I am buying our family a DVD player for Christmas, and I know n-o-t-h-i-n-g about them. Any suggestions? Features to look for? We do NOT have any fancy, new TV's, just our regular Digital Cable through our 3 or 4 year old TV's, so I'm not concerned about extra wide formats, etc.

I have an Apex AD 100W DVD player. I got it last year. I love it. It's got alot of features. Several different zoom types, step by step play, sub titles,, camera angle and others. I think most DVD players have those features though.

But it can not only play DVD's but also play audio CD's, MP3's, JPEG's and Kodiak Picture CD's.

I really like it. I think it is good quality and reasonable priced. I bought it at Walmart for $50.00

Just a word of advice. A few years ago, I purchased a 5 disk DVD changer for my parents. It was a Toshiba. In the last year, they have had nothing but problems with it. (and the warrently is gone) According to an electronics guy, multi disc changers tend to malfunction after awhile.

Their DVD player has the problem of when you hit the button to open it, it opens and then shuts before you can pull a disc out or add one.

But just thought I'd warn you on the multi disc changer DVD players.

I love the step by step function on mine. Because I can play a scene step by step and have caught so many things you normally wouldn't. I also love the sub-title option. I always use it because it helps when the actor mumbles something or if you thought they said one thing and they said something else. It isn't always totally accurate. It says it a little different sometimes but that's OK. It's good too if you want to keep the volume down.

I also like the way the DVD player can skip around. You can skip chapters in the movie and it is so neat. (it's very useful in the movie/televison trivia in the Trivia section here )

But I think one of the best things is YOU DON'T HAVE TO REWIND IT!!!

I am pretty much addicted to my DVD player... playing one of our VHS tapes feels like going 10 steps backwards to me.

(In fact I even avoid the VCR most of the time! )

We love our DVD player too!
I would recommend going with a known brand name, ours is a Sony, you can get a good reliable one for under a hundred bucks, and nearly all now use multiple formats(DVD,CD, MP3)....and don't bother with the overpriced "service contract"...most equipment comes with a 1 to 3 year warranty....UNLESS you buy it at, of all places, Staples...I buy the service contract on anything I get there (so far, two phones and two printers) because they really do just replace the damn thing if something goes wrong....instead of you spending the replacement cost in shipping and insuring the item and then being without it for 6 to 8 weeks.
Never set your DVD's down anywhere but in their case...even minor scratches affect viewing....there is so much information packed onto those little discs that a tiny problem(like a smudgy fingerprint) affects a lot of data.
Enjoy