Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player

• Plays DVD-Video, video CD, audio CD, JPEG image CD, and CDs loaded with MP3, MPEG-4, or DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x files
• Progressive-scan output for seamless, flicker-free images on HD-ready TVs; SmartPicture and 4x video upsampling enhance all outputs
• Optical and coaxial digital-audio terminals pass Dolby Digital and DTS surround signals
• PAL-to-NTSC format conversion--great for viewing non-region-encoded European discs
• Measures 17.1 x 1.7 x 9.3 inches (W x H x D)

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 playback

1. 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.

Buy Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player Now

This review is for Philips DVP642 DVD Player. It is the same as DVP642/37 DVD Player. It is also the same as DVP642/37 Code Free DVD Player, or Region Free, or whatever else you want to call it. Philips has ONLY ONE DVP642 model, but it may come with different firmware versions, depending on when and where the player was purchased. It doesn't matter though. I repeat, it is the SAME player. So there is absolutely no need to pay extra dollars for something you can easily do yourself. This review highlights some of the features of this DVD player, as well as provides instructions on how to make it Region Free (pay special attention to Format Support section). So, read on...

Let me just start by saying that if this DVD player was anything over $100, even $80, then I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. But it's definitely worth $50 that I spent on it. I bought it on sale at CompUSA. I believe Walmart is the cheapest place now, where you can buy it for just under $60. But back to this player. After using it for over 2 months, and having it compare to my other three DVD players (Sampo, Cyberhome, and Oppo), I have come up with a short list of Pros and Cons. So, without further ado, I give you Philips DVP642:

PROS:

Format Support This alone probably worth all the "stars". It supports virtually all formats, including Divx. And it DOES support DVD-R's as well, although it's not documented anywhere. MP3's, Picture JPEG's, original DVD's, burned DVD's with AVI's, MPEG's, etc. I have tried it all, and it handled everything without any problems. Add the NTSC/PAL conversion capabilities to that (simple "7 8 9 OK 0" remote control hack with an open tray will make it "region free"), and you've got yourself one hell of a DVD player. "You have it, we play it" is the slogan of this player, and it is, indeed, true.

Design I like the nice and sleek design of this DVD player. It's thin, and the nice matte silver color nicely compliments my Sony Wega TV that I connected it to.

Price Just as I mentioned before, I bought this player for $50. I think it's well worth it, especially if you have a lot of "homemade" DVD's.

CONS:

Picture Quality One word to describe it Average... at best. My 5 year old Sampo produces a better picture using S-Video, and without Progressive Scan. Cyberhome is better too, when using component connection. I'm not even going to mention Oppo.

Support One of the worst I have ever had to deal with. First of all, Philips website has very minimum information about this player, and not a word about firmware updates. I've tried to contact them by phone, but only wasted my time pressing buttons and holding for "available representative". I finally decided to send them an e-mail, but have yet to get a response back after two weeks of waiting period.

Summary:

If picture quality is what you are mostly looking for in your DVD player then this one is not for you (if you own or planning on buying an HDTV with DVI or HDMI inputs, then I strongly suggest you check out OPPO). On the other side, if you are not too picky about picture output, but do care about various format support, and don't want to spend too much money, then this player certainly makes a good choice.

Read Best Reviews of Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player Here

This is not the best DVD player ever for picture quality etc, but it is Region Free. It will play PAL discs to my NTSC TV. I got it as a Christmas Present and I immediately ordered Blake's 7 from Amazon.co.uk and it plays just fine. You can tell that it had been opened and adjusted, but it was put neatly back into the box and I have not had any problems with it. It also plays all my other Region 1 disks as well (including Region Code Enhanced disks) so if you aren't too particualar about the quality (which is not terrible) you could probably just use this player for all you DVD playing. For me it will do to play my non-region one discs, but I'll keep my Sony for Region 1 stuff. I am very pleased with this product.

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Just tried out this Phillips player with DVDs ordered in France and from Hong-Kong. Works great, good picture and no problems. Can't understand why reviewer Susanne Heidt of Los Angeles said she had problems -in spite of what the manual says, this player works fine on other Region/Code DVDs.

I bought this player about 6 months ago for our bedroom as a backup player to the Sony in the den. We have played less than 10 DVD's on it and it is now dead. When I put a DVD in, it comes back with the "No Disc" message. I have tried numerous DVD's and they all give the same message. It will play CD's. I did some research on the internet and it seems this is a fairly common problem. I also read somewhere that you could bump it while loading and it would play. I tried that and got it to work once so I am guessing something is just out of line.

Anyway, I called Philips over the weekend and after going through their standard troubleshooting script, they informed me it was out of warranty but could be exchanged for a fee. As I discovered, the warranty is only 90 days free replacement. From 91 days to a year, there is an exchange program for a fee. I guess I should have known the warranty was only 90 days but I never even looked at the warranty. In my experience, if electronics work out of the box, they don't fail in 90 days. I now realize that is true for quality electronics but not Philips electronics. I asked how much the fee was and the lady said the fee was not listed on her sheet. She gave me a claim number and told me to call back on Monday. I called on Monday and went thru a similar experience. This time the lady put me on hold to call the RMA department to get the fee. After three attempts (the line was busy), I asked to be transferred to a supervisor. The supervisor came on the line and I explained the situation to him and asked for consideration on the warranty. He said there was no flexibility or exceptions with the warranty. I expressed my dissatisfaction with the product and lack of consideration. I then asked to speak to someone higher up in management. He flatly refused to provide me with any other contact information. He said it was his department's job to "give the bad news to the customer" and not to pass them on up the chain. He then asked if I was interested in paying the fee or not. I asked him how much it was. He said they had still not gotten in touch with the RMA department because the line was still busy. He seemed oblivious to the significance of a long wait for someone in RMA. He told me he would try to get in touch with them by at least tomorrow. Obviously they are having more product problems than they can effectively handle.

From the other reviews on here, apparently this is a pretty good player when it works. I wouldn't know since I only played a few DVD's with it. My advice is to avoid any products from Philips, especially this one. With their short warranty and lousy customer service, it's obviously a gamble doing business with them. Electronics should last years, not days.

PS..Almost forgot. When I was talking to the Philips customer care representative, he asked me where I bought it. I told him Amazon. He then went on to tell me that when you buy Philips products online from places like Amazon and Overstock that you are buying refurbished units. I told him it was advertised as new and that I knew Amazon would not misrepresent the product. Amazon had also shipped it to me within 2 months of the manufactured date so I didn't believe him. He just repeated his statement. I called Amazon after getting off the phone with Philips. The Amazon customer care rep was very friendly, professional and assured me the product they shipped was new and she did not know why Philips would be saying that. I also must add what a contrast in customer care experiences between Amazon and Philips in the span of 10 minutes.