Front Control DVD players

[Jonathan D.]

We are looking to put several DVD players in multiple meeting/class rooms around our campuses and finding one with all the controls on the front is proving difficult. We have previously purchased a large number of Pioneer DV-420V or DV-420V-K players and they work great. The problem is, we need to get 6-8 more and even on eBay I am finding only 2. Pioneer quit making them a while ago and their newer models took some of the controls off the front and you are stuck needing the remote to do anything more complicated than play or stop.

Our main issue is that people lose or break remotes and we can't be stuck where a group is unable to use the system if that happens. One other issues is having a budget around $100 each.

Does anybody know of good alternatives?

 

[ruinexplorer]

IIRC, those all will take serial control. Have you considered separate control via AMX or similar systems? That way you could also automate more parts of your system, like controlling the display.

 

[Jonathan D.]

IIRC, those all will take serial control. Have you considered separate control via AMX or similar systems? That way you could also automate more parts of your system, like controlling the display.

In our case we are hanging an LED TV on a wall mount with a the DVD player on a shelf attached to the TV mount. We also use an auto HDMI switcher setup (defaulting to the DVD player) with a plug on the wall for people to walk in and plug in their computer to present.

Since we have a lot of people that will use the rooms for events and groups though out the week and very little technical support staff this setup gives us the freedom to not have to be there most of the time. As a part of that we've tried to keep things simple and we don't have much budget for each room (~$500 a room).

I attached a picture below of one of the setups which is mostly finished (the power strip cord and outlet are put inside panduit).

Having a DVD player that doesn't need a remote is the simplest and cheapest solution, though getting harder to find :-(

 

[Chris15]

We're finding that our optical players just aren't getting used these days - most of our campus is remote monitored and collecting usage stats 24/7 and Bluray / DVD hardly gets used...

Convincing the powers that be to allow them to be discontinued, now that's another story of pain...

 

[Jonathan D.]

We wish we could!
We'd love to get rid of them entirely but there a lot a Children's programs in particular that are still DVD based and a number of small group curricula is still based on DVDs. There are obviously options to rip them for internal use but it is often more work up front than it is worth.
In the mean time we need to keep getting DVD players for a few more rooms.

 

[robartsd]

Annother possible solution would be to tether the remote so it does not get lost.

 

[rsmentele]

Here looks to be a couple:

This one is a multiformat player, so SD card, USB stick, exc.:
http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/225000-VocoPro-DVG777K-III

This is a Blu Ray Player, which will play DVD's as well
http://www.fullcompass.com/prod/275679-Denon-DN-500BD

 

[lwinters630]

Many players have a lift up panel on the front that reveals the manual buttons, so even though the pictures doesn't show them the buttons may be there.
Here is a link to a simple player