i rarely rant and rave about a product, mostly because i'm not usually that impressed and/or it's already so well known how awesome something is and there's no point in echoing the views of 100 others

anyway, i just got this jWIN JD-VD519 DVD player from tigerdirect (special order to avoid shipping) last friday...checking their website, they no longer sell it, but i'm pretty glad i got it when i did...for $60:

• Compatible with NTSC / PAL system
• HDMI digital output (480P / 720P / 1080i / 1080P)
• Progressive- and interlaced-scan video outputs
• Capable of Dolby Digital decoding
• Built-in USB input and SD / MS / MMC card reader
• Coaxial digital audio output
• 5.1-channel audio output
• Multiple subtitles and viewing angles
• Slow- and fast-motion playback
• Zoom operation and repeat playback
• Convenient on-screen display (OSD)
• Playable Media: DVD / VCD / MP3 CD / Audio CD / JPEG CD / Kodak Picture CD
• HDMI cable (3.3ft / 1m) and remote control included

i've tried a number of other divx-enabled dvd players, but when trying to play my xvid movies, they'd lock up or something during playback...this player doesn't, and with its 20x fast forward (forward about 1 minute per second), it's not a huge deal to have to fast forward through a movie in the rare case i feel i need to

i hooked up my klipsch 5.1 surround (rather than buying a whole new setup designed for television) and it sounds amazing (all i needed was 3 RCA/stereo splitters, all of which i had)...i've played music and movies from CD, DVD, USB, and memory card and it works perfectly from each medium

i realize that a lot of people would be interested in its 1080p upconversion and HDMI output...as i don't have an HDTV, i don't suppose i can testify to it in any way...but even for a regular old DVD player, it's absolutely amazing

my complaints?
- the on-screen media menus suck (i've yet to find one that's decent)
- i had to tweak some setting (i'm still not sure which one it was) to get the audio to play correctly (it was playing just the background sounds, not voices), but it works now nonetheless
- i have a year-old remote, and i'm not sure if i can program it to use this brand, as it's relatively new
- no audio-in, so my TV still has to play out of its own speakers, or 2.1 if i get the y-splitters
- while the display has multiple colors (which is nice), the text is a bit small, so you can't read it if you're too far away

anywho, just thought others might be interested...good luck finding it if you're looking!

http://www.jwin.com/sites/prodDetail.asp?pageID=productDetail&productName=JD-VD519&categoryName
=TV%20and%20Video&subcategoryName=DVD%20Players&Pidx=353&cateL=9&cat_P=1&cat_cidx=9

6/13/2007 8:22:33 AM