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I am finally considering purchasing a DVD player (yeah, I know!!!) and having been unimpressed by DVD in the past, I am looking for some advice on my purchase.

Players I have looked at in the past seem to have very poor picture search capabilities IMHO i.e. they offer a linear search at 2x normal playback, but only a series of still frames rapidly 'jumping' at higher speeds (I imagine this is due to the processing power required to display every frame of every second at higher speeds). Have things improved with the latest generation of players? I don't know about anyone else, but porn viewing tends to involve a LOT of picture searching (FF/REW).
Ideally, I would like, as a minimum, search capabilities similar to my VCR?s:- i.e. linear searches at 7x and 14x normal speed. What speeds do the main manufactures offer - a Sony player I looked at only seemed to have two search speed options 2x and fast!

Also, when I tried a player at home (Toshiba SD110E) connected to my 50hz, multi-standard Sony KVX2572U TV, I noticed that a Fiona Cooper disc played back (as an experiment) in NTSC had noticeable flicker ? is this due to the software or the hardware? What should I look out for in a player to ensure as high quality NTSC playback as possible (I?m guessing that all US disc are NTSC?)

Any other things to look out for in a DVD player for porn viewing, or model recommendations (high quality picture is very important, but I do not need multi channel sound, only stereo) would also be appreciated. Budget - as little as possible to get what I need 

TIA.

My advise: get one that plays multi regional disks, this way you can play imported porn with no worries.

Most now provide multi channel sound, so treat yourself.

You may even want to think about a dvd player on your pc and plug it into your tv.

I have said this to people:

When VHS came out they were ?1000 plus, and even untill DVD came out they were ?400. These days you can get a DVD player fofr less than ?100, and DVD recorders are now about ?400.

I understood about two words of that: you could do worse than get a Cyberhome, for about ?70: plays NTSC in TruePAL (thanks, Crofter.....), and if you hate it, you can just bin it and forget about it at that price....

99.99% of any porn DVDs you are likely to want to import will be region 0, i.e. region free, or region 2 (our region); so, if you only want it for porn, the question of multi region does not arise. I say this (yet again) as the confusion on this seems persistent, but the general advice to buy a multi region player is good; as you may want to import a Hollywood film from the USA where it may well be cheaper and/or released earlier, or even a cult film from some other part of the planet.

The Cyber Home will only do one speed of 'fast forward', though it is multi region and will output true PAL (it plays some DVD-R but not others and not DVD+R). The LG DVD 4950 is more expensive (more than twice the price of the Cyber Home) but will do several speeds of picture search (it plays DVD+R but not DVD-R). If you buy it from somewhere like Richer Sounds it will be multi region and it outputs true PAL. Saying that though, it seems to be fussier with disk errors than the Pioneer Region 2 one-speed-picture-search that I used to have. If true PAL output is not a consideration then there are probably better makes than LG.

With the increasing number of 'home-made' DVDs the question of whether a player will play DVD+R, DVD-R or both is also an important consideration.

One-speed search?
....x2 to x32 (still too slow, I agree...)?
But, as I said for ?70.............

Sorry. I haven't discovered the faster speeds in that case then. Don't tell me 'RTFM'.

What is TruePAL? - I would have thought that all DVD players for the European market would offer a 'proper' PAL output - NTSC is more likely to be a problem - Yes?

Thanks for any clarification.

Just keep hitting the button.......
Hey !! ME giving Alec tuition?
Wow.....heh heh...............
And I never read the manuals, either........

I'm talking about outputting true PAL from an NTSC DVD. Most output pseudo PAL. One is PAL50 and one is PAL60. I can never remember which is which, nor do I know what they are, but if you try to copy an NTSC DVD to tape you will find it won't work unless the output from the player is true PAL, though it will still play fine on your TV while you are trying. (Of course it also won't work if the DVD is Macrovison protected, but many porn DVDs are not.)

You may want to copy a DVD to tape because of the nature of picture search on DVD players. Which takes us back to where we started.

Re the picture appearing black and white. Its often nothing to do with the disc but more to do with the output settings on your machine. This could be due to the output settings on the DVD player not matching the scart socket you have chosen on the TV or the TV simply being on the wrong AV channel. If the DVD player is connected to the S-video scart on your TV then make sure you have the DVDs output set to S-video rather than composite or RGB. Or even better set your DVDs output to RGB and connect it to the RGB scart on your TV. You need to set the tv to the correct AV channel too.

I have a Sony TV too and I get black and white picture because as soon as the DVD or VCR or satellite receiver sends a signal down the scart cable the TV automatically switches to the AV channel for standard composite video. And as the DVD is probably outputting RGB or S Video it will appear black and white. Use the top right button on your TV remote(above the "3" button if your remote is an RM839) to cycle through the various AV options and you should get a colour picture on one of them. RGB gives slightly better colour seperation than Svideo but the difference is barely noticable.

I helped JJ a while ago as he couldnt get a colour picture either. My advice worked for him once I persuaded him to bite his tongue and listen to me which must have been awfully demeaning for him to have to do. Its just a matter of making sure the tv scart socket you choose is compatible with the selected output of the DVD AND ALSO that you have the TV set on the correct AV channel.