minutes on one CD-R). I really doubt that 2 hours DIVX movie recorded on one 700MB CD-R, will be close to DVD. Even DVD does not look great all the time - especially scenes at night. Sorry but quality requires space and there is no workaround. As I said DIVX might look very good on 13 inch TV when watched 10 feet away.

As far as encoding is concerned, even some DVDs are not encoded well.

SVCD uses the same compression scheme as DVD, just at lower resolution due to space constraint of a typical CD-R. Divx is the latest generation in compression technology, that's why it's able to have such good quality at such low bit rate. Quality does require space, no doubt about that. But MPEG4 has more tricks to make better use of that space.

 

[AznMaverick]

thanks for pointing out this deal and player, but i think i'll hold out for a bit to see what other players come out and what people think of them.

 

[gnawrot]

SVCD in NTSC system has 480x480 resolution, while DVD has 704x480 resolution. Same encoding MPEG-2 for both systems. I captured home video of my bro wedding and encoded as DIVX. What can I say? I was able to fit around 30 min of video on one CD-R without seeing much quality sacrifice (was little one though). When compressing more, quality was inacceptable for me. So even if you make perfect DIVX rip from DVD, I doubt that MPEG-4 codec is almost 10 times more efficient than MPEG-2 codec. 2 hours movie to take 2-3 GB - sound reasonable for SVCD but 700MB using higher resolution than SVCD (heh?). Obviously I never watched DIVX movie on my TV. I had to reencode movie from DIVX to SVCD or VCD and when I watched it on TV I was not impressed at all. Obviously I loose quality on each reencoding but Divx rip was not looking great on my PC. As with any MPEG codecs, you results depend on video material, lots of motion will eat bandwitdh, lots of black (lots of same color in one scene) will save lots of space etc. I suspect that using 1 CDR for 1hour of movie would render better results.

Originally, I wanted to convert my home videos to SVCDs but now I got DVD burner and want to create DVDs since issue with home videos is excessive video nice which eats too much valueable bandwith in case of SVCD. Most likely I will use one hour video for 1 DVD to make sure that quality is as good as on tape.

DIVX vs DVD is subjective subject same as MP3 vs CD. Some people claim they are same, but I disagree. When listening on good sound system using monitors (speakers) or higher-end Sennheiser headphone I notice the difference right away and it is quite disturbing. MP3 users don't realize how much they miss because they use cheap headphones and on these headphones difference will be none.

You can read more video related topics on vcdhelp.com. Very interesting.

 

[axskkyline]

I am thinking of it too, but is waiting on it worth it?

 

[gnawrot]

Originally posted by: kassaam

Originally posted by: gnawrotMaybe nice DVD-player but I don't want too watch DIVX movies on 27 inch TV set 6 feet away. Maybe it is good to watch on 13 inch TV set from 10 feet. Forgive me but SVCD sometimes is not impressive but Divx - give me a break. Good to watch on PC only. My 2 pennies. Other standards including (X)VCD, (X)SVCD, MP3 etc are nice but Divx - sorry not for not small TV.

Just for the record, well encoded DIVX movies look great on my 40" Widescreen TV from 10 feet away.

Well encoded DIVX movie can look great on your 40'' widescreen TV. Don't you think that quality of encoded DIVX movie depends on the material i.e lots of movement will make DIVX quality worse since lots of movement requires more bits allocated to accomodate scene changes. However, if person who encoded video decided to fit movie on one DIVX will obviously sacrifice quality of movie and hence badly encoded DIVX. Obviously, it is possible to badly encode DIVX but the point I am saying is that this is not the only factor determining quality of DIVX movie. DVD on the other hand, can accomodate lots of movement in movies since it has much larger capacity. That is what I want to say, you might have good looking DIVX movie but you are not guaranteed to have it all the time (most likely not).

BTW, nice TV set you got there. Congrats. I think that this is the only way to watch widescreen movies and unforturnatelly, I think that I will be forced to have both TV sets (regular and widescreen). I will have still to wait till widescreen TVs will drop in price.

 

[EvilYoda]

divx and xvid encoding is so solid these days that only in the fastest of action scenes do you get artifacting...I'm seriously trying to convince myself NOT to buy this DVD-player right now.

And I'll let you all know how .avi's look on my X1 projector after I get too

 

[dquan97]

very tempting...

 

[GLazarides]

Looks like a good DVD palyer with a lot going for it, I'm trying to convince myself I have the extra money to get this. (after all, how many DVD players do I need?)

 

[gnawrot]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
divx and xvid encoding is so solid these days that only in the fastest of action scenes do you get artifacting...I'm seriously trying to convince myself NOT to buy this DVD-player right now.

And I'll let you all know how .avi's look on my X1 projector after I get too

Thanks to my wife, I don't have such problems. I guess it is another reason to get married, you stop worring what to buy. It simplifies life quite a bit. If I want to buy something I have to go trough process of convincing and trust me I don't want to do it often.

 

[Trevah]

Originally posted by: gnawrot
SVCD in NTSC system has 480x480 resolution, while DVD has 704x480 resolution. Same encoding MPEG-2 for both systems. I captured home video of my bro wedding and encoded as DIVX. What can I say? I was able to fit around 30 min of video on one CD-R without seeing much quality sacrifice (was little one though). When compressing more, quality was inacceptable for me. So even if you make perfect DIVX rip from DVD, I doubt that MPEG-4 codec is almost 10 times more efficient than MPEG-2 codec. 2 hours movie to take 2-3 GB - sound reasonable for SVCD but 700MB using higher resolution than SVCD (heh?). Obviously I never watched DIVX movie on my TV. I had to reencode movie from DIVX to SVCD or VCD and when I watched it on TV I was not impressed at all. Obviously I loose quality on each reencoding but Divx rip was not looking great on my PC. As with any MPEG codecs, you results depend on video material, lots of motion will eat bandwitdh, lots of black (lots of same color in one scene) will save lots of space etc. I suspect that using 1 CDR for 1hour of movie would render better results.

Originally, I wanted to convert my home videos to SVCDs but now I got DVD burner and want to create DVDs since issue with home videos is excessive video nice which eats too much valueable bandwith in case of SVCD. Most likely I will use one hour video for 1 DVD to make sure that quality is as good as on tape.

DIVX vs DVD is subjective subject same as MP3 vs CD. Some people claim they are same, but I disagree. When listening on good sound system using monitors (speakers) or higher-end Sennheiser headphone I notice the difference right away and it is quite disturbing. MP3 users don't realize how much they miss because they use cheap headphones and on these headphones difference will be none.

You can read more video related topics on vcdhelp.com. Very interesting.

This little debate is funny......really it all boils down to which algorithm you use to encode and what bit rate whether it is variable or constant..........check out www.vcdhelp.com if you really want to get into the nitty gritties of encoding quality.....

 

[GrandVizor]

OMFG.......
Gotta buy this...

 

[gnawrot]

Originally posted by: Trevah

Originally posted by: gnawrot
This little debate is funny......really it all boils down to which algorithm you use to encode and what bit rate whether it is variable or constant..........check out www.vcdhelp.com if you really want to get into the nitty gritties of encoding quality.....

I always use VBR (2-pass to be exact). I used to use CQ_VBR but it was not predictable in terms of size and slower. I use TMPGEnc high-quality mode 2-pass VBR. Sometimes I crop a bit to save a bit. I haven't tried CCE since it blows so often on my AMD XP CPU. I actually never use CBR since it is a waste of space for static scenes and not enough bandwidth in high motion scenes.

This subject is quite extensive so I don't want to talk about it.

 

[Storm]

Looks like its backordered now

 

[DaveNCheez]

anyone know much about the picture quality of this player... on DVD's/SVCD's not just in MPEG4.

I would love a MPEG 4/XVID/DIVX player.. but also have a shiny new progressive scan DVD player.. dont want to lose the image quality on no divx video

 

[Tarfin]

Originally posted by: jimmyjam

It's $249, but is lan attached and the PCMCIA slot can handle a wireless card.

thanks for the link. that was enough incentive for me not to buy anything. i was very, very close to ordering the lite-on, but now that i see lan dvd players are available i think im gunna hold out. i dont necessarily think i will purchase the oritron @ $250, but i think its only a matter of time before something similar is available at a lower price, probably in the very near future.[/quote]


There will always be something cheaper, faster,and better on the way so waiting on it means you'll never buy a player This seems like a nice deal, especially for a networked player. Dammit Hot Deals, stop wrecking my budget!

 

[lungster]

Don't see it there; must be OOS.

 

[etrin]

I wanted one but they say out of stock.
I can't believe that they are the only dealer in the world
selling them.
But they are the only one I can find.


Etrin

 

[cheesewhiz]

Has anyone who chose in-store pickup got an email saying its available? They said shipping monday, and I ordered the day this deal was announced, but still no email.

EDIT:

just saw jimmyjam's msg.. dammit. they said it shipped out the monday after i ordered it. If i call and they say august i'm cancelling my order. truth in advertising dammit!

 

[jimmyjam]

it now says that it ships out mid-august.
anyone get one yet?

 

[Kogan]

I ordered mine a few hours after I started this thread. My order status is "pending," so It's probably been backordered the whole time. I'm currently looking for other places to buy this player and the only ones I've found are in europe selling for 199-250 euro I'll keep looking and will let you guys know what I find.

 

[diggum]

word on the pcclub forum, from the admins, is that they have a TON of backorders for these, but that the shipment arrives at their California outlet on Thursday and will be shipped from there to the various local stores for pickup. i hope that's the case. they did say they've contacted liteon to find out what's taking these so long to arrive.