Walmart is stocking a Philips upconverting DVD player, Model # DVP3962/37 for $39.95 USD. This is an everyday walk-in price. They list it as only being available on line, (?) but it is a store stock item in my area, (Philadelphia & Burbs).

The unit is black front, and works beautifully with a great picture, and has many sound tailoring options such as ambience, (hall, church, etc,), and movie type.

This is a bargain, since most stores are still getting forty bucks for the standard, non upconverting players. Heck, the HDMI cable(which you need to enable upconvert), could cost as much as the player itself.

Here's a link for a bargain HDMI cable, which (IMO) works just dandy. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882339024 So, for less than $60.00, you could be hooked up and enjoying your favorite DVDs in Hi-Def, what are you waiting for?

Black Noise...An Album by "FM"

Actually a pretty good one too..

I've found that all the Philips DVD players have a high level of seek noise, but not the disc spinning presence to which you're referring. They are all in very small cases, and that may contribute to the noise level, as the moving parts have to be very close to the sides of the cases. The units with more air space in the box don't seem to sound off like that, although the fan in my Pioneer DVD recorder is kind of annoying. But here again, there's bright side, since it serves as a reminder to turn the damn thing off when I'm not using it.

I have an entirely different listening/watching environment than you're describing, so no harm, no foul here. I'm using a JBL "Voice" for the center channel, flanked by 2 JBL "Stadiums" for the front channels. The player would probably have to send up a flare to get my attention.

Anyway, these little guys will read pretty much any disc you might throw their way, and are now at the price point of disposable. I usually grab 1 a year from BB on Black Friday.

Now, the noise in the rear channels of this nasty "Dynex" TV I just bought is a different story, I am trying to justify it as "soothing, like running water". Here again though, JBL is a culpable party, since there are 2 of their titanium wonder tweeters less than 3 feet from my either ear.

I gotta say though, the picture from this little player is spectacular, and it saves wear and tear on my Toshiba DVD recorder.

Perhaps repositioning the unit or sitting it on a piece of homasote or a little piece of ceiling tile on top might offer an improvement. Then there's always plan "B". Crank up the sound, make signal to noise ratio work for you, instead of against you.

No, I Don't Think I Did...

I've gotten the idea in sort of dribs and drabs that you have a dynamite prime home theater system.

And BTW, having a 27" CRT in your bedroom is nothing to be ashamed of. I say this for two reasons; admission absolves guilt and I also have an ancient 27" GE in mi dormitorio (as they say in Puerto Rico).

The whole affair boils down to this; is your Philips DVD player louder than my Philips DVD player, and as much as I am loathe to say this, I don't know. God that hurt.

I guess a good question to resolve would be, did the player bother you when it was in the livingroom? We can certainly agree on this; if it's always made that niose and it's still kicking, then it's bad design, and not a defect.I have 3 of the Philips players, but the oldest one is a model 3040 manufactured in August of 2006. They all click and whirr a bit when loading a disc but never annoy me. My Pioneer DVR225s are almost dead silent, (save for the damned fans), but they were 300 bucks a pop and are out of production.

I'll tell you what I'm going to do, I'll take my oldest player up to my bedroom and test it under similar conditions. Bear in mind though, that I have much older ears than you do, and they've been through a lot.

I expect that a DVD player would seek every couple of seconds, since that's probably the amount of time it would take to absorb the information under the laser's current position.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to try some sound control measures around your player, if the noise is problematic.

I have 2 KLH cheapie players that I could hear the discs spinning, and I retired them. But, not for that reason. They were incapable of producing sufficient shadow detail. All you could see in the dark areas of the frame was floating clouds of random color.