Greetings -

I've been out of the loop for a while and need to replace our dead Sony DVP-NS715P.
(Recommendations <$200 welcome.)

I note that some DVD players now have a USB port -- what's it for?

Thanks kindly.

- Richard
oldWithoutMoney.com (http://oldWithoutMoney.com)

The USB port is for connecting flash drives or external HDDs to the player.

DivX, photos, or MP3 playback on external drives as mentioned above. You can also use it to update firmware of the player.

Mine has one too, I tried to play a movie on it that I got from my computer using a USB, it didn't work. I was trying to save a dvd :)

Many players only support certain file formats like still images (JPG, etc) format, not movies with the USB port. Some also support some audio formats like MP3 files. Good for copying onto a USB flash drive.

Some are USB 1.x and some are 2.x. You want USB 2.x if you wish to play movies off a flash drive or usb hard drive.

I use the USB more than dvds these days since I mostly view xvid material.