Philips DVP642

[techfuzz]

I'm seriously considering going to buy this later tonight after work to play my PAL dvd's. It has component and optical outs which are also important to me. It also plays +R/+RW media which is a big plus too.

To those people who own this player, what do you think of it?

techfuzz

 

[airfoil]

I own one, its the best $62 you can spend on a DVD player.

Go right ahead!

 

[Blain]

I bought one many months ago. But I can't tell you how well it works, because it's still sealed in the box.
WoW... I am a slacker! :shocked:

I based my purchase on This Information

 

[techfuzz]

Yeah, I've been through videohelp to look at other peoples comments. I wanted some AT'ers to chime in on their experiences with it too.

I went to Target last night to look at it and it was pretty slick looking, but they were out of stock. They had every other player in stock, except the Philips and the Cyberhome that is also widely popular.

techfuzz

 

[StormRider]

The Philips 642 seems like the most popular player for Divx files. And I heard it plays PAL DVDs well too.

The Cyberhome 300S is another good player for PAL DVDs. I have the Mediatek (MU) version and so far it plays PAL DVDs just great -- haven't noticed any problems. I heard the Zoran (Z) based versions aren't that good for PAL playback (jerky and stuttering)

 

[techfuzz]

I'm not really interested in DivX files, but the PAL conversion is a big plus in my book. I'm probably going to go to Best Buy, Circuit City, or CompUSA tonight and get one if I can find one in stock at either of the three.

techfuzz

 

[shabby]

If you have an hdtv i wouldnt even bother with the dvp642, its image quality is terrible. My old jvc dvd player with no progressive scan had better image quality then the dvp642.
I noticed lots of pixelation, if you have a regular crt tv you probably wont notice this.

 

[Childs]

Try CompUSA.

 

[Slapstick]

I liked it well enough I bought a 2nd one. PAL and DIVX playback is fine. For the money it's one of the better buys in DVD players.

 

[techfuzz]

Tonights adventure in purchasing the DVP642 went something like this:
0. (last night) Target - On display, but not in stock
1. Best Buy - Only had Philips DVD recorders, no players
2. Circuit City - Model not sold in stores
3. Hi-Fi Buys - Don't carry Philips any more
4. CompUSA - In stock and out the door as soon as I could find a sales rep to go dig one out of the back for me

Unfortunately, CompUSA only carries Monster Cable products which I refuse to buy so I'm stuck with plain ol' composite video and audio until I can get some decent component and optical cables instead. On the plus side, I popped a PAL dvd in the player tonight to test it out and it played without a hitch on my NTSC TV. It barely fits in my entertainment center though, I wasn't prepared for the width of it physically!

techfuzz

 

[oog]

my brother said that if you fast-forward too long, the player freezes up.

 

[ELopes580]

I've had mine since Aug '04, it has been working great. Excellent price.

 

[Zerilos]

Has anyone tried watching fansubbed anime (divx) with this player? How does it look?

 

[horacio626]

Double post

 

[horacio626]

the reason i bought iis because i wanted to watch anime (most of the anime are encoded using xvid now) on my tv since the 17 CRT seems too small for me. About 75% of the anime works with this player depending if the encoder used Qpel or not (642 doesn't support Qpel). There is a program that can get rid of Qpel.
Target sells it too.
P.S
I love this player.

 

[WobbleWobble]

I have one. There are some color abnormalities that are fixed by entering the menu then quiting it. Plays most things I've thrown at it, not everything. To be fair, those were Xvid files, but it has played many other Xvids.

 

[techfuzz]

Why is Xvid so popular these days? I haven't kept up with encoding technologies like I used to so I'm a bit in the dark about it.

techfuzz

 

[bigrash]

Just bought one from Target last night. It's a sweet player. Plays everything i throw at it

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: bigrash
Just bought one from Target last night. It's a sweet player. Plays everything i throw at it

I would have loved to get mine at Target, but they were sold out and wouldn't have any in stock for a LONG time. I had some gift cards to use that would have made the deal real sweet had I gotten it there

techfuzz

 

[russr]

Originally posted by: shabby
If you have an hdtv i wouldnt even bother with the dvp642, its image quality is terrible. My old jvc dvd player with no progressive scan had better image quality then the dvp642.
I noticed lots of pixelation, if you have a regular crt tv you probably wont notice this.

I did not notice any pixelation when playing DVDs and this is through svideo. The quality when playind DVDs through svideo is pretty good. I will be buying some component cables soon and will then report on how the quality is with that on an hdtv.

When playing avi files (i played an xvid encoded file), I did notice some pixelation at one point, but I have heard that this pixelation or blockiness goes away if you hook up through component. Will report back on this as well.