Written by James Fohl

If you are planning on getting a new DVD player for yourself, or as a gift for someone in the upcoming holiday season, then you probably already have an idea of how much you are willing to spend on a new DVD player, as well as the features you are expecting for the price paid.

DVD players come in all different sizes, brands, and most importantly, prices. If you look hard enough in the circular advertisements and on the internet, you can find a brand new DVD player for as low as twelve dollars. Sure the unit may have been assembled in a country you have never heard of before, and the brand name is probably unpronounceable, but the fact remains that it will play your DVD movies (which probably cost more than the player) and is only twelve dollars.

When you look at the competition of these cheap ten to forty dollar DVD player, brand names such as Sony and RCA come into the picture. These companies have their own DVD players, and most contain the same features as the cheaper no name units, and pretty much look the same as the cheaper units, only with their own logos, however they are usually priced a lot higher.

Most people who are looking for a new, or additional DVD player will probably just go ahead and pick up one of the cheaper, no name brand DVD players. However, don't forget the golden rule when buying something; you get what you pay for. Sure, these cheap DVD players look good on the box, with their MP3 playback, and ability to even play home made DVD - R discs, but what these DVD players actually deliver is another story.

If you are planning on buying a cheap DVD player from the internet, just read the reviews of the product, and you will see. The cheap DVD players usually overheat within a half hour, causing movies to skip, stop, and ultimately lead to the overall death of the DVD player. The cheap DVD players also usually have very sketchy warranties, and usually require you to pay to ship the unit back to the factory in China. This practice here will cost you more than the amount you originally paid for the DVD player.

While it is true that not every one of these cheap DVD players break, they have a very high rate of failure. Pretty much they are a novelty item, as they are sold to lure customers into buying other items. If your unit breaks, you can always take it back to the store, but these no name DVD players are constantly changing their brand names, so you might get stuck with a broken DVD player, or if you are lucky; your money back.

So when it all comes down to buying a new DVD player for either yourself or for somebody else as a gift, its best to just spend the extra twenty dollars on a brand name DVD player. Sure it will cost a little extra, but you won't have to worry about the unit breaking after only watching a few movies, and if the unit does break at least you know that the company that made your unit will be able to support the warranty.