Philips DVP642 DVD Player

UPDATE! - Unit since returned due to A/V sync issue

How is this player unique?

In a world where DVD players are a dime-a-dozen manufacturers are endlessly creating features to attempt to set their players apart. Recorders are under $100, so $60 is actually quite pricey for a basic player that has none of the traditional premium features, such as HD up-conversion. What this DVD player does have is a pirate's dream - it can play computer files such as MPEG files (no VCD layout needed), DivX files, XviD files, and probably other files which I haven't yet figured out it can play. This makes it a pirate's dream - or even just a dream if you use a PC with a TV tuner to record shows. Burn the files to a CD and stick them in here. Download a (legal, of course) video clip off the Internet and burn it to a CD. Stick it in. But first, let's look at this unit as a normal player...

Out Of Box Experience and Basic Features

This DVD player was purchased as a replacement for my Daewoo DVG-9200N. I have no complaints about that unit, and it has served me well and will remain as backup (actually, I plan to tear it apart and make an art project out of it - still functional of course. I've already repainted the case successfully). As you'll note in my review of that unit, region-free playback is an important function to me. A quick search for region free codes and I had this unit region free in seconds. Mildly inconvenient is the fact that PAL/NTSC output mode is buried in a menu, not a button on the remote. In fact, we'll get into that more later...

This unit is very slim, as is noted on the box, but it is much wider than many other units on the market today. Don't let the slim look fool you too much though, it's still thicker than it appears - the front is rounded to give the appearance of an even slimmer unit. Connections are as expected on a modern and consist of:

- Component video out
- Composite video out
- S-Video out
- Analog stereo out
- S/PDIF coax out
- S/PDIF TosLink out

This is pretty much a standard output set for a modern player, and the out-of-box experience is quite good.

Sound and Image Quality

Image quality of this unit is very - adequate - it's not great, it's not even terribly impressive. Modern DVD players are all good. I would say that the quality, in the default settings, is not quite as good as my Daewoo DVG-9200N. Anamorphic downconversion quality (making an anamorphic widescreen movie look correct on a non-widescreen TV) is mediocre - it's a large step up from the days of simply dropping every third line or so, but it still has aliasing artifacts.

The unit passes the blacker-than-black test ONLY when the custom brightness settings are turned on (if you don't know what this means then it doesn't matter much).

Sound quality is quite - normal. The analog outputs are clean, and the digital outputs output a perfect stream.

Most concerning are A/V sync issues - it doesn't even seem quite perfect with DVD movies. With computer files it's much much worse. It's this issue which may result in my returning this player. How sensitive you are to this issue will depend on the person, and if you're just watching DVD movies you'll likely not notice at all. I'm one of those people who notices the fact that just about ANY TV program has the A/V sync off a little. With computer files, it's much more noticeable.

Ease of Use

Right now I know what you're thinking - half of you are thinking "it's a DVD player, piece of cake" and the other half are thinking "Thank goodness someone cares enough to mention this trait." The first half of you can skip this section, the second half would be well served by paying close attention! This player fails the ease of use requirement miserably for several reasons:

1. It's just missing too many buttons. On the front panel it has Play, Stop, Eject, and Standby - but no Forward or Back. The remote is much worse - it's missing such basic buttons as Eject (press and hold Stop instead), Video Standard (PAL/NTSC and Progressive/Interlace) (instead buried in menus), Fast Forward and Rewind (instead shared with the arrow keys). I'm sorry but in the case of remote controls, less is not more - having unique buttons is far easier to figure out than remembering secondary functions of buttons and buried menu items!

2. The menus just aren't that easy to figure out. They're twisted in nature, inconsistent, and aren't setup to show all files by default when you put in a disc on video files.

3. Fast forward and rewind are SLOW - this isn't a big deal with DVDs which have chapter marks but with computer files or with some of those DVDs setup so you can't skip the ads this is bad. The fastest fast-forward is 8x. I consider anything less than 32x unacceptable.

Computer Files

Yes, your patience has came through... I know this is what most of you were waiting for :) This unit can play computer video files including MPEG files, DivX files, XviD files, and perhaps others I have not discovered. It can NOT play QuickTime files, Windows Media Video files, any type of HD file, QPEL DivX, and others. It CAN play the large majority of content you will record with a TV tuner card, which is probably what's important to you. The unit will accept firmware upgrades, but Philips seems to no longer be posting these on their website. Here's to the possibility of firmware with better A/V sync... on some of the computer files I have (admittedly ones that aren't right even on a computer) it's off by as much as roughly half a second!

Overall

This is not a terribly impressive DVD player. If all you need is a basic DVD player, I'd suggest the Daewoo DVG-9200N or one of the LG DVD/VCR combos (now sold at Best Buy under their Insignia brand for very little) if you still watch video tapes.

Unfortunately, if you're looking to play computer files, there is essentially no competition at this price point. This player is quirky and leaves little to recommend if only it was a DVD player. However, for what it does - play computer files, it is an excellent value. The A/V sync issues might result in me returning it but otherwise I've been happy enough because of the player's unique capabilities.