BD players are only $39 now!

[jscoggins]

I saw this at Walmart for $39 yesterday.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Funai-NB50...layer/42294417



Funai used to sell hardware under the Magnavox, Sylvania, Philips, etc. brands. They also make hardware for other companies (they made the first Onkyo-branded BD player).

There really is no reason to buy a DVD player anymore, lol.

[8traxrule]

And no reason to put out DVD-only releases either.

[AKORIS]

and, depending on sales, you can actually get a good, name brand player for just $10 to $20 more.....

[drmar]

I got an LG Blu Ray (BP125) at Walmart for $40 two years ago; and they had an LG model for $35 this black friday. If you don't mind refurbs, there are LG, Samsungs, and Sonys close to this price available now. But I'd be curious to know if Funai was of decent quality.

[schan1269]

Originally Posted by drmar

I got an LG Blu Ray (BP125) at Walmart for $40 two years ago; and they had an LG model for $35 this black friday. If you don't mind refurbs, there are LG, Samsungs, and Sonys close to this price available now. But I'd be curious to know if Funai was of decent quality.

Funai is the "manufacturing" behind...

Directv(Directv is a 50/50 co-owner)
RCA(of what RCA still makes "itself" vs "branded")
Recoton(everything)
Audiovox/Klipsch(anything that plugs into the wall or has a battery)

[Carlanga]

Walmart had their funai tv last year for bf and people went crazy trying to buy one.
Reviews were bad in everything including energy consumption so in assuming this bs player is just as bad.

Better to pay $10 more and get doe thing at least decently made.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Carlanga

Walmart had their funai tv last year for bf and people went crazy trying to buy one.
Reviews were bad in everything including energy consumption so in assuming this bs player is just as bad.

Better to pay $10 more and get doe thing at least decently made.

The TV might've been bad, but my family has had a couple of Magnavox players w/o problems. My first-gen player still works.

[Naiera]

Magnavox makes me think of RoboCop 2.

[Dylan34]

Originally Posted by Naiera

Magnavox makes me think of RoboCop 2.

Magnavox used to be a top brand for tv's and stereo's. Whatever happened to them?

Never mind, just looked them up. They dont have many products these days but in the late 80's thru the mid 90's, they had very good products. I still remember their slogan " Smart Very Smart".

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by AKORIS

and, depending on sales, you can actually get a good, name brand player for just $10 to $20 more.....

Yep. But affordability hasn't been an issue for YEARS. It's baffling to me how standalone DVD has carried on.

I got my Panasonic in *2008* for $99 (which was a steal back then), and last year I got the Sony BDP-5200 for $79, hell even the "4K upscaling" player is now easy to find under $100. It's at the point where only the high end players are over $100 (yes those can run all the way up to $1000, but I'm not sure that can be legitimately justified anymore - at least not for regular blu-ray).

[hanshotfirst1138]

If only you could region-mod them as easily as you could the old DVD players, life would be so much simpler.

[Rspen54]

I got a New LG BP330 on ebay for under $50 and bought a 2-year squaretrade warranty for $13.49 and it has excellent Picture & Sound quality, also you can get a Sony BDP-S5100 for under $50 refurbished with a 2-year warranty, both are 10x better than the Funai.

[JoeKryten]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

If only you could region-mod them as easily as you could the old DVD players, life would be so much simpler.

Or, you can go online to 220 electronics or bombay and get any of the current Sony players chip modified to be region free for both DVD and Blu Ray for $40 more than the standard on-line price for the same non-modified model.

Of course they carry most all of the major brands and can modify most of them as well, just not sure of the pricing...

[brps3]

Originally Posted by Dylan34

Magnavox used to be a top brand for tv's and stereo's. Whatever happened to them?

Never mind, just looked them up. They dont have many products these days but in the late 80's thru the mid 90's, they had very good products. I still remember their slogan " Smart Very Smart".

RCA, Zenith, and Westinghouse were name brand at one time now they're not. I dont get it either.

Thats like saying Ford isnt a name brand car.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Originally Posted by JoeKryten

Or, you can go online to 220 electronics or bombay and get any of the current Sony players chip modified to be region free for both DVD and Blu Ray for $40 more than the standard on-line price for the same non-modified model.



Of course they carry most all of the major brands and can modify most of them as well, just not sure of the pricing...

That's what I wound up doing, but Bombay Electronics told me that I could update the player and still keep the region-free capability, and the last update proved them liars. They sent me a disc to solve the problem, but the principle bothers me. And I have recently found out that the HBO GO app doesn't work on the player, and another would would be super expensive. I can just get a cheap Chromecast, but again, the principle bothers me. Plus the scaled for it isn't good enough to make some SD content look tolerable. I'd love that Oppo, but the price is crazy even before the region-modding.

[schan1269]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

That's what I wound up doing, but Bombay Electronics told me that I could update the player and still keep the region-free capability, and the last update proved them liars. They sent me a disc to solve the problem, but the principle bothers me. And I have recently found out that the HBO GO app doesn't work on the player, and another would would be super expensive. I can just get a cheap Chromecast, but again, the principle bothers me. Plus the scaled for it isn't good enough to make some SD content look tolerable. I'd love that Oppo, but the price is crazy even before the region-modding.

What BD player did you get from Bombay that lost the multi-region upon update?

None of my LG, nor the Orei, have lost their multi-region when updated.

7 from Bombay. 2 from 220.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Originally Posted by schan1269

What BD player did you get from Bombay that lost the multi-region upon update?

None of my LG, nor the Orei, have lost their multi-region when updated.

7 from Bombay. 2 from 220.

Sony BDP S3100. Stopped reading PAL discs until they sent me the update.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

There really is no reason to buy a DVD player anymore, lol.

I suppose the higher end DVD players on the market probably do a better job at upscaling DVD with their superior chip sets and things, but even then you could buy a half decent BD player for not much more than $39 and get as good (if not better) upscaling capabilities anyway.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Blu-21

I suppose the higher end DVD players on the market probably do a better job at upscaling DVD with their superior chip sets and things, but even then you could buy a half decent BD player for not much more than $39 and get as good (if not better) upscaling capabilities anyway.

Well, that's a fringe videophile consideration. If Joe Average has to think twice about a $39 Blu-ray player, he's not going to spend $2,000 on a DVD player.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by Dylan34

Magnavox used to be a top brand for tv's and stereo's. Whatever happened to them?

Never mind, just looked them up. They dont have many products these days but in the late 80's thru the mid 90's, they had very good products. I still remember their slogan " Smart Very Smart".

I remember my Dad bought 2-3 Magnavox TVs for different rooms in our house (in the late 70s to early 80s if I recall) - and they were outstanding and last many years.

Also to note, he also bought something like this for our family room around 1982. It was a 50" RCA front projection TV. I remember I couldn't believe how huge that screen seemed nor could our neighbors. I do not recall that was the exact model as I seem to remember ours looking brown, but same structure. Our damned cats used to like to jump on top of the screen scratching it with their backfeet claws!

http://www.cedmagic.com/home/pfr100.html

He had also purchased one of the first VHS players which also by RCA around 1980. I remember it cost $1000 and was like a tank. It had a remote, but with a cord. VHS movies used to run $75 to 100 if I recall. It was all about renting then recording movies on HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax once cable shortly became available.

Looking back, I guess he really was sort of home theater enthusiast at the time without really knowing it.