New Spiffy DVD Player

A friend told me about how his Pioneer DVD player had a USB input which enabled you to play files directly from a USB flash drive.  Pretty sweet.

So, I went to Future Shop (PEI's Best Buy) and bought the Pioneer DV-420V-K DVD Player.  The sole reason I purchased it was for the USB playback capability.

This is a great DVD player.  I've tested it with numerous DivX and Xvid files and it works flawlessly.  Here's how simple it is:

1. Put some DivX or Xvid files on your USB flash drive
• Edit: There is a 14-character limit with file names.  If you go over the limit the menu on the TV will simply strip off the additional characters.  Also, be sure not to include any spaces in the file names, as that causes problems.  I tried playing a file with spaces last night and it said the file could not be read.  I simply removed the spaces and it worked.
  
2. Stick the USB flash drive into the USB input
3. Turn the DVD player on and click the DVD/USB button to switch to USB mode
4. A menu will appear on the screen that will display your USB's file contents
5. Choose a file and click play

It takes a few seconds to load the file (I'm assuming it's preloading or caching) before it starts playing.  I've noticed fast-forwarding is a little trickier but it hasn't been a big deal.

The Pioneer DV-420V-K supports HDMI to your HDTV and upconverts to 1080p, which is a higher resolution than my 720p HDTV.  It's also Energy Star qualified.

My verdict: Definitely worth the $110.