OK, kids. Everyone likes giving advice, right? Here's your chance.
The back story: A couple months ago the DVD player* the cinetrix has had since her video store days finally went tits up. Now it taunts the viewer by showing the first couple minutes of a flick, then hiccuping back to the beginning. Is no good.
As a temporary fix, we swapped in a player that a former colleague had left behind in the office that is now the 'Fesser's. It works fine, but it doesn't have a remote control, which means that if the movie we want to watch has one of those high-falutin' menus requiring, uh, navigation, we're screwed.
Now, much as the cinetrix would love a region-free replacement, time is of the essence. The 'Fesser has kids coming over for a screening tomorrow night, so we need to procure a solid, inexpensive player from one of the hideous big box stores a couple towns over. Which inexpensive make and model would you recommend? Answer in the comments, s.v.p.
*OK, fine. Our television most likely has cathode ray tubes in it, and we only got cable in 2004. We're Luddites. And broke. Happy now?