Anyone have or heard of Nexxtech DVD player?
 

So Circuit city had this sale on this particular no name brand DVD player, and it was so cheap that even I, who barely ever have a use for one, deciced I should get it (talkin' 25 bucks after rebate).

So, I left my new, cheap, no name DVD player at my girlfriend's house that night, since I had no immediate use for it, and she reports back to me that it likes to freeze every now and again, and you have to fast forward to get it unfrozen. This was while watching Harry Potter 3. She told me it froze around three times.

So I'm like, "%^&%^&^*((^$#@#!, now I have to return it." But I thought I'd try it at my house, just to make sure it wasn't her DVD or something. So I just watched an episode of Curb your Enthusiasm on DVD, and it was fine. Granted, that was only half an hour. So. . .anyone use this brand, or know someone who did, had a bad experience, whatever?

I don't know the brand, but this is sorta common. I have an el
cheapo player as well and sometimes it doesn't return to a menu
(gotta eject the disc and insert it) or has a bit of other problems
(although not frequent at all), so it is something you may have
to live with for so cheap a player.

Most (all?) cheap players simply use a computer DVD player and
those aren't always the most compatible ones.

If you want better compability there really is no way around getting
a serious brand player.

Waaaaaah. I'll see what the return policy is, and make my decision based on that. I guess that accounts for the slightly lower-res image, too?

I wouldn't expect high-quality video output components in cheap
players either, luckely for me my TV is cr*p as well, so doesn't
matter. I got my laptop with digital out hooked up to my projector,
so that's looking stunning, hehe.

Yeah, well, it's f^&^(*&*cked. I attempted to watch the second half of "Code 46" last night, and yes, that player is not a healthy. Here's to hoping the one I exchange it for works.

An update to this saga:

Got a replacement, and my lady reports that during Harry Potter, it screwed up again (it's the only thing she has to watch), though while watching espisode of Voyager on there (could I be a bigger dork?), it was fine, not a blip, hiccup or anything else.

So, two questions: Is it mostly like an error with that particular DVD, or is this crappy player perhaps very sensitive to scracthes/nicks/errors on the discs?

Is there some difference in the way a feature length disc is put together, versus the way a disc with one-hour or half-hour episodes of something is put together that could account for the discrepancy?

Sounds like its having trouble jumping from the first to second layer of the dvd.

I went through 2 of these cheapy players before I got one that worked correctly. Its served me fine for more than a year since.

Explain the layer thing?

As I said, it's played half hour long, and hour long episodes of things just fine, but seems to hang up on a feature length movie. I need to try another movie, but I haven't yet.

Commercial DVD's (and starting now, consumer-burnable dvd's) that you purchase are double layer dvd's. That means half of the content is on a selectively permeable 4.7gb layer and the other half is on a 4.7gb layer located right above this.

Under normal circumstances you can usually tell the transition between one layer to the other by a very small pause in the movie of maybe a half second or so.

If something is wrong with that particular dvd players ability to switch from one layer to another then the player may hang up there.


P.S.
I enjoyed your Jewish super hero movie. It cracked me up pretty good. Nothing I like more than taking the un p.c. view on things.

Thanks.

I see. She said it hung up near the end of the movie. So obviously these episodic DVDs don't have two layers?

I'm pretty sure they would still be two layers.

However, the problem maybe what you mentioned earlier, an extreme sensitivity to scratches. Or maybe a different type of problem with the player.

Maybe test it with a couple more full length movies, then return it if it seems to be a recurring problem?

Yeah, guess that's all I can do. Thanks.