Quick Guide to DVD Players With MP3 Playback

I was looking for a DVD player, but it can be difficult to find one that plays MP3 files downloaded from the net. And there are problems with those that do. Here's what I've learned along with a list of DVD Players with MP3 Playback. Hope this helps!

DVD Players with MP3 Playback

MP3 Playback Hints and Tips

LONG FILE NAMES: unless you like your DVD player displaying filenames like alanis~1, alanis~2, alanis~3, you will want a player capable of reading CD-R you have made using the long file names option. Some players can only read the old style file names consisting of 11 characters including extension, and in addition Windows shortens long file names internally adding the ~1,~2,~3 for each file that starts with the same letters. If you like to save your MP3 files in artistname-song (like AlanisMorisette-HandInMyPocket.mp3) format, you should consider a unit long file name capable.

Here's an example of how to cope with a really good player (Pioneer 440) that places limitations on how file names are displayed. Each player handles them differently, so I can't be sure how others might react to this idea. The Pioneer allows you to navigate a folder structure on your Tv screen using the player's remote. This works just like folders on your computer. Remember that you should burn your CD-R using the ISO 9660 file system and your disc must be finalized. However, the file names are displayed as 8 characters out of an 8.3 filename (standard eight characters for the name, three characters for the type of file). because of this it is inconvenient to name your files in the "artist - song" format that I do for MP3's on my PC. To work around this, if your player supports folders like the Pioneer, the you only need to create a folder for each artist, then place all the songs by that artist in the folder, naming them by song. Hopefully the song name will be short enough or recognizable by the first 8 letters to make navigation easy.

Playlist. Many DVD players do not display a list of songs (playlist) or details about the song playing like you're used to on your PC. Keep that in mind.

Shuffle Play. DVD players may only have options for playing through the whole MP3 (CD-R) disc in sequence or randomly. There is no playlist like on your PC CD/MP3 players.

CDR/CDRW. Remember, there are a lot of technical reasons that a CDR/CDRW will fail to playback on a PC disc player. These same problems also affect DVD Players capable of playing MP3 audio. CD, CD-R and CD-RW require different "colors" of laser and this makes them unreadable in certain players. Other players are just finicky. The bottom line is that the CD-R you burned with your favorite MP3's downloaded from the net may not play in your DVD Player. Some people report no problems where other people say they can't get MP3's to play at all, or the player is slower than they would like.

A SUGGESTION FOR A GOOD DVD PLAYER FOR OLD PEOPLE! My eyes are not getting any better, so a good idea to make DVD players easy to use for older people is to junk the usually complicated, crowded remote full of little buttons that comes with your player. Look for a universal remote that is very simple and easy to use with large buttons, clear lettering and a backlight. Set it up to run your entire system (cable box, VCR, DVD, TV).

Couple more tips. Player's don't like MP3 CD's that are not "finalized." Some only want to play ISO9660 mode CD's (short file names). Some won't list or play all the files on your CD. Sometimes listing the MP3's and navigating around in the list is excruciatingly slow. I know that i have experienced problems with files going missing from the table of contents of CD-RW (not CDR). The reason is probably that frequent writing to this one area has used up the ability of the CD-RW to record. This is possible because the medium has a limited number of writes during it's lifetime.

You may have to experiment with different brands and qualities of media to get good results with homemade CD recordings.

Read what people have to say about DVD Players at Google Groups rec.video.dvd.players

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