DIVX dvd players Pioneer & LG vs Philips 642

[akito925]

I was wondering anyone have thoses players?? they are recently out.

a pioneer and the lg divx players..

can be found at futureshop.


anyone know thoses any good stacked up agaists philips 642?? are they a better improvement ??

[callous]

Show me the link for the pioneer.

[akito925]

this is the one for the LG
http://ca.lge.com/en/prodmodeldetail.do?catModel=2&actType=&modelName=&currentPage=&categoryId=0301&parentId=03&modelCategoryId=0301&modelCodeDisplay=LDA-531&modelNameLoc=LDA-530&modelImgNum=1&enlarge=%2Fen%2Fdown%2Fproduct%2F0301%2FLDA-530%2FLDA-530-L.jpg

futureshop website on it.
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10061641&catid=10561



now does it up convert divx videos?? to 1080i ??





this is the pioneer one
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10059237&catid=10561


Pioneer website on it.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/product/detail/0,,2076_15020669_236572701,00.html


Pioneer DV-588A-S Progressive Scan 1-Disc DVD Player

FEATURES:

* Included In Box: Remote, Batteries, Unit, Instruction Booklet, Power Cord, A/V Cables
* Media Playback: CD-R, CD-RW, VCD, DivX, DVD-R, DVD-RW, JPEG, DVD-AUDIO, SACD

[callous]

Comparing the philips 642 against the other 2 players mentioned is rather pointless. 642 is simply outclassed. Side by side, picture quality is far superior on the other 2 machines, for either divx/xvid/dvd. LG/Pioneer will give you qpel and 1 point GMC support. The 642 does neither.

If you look at http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=DV-588A-S&Submit=Search&Search=Search&chipset=&country=&orderby=Name&hits=25

You will see that the Pioneer uses a similar mediatek chip as the LG. The lg uses the 1389FE while the pioneer uses the 1389EE. Just because it is FE doesnt mean it's newer or better than EE. The GE version of hte chip for example is NOT divx certified and is sold as an ordinary DVD decoder chip. I have no idea what is the difference between the EE and FE and there appears to be little info on that.

So now you got 2 players, both using basically the same chip, but 1 sells for 50% higher price. Well.. I havent checked to see if the Pioneer uses a dif tv output chip thus is better, but u can check out LG's site to see if the DACs are the same etc. If the specs are the same, then now you have to decide if Pioneer is more likely to give superior firmware support. I strongly suspect LG wont be giving any firmware support but it might be too early to tell. With divx.com stating many of the players out there can be upgraded by firmware to divx6.0 this CAN be a major factor later on.

Keep in mind mediatek and pioneer/LG all have to agree to upgrade to divx6.0. If any of the parties says no then that's that. The pioneer by the way is more likely to have hacked firmware support as the LG doesnt exist outside of Canada. There is zero hacked firmware support for the LG because this is an exclusively canadian product (so far).

If money isnt a major factor, and it's only $50 more, then go for pioneer. Otherwise, LG would be best bet. Either machine will give you an excellent viewing experience.

One more thing - the LD-530 does not have an upconvert feature. The LD-531 has it, but is $100 more, however, it may or may not be mediatek-based player. No info about the pioneer.

As a final note, a moderator on divx.com stated LG is putting divx support on all their dvd players now. Finally divx is mainstream. :-0

[akito925]

ahhh thanks quite interesting read thank you!

[porphyra]

Yea but do the other players do correct PAL -> NTSC conversion on the fly and also can they be made region free? That is a big thing for me.

[akito925]

theres region free hacks for both players.. not sure about the pal-ntsc as of yet.. more searching... should tell me more about it.

[NG]

It should do it fine. I'm betting they both will do proper anamorphic conversion at this point. The only question is which will do it better.

Agreed on the 642. It's already outdated. Not worth picking it up unless you grab the $60 Giant Tiger deal.

[callous]

There is a automatic converstion from pal>ntsc. As for which one does it better, I dont know - never bothered checking :) if the LG was so bad at converting someone would have spilled the beans on that already.

[Silver Bullet]

I have the LG works great .. from both cd and dvd.

[callous]

I have seen the LG show some graphical anamolies when playing back xvid. Sometimes shadows would show up in greyish or whitish blocks, but it is random and doesnt last more than a few secs. I dont know what to make of it yet. It's probably not a hardware failure but i thought i would mention it.

Edit:
Well I just bought another LG-530, and the futureshop rep told me the 530 is a DISCONTINUED product, with the LDA-531 replacing it (531 costs 100 bucks more). This means no firmware support if this is true.

I also found that the graphical anomalies i had were caused by very poor quality dvd-rom player inside the machine. The 2nd machine i bought is even worse than the first.

I dont know at this point if i would recommend this player to anyone. Poor or no firmware support, crappy dvd drive that is error prone when reading. This just gets better and better.

[akito925]

I have the LG works great .. from both cd and dvd.

can you do a few tests for us??

check to see if it up converts your divx, xvid videos throught conponet cables to 720p or to 1080i HDTV res..

[Primetyme]

i heard the LG doesn't convert copy-protected to 1080i(store bought dvd's). is this true?

[Silver Bullet]

right now im just using S-Video .. but i try to get some component connectors ...