Alright, the review below prompted me to provide my review of the Proscan DVD player which I have been feeding plenty of discs over the last 3-4 weeks. First off, unlike the reveiwer below,I don't care for the DIVX feature. I've used it once and will likely only use if for the remaining free DIVX "rentals" which came with the player. If it wasn't for the great performance, this player would have been taken back just on principle alone. So what made me keep this player....
The performance is quite impressive. The picture is clean, detailed, and noise-free with eye-popping color. A direct comparison with a Pioneer 414 clearly showed less chroma noise and slightly more detail from the Proscan on each disc I tried (including US Marshalls, DTS Demo #3 DVD, and Lost in Space). My guess is you would be hard pressed to find better video performance on a DVD player, at least that which would be noticable on my 35" direct view Mitsubishi. I hope to compare it to some high dollar players soon, the 414 went immediately back to the dealer.

The audio from the analog inputs is pretty good, on par with a good $300-400 CD player. In fact I slightly preferred the Proscans sound over the Pioneer 414. The Proscan has a fairly smooth presentation and throws a decent soundstage - not bad.

So far no glitches, audio dropouts or problems with layer changes (the transport is made by Panasonic). It did mysteriously pause and shut off on Jackie Chans' "Mr. Nice Guy" (a terrible movie anyway) but it never would do it again. Who knows maybe I accidently hit the power button (or maybe it just detects and shuts down really bad movies!!!).

The review below is dead on with the comments on the easy to use menu. The manual is indeed very well done. The remote is a universal lighted remote and is fairly easy to navigate (definetely better than the offerings from the Pioneer 414 or Panasonics), although the DVD transport buttons need to be lighted. The build quality appears to be good for a budget mass market player and all the functions can be accessed from the easy to use front panel. I even like the "suave" grey-silver finish. The Monster interconnects which come with the Proscan are lower end cables but a nice touch is the inclusion of a 1.5 meter MSV2 super video cable. Proscans only major omission in this player is a coaxial digital out - not a problem for me but for some this may be a stumbling block.

Terrific performance, very easy to use and operate, and a good value (paid around $400 after minimal dickering at the local Good Guys) make this a definite must see. I realize the DIVX feature will turn many away from this player (I personally hope for DIVXs' quick demise). Those people will be missing some great performance - for me thats what this player is all about.


Rich

DVD, DIVX, SONY, PIONEER, PROSCAN!!!????? What should I do??? With all the big DVD deals, and movies whats the best deal, what will I get the most for my dollar. Well ladies and gentlemen, well maybe not ladies, just joking, no sexist emails, please. Proscans PS8680Z is a fine choice, but like all things it isnt perfect, and like the synic I am, I will point them out. This player does have the DIVX, aka the DVD devil. Personally DIVX has a very bad wrap, you cant beat it. It doesnt hurt you, same video and audio quality. DIVX also gives the oppertunity to try movies out, and play open DVD dics as well. Anyways on a quality standpoint this players video playback is top notch. Proscan is notorious for color and the 8680 lives up to its bililng. Bright colors run rampet on the screen. The fleshtones are very natural and lifelike. It isnt the the blackest picture, that is important, but its very comperable. The extra audio and video outputs come in handy when spliting the signal. For some odd reason Thompson (Proscan, RCA) doesnt include digital coaxial, whats that deal??? Its just an overall great player, too many distractions disallow me to write a good review, so embrace the Monster Cable, the quality is good enough, you will not notice a difference with your eye then a 40 dollar composite video. The CD playback is worth bying the player just for that, but no CD-R, what the hells up with that??? Check this player out, even if your anit- DIVX, you'll need it someday, LoL

I had this unit for a week to compare it side by side with a Toshiba 2109. The Toshiba was a little better in most video respects. Blacks were a little richer. Colors were a little more realistic. Proscan had better fast forward and reverse. Comparing 3 or 4 CDs I am very familiar with, the audio was a wash between the two. The Proscan remote is slightly better, but both remotes spent most of the week in their boxes because I use a universal. The free DIVX discs were a real let down. There were no extras at all and overall, they appeared to be grainier than the two DVDs I rented of the same titles. It cost me $2 to rent DVDs for 2 days instead of $4.50 for two days of DIVX. The Toshiba player was $120 less than the Proscan. Guess which one I still have?
In a vacuum, I'd give the Proscan 3 stars. For the price, I'd drop it to 2 stars. For the attempted rip-off on pricing the DIVX movies, Proscan earns 1 star.

Very very disappointed in this unit. I had heard about all the bad things about DIVX but I thought that it would not make much of a difference since the Proscan plays real DVDs as well. After I hooked it up I was surprised that a phone line had to be hooked up to this at all times, since I didn't have a phone line next to my TV I had to go back to Circuit City to buy a telephone extender (You would think this should be packed in with the unit). After I got it hooked up, the Proscan kept having problems registering with DIVX, after a 30 minute phone call the problem seemed to be resolved, but then when I tried to play one of my free discs the unit locked. Too frustrated to continue, I put off messing with the unit until a few days later, after messing around with the unit for another half hour with no success I called DIVX again, they got me back on line but told me that my rental period had expired on that disc, EVEN THOUGH I NEVER WATCHED IT. At that point I no longer even wanted to watch that movie anymore, so I popped in Meet Joe Black, looked good (but not letterboxed).
The next day I decided to watch The River Wild, and the unit locked again, this was the last straw, I then called DIVX to cancel my account. It just seemed like way to much trouble to just watch a dumb movie. When I returned it to Circuit City I was harrassed because I wanted to return it to buy a Sony DVPS530D which seemed to be a better unit that cost less and has no DIVX. After my expreience with DIVX I just as soon not have it, and besides the Sony came with 10 free rentals, and I don't even needed a phone line.

Now that DIVX is history, this player is nothing more than an average at best DVD player. I'm going to take up Circuit City on their offer to return their DIVX players and I'm going to go with either the Pioneer or Panasonic DVD model.

I purchased the 8680 to go with my DD and DTS receiver. Overall, it is easy to use, provides good sound quality, and excellent picture quality. I wasn't sure if I would use the DIVX at first, but at $25 a pop, open DVD is expensive, especially if you haven't seen the movie. $5 for a DIVX is cheap, and it lets me try the movie if I want to. Everyone keeps whining about the phone line hookup, which takes about five minutes, and if you have a HT system already, you know how to run speaker wire, so it shouldn't be a big deal.Picture quality is awesome, I am using s-video thru my receiver, into a 36" Hitachi Ultravision, and the picture quality is on par with the Sony, Panasonic, and Pioneer units I tried first.
Sound is also excellent, but it won't play CDR discs. Although this is a bummer, most of us have separate CD players, and if you have a CDR, just use that instead. Overall, an excellent piece.
Three things I would change about it:
1. the remote (useless, but I have a marantz, so I don't care)
2. front panel lights up (its bright, and almost detracts from the TV picture, since it is right on top of it)
3. useless jog shuttle on player face (haven't used it yet, never will)
A good buy for $449.
Mike

I bought this DVD player in January. Back when DIVX was new. I have not had any problems with it so far. Picture quality is super, better than any other DVD player I have seen,ie Sony, RCA, Zenith, Magnovox, Tosiba, and Poineer. The sound qaulity is good. I liked that the player came with its own cables. Plus a phone caord long enought to reach to the jack. I am glad that DIVX is gone, and is giving a 100 dollars to owners of DIVX enhanced players. Overall good player, picture,and sound....

I just purchased the PS8680Z and the Toshiba 3109 to do a side by side comparison. The Toshiba was $350 at Best Buy and had offeres for 5 free movies, 13 free rentals from Hollywood video and 15 free rentals from netfix.com. The Proscan was on sale at Circuit City for $330 (this orignally listed for $899 afew months ago before the demise of DIVX) but did not include any freebies except for a set of monster cables in the box (which I don't need anyway). I used S-video for my testing as I don't have a TV with component inputs. I found the Proscan to have much clearer picture. Contrast was sharper and small details were clearer. Overall the picture was more brilliant. The Toshiba had softer picture which made darker scenes seem hazy. A friend of mine who is not into A/V even noticed the loss of detail on the Toshiba. Is the difference in picture worth giving up 5 free DVD movies and 28 free rentals? If you're a casual viewer you may not think so. Personally after comparing the two I would not be happy watching the Toshiba. As for DIVX, I was never a fan of it anyway. I have not hooked up the phone line and I don't plan on using DIVX even though Circuit City has reduced all movies to $1.99. By the way - I think the remote on the Proscan is laid out much better than the Toshiba. The functions are grouped better and easier to use. I only wish more than 8 buttons had backlighting.

I WOULD LIKE SAY FIRST THAT THIS PLAYER IS ONLY ALRIGHT, I BOUGHT IT AND WITHIN 3 HRS RETURNED BACK TO CIRCUIT CITY, THE PROBLEMS I HAD WERE 1) I OFTEN HEARD THE SPINNING IN THE TRAY, AFTER A WHILE IT GETS KIND OF ANNOYING, EVEN WHEN I PAUSE OR STOP IT MAKE NOISE THAT THE DISC IS SPINNING, SECOND THAT IT DIDN'T HAVE ZOOM FEATURE, THAT IS A VERY HELPFUL FEATURE IF YOU ARE READING A DOCUMENT OR BIOGRAPHY ON THE ACTOR OR DIRCTOR OR SCREENPLAY THAT COME IN MANY DVDS AS SPECIAL FEATURES, I ALSO THOUGHT THE REMOTE WAS VERY CUMBERSOME AND THE BACKLITES ONLY LIGHT UP 4 BUTTONS AND THEY ARE ONES YOU DON'T NEED. ONE POSTIVE THINGS ABOUT PLAYER IS THE MONSTER CABLES THAT ARE INCLUDED, THEY WERE A VERY NICE PAIR AND LONG ENOUGH TO REACH!

I am certainly not promoting this player because it does have DIVX (yuck). But, forget that it has that. Most DVD players have a noticeable layer change with"Armageddon" Out of curiosity, I put the movie in the Pro Scan player. All of sudden, I couldn't believe it, the layer change was completely seamless. Since Circuit City reduced the player to $329, I was tempted to see if it was any good. It has outstanding layer switches on all of the DVDs that I have tested. This player has very good down conversion. You know those nasty blocks that you see when the screen is solid black (i.e. "The Mask of Zorro)? They are gone
with this player. Here is a list of pros and cons with this player.
> > > Pros: This player has a "One Year Warranty" on Parts and yes, "Labor"!
Not just 90 days like the other brands give you. It has a very nice Universal Remote for your TV, VCR, and other components too. This unit looks cool because it's metallic silver color. This DVD player includes those expensive "Monster Cables" (Audio/Video and S-Video). The lights on the buttons and face plate look nice too. It has a very quiet eject door. It shows the title of the DVD you are playing on the face plate(this is optional, you can put the time if you want
too). This unit does not get hot (I have played it for hours and it's still cool). You can tell that they put alot into this machine because it weighs in at a hefty 10 lbs compared to other units weighing only 7 lbs. It has excellent down conversion (it minimizes artifacts too!). I have seen flawless layer changes on the following DVDs : Armageddon, Parent Trap, Enemy of the State, The Horse Whisperer, Terminator 2, You've Got Mail, Rainmaker, Ever After, The Edge,A Simple Plan, True Lies and The Mask of Zorro. Don't worry about the DIVX feature, it will only come up if you you searching for it on the introduction screens. You would never know that this was a DIVX player if it did not have the decal on the front. You can always take it off though (black tape).
The Cons: Well, none (except for the logo), but that could be a pro because this is what made this unit cost less. especially when compared to other DVD players out there. They simply can't touch the performance of this amazing unit. I can't really think of any, especially for only $329.