Philips DVP642 DVD Player

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UPDATE INSERTED HERE: I've enjoyed this uniquely "tolerant" DVD player so much that yesterday (October 11, 2006) I bought myself a SECOND such unit to be used down in the basement. I discovered that Best Buy no longer carries it, but Circuit City still does, not to mention numerous new units currently available via eBay.
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After surveying some of the incredibly thorough, informative reviews of this unit posted by others, I knew it would surely be pointless for me to attempt to surpass--or even to begin to equal--their collective discussion of this machine's special ability to play (seemingly) countless kinds of disc media (formats). Therefore, IF the reader is primarily interested in such a discussion (stressing compatibility with numerous, specific media formats), he/she would be well advised to stop reading my words right now and instead consult various prior, excellent, more comprehensive reviews. The bottom line would seem to be that if you've got (virtually) any sort of optical disc format (be it "video" or "audio"), this Philips model DVP642 can very likely handle it! You can't make that claim for the majority of competing DVD players.

I must (more or less) agree with numerous prior reviewers regarding several idiosyncratic implementations of certain keys on the remote. Most notably, there is the matter of the STOP key serving double duty as an "eject" key (and you'd have to consult the user manual fairly attentively to finally discern that simple fact!). However, after mere minutes, the user very easily adjusts to holding down the STOP key for two or three seconds in order to open (or close) the disc-tray door. For me, then, this is virtually a non-issue.

Regarding "searching" during playback of a movie, in order to "fast-forward" (or "fast-reverse") a disc, you must repeatedly tap (respectively) the right-arrow or left-arrow keys. With each tap, you can search at "2x", "4x", "6x", or "8x" speed. So far, so good.

HOWEVER, what is, alas, a wee BIT irritating is that the maximum "search" speed (forward or backward) is only "8x". Now, while that seems to me satisfyingly fast enough MOST of the time, I must admit that occasionally I've wished for far speedier "search" capability. Accordingly, if I had to specify this machine's single greatest (albeit normally pretty tolerable) shortcoming, that would be it.

Also, in my experience with a tiny handful of discs, the initial "menu" screen wavers unsteadily (albeit the subsequent movie itself plays very steadily and clearly). When I tested those particular DVDs on my (somewhat older and costlier) Toshiba DVD player (model SD-1800), most of them didn't evince such initial unsteadiness. HOWEVER, I must hasten to add that, more generally, the very reverse of that is true! In other words, I've encountered far more discs (including especially certain backup DVD-Rs) that played unsteadily (or sometimes wouldn't even load!) via my Toshiba player (not to mention my brand-new Sony "DVD jukebox") but which played much more reliably with this Philips player.

Therefore, one of the best selling points for this Philips model DVP642 is indeed its (generally) superior compatibility with various discs--and I'm not necessarily even speaking of the numerous "obscure" (at least to the average user) disc formats; I'm speaking here primarily of your typical DVDs (and DVD-R backups)!

In sum, for only about 60 dollars (at Best Buy), I obtained: an incredibly stylish console with an easy-to-read LED display and a pleasingly low profile (only 1.69-inch height) making it easy to fit into most "entertainment-center" cabinetry (albeit its 17.13-inch width could be problematic for a minority of users); a well-sculpted remote that (despite its aforementioned "double-duty" STOP/EJECT key) is actually pretty easy to use; and, not least, a generally enhanced degree of compatibility with various disc media. This latter point is no small matter, given that I have several beloved titles that I simply wouldn't be able to play reliably if I hadn't bought this relatively tolerant Philips product.

Therefore, for the average "home" user (or even for many above-average, media-savvy users desiring an "ultra-compatible" disc player), I can easily endorse the Philips model DVP642. This is especially true given its very reasonable price!

These are my most salient impressions after having used this machine daily for one full month. Again, there's a lot that I've simply opted not to broach here, given that many more "media-savvy" prior reviewers have, collectively, done a far more laudable job than I could've hoped to muster. Therefore, for the reader requiring still more detail, I suggest exploring the diversity of prior reviews of what is clearly a pretty popular--if sometimes controversial--DVD player!