We use them as have about 700 VCD's that the mrs like to watch. Old Philips player lasted just over a year and two recently ordered from Lazada had to be returned. One where the remote was dead and the other that produced a picture that looked like everything had been filmed with an hand cam, very blurry. Any recommendations for a reliable and available brand here? shops don't have much choice these days.

Got one on Lazard a year ago when my UK Blue Ray gave up the ghost, 1,500  Baht if memory serves me right. Its okay, just a bog standard machine.  Its only real drawback is it never remembers where on a DVD you stopped it.  If you switch off and leave it, it returns to the beginning again. But that's not a big issue. To be honest, I hardly ever watch my DVDs now anyway, its all Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Powerbuy Online have both DVD players and BluRay players available.

 

It might pay to drop into a shop and check them out with your missus.

Pioneer's always good. Panasonic, Sony, LG. See Lazada.

 

Personally I'd go thru that collection with the missus, see what she really wants to keep, and rip them to mp4 or mkv files to play via a thumbdrive, media player, or stream from your PC. I once had a large collection of DVDs, VCDs, and CDs; no more, ripped all I might ever want to see or hear again except for a few kept as mementos. Some I just downloaded, better quality anyway. 

23 minutes ago, BigStar said:

Some I just downloaded, better quality anyway. 

 

This would be my preferred option too, if of course you can find her favourites online.

 

VCD's resolution is 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL), which is roughly comparable to VHS.

 

DVD's resolution is 720x480 (NTSC) or 720x576 (PAL).

 

720p is 1280x720 and is usually known as HD or “HD Ready” resolution.

 

1080p is 1920x1080 and is usually known as FHD or “Full HD” resolution. Most BluRay discs use this format.

 

4K or 2160p is 3840x2160 and is commonly known as 4K, UHD or Ultra HD resolution.

 

You (with your missus' help of course) might be able to search in Thai for her favourites in a much higher resolution and in digital format so you can download/save them and not have to buy outdated technology.

OP, you are aware that there is a multitude of settings that you can change if the picture quality is not to your liking.

I recently bought a cheap AJ DVD player off Lazada and like you I wasn't impressed by the picture quality.

But by fiddling about with the settings I discovered that the machines default setting was for NTSC (all my DVDs are PAL) and that the resolution was set on 576i, not 1080i. 

The picture quality is fine now.

Also you need to buy one that has HDMI connectivity, not the old AV in/out technology.