I have had 3 good to very good DVD players die in the the last 2 years. First one was my Denon 18 months old, then bought a Sony , it died in just over a year, and now another Sony dies. ARRGH
I find ok midline ones for friends and family to buy and they run forever, but mine go down like a… well lets say they do. Getting on my nerves, anyone have a good DVD player that will live for more than a year and a half?
[/whining off]
I use the cheapest DVD I can find at Costco. It plays everything I throw at it DVD, SVCD, XVID, MP3 etc etc.
Had it for last 3 years…still going strong 
Sounds like an environmental problem, or just plain bad luck.
Ventilation, dust, direct sunlight, heat? Any of those sound like possible problems?
I have a friend who used to live in a cabin among the redwoods along the California coastal mountains. He replaced VHS decks almost every winter. Partly because he used them a lot (No cable or decent TV reception in the area), but apparently there was another reason.
Coastal redwood forests are essentially temperate zone rain forests and the hollow he lived in was pretty damp most of the year. The trees were so tall and dense that the clearing where the cabin stood rarely saw direct sunlight. The cabin interior always smelled like mildew.
Once I opened one of the decks and found mold growing all over the inside.
Try one of the cheaper, decent players. Either it’ll work good for you, and you get to be pleasantly surprised, or it’ll die soon but at least you won’t be out as much money when it does.
Don’t be an electronics snob, save that extra money for being a gun snob 
Could be a power issue power spikes will kill electronics with the quickness. Make sure you have a good surge protector.
That was my thought as well. Brown outs will also damage sensitive electronics just like the spikes.
On another note, if I were you, I’d wait a while before purchasing that BlueRay or HD DVD player for just a wee bit longer…
Good surge protector, looking at my componet stack, it might have been heat. The exhaust port for the entertainment center is blocked.