I will soon be looking for a good budget dvd player with HDMI socket. I dont want to pay more than about 2000bts as I will only use it occassionally.

I have been pushed towards Philips and Sony, Phillips products I have found to be not the most relaible so would not ben keen. So any names to look out for or any names to avoid. Thanks for any helpful thoughts.

I have never had a problem with Pioneer products, they play anything, even had them play discs other players couldnt.

Still have one in use I bought 10 years ago, jeez that cost 12k baht back then, a decent one can be had now for well under 2k baht, and for 1k a perfectly reasonable player can be had.

I got a Sherman from Big C in the end 1990 bts 18 months g/tee, free gold cable and seems to work just fine, however it was an interesting experience. There were HDMI players there from 1290bts, these apparently were no good so the salesman told me, I did ask why they sold them? This was a real stumper for him, he came back with, made in China, Sherman made in Germany. Then a remarkable revealation, the cheaper dvd players with HDMI are no good because they dont have lasers, I could see this might be a problem. Anyway he set up for me in English, but unusally with french subtitles switched on and he did not tell me I needed batteries for the remote control, I should have guessed that one, still so far so good.

Then a remarkable revealation, the cheaper dvd players with HDMI are no good because they dont have lasers,

I could see this might be a problem.

Clearly a sales man who has no idea what he is talking about

With out a laser the disk cannot be read........................

An annoyance I've found when buying electrical products like televisions from BigC and Tesco is that the staff you talk to are on commission or employed by one of the manufacturers so  if you don't want to buy the brand they prefer they will badmouth the competition. Had this the other week when buying a Samsung tv. Knew what I wanted so pointed to the model and said I want to buy it. Saleswoman started telling my wife that my preferred Samsung tv was no good and that LG was better. The Samsung had the features I wanted so I said I wasn't interested in LG so can you get me the Samsung I asked for please. Couldn't believe it when she started talking to my wife again. My wife knew I was going to walk out without buying a new tv so said she didn't like LG and could we just get the Samsung I wanted as we were in a hurry... not the first time I've had cash in my hand to buy something, easiest sale they'll ever make but they want to argue with you over your choice, unbelievable.

Common occurrence in Thailand we are treated like idiots by sales people who don't have a clue as to what they are talking about

I have gotten into so many arguments with shop clerks over at Tukcom I now buy everything over the Internet where I don't have to argue and beg to get what I have determined is best for my needs