# Strange question concerning dvd player with usb port



## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Ok recently bought a Samsung stand alone dvd player on ebay for total shipped cost of $20. It was advertised as being tested fully functional. It wasnt. Wont recognize any dvd or cd that I have tried in it. Not factory, not burned on computer. Either seller lied outright or it somehow was damaged in transit. I suspect the former.

However it had an interesting option of an USB 2.0 port. You can plug in flash memory or I guess a usb hard drive. I plugged in my flash card reader and flash stick from my camera. Wow, nice automatic slide show of all the pics on the stick. I then put mp3 file on the flash stick and it immediately saw that and played it.

Well since I would have to pay $10 shipping to send it back to get $20 refund, apparently I have useful $10 mp3 player with remote to play mp3 files of audio books. Great, lemonaide.

However got to wondering if a usb computer dvdrom would work via this usb port. Basically replacing the dvd player drive that is faulty? I can see maybe such would work with mp3 files or jpeg files. Would it play say a factory movie dvd as is without ripping it and converting it into some other format? Did google but didnt find anybody who'd tried this.

I will eventually get around to trying it, but I only have ide to usb converter cable, not power supply to independently power the cdrom away from a computer, so need tv and dvd player near computer to power the dvdrom. Computer is upstairs and other stuff downstairs so guess no hurry......


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Well kinda figured curiosity would get better of me. Tried it and dvd player could only tell some usb device was attatched, couldnt see dvd or any files on dvd.

Oh well, wouldnt be any reason they would make it so it could use a usb dvdrom. At least it can see files on usb flash stick or usb hard drive. If I really wanted to watch a movie guess I could rip movie into one big video file and put it on hard drive. Supposed to be able to see avi and mpeg4 and such. Have to be desperate to go through all that just to watch a rented movie. It will however work out nicely to listen to audio books in mp3 though since the public domain books on internet seem to be in mp3 files.


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

What software were you using to try to play the DVDs? Try a different player.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

might be a region issue? can you get your hands on any otherregion dvds?

might be able to pull the drive and flash the firnware????


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

Although I suppose if you can't even access a data CD, somethin ain't right.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Seems to be bit misunderstanding. This is a *stand alone* dvd player that attaches to a tv, not a computer. Newer ones now come with a usb port in order people can attach their mp3 player or usb key, usb hard drive, etc and play the files on that drive and see/hear it on their tv. For example I plugged in my usb flash stick reader and flash stick from my camera and got slide show of all pictures on that flash stick via my tv.

Since this stand alone player cant recognize any cd or dvd (I tried quite a variety of them so not region or bad dvd disk or whatever) using normal tray and drive built into it, I was experimenting with attaching a computer dvdrom via the usb port. Doesnt work. Thats long and short of it. Too bad, too sad. But as I say, it has no problem with files on a usb flash memory key or on usb hard drive so work fine for some things. Really quite a nice feature that seems to work well even with its limitations.

My notion is that it would be great if stand alone dvd players were built around a computer dvdrom so when dvdrom mechanicals wore out or failed, you could just replace the dvdrom and not replace the whole unit. But then that means less profit and cant have that.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/.../DVD-1080P9/XSA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail

This is a Samsung DVD-1080P9 player. Link above gives complete info including download link for manual if you are a true masochist.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Well I finally cleaned files I wanted to save off my little usb hard drive that is usb powered and reformatted it to fat32 so dvd player can see it. Copied entire audio book to it. Plugged it into dvd player and let 'er rip. Played all the mp3 chapter files in order overnight (I woke up this morning to last couple chapters) and then automatically shut itself down. I didnt have it connected to a tv, just had pair computer speakers plugged in back via a cheapo adapter cable.

Still wish it did movie dvds without ripping them and putting them on hard drive as I am not real fond of watching movie sitting in desk chair in front of computer. My old Magnavox which was very reliable for several years bit dust and only other stand alone player is some no name thing without a remote that sometimes works and sometimes doesnt.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I was perusing the Black Friday ads this afternoon, and several places had standalone dvd players for around 20$ If I get out, I might check them out, ...my current player is real goosey... I have to reset all the settings each time I put in a new dvd... quite a hassle, especially if you can't find the dedicated mini remote...


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Good luck with your Black Friday bargain hunting. One tends to earn any discount you get though all extra hassle. Also those $20 dvd players are the generic ones. Do your online research before buying one. Most of these generics are like 3 month wonders. Not good value for the money.

Lets see, think it was GE? the first dvd player I got. Lasted like 2 years. Second dvd player was used Magnavox think I gave $15 for and lasted like 4 year. It doesnt owe me a thing, good value for the money. Then wanted one to play cd with burned mp3 audio book files on it since that was cheapest way to get stand alone cd player. Got a generic cheapie. Pretty good for 3 months then it started being real choosy which cds and dvds it played. And remote stopped working. No longer does mp3s. Will still usually play factory dvd movies, ... well when it feels like it. You may have to take out and reinsert dvd several times. Found where some people who bought this particular generic had it make popping noise and catch on fire if left plugged in. I think probably bad capacitors.

After researching Samsung and Sony had best recommendations. The Samsung mentioned above is used off ebay and despite being told it was in perfect condition, it wont recognize any cd or dvd, factory or home burned. But the usb part of it lets me use it as a big mp3 player for audio books so I am not too upset. I mean I have to download mp3 files anyway so whether I burn them to cd or put them on usb hard drive isnt very important. I could rip movie dvd and put file on usb hard drive and Samsung would probably do fine, but dont really want the extra hassle, I just want to pop it into player, watch the thing and send it back to Netflix.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

I bailed on BF... at least the ones where 'combat' was required... went to my local Ace Hardware (where they know me by name) and picked up a dozen drastically marked down items, and four freebies. Also got 50% off a fancy nancy shovel that I'd been jonesin' for several years. Had been hard to justify, as I have several sets of shovels, but when the price was 'right', I bit. It should last me forever, if I don't run over it with the tractor... BTDT.

Hey, if the dvd player will still play mp3's, it's worth it.

The price of devices keep going down... the GF had to get a radio for her 'new' truck last month... after I installed it, I went out a few days later, and found a Digital Only car radio... no cd or dvd... but it did have an auxiliary input on front, a usb port, a SD/Flash port... all for only 40 bucks. I haven't used a cd in my truck in years... this player'd be perfect... I'd much rather tote around hundreds of hours of music on a thumb drive than a stack of cds.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Yea, I am liking the Samsungs mp3 playing capabilities via usb. Very quick to recognize and show files via usb device. Very good mp3 interpreter chip or circuit or whatever, no cutouts or skips. I even get pretty good sound out of low quality mp3 files that are much quicker to download (I have dialup).

Yea the no name China gizmos do hold prices down on namebrand stuff. Sometimes they are a bargain, but not the dvd players.

My Festiva came with radio with cdplayer somebody had put in it. I rarely even turn on radio in cars I own, but on longer trip used it. CD player part of it sort of worked, radio volume had to be reset everytime I turned off and then restarted car. Also didnt like rough roads. Probably it was hooked up wrong but since I rarely used it anyway, didnt bother trying to redo it especially since I didnt have factory instructions. Luckily back on that long trip my portable cassette player was still working. I used it to listen to audio book. Much better than trying to find worthwhile radio station going cross country. I'd probably still be using the cassette player but the only retail sources for drive belt wanted as much for the belt as I could buy another cassette player. And it was all scam pricing as I found website that would sell me a case of 1000 of the exact belts for few pennies each instead of the $15 each the scam retailers wanted. But I didnt want to go into cassette player belt buisiness.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

HermitJohn said:


> My notion is that it would be great if stand alone dvd players were built around a computer dvdrom so when dvdrom mechanicals wore out or failed, you could just replace the dvdrom and not replace the whole unit. But then that means less profit and cant have that.


About what DH built for us....
but then our house is hard wired as the wireless kept giving us issues. I suppose it will also depend on what OS you're using..he prefers Ubuntu so we do this program for our entertainment needs...

http://www.mythbuntu.org/

But perhaps this is more than you were looking/hoping for?


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Sorry, didnt see your post. I guess what I really want is a stand alond no frills dvd player under $50 that lasts 10 years. Seems shame to have to use a computer to achieve this. But maybe thats what one has to do. 

Since average dvd player seems to last 2 years or less, one has to find $10 players and keep around a spare.


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## suzyhomemaker09 (Sep 24, 2004)

Yeah...that's likely not going to happen....
Hand in hand with the low low prices on electronics comes the inevitable short shelf life of said items ...


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I suppose, I just hate having to frequently replace electronics. And dvd players seem to be engineered from getgo to only last 2 to 3 years at best no matter the original price or brand. It always seems to be the physical dvd drive that goes on them. Wish I was an electronic genius that could adapt a computer dvdrom to replace the cheapo crappo dvd drive in a stand alone player. 

Much as I hate it, might have to go to using a computer to act as a dvd player. Computers have progressed to point its quite possible to piece together a very cheap one that can play movies full screen without stuttering. Just bulky and kinda inconvenient. And have to use mouse to navigate dvd menu rather than remote.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Well been looking and I think its quite possible to piece together an under $50 computer that can play even a heavy graphics dvd movie full screen without any problem. Hmm, wonder what range of wireless mouse is......

Still seems stupid to have to build a computer in order to get a cheap reliable dvd player. Just that computer components are more durable and cheaper than buying a new stand alone dvd player. And you can replace any parts that go bad in computer easily and cheaply without buying another one. I probably have 3 or 4 old dvdrom and couple dvd burners that no longer burn but still can play dvds. Just need to update motherboard and maybe power supply in my spare desktop case. 300mhz isnt going to do it.... LOL


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