Philips DVD Players for TV with HDMI Port 1080P All Region HD DVD Player for Smart TV USB Input Remote Control Device, Mini DVD CD Player for Home Stereo System, HDMI and RCA Cable Included

(***UPDATE: A year later and it is still working. Other reviewers state that this is not the case for them, and I'm sorry that is so. It really is a great little DVD player.)I had a DVD player that wouldn't play burned DVDs, nor would it play mp3s, so I bought this after reading the rave reviews.This unit works so well (and fast!) that I want to buy one for each member of my family. No other unit works as well as this one for under $100.>>>> Something other than what all the other reviewers are saying:- Plays my Verbatim DVD-R 8x, Memorex CD-R 52x, Maxell CD-R 40x discs, Princo, TYuden and a no-name brand DVD-R (all white with a small white star at spindle.) Note: The discs I have were burned on Sony DRU-530A and DRU-810 burners with MANY hours on them.- Remote must be pointed AT the unit in order for it to "see it." Pro: keeps interference with other Philips unit to a minimum. Con: you have to point it at the unit, so if you are used to the really sensitive / receptive remotes this might bug you.- Loads DVDs and CDs quite fast (compared to my JVC, Toshiba and no-name brand.)- It would be nice of Philips to have a screen saver for when you play mp3s. Menu may burn into TV / monitor if you don't turn off the TV.- They did, however, design the "Philips DVD" idle screen (for when the mp3s are not playing) so that it doesn't burn into your TV / monitor.- Being a single disc unit, this thing goes from "OFF" to playing a DVD in under 20 seconds. Nice for those of us that have carousel DVD/CD players, which take years to turn on and open.- (other than having to point the remote virtually AT the unit) the response time for the command is pretty fast. I didn't notice any lag time.- Buttons (on the unit and the remote) feel sturdy and should last the life of the player.- Thankfully, the front panel doesn't light up like a Christmas tree - a player for those of us that don't care to read by the glow of a bunch of unnecessary lights and indicators on the unit, but would rather just have it play the disc.- Great diagrams / drawings in the manual. Anyone could hook it up according to the pictures and easy to follow instructions.- mp3s load in a respectable amount of time. Not lightening quick, but doesn't take all day either. It's just right.- Comes with one remote, two batteries, one set of RCA cables, and is packed in a non-Styrofoam box. The box is built to be shipped, and is a better design than others I have come across. What I'm saying is, the box has some room designed into it for getting crushed during shipping; whereas the Styrofoam-type boxes usually just transfer the damage to the unit. In short: good shipping box for those worried about a piece of electronics getting shipped.- The instructions are in English, French and Spanish

I ordered the Phillips DVP642 a few weeks ago and I am very impressed with its performance. I actually received the 642/37 (some places charge extra for the region-free pre-hacked version). Here are the pros and cons:Pros:1. It plays DivX/XviD (without QPEL/GMC) and MP3 files with great quality.2. It has progressive scan 480P output.3. It is "hackable" to be region-free by opening the tray, pressing "7 8 9 OK 0", then closing the tray and powering off. It can play NTSC and PAL DVDs on NTSC and PAL TVs. I am buying a second one for relatives in South America for the region-free ability alone.4. Great price tag (<$70).Cons:1. Only displays 8 characters of the DivX/XviD filename. "moviename part 1.avi" becomes "movienam.avi" then "moviename part 2.avi" becomes "movie000.avi" and is displayed BEFORE "movienam.avi" due to alphabetizing, making the play order the opposite of what it should be. This can be remedied by burning discs in ISO 8+3 mode renaming beforehand, but long filename support (Joliet or UDF) would have been a huge bonus. I find it no surprise because I am not aware of any DivX/XviD DVD players with long filename support for under $200,besides my hacked XBox ;)2. Subtitle files (.srt and .sub) are supported, but don't always work unless named the same as the .avi (recommend 8+3 again) and selected before playing the movie. Many people in forums have reported issues with subtitles in foreign languages, but I only have experience with english subtitles.3. When you insert a DVD+-R with DivX/XviD files, the player takes a long time to bring up a menu with all the filenames for play selection (about 20-40 seconds). This is enough of a wait time to be mildly annoying. Hint: Always use the "stop" button to return to the generated menu, not the "Disc Menu" button.4&5. The drive can be VERY noisy when reading DVDs. Some people have returned their players for this reason. In my opinion, this is the player's biggest drawback as it can be very distracting while listening to the movie or music. No other player that I have encountered makes this much drive noise.In Summary:I recommend this player to anyone looking for a great priced progressive scan, DivX/XviD, or region-free DVD player with the only major drawback being a noisy drive.

Simple is often best. This was allegedly a simple product, which I purchased to perform a simple task: play DVDs.It tends not to do that.Although it frequently ignores discs, and has a special affinity at not being able to play Disney products, especially the Studio Ghibli flicks they released and the Pie Rats of the Carob Bean trilogy, that's not the most critical problem.For a while I noticed this problem on the special features on children's films. Maybe a short film, maybe a fun activity for kids. You know, unrated material.Please enter password.The parental controls, however, are disabled.Please enter password.It doesn't accept the default.You know, on account of the parental controls being disabled.I'm the parent - I'm the parental control for my kids. I don't need a piece of poorly coded software determining what does or doesn't meet some programmer's - or disc creator's - idea of what is safe for my kids to watch. Especially when it is, you know, safe. Veggie Tales. Disney. Kids stuff.So I can use the password to set the parental controls, but even then, at the lowest-but-not-off setting, it asks and refuses to acknowledge the password I set or the default password.So why am I writing this, long after I gave it a quick one star, moaned and complained to Philips Customer Disservice, picked apart the software bugs in their website that prevented me from reporting it on the first try, ripped them apart in a survey because they wanted to know how my experience using their website went, and figured that was more than enough time spent on such a useless, non-functioning product?I was just attempting to watch a brand new DVD on some nice, relaxing qigong. You know, an exercise video. Which is, conveniently, not rated G, PG, PG-13, R, or anything else. So... I get the STOP hand. And then I try to go around that, and I get the non-functioning password prompt. At least with most of the DVDs I can skip the opening few seconds of the movie and get them to play, but because this brings the password problem in for the entire DVD, not the features, it's useless.And no, it's not the DVD. It's running right now, attempting to help me relax, played on the PS2. Philips, I promise you one thing: you may have invented the CD, and I will continue to buy things based on that technology, but never will I purchase another product with your name on it. You've made a lifelong anti-Philips consumer out of me. Great job!Well, to be fair, it does play some DVDs some of the time. Curiously enough, most of the time it hangs up, it's on that FBI warning. Perhaps I could involve the FBI in this? Maybe I should give the field office a call each time it stops? It would probably be more productive than contacting the irresponsible, incompetent manufacturer.And, hey, maybe if I was lucky, they'd raid Philips and convince them to update the code on the product so it, you know, plays DVDs.

Just purchased this recently. I have it hooked up to my receiver with the RCA cables. All I use this for is music. I have a collection of 70s and 80s light rock classics. The sound is crisp and clear. The unit was very simple to hook up. the sound you get depends a lot on your speakers. My stereo system is a Sony from 1979. The right and left speakers are about 4 foot tall, weight around 40 pounds. The sound is simply outstanding. I highly recommend this DVD / CD player and I would buy it again. Just be sure to hook it to a sound bar / TV or great speakers, you won't regret it.

First of all, let me say that this unit is very well worth the money. As "just a dvd player" I give it FIVE over FIVE points (or ten/ten if you wish).The unit comes locked for Region 1 DVDs, but can be easily unlocked (just google for the asnwer) to make it region-free. I have tested my unit purchased on amazon.com and unlocked with Region 1, region 2 dvds purchased from Britain, and region 4 DVDs purchased in South America. It just works.The unit's COMPONENT-VIDEO output is superb, even if you use an CRT TV. I recommend you get a quality component video cable and use that instead of the "composite video" output.When playing MPG and AVI files, the component video output shows pixelation and artifacts on low-quality or low-resolution avi/divx/mpg files, but when playing back the same files and switching the tv to component video, these problems go away!.Component video, it should be noted, is superior to "s-video" (which just separates color information from luminance), as each basic color (Red-Green-Blue) travels on a separate shielded cable.Now, the "extras" besides basic DVD playback1. DIVX and XVID are supported. But some .avi files will play back with NO SOUND if the original file was encoded with a "codec" (compression algorithm) that is not supported by this unit. Just because a file plays back ok on your PC with "Windows Media Player" it doesn't mean it will playback in this unit.2. DVD-R media *IS* supported. You might need, however, to update the firmware (it's available for download from the philips.com web site. You have to download a .iso image, burn the data to a cd-r, press a key combination on the remote and then insert the cd-r disc).Now the problems:1. Even while DivX is supported, mpeg4/divx files compressed with the Divx Pro software using the "QPEL" (advanced motion optimization and prediction) will NOT PLAY on the unit. The unit will display an ugly "QPEL CODEC NOT SUPPORTED" message and stop there. There's no way to play back QPEL encoded files on this unit (it would require a much faster processor inside).2. ZOOM LEVELS ARE INCONSISTENT. On DVD movies, zoom levels featured are 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 4x. However when you are playing back ".avi" (mpeg4/divx) files, you will find that often the only zoom levels available are "normal" (no zoom) and "2x", and that's it!. There is no 1.5x zoom level when paying back mpg and divx files! So forget about watching that wide-screen (4:3 format) movie in full screen by switching to 1.5x zoom mode. If it's a DVD movie you can. But if it's a DivX/MPEG4 movie you can't!.3. A-B loop doesn't work most of the time on DivX/AVI files. Sometimes, when it does work, after you selct an a-b loop, you turn the feature off by pressing the a-b key once again, and when you want to create another a-b loop, the feature no longer works! (unless you press STOP and PLAY the file once again). VERY annoying.4. PHILIPS doesn't seem very interested in updating the firmware. The last update is dated May 2004, and there has been no update since then, even while the number of bugs is high (see above).However, even after all this, I think that for ~$70 dollars or less including Amazon.com's free ground shipping, you can't go wrong with this unit, as DVD playback is superb, and the ability to play most (but not all!) .mpg / .avi (DivX/MPEG4/Xvid) video files is just a nice extra to have in there as a "bonus".Burning .avi and mpg files to DVD recordable media also works.

Let's get this right out of the way: the whole schpiel about multi-region or region free/worldwide DVD players being "finnicky", "overpriced", "prone to failure", "impractical due to the inavailability of imports to watch in the first place" and "needing to be sent all the way to Malaysia to be repaired" is a myth perpetuated by Best Buy supervisors who have been indoctrinated to do one thing: Sell DVD players that only play the DVDs they sell in their stores. It's a bogus myth, and this player is proof.I'm a cult film buff and not a geekanoid tech nerd so pardon me if I pass over a technical evaluation of the deck: It plays any DVD made anywhere on the planet regardless of region code, converts PAL to NTSC and vice-versa, has S-Video and component output capacity, *LOVES* DVD-R media (even PAL DVD-R), and you can bring it home for a reasonable enough price to have some coinage left over to buy some Region 2 PAL releases to go with it. Like, stuff not available in the US. Get it?If you love movies, take your viewing needs seriously and resent having the media companies decide what you can & cannot watch, then you need a multi-region player. Period. This is a good one to start with: I concede that we are only watching our stuff on a standard 4:3 analog TV set without a DTS or surround setup (though both are supported) and just use it to watch movies. Not sure what else one would need a DVD player to do, though I will admit a certain amount of chagrin at the maximum 8x FFWD advance speed. Even my $30 K-Mark Apex deck has 16x but if you get hung up on how fast you can skip through your movies I would recommend getting a life or something.It plays any DVD right out of the box, no need to "crack" or modify anything, supports a bunch of other media formats, and has yet to do anything hostile like throw a brick at me or try and cheat at checkers. It plays all of the DVDs in my library just as well as the deck I paid $350 for in 2003, and having one will instantly quadruple the number of DVDs you can watch.Why settle on the crap movies they sell at Best Buy? Once you watch your first Japan made Region 2 NTSC format DVD of an ultra-obscure Spaghetti Western you will wonder why you waited on getting yourself set up to make up your own mind about what you watch, and why you let yourself get suckered into thinking that DVDs made in Germany were like, weird or something. This DVD player is liberation and I would recommend it to anyone who loves watching movies. The End.:-)

This product is still under observation, as I have only had it a month. But some characteristics are very obvious, and should be considered before buying this model.First the good. If you are looking for something to play burned media from your computer, this may be right for you. Everything I convert from avi. and burn to DVD+/-R has worked great. And that is why I bought it in the first place.Now the bad. I would highly recommend NOT using this in a home as a primary player, and especially in a home with children. Some store bought DVD's do not play properly or at all. It will not play 90% of the DISNEY movies we have. It will come to FBI or a rating screen and freeze. And can only be restarted by unplugging the player. The only bypass of this is to use Scene Selection and start at scene one to skip the intros that freeze for whatever reason.So depending what your use purpose is, this may or may not be the dvd player for you. Love the burnt media playability. Hate the fact not compatible with Disney and probably other movies.

Okay, I first posted my review in January 2005, now it is February 2006 and time to put in an update. My DVP642 is more than a year old now is still going strong. I have one and I got one for mom. In addition, at least four of my coworkers each have a DVP642 and I have yet to hear one complaint from them. I will probably pick another one up soon for the bedroom by either ordering from Amazon or just stopping by Wal-Mart.PROS:--your bang for the buck is high--Philips is a good name brand--component video outputs--composite outputs ("RCA jacks")--progressive scan--plays most AVIs and MPGs burned to blank CDs and DVDs (including -R, +R, and RW DVDs)--plays MP3s--plays both NTSC and PAL discs (I have several Region 2 PAL DVDs, so I need this feature)--can be set to "region free" easily (open the tray, press 7 8 9 OK 0 on the remote...voila!). Please note some people are saying the newer versions of this model (newer firmware) disallow changing to region free mode, though, but I have not confirmed that (I'll update this if and when I find out if this is true).CONS:--limited controls on the device itself to play/stop a movie--so-so controls on the rather small remote--no dedicated eject button on remote (however, holding STOP in for a few seconds does the eject as well as closing the tray remotely)--silver color only (which clashes with my black black TV, black VCR, and charcoal gray DIRECTV box). Why did the manufacturers start making EVERYTHNG silver?!--video file movies burned to disc only recognize the FIRST ELEVEN characters of the filename (so when burning to disc, take this into account when naming the files). Someone else reported it only uses the first eight characters, but on mine it's eleven characters based on the old DOS 8.3 naming convention (8 + 3 = 11).Despite the cons, I still give this unit 5 stars for its price range and the fact it comes from Philips, a name I trust (along with Magnavox). In a nutshell: this DVD player ROCKS! This is a name brand, progressive scan player for about 60 bucks that *also* plays computer video files directly.I definitely recommend this player for its price range, but if you are looking for a high end player with more features, then look for a player in a higher category. And if you want a differnt DVD player that will also play computer video files, then you can find a list here:[...]

J'avais déjà acheté un lecteur Dvd PHILIPS THEP (35,50€) et j'eus un problème avec la télécommande difficile à diriger.... !! Je décidai alors d'acheter - toujours par Amazon- un lecteur plus important ( 75,50 € ) et eus cette fois de gros problèmes avec un blocage fréquent de DVD dans l'appareil !Je sais que j'ai dépassé chaque fois le délai accordé pour le retour mais je reste très très mécontent de ces 2 achats et j'en veux beaucoup à PHILIPS ... ceci couronné par le manque de notice en français alors que le produit est livré en France !J'ai dépensé 35,50 + 75,62 = 111,12 € pour rien ... à moins que je puisse bénéficier d'un dédommagement - fut-il partiel ! - . Je peux, dans ce cas, avec un bon de retour vous retourner les 2 appareils !!!!

Eu me surpreendi com esse dvd player. Sou Colecionadora de filmes e meu aparelho antigo era RCA e a imagem nao ficava muito boa com a TV nova hdmi. Comprei esse da Philips e estou muito satisfeita com o desempenho dele. A imagem dos filmes fica lindíssima. Queria só uma dica de alguém que ja comprou esse aparelho: O visor digital fica sempre com a palavra "off" acesa. Tem como ficar apagada? Obrigada.

as expected. Works great.

Mmm lo preso perché sulle specifiche dice legge tutto DivX avi etc quando in realtà un DVD multitraccia masterizzato da me con file avi non gli vede con la scritta file non riconosciuto, si dice che bisogna finalizzare il DVD dopo la masterizzazione cosa che faccio altrimenti ci sono problemi intanto il suo omologo un lettore DVD scassato LG vede è legge tutto è ci fa pure il ruttino PS potevano aggiungere anche un adattatore spina oltre al cavo HDMI in dotazione e vedere meglio il sistema chiusura che fa un brutto rumore che sono sicuro si romperà per i soldi pagati. Soldi spesi male la Philips non è più quella di una volta

Muy bueno, multiregion y compacto