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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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November 27 2002
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 Posted - January 11 2004 : 8:16:51 PM
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Well, I'm a'gonna do it! I'm gonna get me a DVD player!
But I need advice! I have done a little looking online, but haven't talked to any salespeople yet and I just don't want any nasty little surprises when I bring one home and go to hook it up.
I have a TV that is about 12 years old. It is "cable-ready", and is currently hooked up to a VCR and the cable. I want to be able to watch either a VCR tape or a DVD. So.....
1. Should I get a combination player? (The current VCR can go to another TV.)
2. Should I get just a DVD player?
3. If I do that, can I have them both hooked up to my TV at the same time?
4. If I can hook two players up to the TV, do I need any special adapters or splitters?
5. Would hooking up two machines weaken the cable signal?
6. Anything else that I have not thought of?
What about brands? Has anybody had a good experience with a certain brand? Has anybody had a bad experience? I have $200.00 to spend and I hope that I can get one that suits my setup for that.
All thoughts and ideas welcome!
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Kaylynn44
Mohicanite
USA
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July 13 2002
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richfed
Sachem
USA
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May 13 2002
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Posted - January 12 2004 : 04:58:05 AM
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WW - I went absolutely bonkers trying to get my DVD player hooked up a couple of years ago. Not that it alone was difficult, but combining it in just the right fashion with my VCR & satelitte was, well ... daunting. For me, anyway ...
$200 should get you a nice one. Mine, as I said, is a couple of years old - a Toshiba - works splendidly & I've had no problems ... past the set-up!!
I'm sure you can get it hooked up - just tell 'em at your local Radio Shack what you're trying to do, if you encounter any trouble. They seem to have jacks and cables for EVERYTHING!!
You're gonna like it! |
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SgtMunro
Soldier of the King
USA
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September 23 2002
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Posted - January 12 2004 : 10:22:04 AM
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I agree with Sachem Rich on this, WW. During my 'hook-up' fiasco, I had Lady Munro and the young Mistress Cassandra leave the castle for a few hours, in order to escape the barrage of blue language.
Your Most Humble Servant,
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Serjeant-Major Duncan Munro
Capt. Thos. Graham's Coy.
42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foote
(The Black Sheep of the Black Watch)
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"
-Or-
"Recruit locally, fight globally." |
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Jayne
Overseer of Ariel's Auction
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May 23 2002
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Posted - January 12 2004 : 11:16:25 AM
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WW - I bought a combination so I could use the old tapes as well as new DVDs. But we have only one TV (I know...stone age), so it works out well for us. If you have more than one TV and can use the VCR on that, maybe it would make sense to just buy a DVD player. For what it's worth...
Have fun shopping!
Jayne |
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Dillon1836
Deerslayer
USA
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July 17 2003
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Posted - January 12 2004 : 5:03:15 PM
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| Wilderness Woman,I don't have a Dvd player,but I am easily able to play Dvd's on my playstation 2.I doubt that helps you though.Good luck anyway with hooking it up...I've heard it is a pain... |
www.alamosentry.com
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susquesus
Mad Hermit of the North Woods
USA
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September 03 2003
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Posted - January 12 2004 : 6:21:41 PM
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I'm a fan of the combo players too. I would recommend going to a discount chain and just looking at what they have to offer. That way you know what's out there, you can get an idea of what features are available. Go home and make a list of the features that you saw that were important to you. At that point go to a web site which has a large amount of information on a variety of models, I would personally recommend:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat03013&type=category
The asian-made players(except for sony) will usually play a wider variety of formats including vcd, svcd, mp3, cd-r, dvd-r. If you have a computer that burns cd's it can be useful.
Once you know the features and price range you want to be in go through the web site and find 5 or 6 models that meet your specifications. Print up the page with information about each model use it to go through a process of elimination. Once you find a model you want you can do a google search on that model. Usually you can get electronics via mail with a warranty for considerably less than walking into a store and picking one off a shelf. In addition you can find online reviews of the products to make sure they're not crap.
3 year warranties are also a very good idea. Dvd players can be fragile and finicky occasionally. Good luck and have fun shopping. Dvd's are cheaper than CD's these days, it's easy to find a ton of great movies cheap. |
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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November 27 2002
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Posted - January 12 2004 : 8:01:48 PM
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Oh dear! Youse guys are scaring me! "A pain"... "Bonkers"... "A Fiasco"... I am not liking these words at all!
But, I knew I was coming to the right place. Kay, the website you provided is good. I tend to forget about the "about.com" network. I have printed out the articles and am reading through them to arm my self with the basic knowledge. Thanks! Susquesus, your ideas are sound ones, and I had already thought of following a plan something like that. I will check the bestbuy site. Thanks to you too!
Now, I'm off to read those articles.
Any other suggestions, recommendations, ideas, websites?
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richfed
Sachem
USA
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May 13 2002
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Posted - January 13 2004 : 05:12:36 AM
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Is your TV stereo? Hope so, 'cause even just with the tiny speakers, you'll hear sounds you never heard before seemingly coming from around the room. Excellent audio quality!
I had to laugh at the Sarge's description ... I should have followed his tactics & cleared the house! |
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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November 27 2002
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Posted - January 13 2004 : 08:14:44 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by richfed
Is your TV stereo?
"Aw-w-w Geez, Rich... I don't know," wailed Wilderness Woman holding her hands to her head. I'll have to look in the little manual booklet.
What brand do you have, Rich?
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richfed
Sachem
USA
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May 13 2002
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Posted - January 13 2004 : 6:50:22 PM
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| Television? It's an RCA [29", I think it is] - stereo [just the two little built in speakers] ... The audio & video is amazing, compared to that seen & heard from a VHS tape. |
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Dances with Beagles
Colonial Settler
USA
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May 19 2002
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Posted - January 13 2004 : 6:55:43 PM
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WW---I feel your pain! I recently went through the same process, and ended up with a Toshiba DVD player, and it's great!
I found the connector/connection stuff a bit confusing....my TV is only about 4 years old, and it didn't have the right type of connector (S-type--a faster/better connection, I guess). So my DVD is connected with the audio/video connectors (color-coded red/yellow/white...even my pea brain could do that!). And my VCR is connected to the TV with a coaxial cable. Both work jes' fine.
Some DVD players I saw had all kinds of fancy fiber-optic and surround-sound features, that I can't/won't use now. I am a bit behind on the technology curve...it'll be a while before I upgrade to anything fancy!!
Good luck! You'll love it! |
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SgtMunro
Soldier of the King
USA
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September 23 2002
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Posted - January 14 2004 : 04:35:21 AM
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quote:
I had to laugh at the Sarge's description ... I should have followed his tactics & cleared the house!
I have always had bad luck with certain aspects of home mechanics. What for a normal person may be a simple electrical or plumbing job, for me becomes the recipe for fire or flood!!!
Your Most Humble Servant,
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Serjeant-Major Duncan Munro
Capt. Thos. Graham's Coy.
42nd Royal Highland Regiment of Foote
(The Black Sheep of the Black Watch)
"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"
-Or-
"Recruit locally, fight globally." |
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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November 27 2002
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Posted - January 14 2004 : 1:42:15 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by richfed
Television?
No, silly! I meant your DVD player! (Although I can see why you thought I meant your TV.)
My head is spinning right now with learning about all of the different types of connectors and cables. Haven't had a chance yet to take a look at my TV to see if it has Audio/visual connectors or not. Will try to do that tonight.
Keep those comments and ideas coming! I hope to sound as though I know... sort of... what I am talking about when I talk to a sales person. |
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richfed
Sachem
USA
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Posted - January 14 2004 : 6:53:23 PM
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| Look up above, in my initial reply to you ... NOW who's silly, Silly?!? Like Dances With Beagles, I have a Toshiba. Good brand, I'd say. |
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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November 27 2002
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Posted - January 14 2004 : 10:51:46 PM
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By crackey... you're right! It was right there all the time. And I read it, too! Ah well, what can you expect from someone who has trouble remembering her kids' name at times?
Yeah, I'm thinking about really taking a good look at the Toshiba models. Also, maybe Panasonic. |
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Wilderness Woman
Watcher of the Wood
USA
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November 27 2002
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Posted - January 15 2004 : 08:12:39 AM
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Research update...
No stereo... no audio/visual connections... just plain, simple TV with cable/co-axial connection and UHF antenna connection. Well, now I know that I will need to have some sort of adaptor. Onward...
(Anyone bored yet?)
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Kurt
Mohicanite
USA
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September 27 2003
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Posted - January 15 2004 : 12:09:51 PM
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I know they make a small appliance (looks kinda like a laptop computer) that shows DVDs. If it has a way to hook up to a TV, might be a good way to go.
When we got a 5DVD changer, my plain, simple TV couldn't be hooked directly to it. I put the sound cables from the changer into the home stereo and the video out cables into the VCR. The bad part of using the VCR is the copy protection makes the picture get lighter and darker. Have a good sound system does add to the movie. |
Yr. obt. svt.
Kurt |
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