DVD Player advice

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Tio64

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Hi all,
Recently taken delivery of a new Moho. We still like to look for cheap dvd & boxsets in charity shops, and we carry a few dvds with us in the van, useful for times when there is no tv signal or internet. Our new van came with a Smart TV with no dvd player. I can plug in a portable dvd player into the tv via an hdmi connection but I'm just looking for some advice/thoughts.

There are many cheap ones available, circa £30-ish which come with a fold-down screen, are these suitable for a standalone player plugged into a TV? Or would I be better paying a bit more for something like this Sony dvd player available in Sainsburys, at £80? It has no screen but that's fine, we want to be able to watch on our bang-up-to-date tv with good quality screen.

And another possibly daft question, does the player have to sit horizontally when being used or can I sit it on edge, as there is a suitable shelf for that in our van?

TIA.
 

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I don't think that the picture quality will vary much, so long as it has an HDMI output. I would go with what is convenient. In theory DVD and CD player as used in PCs will work when vertical, loading the disk is a bit tricky though
 
We carry quite a selection of dvds with us.
but we never got a t.v with our used van but bought a tv with dvd incorporated into the tv saves us a lot of messing about.

and still have a socket for other external other devices.

we pick the odd video from markets and shops when we’re about . That’s if you can find something good to watch.
 
Have you not got a DVD player in the head unit you can use?

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Tio64 said:
Hi all,
Recently taken delivery of a new Moho. We still like to look for cheap dvd & boxsets in charity shops, and we carry a few dvds with us in the van, useful for times when there is no tv signal or internet. Our new van came with a Smart TV with no dvd player. I can plug in a portable dvd player into the tv via an hdmi connection but I'm just looking for some advice/thoughts.

There are many cheap ones available, circa £30-ish which come with a fold-down screen, are these suitable for a standalone player plugged into a TV? Or would I be better paying a bit more for something like this Sony dvd player available in Sainsburys, at £80? It has no screen but that's fine, we want to be able to watch on our bang-up-to-date tv with good quality screen.

And another possibly daft question, does the player have to sit horizontally when being used or can I sit it on edge, as there is a suitable shelf for that in our van?

TIA.
Click to expand...
Hi guys....We have a Panasonic. Blue ray play player in our spare room here at home in Haughton stafford. Let me know where you live and it is yours for free. I really dont need it and its a shame its sitting in a drawer doing nothing. Dont spend out £80 on anything ........just cover the cost for its delivery to you and its yours!
Yes.....it can be used on its side or upside down if you wish! ;) (y)


Kev and Carolyn
 
sonar said:
We carry quite a selection of dvds with us.
but we never got a t.v with our used van but bought a tv with dvd incorporated into the tv saves us a lot of messing about.

and still have a socket for other external other devices.

we pick the odd video from markets and shops when we’re about . That’s if you can find something good to watch.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what we wanted. We'd ordered a conventional tv with dvd for our new van, intending to plug in Chromecast/Firestick type thing, but we were told they were out of stock and a Smart TV was fitted instead, which we weren't entirely happy with. On the last campsite we were on our wifi booster wasn't getting a good signal and our tv streaming was patchy to non-existent. Never had those problems with a box set. :-)
 
Kev and Carolyn said:
Hi guys....We have a Panasonic. Blue ray play player in our spare room here at home in Haughton stafford. Let me know where you live and it is yours for free. I really dont need it and its a shame its sitting in a drawer doing nothing. Dont spend out £80 on anything ........just cover the cost for its delivery to you and its yours!
Yes.....it can be used on its side or upside down if you wish! ;) (y)


Kev and Carolyn
Click to expand...
YHM... I think. :-)
 
Tio64 said:
That's exactly what we wanted. We'd ordered a conventional tv with dvd for our new van, intending to plug in Chromecast/Firestick type thing, but we were told they were out of stock and a Smart TV was fitted instead, which we weren't entirely happy with. On the last campsite we were on our wifi booster wasn't getting a good signal and our tv streaming was patchy to non-existent. Never had those problems with a box set. :)
Click to expand...
I'm afraid this site is far too complicated for a casual poster such as myself :) . I believe I've started a conversation with you, whatever that means. The other message format only allows 420 characters, it seems.

I'll check in the morning if you got my 'conversation'. Regards, Mike.

ETA Stroll on, I've replied to wrong post. I'm struggling here, aren't I?
 
Kev and Carolyn said:
Hi guys....We have a Panasonic. Blue ray play player in our spare room here at home in Haughton stafford. Let me know where you live and it is yours for free. I really dont need it and its a shame its sitting in a drawer doing nothing. Dont spend out £80 on anything ........just cover the cost for its delivery to you and its yours!
Yes.....it can be used on its side or upside down if you wish! ;) (y)


Kev and Carolyn
Click to expand...
Hi Kev and Carolyn,

I'm afraid this site is far too complicated for a casual poster such as myself :) . I believe I've started a conversation with you, whatever that means. The other message format only allows 420 characters, it seems.

I'll check in the morning if you got my 'conversation'. Regards, Mike.

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If I wanted DVD axcess in a motorhome, my idea is: Rip the DVD to an ISO file, Ditch the disk and use a portable media player like this that has my DVD copies on plus CD as FLAC, etc.
That example has a DC supply so looks ideal for a Motorhome.
 
kevenh said:
If I wanted DVD axcess in a motorhome, my idea is: Rip the DVD to an ISO file, Ditch the disk and use a portable media player like this that has my DVD copies on plus CD as FLAC, etc.
That example has a DC supply so looks ideal for a Motorhome.
Click to expand...
Food for thought, thanks.
 
Tio64 said:
Hi Lenny, how do mean, 'head unit'? Thanks, Mike.
Click to expand...
The radio in the dash most have a DVD player you just need to connect the video output to the TV.

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Lenny HB said:
The radio in the dash most have a DVD player you just need to connect the video output to the TV.
Click to expand...
Blimey Lenny. Most head units now don't have any disc players at all. Showing our age?
 
Tio64 said:
Food for thought, thanks.
Click to expand...
For a DVD rip I use http://dvddecrypter.org.uk/
It’s ancient and not evolving but works.
A cd I rip with dBpoweramp’s Music Converter & CD Ripper apps

Remember you’ll need to keep the discs so you’ll own the rights 👍
 
Lenny HB said:
Had to have a look most Pioneer's and Kenwood still have them & quite a few others.:X3:
Click to expand...
True. Not many factory fit them now though and they are certainly on the wane.
 
Tio64 said:
Recently taken delivery of a new Moho. We still like to look for cheap dvd & boxsets in charity shops, and we carry a few dvds with us in the van, useful for times when there is no tv signal or internet. Our new van came with a Smart TV with no dvd player. I can plug in a portable dvd player into the tv via an hdmi connection but I'm just looking for some advice/thoughts.
Click to expand...
I have everything 6/700 movies,box sets,etc all on a hard drive of a size a bit bigger than a cigarette packet, if l find a DVD in a charity shop l it download and give it back for them sell again.No DVDs taking up room and the hard drive does not bleed power.

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Littlewheels said:
I have everything 6/700 movies,box sets,etc all on a hard drive of a size a bit bigger than a cigarette packet, if l find a DVD in a charity shop l it download and give it back for them sell again.No DVDs taking up room and the hard drive does not bleed power.
Click to expand...
We are the same and we do that, but not everyone is tech savvy enough or bothered enough.
 
I had conversation like this with my tech savvy son a few weeks ago and he said "Digitalise Dad, Digitalise"
You can buy a DVD to digital converter (I know that DVD is digital but it loads it onto a memory stick) and with a Tetrabite or bigger memory stick, (between 20 and 40 quid) you could have as many series as you could watch with 24 hour viewing for years.
It is the way to go and removes the need for yet another bit of equipment and associated leads in the van.
We are in the process of transferring our music collection (from cassette, vinyl, and CD to memory stick ( (over 500 albums and counting)
(I see someone has already mentioned this a few posts back. You don't need to be tach savvy to do this, if you can operate a washing machine or drive a car or turn on a stereo etc then downloading to memory stick will not be a stretch)
 
We used to rip DVD's don't bother now just download from Amazon, Netflix etc., onto my Android TV box it has 64gb memory and has USB ports and an sd card slot.
 
Littlewheels said:
I have everything 6/700 movies,box sets,etc all on a hard drive of a size a bit bigger than a cigarette packet, if l find a DVD in a charity shop l it download and give it back for them sell again.No DVDs taking up room and the hard drive does not bleed power.
Click to expand...
I suggested keeping the disk to keep things legal 🤷‍♂️
Ymmv
 
P Bentley said:
I had conversation like this with my tech savvy son a few weeks ago and he said "Digitalise Dad, Digitalise"
You can buy a DVD to digital converter (I know that DVD is digital but it loads it onto a memory stick) and with a Tetrabite or bigger memory stick, (between 20 and 40 quid) you could have as many series as you could watch with 24 hour viewing for years.
It is the way to go and removes the need for yet another bit of equipment and associated leads in the van.
We are in the process of transferring our music collection (from cassette, vinyl, and CD to memory stick ( (over 500 albums and counting)
(I see someone has already mentioned this a few posts back. You don't need to be tach savvy to do this, if you can operate a washing machine or drive a car or turn on a stereo etc then downloading to memory stick will not be a stretch)
Click to expand...
With dBpoweramp’s CD Ripper app, I’ve a profile that rips a FLAC copy to the media sever and an MP3 version for iTunes in one pass. 👍😜

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I have hundreds of films and box sets on USB thumb drives. Play back on my laptop or the tv in the van, either using HDMI from laptop or direct in the TV's USB socket. The draw back with the later option is the file compatibility as not all file types are supported

The built in DVD players in most TVs are crap at best when new and are the first thing to pack in when the warranty runs out. The 12v DVD players that you can find are ok, but too big usually, but can be hidden in a locker with a wirelinking to the TV and an Ir repeater for using the remote
 
This might interest some of you with a virgin 3 box, it runs on 12 volt and using a hdmi lead all your recorded films are watchable when away, so record and save for your next trip away,
 
Wow, thanks for all this advice guys. I am interested in the ripping of discs. No, my van's head unit doesn't have a slot for discs, it's the Fiat touch screen model, and come to that my laptop doesn't have a disc drive either, but I do have two old laptops that does. Time to get them out and spend an evening having a go at this. It's been years since I last did anything that involved a cd/dvd. I do have a solid state usb hard drive of 1TB capacity, so I'm good on that score.

I'm just wondering how many times I come back for further advice/help... ::bigsmile:
 
kevenh said:
For a DVD rip I use http://dvddecrypter.org.uk/
It’s ancient and not evolving but works.
A cd I rip with dBpoweramp’s Music Converter & CD Ripper apps

Remember you’ll need to keep the discs so you’ll own the rights 👍
Click to expand...
Evenin' all,

I've copied a couple of dvds using the above program and saved onto a hard drive.
They save as ISO files. I can plug the hard drive into our Avtec Smart TV via USB, but I doubt this will play ISO. Can I convert the files to MP4, or whatever file is more likely to be played?
Our Moho is in storage so I can't just nip out and pop the hard drive in to find out.
Any advice on playback, please guys? :-)
 
Tio64 said:
Evenin' all,

I've copied a couple of dvds using the above program and saved onto a hard drive.
They save as ISO files. I can plug the hard drive into our Avtec Smart TV via USB, but I doubt this will play ISO. Can I convert the files to MP4, or whatever file is more likely to be played?
Our Moho is in storage so I can't just nip out and pop the hard drive in to find out.
Any advice on playback, please guys? :)
Click to expand...
Sorry, an ISO file alone will need some work to be usable,
At one point you were looking at buying some hardware, iirc. 🤔
Lost in all the feedback is my idea that you get a portable media player like a Popcorn Hour 500: -
“post 12 above” said:
my idea is: Rip the DVD to an ISO file, Ditch the disk and use a portable media player like this that has my DVD copies on plus CD as FLAC, etc.
Click to expand...
The Popcorn device is wired rather than WiFi but is a good place to start a search.

I don’t have a Smart TV but those are likely to have an ISO media player built in or be compatible with.

In my experience the ISO idea is worth looking at. The ISO file will play and look like the actual DVD, with a menu you’re used to etc, but with faster load times 👍🏻🤪

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