Three Low Price Popular DVD Players Reviewed

by Robin Liss
Published on Aug 4, 2001 12:00 AM



DVD players are really inexpensive now. You can get a good one with out a lot of money. We took a look at three DVD players with a street price under $200. We reviewed the Sony DVP-NS400D, the Pioneer DV-343 and the Toshiba SD-2700. All were good players each fitting a specific user.

Sony DVP-NS400D MSRP $250. Street $200 Plays all media types, CD-R, DVD, VCD, SVCD, DVD-R, CD-RW, Audio CD. Single disc capacity. Composite (RCA) Video Output and S-Video Output. Dolby Digital 5.1 Sounds Support, full audio adjustment controls. Has two sets of audio outputs, one for the TV and one for the audio system – very nice. Includes the Sony Precision Drive 2 System, which corrects for errors in DVD’s due to scratches, allowing for smoother playback. Most users report good picture quality. Some complain that this particular model skips scenes and will randomly jump to a scene on a DVD with no action from the user. Verdict Very affordable player. Has nice Dolby Digital Decoding – not always found on lower end players. Quick set up makes it an easy system for non-video/audio-philes. Good buy for the money.

Pioneer DV-343 MSRP $300. Street $180 Plays all media types, CD-R, DVD-R, VCD, SVCD, CD-RW, Audio CD. Single disc capacity. Component & Composite video output. Really good picture quality. Nice disc memory. Can remember your settings like wide screen and audio type for 30-discs. Remote buttons are small, but it’s also a lightweight player. Verdict If you want good picture quality at a low price, this is a great choice.

Toshiba SD-2700 MSRP $250. Street $180 Plays most media types, DVD, VCD, SVCD, CD-R, DVD-R, Audio CD. Doesn’t have CD-RW playback. Component & Composite video output. There are not a lot of front panel controls, so beware if you loose your remote. The player has both Composite and Component out. It also has a nice High Definition Compatible Digital Audio Output, which gives you nice sound quality, I guess better than 16-Bit CD’s. Verdict The great sound quality of this unit makes it a great choice for anyone wanting their DVD player to double as a CD player.