Philips DVP642 DVD Player

Pros: Price, connectivity options, features, PAL playback and conversion to NTSC, computer video playback
Cons: Horrible remote, cheap LCD display, only 8x scan speed, poor GUI, not easy to use

After one of my DVD players (a Panasonic DVD player) died with a dreaded HO2 error, I managed to temporarily revive it by opening the case and manually spinning the disc once. It had worked for a week after that, but all reports online pointed to its ...

Pros: Overall reliability and ease of use. Attractive styling. Compatibility with various media.
Cons: Several DVDs display unsteadily compared to my Toshiba. (However, the reverse is more often true.)

*** 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 ...

Pros: plays almost all DVD & CD formats including DivX, sharp images, good sound, affordable
Cons: images and sound could be better

Even though we rarely watch DVDs, we’ve gone through five* (hubby had to replace his PS2 once) different players over the past five or so years. My husband initially dragged me into the DVD world by buying a PlayStation 2 and persuading me that ...

Pros: Will play almost any format/codec burn or commercial DVD you put in it.
Cons: Not HDTV/HD Movies compatible.

The absolute current model number of this player is: Phillips DVP642/37. Take this from a guy who has run through nearly a dozen DVD players. This includes one MS Xbox used as DVD player, because prior to getting that thing, I couldn't find a DVD ...

Pros: Cheap, slim, DIVX playback, progressive scan.
Cons: No DVD-R playback, remote control is dinky.

A few weeks ago I needed a new DVD player in a major way. Believe it or not I had been using my Xbox as my primary DVD player in the living room for a couple of years now (I know it's a horrible player and I had quite a few problems with it), but I ...

Pros: Compatible with multiple burn formats, multiple branded/nonbranded discs and plays Divx. Firmware/codes available.
Cons: Lacking independent eject button on remote. Forward/Reverse speeds 8x max. Didn't come with S-Video cable.

Oh No, old DVD Player is Toast! The little one wanted to watch her favorite cartoons that had been compiled onto a CDR as the VHS tape busted a long time back. They were safely saved on backup. The little Apex player that could, could ...

Pros: Plays computer files, has custom video quality settings
Cons: A/V sync issues, usability and interface quirks abound

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 ...

Pros: Downconverts PAL to NTSC, plays just about every CD/DVD format in existence.
Cons: PAL playback isn't mentioned anywhere on the outside of the packaging.

I'll start this review by saying that neither of my DVD players had anything wrong with them, but a friend of mine recommended this Philips unit for one reason. We're displaced Brits living in America, and he told me this unit would play PAL DVDs. I ...

Pros: Sleek design, excellent multi-format compatibility, affordable, progressive scan
Cons: No eject button, does not support ALL formats, tiny chirping playing some discs

I bought this player from J and R online a few months ago. It was hard getting my hands on it because Target and Amazon were selling out everytime they got a new shipment. I heard SO many good things about this player from online forums and since I ...

Pros: plays just about any current video and media format (include dual layer)
Cons: subtitle for Divx/Xvid is a bit difficult to control.

Applause to the engineers at Philips for getting this dvd player right and at a very very good price. This player is very well designed; it is for both the geeks who like to hack the machines and the casual everyday users. Since many reviews here have ...

Pros: Ample playback features, compact size, Philips brand, many hookup options, nice remote...+more
Cons: Slow Title transitions, heat, few buttons on front, noisy disc spinning, annoying button functions...+more

Let me just start out by saying: I love Philips brand products. A good majority of the electronics products I own are Philips made. Not once have I ever had any sort of problem with any of their products. I, of course, also say this about Magnavox and ...

Pros: Divx Certified, Worldwide weight of Philips brand behind divx technology.
Cons: Too many models (for differenent countries) behaving differently.

Till now if you wanted to see movie on your living room TV, you had to use only DVD or VCD if you could stand lower quality of picture and didn’t mind dealing with multiple CDs for every movie. But that is about to change. Divx/XViD a format based on ...

Pros: Plays almost anything, from MP3s to DIVX files.
Cons: Loading a disc with a lot of files can be a little slow

I really wasn't shopping for a new DVD player. In fact, my first DVD player, the trusty Panasonic RV30 has held up great since I first purchased it in 2000. The only problem is that the ...

Pros: Plays ANY DVD, plays DivX movies, plays MPG movies, and MP3 CDs, great price.
Cons: Complicated manual, small and confusing remote, unclear menus.

I originally bought this DVD player because my old Sanyo DVD player wouldn't play very many of the DVDs that I burned on my computer. Half of the time, I'd burn the movies and they'd constantly skip on my player, but would be fine on someone else's ...

Pros: Plays most video formats including Divx and Xvid and is priced right.
Cons: Minor flaws in the interface fixed by the bios update or will be fixed soon.

I bought this DVD/DIVX/MPEG/VCD player so I could make use of my Divx collection but I got way more than I bargained for. I found the DVP642 online at walmart.com. I called several walmart locations in my area but none of them seemed to have any in ...

Pros: Good construction, great price, good DVD playback, reliability, plays avi.
Cons: Only plays avi. No ogg or mkv. Need to re-encode some Divx files.

This DVD player comes with a unique feature that makes it very worth it's $45 price tag on Amazon right now. It plays Divx files that are encoded into .avi format. It will also play Xvid files. Now there is a lot of content available on the internet, ...

Pros: - Region-free DVD player - Plays both NTSC and PAL
Cons: - Poor durability - Terrible design of remote and onscreen menus

Unlike most other reviewers, I didn't care in the least for the multi-format playing (Divx, etc). The reason I bought this DVD was to be able to play my European DVDs (particularly British comedy). After having entered a 'secret' code on the remote, it ...

Pros: Price Plays a gazillion different formats Hackable Beautiful, slim look
Cons: Remote is user unfriendly

I needed a cheap, functional DVD player, and did a lot of browsing. Target and Best Buy were hopeless, their only really cheap option was Cyberhome, and the reviews on Cyberhome were more than discouraging. So, I resorted to the Web. I found this ...

Pros: Plays DIVX/XVID files. Great picture quality. Great looking unit.
Cons: Remote is laid out a bit strangely.

Overview These days the stores are full of cheap DVD players. You can even buy DVD players for under $20 at the local drug store. If the Philips DVP642 was just another DVD player, I wouldn't even bother to review it here, as they are pretty ...

Pros: Plays everything, Well priced
Cons: poorly designed remote

I've wanted a standalone divx player for some time but held off buying one until now because some of the reviews I had read stated that people were having problems with some of the early models, such as freezing or stopping during playback, but with any ...

Pros: Looks nice. Plays everything you have. Good price.
Cons: Lack of buttons on unit. Ugly remote.

We bought this unit because it matched the rest of our electronics and we found a way to get it for about $40 (on sale at Meijer for $67, less $13 in store coupon, less $10 mastercard coupon, less 10% employee discount [had a friend who works there pick ...

Pros: Plays all formats, easy setup, good price, slim design, 1.5X zoom, 5 disk memory resume.
Cons: Some DVD's default to subtitles, disk resume doesn't work 100%, no mp3 random play.

This is the second Philips DVD player I have owned, and I have been pleased with both players. I have previously owned an APEX and a Toshiba. It has played everything I have put in it including DIVX, VCD, SVCD, DVD- R, DVD RW. I like the feature 1.5X ...

Pros: Supports DVD-MP3, DivX, Xvid, NTSC/PAL, region free.
Cons: The remote is pretty bad, MP3 playback menu could be better.

Seems like every time I turn around there is a new DVD player that has more "must have" features than the last. First I HAD to have a DVD player that was "region free" and played MP3 files. Then I HAD to have one that did all that and also played ...

Pros: it plays anything on everything. Doesn't cost a mortgage. I love it.
Cons: FF/RR remote

The day came when my Pioneer DV414 player would no longer power-up (my main suspects are a juice-box and my 2 year-old son...) Anyway, I was in the market for a new DVD player for the home-theater. I had purchased an Apex player for my brother-in-law ...

Pros: Formats, region-hack, slim size, price
Cons: Noisy transport, navigation screen filenames, occasional AVI sound drift

I liked my first one so much that I bought a second. This is a great player for non-home theatre applications. Sound and video quality is acceptable, but not nearly good enough to compete with, say, a good CD player. For the price, though, it is ...

Pros: Decent playback and it will play back everything inserted.
Cons: Drive motor is way too loud Standby light is really distracting.

Picture quality is decent for the price - Walmart about 58 dollars and it does seem to play everything. The negatives outweigh some of its positive features. First, the drive motor is extremely noisy - you can hear it searching and just playing at ...

Pros: Plays VCDs, MP3s, MPEG-4, DivX, CD-R/CD-RW, and DVD R/DVD RW. Affordable. Well built.
Cons: Cheap remote and a limited 90 day warranty.

First Impression It literally does what it says it does on the box: You have it, we play it. I traded in my 4 year Samsung because I was looking for a player that would play my DVD R/RWs and some of my anime DVDs that I purchased off of ebay. ...

Pros: Price... sort of.
Cons: Like renting a DVD player that you'll be required to return in a few months.

Great DVD player... for 8 months. Reading the other reviews here, I wish I'd heeded their warnings. Yes it works well (except the menu is extremely clunky--reminds me of an 80's video game--and the remote is so poorly designed you'll find yourself ...

Pros: DVD/CD/VCD/DVX/MP3/PAL/multi-region playback
Cons: No sound in fast forward mode, speed limited to 8x

My previous system was Go-Video DVD-VCR combo, which I still use as a VCR, but its DVD player eventually made me run out of my patience because of frequent freezes and NTSC/region1 restrictions. So I bought Philips DVP642. It gave me instant ...

Pros: It absolutely does play all formats
Cons: Won't resume reliably; too long a pause returns it to start menu or powers off

I bought this 8 months ago and am now looking for a new DVD player. This was a great DVD player to begin with; it certainly does play all formats. BUT many, many of the DVDs I rent will not play; I've noticed that Sony DVDs made after Jan 07 will ...

Pros: Sleek, very good ergonomics, plays almost everything I put in it! Highly recommend.
Cons: If it had only one more video out to connect to a DVD recorder.

Boy, am I happy with this!! I almost bought it by accident a couple of years back. This must be my best electronics buy ever! A nice unit, silver in color and very sleek. Looks good I play divx, mpegs and lots of formats. Except rm files this plays ...

Pros: Plays everything, well constructed, easy to operate & cheap!
Cons: Poor remote control design, poor JPEG image quality, horrible warranty & some DivX problems.

Playback formats: Video: DVD, DVD R/RW, DVD-R/-RW, VCD, SVCD, MPEG-4, DivX 3.11/4.x/5.x Audio: CD, CD-R/RW, MP3-CD* (-256 kbps) Pictures: Picture-CD (JPEG) with music (MP3*) Plays MP3-CD (supports 32, 56, 64, 96, 128, 256 kbps and variable ...

Pros: Plays everything
Cons: Quality is horrible! Guaranteed to break within 1-3 years

It was a great DVD player. I've had mine for about 3 years now and I've been very happy with it. It has the ability to play almost every format you throw at it, including MP3 audio, JPEG, MPEG1 video, MPEG2 (.MPG) video and AVI video clips encoded in ...

Pros: Great DVD player - can play PAL format DVDS.
Cons: You have to actually hack the DVD player to make it multi region.

I can highly recommend this DVD player to anyone, who just needs a basic DVD player, and I can especially recommend this DVD player to anyone who needs to play PAL DVDs or other formats. The Philips DVDP 542 DVD player, is a very basic DVD player, but ...

Pros: Plays Divx and Netflix DVDs wonderfully; Slim design
Cons: Poor reliability due to bad capacitor on PS board; mine lasted 6 months before dying

This is a great thin machine that plays Netflix DVDs perfectly and can be set to be region free for watching foreign DVDs. You can find out how to set the region free by searching on the net. I also like the slim design because it fits easily with all ...

Pros: Nice looking User upgradable Component Output Cheap
Cons: Bad DVD playback "jaggies" Horrible MP3 playback interface Flakey DIVX and XVID playback

We just got this DVD player 2 days ago and are very disappointed with it. We bought it to replace our 4 year old Panasonic DVD-RV31. Although there was nothing wrong with the Panasonic we wanted a DVD player that would play SVCDs and have Progressive ...

Pros: Plays everything I can place in it, very slim, and works well.
Cons: On a screen is just in words and audio just average.

Look everybody, I am not a media expert. I just want a DVD Player to play my DVD and some recorded TV shows on disc of various sorts. I hate it when the disc will not work because the player cannot use this format or that format. And, as always, I do not ...

Pros: -Plays all XVID and DivX files I had -Great value
Cons: -Remote awkward -The on-screen interface could be be more functional

Was tired of converting files for making VCDs and DVDs and just wanted to play DIVX and XVID that were burned on my archive DVDs. How it works is any files you want to play are burned onto a standard CD or DVD, just as you would burn a data disc. The ...

Pros: Plays everything Hackable Cheap
Cons: Lifespan unpredictable

This is a great DVD player. It is relatively cheap, it will play just about every disk and format known to man, it can be hacked/unlocked, and its firmware is upgradeable. Quite simply, it offers me every feature that I most look for in a DVD player. ...

Pros: plays almost any format, nice slim style, good picture and sound quality for price
Cons: short lifespan, no menu buttons on unit itself, wider than most, only silver no black

I have only had my DVP642 for less than 2 years (I paid $60 at Wal*Mart) when it suddenly would no longer recognize any of the DivX avi discs and DVDs would start looking choppy or freeze in the middle of it, forcing me to go back and forth until it ...

Pros: Worked well for 2 weeks
Cons: Broke after 2 weeks- Philips customer service is awful.

I got this DVD player from Best Buy. It has a nice look and good picture, but it died after 2 weeks. I called Best Buy and they told me I had to deal directly with Philips. Philips' customer service is a NIGHTMARE. After calling for a month to have ...

Pros: good for the price.
Cons: The dislikes are: inability to play .ogm files and some mpg files.

First of all, many thanks to all those people who wrote reviews and tips and tricks to get it working. I have owned this dvp642 for about 6 months now and could play only 50% of my DivX collection on DVDs for all this time I owned it. I was seriously ...

Pros: Plays almost any disc, DivX, XVid, MP3. Slim. Affordable.
Cons: No AAC or MP4 audio compatibility, lack of screen positioning cuts some subtitles off.

Wow, for 60 bucks this thing couldn't get any better. It plays just about any disc you throw at it including DVD+RW and CD-RW's. Not only that, it plays MP3's, DivX, Xvid, photo CD's, etc. when burned to a disc. Sound and video quality are excellent with a lot of menu choices to finetune your setup.

Pros: None
Cons: Crappy EVERYTHING!

What a total scam! After having this model for like 2 months it just up and died on me. Took it to a repair shop (American TV & Appliance in McAllen, Texas and was told that it needed a replacement diode, Okay whatever, just fix it - what a bunch of cons! brought it home and it just freezes and turns off. Was gonna go and give the repair shop hell but why bother, I'll just take it out on the DVD player Office Space style. Screw you Philips and your super crappy product!

Pros: Divx and DVD Burned Format Friendly.
Cons: Divx Fast Forward.

Since I had purchased my DVD Burner for my PC I have had nightmares with the wonderful world of +R -R +RW -RW. That ended with this player, so far every DVD format I have used has worked perfectly.

Coming from a older model Philips the remote was native to me, so it wasnt too much trouble to get things configured or navigate menus for system configuration.

One thing I was upset about was the fact when running DiVX you can not fast forward the playback to skip ahead, you must play it through.

So far it has been flawless, my DVD backups run smooth so I don't have to tear up the originals, and the added bonus of old DiVX TV episodes play awesome on standard CD-R discs so I don't have to waste a DVD-R

Pros: Plays many formats. Pretty solidly built, remote is better than reviews would make you think.
Cons: Plays many non-DVD movies poorly, won't always fast forward or rewind.

After reading all the other reviews, I was very interested in getting this player. Unfortunately, I find myself disappointed by the fact that (A) audio and video go out of sync with non-DVD movies all too often, and (B) Too often you can't rewind or fast-forward non-DVD movies. In my opinion these faults are inexcusable. Imagine watching half a movie, and suddenly noticing the audio is out of sync. So you press "pause" or enter the system menu (trying to fix the problem) but it won't go away. So you press "stop," and then find out afterwards that you can't fast-forward or rewind this particular movie.

If you do get this player, play it safe and back up your DVD's to DivX format (don't use XviD as you can't FF/RW), and always use CBR MP3 format, don't use ABR/VBR. That way there's less chance of out-of sync problems.

Update -- I'm really annoyed at the number of AVIs that can't be fast forwarded or rewound (or accessed starting at some particular time) -- there are far more that can't than those that can. I am withdrawing my recommendation for this player, as FFW/REW is a very basic, necessary feature.

Pros: Worked for 4 months
Cons: Company misrepresents warranties, and all non English speaking.

Player worked fine until 4 months of limited use. Then one day it stopped working and just flashed the power light on and off. I called the support line in the Philippines and spoke to a very unprofessional and rude Jennifer. After she demanded I give her all my information before she would tell me it is covered or not, she came back on to tell me that the unit was only covered for Labor for 3 months. Only the parts were covered for a year. That I would have to pay $18.99 for a new unit to be sent to me, and I would get it in 20 business days. I declined. I will not do business with them again.

Pros: Plays a lot of different media types, divx, mpeg, jpeg, mp3.....
Cons: Doesn't last! Made In China, you get what you pay for.....

Mine died on me after little over a year! The little red power light starting blinking, and I had to pry open the door with a screw driver to get my dvd out! The one thing that really annoyed me about this player was whenever I would hit the open door button it would open and then close! After a few tries it would stay open...

Pros: Good compatibility, great price, progressive scan, plays DivX and Recordable DVDs
Cons: Small issue with divX audio in some discs that can be worked-arround

I bought this DVD to play my DivX collection along with any other DVD+R/-R/+RW/-RW.
I plays well everything that I have tested. Dolby digital sorrund works OK.
Some divX that play without problem in the PC are played with sound blinks on the DVP642. I solved this re-coding the audio with a different MP3 encoder, but needed to spend more CD-Rs.
The Spanish language menus are not very good, since the accents are displayed with extrange symbols.
As with almost every electronic device nowdays, it can't live without the remote control, if you loose the remote, you're in big troubles.

Pros: Plays most video formats Knows how to read DVD rewriteables; many do not.
Cons: Player sometimes shuts off while resuming playback Max scan speed of 8X

I bought this player a few months ago and for the most part I'm happy with it. However, I have found a problem with this player. Sometimes after pressing play to resume a paused video (burned to DVD-RWs) the player shuts itself off instead. This could probably be fixed with a firmware update if it were possible. I don't recall if this happens with store bought DVDs. Also, you can only search at a maximum speed of 8X with this player. Tip: For those who indicated a con about the remote not having an eject button - holding down the stop button for 2-3 seconds will open/close the drawer.

Pros: Philips Name, Plays DivX, DVD+R, DVD+RW, mp3s on DVD/CD excellent quality.
Cons: Cannot play DVD-R/-RW, Remote is stupidly designed.None other.

Am not going to write huge review when there are others who've screamed themselves hoarse praising this Philips DVP-642.
First, Its a Philips and however much crappy stuff Philips is selling in the US, worldwide they are still just as great as SONY and based on that fact, I decided to buy this just try out.
* Played DivX on CDs like a charm
* Played DVD+R (Its Philips, one of the companies promoting the +R standard. Magnavox does play both formats) flawlessly
* Played Regular DVDs with crystal clear clarity
* Slim design.
* Slimmer price, especially compared to the cheap chinese takeout boxes packaged as dvd players.
* Hackable to make it region-free.
* PAL/NTSC playback for a Unipolar world :-)
* Horrible Remote layout. Need either a good manual or a degree in Philipsology or whatever. Ever saw a remote where you press the STOP button for some time to eject/close the DVD Tray. Go no further, here it is.
* Firmware upgradable.

Pros: Cheap.
Cons: Cheap- broke after 1 year.

I bought this player because it was a great price ($55) for a name-brand that I knew. However, after one year and two days, it won't turn on- I just get a red blinking light and a stuck DVD. Last Philips product I buy.

Pros: plays all the formats
Cons: would like it in black

well, it's a good player. i'd had some trouble with my 2 year old sony and this just does everything it says it does, no trouble but i got mine for 52 dollars on onlineshoppingzone.com anyway, sorry this isn't a very good review, but it's a good, cheap little dvd player.

Pros: Inexpensive. Plays DIVX & PAL as advertised.
Cons: Short serviceable lifespan. Remote is

The DVP-642 played well for a year of occasional use. It performed as advertised with DIVX and PAL but the unit had a short lifespan. It died, with only a blinking power light and a dvd that would not eject. This problem has been noted in other reviews.

I would suggest not stacking it with other electronics to reduce the operating temperature. That may have been the cause of my unit's demise. Still, the conditions were not extreme in any way. The DVP-642 should not have succumbed.

The unit is ok, but don't expect it to last a lifetime.

Good luck.

Pros: plays almost anything
Cons: Progressive option seems to reset internally after unit is powered off.

I have had the DVP642 for a couple of days now. I have been actively comparing it to my older Panasonic RP62 player. However, I noticed a problem when analyzing some of the images (its most apparent on the credit screen when the credits are scrolling up fast). I have set up the 642 dvd player to playback in progressive mode (PROGRESSIVE=ON), and set up component video out (VIDEO OUTPUT=YPbPr set). However, when I turn the player off, then back on, I notice that the movie I watch is interlaced (i.e., as if the progressive option is set to OFF.. lots of jaggy lines.. try this by watching fast scrolling credits at the end of the movie). I can verify that the progressive option is set to on (by going back to the dvd player VIDEO SETUP PAGE). However, if I set the progressive option to OFF, then immediately set it back to ON, the image is displayed as I expect it for progressive scan (no jaggy lines). This happens every time I turn the DVD player off and back on again. Does anyone else have this problem?

Pros: Plays many different formats.
Cons: Poorly made, doesn't last.

Mine stopped working after about 9 months, and I didn't use it all that much. The labor charge to repair it would be as much as a new player. This seems to be a frequent problem from what I have been reading about it.

Pros: Worked great for 7 months.
Cons: Worked great for 7 months.

Dead at 7 months. I agree with all the glowing reviews of the previous reviewers, with the one caveat that you will not be happy with how long this unit lasts.

We watch 2 DVD's a week. The unit has been sitting in one spot (on top of the VCR) for all seven months that we've had it. No jarring, dropping, bending or whacking; just sitting. Now all I get when I put a DVD in (out of a new, shrink-wrapped package) is "NO DISK".

When I called Philips, they asked me 30 questions, and then wanted me to pay $15 to troubleshoot it. Instead I went on the webpage and found nothing about the "NO DISK" error. The webpage only had answers to: How do I plug it in? Where do I put the disk, etc...

This unit, like the Cyberhome I threw away 3 months ago (1.5 years old) was made in China. My experience with Chinese goods is that they look normal, work normally for a while and then die. This has been true of garage door openers, phones, computer equipment, electronics, etc.

Pros: Plays some .mpgs, sometimes
Cons: Everything else

- No support form .wmv, .mov, .rm formats

- Flakey support for .mpg, sometimes it works, sometimes I get picture but no sound, sometimes it won't play them at all, I suppose depending on how the mp3 was encoded. The whole point of buying this was to be able to play data discs of files from a variety of sources without having to go through the lengthy transcoding process, and it utterly failed at that. Only a few limited files from a few limited sources would play.

- The auto-generated menus for data discs is incredibly slow. It seems to be rescanning the disc and regenerating the menu every time you hit the menu button, instead of once when you insert the disc. And the navigation is also slow and really badly designed and clunky to use.

- If you hit menu or stop in the middle of a movie and then try to go back to the movie, it starts the movie again at the beginning rather than where you left of like any other player I've used.

Pros: Great DVD player.
Cons: The circuit board capacitors is going out about 6month but it can be repaired.

WOW. It is not PC but it plays all of the DVD movies original retails or from downloaded from internet. But It is not PC as I said that you have to go by its firmware rule that it can handle only with built-in codec/decoders firmware and chip sets. (that there is advance user having issues with Divx not play or out of syn. and forward and rewind not working on Divx moves) yes it can be but normal user will not have 100 or more divx/Mpeg4/avi-copies.
Just great to know that we can play movis from internet.

It can play PAL/NTSC also.

The Progressive-Scan is really great quality like LG and Samsung, because it is using same video chip sets.

One major bug is that this DVD player goes back to resets its self to defaults configuration if you power off the devices AC plug off from wall.

Pros: Fantastic unit, perfect picture quality, ease of use, smart remote.
Cons: Quit working after 4 1/2 months; It went out slowly over one week.

I loved this unit from the get-go: It was easy to setup, played movies flawlessly, and even played my computer files and MP3's with ease.

The remote is very easy to use and understand. One of my favorite features was the 'zoom' button, so I could finally read the 'fine print' credits following some movies.

Unfortunately, I purchased this unit in May 2007, and now here I am, it is October 2007, and the machine will no longer power up to play. For the last week, I have had to press the button up to 50 times to get the power to come on; Once I can get power on, everything functions fine: But it is taking even longer to get power, so I suspect a complete failure of the unit now. It's really too bad. The early failure is what reflects my final review score. Sorry, Philips. Thought I had a fantastic deal here for a few months.

Pros: Hum...
Cons: Where do I start...

I just bought the Philips DVP642 player and I must say that I was thrilled when it played a DVD from Europe (my old DVD player didn't read that DVD format) anyways... I popped in a movie (regular) and it said: "Loading (took forever to read it) then it said "NO DISK"... what do you mean no disk... so I tried another one, and another one, finally I got frustrated... From reading other re-views I can see that other people had the SAME problem "No disk" so guess what??? Tomorrow I'm going back to WALMART and return the piece of junk!!!!
Never again!!

I hope this re-view will help other potential buyers.
Now I gotta start looking for a new one again...oh well.

Pros: Multi-format support, firmware upgrades, stylish & compact. It even plays AVI's!
Cons: not so stylish remote, a bit slow when selecting MP3 folders for playback.

I received this DVD player as a Christmas gift and believe me when I say that I didn't need a store receipt in case I decided to return it...this thing plays EVERYTHING I've thrown at it!

I've read some reviews that claim that there is no eject button on the remote itself; this is true BUT if you read the manual you will find that by pressing & holding down the "STOP" button on the remote for 3 seconds the disc tray will eject as well as close. Sure it's not the same as having a button but it's better than nothing.

As far as picture quality is concerned, the picture itself is not too bad, very crisp and sharp with nice colors...the image would look nicer if you have an HDTV compatible TV. I have a JVC 27" non-HD and the picture still looks great!

I did experience some problems with the audio being out of sync with the video and some minor skipping when playing DIVX movies. Hopefully these problems will be solved with a firmware upgrade.

Overall, great player at a great price!

Pros: compact design, works for a short while
Cons: faulty. power supply fails after couple of months

After couple of months the power button was flashing and the dvd player would not start. Did a search and found that the capacitor on the power supply had burnt. IT cost me $37 so it is not worth $20 plus shipping to have philips fix it. CHeap!

Pros: Nice concept.
Cons: Doesn't Work

As soon as I took this machine out of the package and connected it I have had problems. It plays nothing but cds and mp3 discs. It does not play any dvds at all, not even run of the mill dvds rented at Blockbuster. All I get after a long time of disc reading is "no disc". You get what you pay for. Fork up a few bucks more and get a different player. I am disappointed in Philips. They made an inferior product and I as a consumer feel cheated.

Pros: plays everything upgradeable price is great looks great easy to use i like it
Cons: none at all ....what do you think about that ?? maybe that it isnt free.

simply hold the stop button for 1-2 secs and it opens ...hold again to close!!! a simple search on google gave me this . its not in the manual .
having probs with region codes and firmware upgrades ?? check this out..
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks.php?select=Philips DVP 642
anyway everyone else has already told you how incredible this is for the price ..get it !!
update ...problems with this player are fixed by upgrading firmware!!! you can fastforward and rewind on any file with the update ..fixes bugs and audio/visual glitches ...i cant stress enough..check out your firmware to see what version you have ..mine was a year old !! and i bought it new!

Pros: Plays just about anything you shove in it!!
Cons: may be lacking a few features, but still worth the price!

STFU... it's a $55 (+-) player, for heavens sake! you're reviewing it like you spent hundreds of dollars on it!! give us all a break, if you want to spend hundreds of dollars on a DVD player, there are plenty out there to choose from, but if you want a REALLY good and very inexpensive DVD player that plays just about anything (although may be lacking a feature or 2), then look no further than this one!

highly recommended for the price!

Pros: Plays just about anything I put in it, with a few exceptions.
Cons: That $&%#@%#'¿n! remote. Everyone complains about the remote layout.

This player was so good/bad I bought two of them. Everyone who I have recommended it to has bought one. All have the same love for it as well as the same complaints. A good player for the money, however, there a few bugs in the firmware/software. I think the firmware upgrades that have come out should address more important questions like reliability, than is the macrovision and sub-titles now working. For example the audio lag problem mentioned elsewhere, fast forwarding and trying to hit play gives you a "hand" as in stop doing that function! The video quality on 98% of the DivX and XviD's are superb for compressed video. A little noisy in the motor department. For $58. at Walmart It can't be beat (yet). Reminds me of Win 98© and XP© when they first came out. They had many bugs that should have been worked out before release. Come on Philips step up and fix this great player. To sum up I love/hate this unit.

Pros: plays different types of discs easy to use
Cons: little slow to load dvd

My only problem with this machine is the remote. There is a set of buttons that make up a raised arrow keypad (up, down, left, right) with an OK button in the middle. The play button is directly below the down arrow, and I find myself fairly often trying to press the incorrect button. The play button should be the middle of the arrow keypad. In my opinion, it would be a more intuitive design.
Everything else about this player is great. It plays burned discs, CDs, DVDs, and whatever else other reviewers say. There are only a few buttons on the machine itself, lending to a streamlined, uncluttered face that looks sleek.
When shopping for this item, I was also considering a Sony, but the reviews I read made me choose this one. The Sony was slightly more expensive and didn't have the same overwhelmingly positive reviews.
For $65 I couldn't have asked for more.

Pros: Works OK
Cons: No Problems

Works fine-No Problems. Works OK All of the time. I would not want a better DVD player. If I wanted to buy another, this would be the one.

Pros: Upgradable with downloadable firmware. Plays Xvid, DivX, MPEG4 etc.
Cons: Quirky System Menu System and that's about it.

I picked up this unit on the recommendation of a co-worker. I've got quite a movie collection on my computer which I hoped would work on the player. Any Videos encoded with the latest Xvid codecs seem to play w/some problems. Additionally as someone stated in an earlier review the menu system is a bit quirky. Also make sure and read the directions if you're planning on using the unit w/a component TV. Gotta change the settings in the menu.

Pros: PLAYS AVI FILES ON CD!
Cons: Remote is crappy. Get a nice universal remote with big buttons.

I am extremely happy with this little player. I was surfing walmart.com one day and found it - noticed it advertised as playing DIVX movies. Hmm...interesting. I figured it was worth a little extra to have that feature, so...

I picked it up. Man, am I glad it did. AVI's look all right on computer monitor, but on my nice big tv they look great! This player plays divx and xvid files without a hitch. Just burn those AVI movies you backed up from your DVDs to CD-R, and away you go. It just works. I've recommended it to a couple of friends, and they are very happy too. It also plays regular dvds just fine, no problems.

Only thing I don't like is the little itty bitty remote with the poorly labeled buttons. GET A NICE UNIVERSAL REMOTE, sit back, and watch all your "backed up" movies on cd.

Pros: Plays Everything
Cons: Picture is simply not very clear

After all the great reviews here, I'm wondering if mine is just broken. True, it's taken every thing I've thrown at it so far, but the picture is quite fuzzy compared to my JVC (which I'm replacing for it's lack of ability to play the formats it says it can). Also, the DivX movies I've tried on it have lines going through the whole screen from top to bottom...there thin enough that you could still watch the show, but they are noticeable throughout.

I love that I can play absolutely everything on it, including Mpeg4/DivX, but unless I can get a better picture quality, I'll be taking it back.

Update: What the others said about the DivX audio out of sync also occurred. I checked the file on the computer, though, and it worked fine. I returned this player and bought the Yamaha DVS5750S...check out my review over there.

Pros: Price, Features, Format, Remote, Price
Cons: No eject button on remote?

I bought this product because I was so sick and tried of burning and encoding dvds. I was looking around for something that could handle many formats. This was it. It plays avi, divx, most xvid, mpeg, mp3, vcd, svcd, etc. It has a really sharp picture and plays no problem. Comes with everything remote,batteries, cables, etc. Technical support is helpful..I had a question on component input and they answered it. I paid $60 for it at Best Buy and it was good deal. One thing that was funny. Best Buy tried to sell me a "protection plan" for 29.99 for 2 years when the player is $60..what!

Pros: Picture was very clear.
Cons: Doesn't play Disney? C'mon...

I purchased my Philips DVP via the Circuit City website and picked it up at the local store. I'm not a power user or a pirate... just your average Jane looking to play my netflix on a first ever dvd player purchase. It played all, with the exception of Disney movies. Philips said the problem was with a change in Disney encryption and that I needed to talk to Disney (but he's dead.) Curiously, this "new encryption" did not cause my 7 year old Sony playstation any trouble.
It took a great deal of effort... phone calls, letter writing, form filling outting, and eventually working with the consumer mediation program at the DA's office to finally get a player that played ALL my netflix rentals. Talk about disappointing.

I found it a giant PITA to retrieve those Disney discs from the player once it was fetched up at the FBI warning. In addition, the remote and customer service were lousy. Tech support actually clarified for me that it was only the Disney movies, then told me the problem didn't exist, then told me to talk to a dead man to solve my problem. Not helpful.

Pros: Plays everything
Cons: Overheats and needs repair each year

This machine plays anything I put in it beautifully. BUT it does have a tendencey to blow a key capacitator, which is the cause of the "blinking power light" problem you may have read about wherein the machine stops responding and only blinks its little red light at you in mockery.

I beleive this happens because of the "standby" feature that basically keeps the machine on all the time. This, combined with the "slimline" design, makes one of the capacitators inside overheat and die.

If you know how to solder simple electronics and can afford to blow a couple of bucks at Radio Shack, the capacitator is easily replaced, solving the problem. Instructions can be found here:

http://360.yahoo.com/mikescottfrank

Pros: looks great, works great
Cons: none that i have found

plays everything i throw at it....cant be beat for the money, very small and sleek and it will play your divx movies too!

Pros: Compatibility
Cons: Poor workmanship, terrible warranty

I bought this DVD player 9 months ago because of its ability to play multiple formats. This was wonderful. It could play just about anything I put in it.

It worked fine for 9 months, then, out of the blue, the DVD player wouldn't recognize any DVDs. I tried a number of different formats and nothing worked. Then, a few days later, the door would no longer open and shut and I had a Netflix video stuck inside.

Even though it is cheap, I am shocked it fell apart this quickly. If you can afford to replace it every 9 or 10 months, then buy it. Otherwise, look for another model.

Pros: Plays everything including PAL and Divx
Cons: Ummmmmm, I'll get back to you, can't think of one right now

Excellent player that plays Divx (no not MP4). But that's just the beginning, it plays nearly everything. Got a VCD? Copy the .DAT file, rename it .mpg and it plays it. Got a .WMV? It'll play it. PAL? No problem. Sturdy and reliable, get one now and don't hesitate because they're almost gone.

Pros: The best DVD for the money on the market today!
Cons: I can't think of any ...

I bought one these to see how it played because I liked the features it has. The ability to play DivX is hard to find. It had several other features that were important to the initial decision to buy. I liked it so much that I bought a 2nd one for my parents!

Pros: Everything about this model is great. BUT.......
Cons: The zoom display in the middle/screen just won't go off. Can anyone help please??

The zoom function really sucks. Every time i press the zoom button to enlarge the wide screen picture, the display such as x2,x4, etc. just won't go away or disappear. It appear at the top middle of the picture and it's blocking my movie screen. I even call to the service center for help but they can't do anything about it.
Do anyone out there who know how to make the zoom display disappear?? Very headache about this. Thought of going to trade-in for a new brand model. Please help. Thanks.

Pros: Plays many different formats, PAL->NTSC conversion, region controls
Cons: No eject button on remote; still not the end-all video format player

This is an impressive DVD player. Not only does it just play DVDs, but it supports a wide variety of other formats, including VCD, SVCD, DivX and MPEG files, MP3 files, and as a bonus, it can convert PAL-formatted videos to NTSC and also has region-control features. The video & audio quality are both excellent. It even has several different audio modes to choose from. This player is just what I was looking for, and then some.

Since it can play DivX and MPEG files, it seems that they could go the distance and make it be able to play a lot more formats, but its format support is still limited to DivX and MPEG, plus maybe a few others (I found that it can play video from a WMV file, but not the audio, and I've heard it can play XVID files as well). But still, this DVD player goes way above & beyond any other DVD player. And for a price in the $60 range (I paid $63.94 at amazon.com), this player is hard to beat.

Pros: Plays most media formats, Progressive scan, Thin design
Cons: Doesn't support non-standard Divx codecs, No Quicktime support

Unless you are a Home Theater Buff with a set of purple velvet seats in your stadium style room, there is no reason to buy any other DVD Player. The unit will play just about everything. It will even play DVDs that contain 1000s of MP3 (DVD-MP3), which my previous Panasonic did not. If you are looking for something versatile, progressive scan, and affordable, then this is the player for you.

Pros: Absolutely none.
Cons: Serious reliability / performance problem.

I purchased a Philips DVP642/37 DVD player and returned it under warranty due to video locking up problems. The unit was replaced with another DVP642/37 with the serial number blanked out and this unit also has video locking problems.

Since the serial number of the returned unit was blanked out, I believe that Philips returned the same defective unit to me.

Pros: - Plays all formats - Affordable price
Cons: - Lack of surround sound outputs - Lack of independent eject button on RM

Affordable & Convenient:
Why by an expensive laptop or a big computer to run your MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MP3 movies and music? This awsome player plays it all. Divx/Xvid/VCD/SVCD/MP3/DVD etc.. This unit is also one of the cheapest DVD players in most stores, and it goes for about $60 US to $ 90 US.

Flexible:
With the ability to update the firmware you can always be up to date with the latest formats and features offered. You can download the firmware at the phillips website, burn it to a cd and update the DVD player with it. You can check what firmware version you have by pressing "5 6 7 OK", and compare it to the newest one on the phillips website. This player plays all region codes, by turning it on, and ejecting the tray , you can press "7 8 9 OK 0" then close the tray and reset it. This allows you to play DVDs from all region codes!

Pros: It works, looks great, super buy, will play almost anything, and it works.
Cons: No HD, (Phillips does make one) but the component looks great.

Yes a great big wohoo!

We just bought this DVD player at Circuit City. Price: $39.00 after $10.00 in store discount and $20.00 mail in rebate. A steal on a very nice DVD player.

It is connected via component cables to our VIZIO 37" LCD (see my other reviews). Movies are breathtaking. Whats even better this thing will play almost any disc you stick in it. I still have to try some DivX movies, but it should handle those with ease.

CD play... I actually disconnected an older Onkyo changer to make room for the new player. The sound coming from the Phillips was amazingly improved over the Onkyo.

Some reviews have mentioned the menu and remote aren't that great. I disagree on both counts.

Again the setup looks crisp and clean on the new Bello TV stand in smoked glass.

Sorry Panasonic, you will never be invited in our home again.

Pros: Yeah! it can play divx!
Cons: Really hard to know why some divx files don't play.

I don't know why all the people who posts great reviews of this player, can really belive that it works great.
But, in my case.. i download a lot of anime from japan, what is nearly popular en america, and that anime needs to be fansubed and they do a great job, and..
ok.
the player.. the player can't play certain resolutions of divx like 768x576, a lot of audio codecs, and is hard to burn the files if you got subtitles, the manual don't show how u need to burn divx with subtitles files.
if you have series with a lot of episodes, you need to change all the names to 8 characters if you want to recognize them.

Pros: Plays everything.
Cons: Doesn't last. Horrible warranty. Poor customer service.

If everything works as expected, this is a great player. However mine went dead after 5 months and this thing only has a 90 day warranty. Philips customer service is horrible and they want me to pay more money to return it for a replacement. Buyer beware, other competitors have one year warranties.

Pros: Divx & AVI, Great AC3 decoder, once i got it going
Cons: DIVX & AVI voices get left behind some time. AC3 setup not plug and Play

Great DVD player, However does have issues.
Had one on trial ($299.00NZD)but returned to store. Found one in a 2nd hand store 3 months later for $100.00 and was only 4 mnths old. So I brought it.

1) Had taken ages to figure out the 5.1 channel on board decoder as I have AC3 ready amp. This was the main reason why I returned it.
2) The voices get left behind on DIVX movies which is strange, cos we watched a movie in the morning it was fine, then watched again at night and the voices got left behind. Kids watch the same movie on putor with no issues.
This problem occured on Trial & thwe 2nd hand one so it wasn't a one off.

So it has been demoted to the kids room and out of the lounge, back comes the Mazuda cheapy DVD Player.

But I only lost a $100.00

Pros: Includes batteries for the small remote. Nothing else.
Cons: Can not be used for over an hour.

Nice looking unit, nice features.. but if you try to watch brand new DVDs it plays about an hour then starts pausing every few seconds. What good are all the features if you can't actually watch videos without irritating pauses an hour into a movie?! Going to be returned tomorrow.

Pros: Slim, sleek look and plays all formats.
Cons: Skipping between transitions of chapters. DVDs get stuck occasionally.

Its an average DVD player that plays all formats. Thats about it. Ive noticed that when it changes chapters it will skip momentarily which in my opinion is completely unacceptable. Nothing really shined about it otherwise, besides the fact that its really slim and I thought it looked cool. Given that, I had trouble getting the DVDs to go in once in a while especially with d-skins (slim clear cover over the bottom of a DVD/CD to help protect it) on my DVDs. It would catch them going in and then get them lodged in between the door. The sound and overall picture quality are pretty good of a normal DVD player. But the two faults about this are enough to get this DVD player dumped. Sadly I expected more from a company like Philips. Better luck next time guys.

Pros: Plays nearly all DivX codecs. Inexpensive Very easy to use. Light.
Cons: Remote poorly designed. Poor quality. Essentially disposable.

As many others have pointed out, this is a player with some truly great features.

Unfortunately, good quality and durability aren't among them. My first Phillips 642 lasted a month before the firmware crashed. It was still under warranty, so the company sent me a replacement. The replacement lasted nine months before the firmware crashed once again, right in the middle of playing a DVD.

At $69.00, I sort of shrugged and figured I'd gotten my money's worth, and set out to Best Buy to purchase a new one, because I really liked the features.

I ended up trying to hook up three different players. All of them had defects in the component video inputs (after the second one, I double-checked my cables against my Sony DVD player, and no problem).

At my fourth trip back to Best Buy, I discovered I'd worked my way through the available stock, and settled for a comparable JVC player with DivX capability. It's really too bad.

My new JVC player doesn't support nearly as many codecs as the Phillips 642 DVD player did, but I'm hoping will last longer than nine months.

Pros: Easily plays foreign videos
Cons: Can't think of any

I recently purchased this for viewing of both US and foreign DVDs. Much to my delight, it seems to work fine. Popped a Hong Kong video in and it played right away. Did not have to mess with any settings at all. Worked just as well for US format.

Since I do not have top notch equipment, I can't adequately rate picture and sound quality. Similarly, since I just bought it, I can't adequately rate durability.

Pros: True multi-format; plays 95% of everything I've thrown at it.
Cons: Navigating the menus is rough and displays like Time Left are hard to get to.

This plays virtually everything. I've owned it for a year and it's the most tolerant DVD player I've ever seen. On top of that, it's cheap! (price) I say virtually everything because there are a few Xvid files it has choked on. The ability to upgrade the firmware with new codecs would be nice. But for a play everything solution, this is excellent. It plays PAL too!

Pros: 1. Plays Xvid, Dvix and avi formats, Price
Cons: Dimensions, Refinement

I download quite a bit of asian movies and drama online. These come in multiple formats like XVid, DVIX, AVI etc., Until now, I used to play them in my home theater by connecting my laptop to the receiver unit.

But, this DVD player changed my life!! In addition to all the regualr formats (DVD /- R, RW, CD, MP3, Picture CD etc etc..) that other DVD playes can play, this one can play DVIX, AVI, XVID files like a dream.

There may be a couple of tweaks that could be required when one changes formats. The tweak is to slightly change the Video output setting. If you can figure this out - you are all set.

By the way, i paid $44 incl. taxes at Circuit city for this unit.

Hope this helps.

Pros: Very easy to install and operate
Cons: Cannot register on line.

I was very pleased with the ease of installation and the ease of operation of the DVP642. However I was surprised that the only apparent method of registration is by filling out a paper card and mailing in by post. As advanced as Phillips is I expected to be able to register on line.

Pros: Sleek, up-to-date looks. Very capable at accurate reproduction of DVDs and other media-types.
Cons: A little on the noisy side, but this is being nit-picky!

I hooked the DVP-642 up to my HDTV using component video cables and was very satisfied with the resulting picture which was crisp with bright, brilliant colors. It seems to be a little noisy, but you can't hear it with movies playing. Would recommend if you have a small space but want a modern-looking, capable DVD player. I got mine at Fry's Electronics for $69.99--they had a whole pallet of them.

Pros: Very Good Value
Cons: Non learnable remote

It's small and lightweight. And looks good in the company of a HDTV and DVR.
It is a big improvement over my old RV-31S
It's mp3 playback menu is simplistic and only shows 8.3 filesnames, but hey my old Panasonic had none-at-all.
A few people mentioned no eject button, but I figure you have to go there to take out the disk anyway.
Remote is el-cheapo, but I was hoping to program remote from my Onkyo Receiver (R392) to do everything. But alas, it can't seem to "learn".
The only relief is that remote from Sony Grand Wega is able to control it.
Has anyone run into similar troubles? Do I have go and spend another $30 (almost 50% of this players cost) on a universal remote)? Let me know if you have suggestions
And also I had some MPEG4 files I tried to play, and player said "unknown codec"

Pros: Plays a lot of different formats.
Cons: Problems from the very first day. Truly pathetic customer service.

From the first day, it started giving "No Disc" errors on all the DVDs. I was about to return it when it started working fine. It worked OK for a month or two and then the same problem again. I called Philips customer service (after the warranty period of 90 days had expired) but they said they can't do anything and the best they can do is do offer a replacement at a reduced cost. A major company like Philips should be ashamed of this type of customer service where I was clearly sold a lemon and they don't want to do anything about it.

Just to compare their customer service with Sony. My Playstation 2 had a similar Disc Read Problem, 3 years after I bought it and well out of the warranty period). They fixed it for free. Philips would rather keep my money instead of trying to keep a customer satisfied.

Pros: Worked well before it died.
Cons: Died after a year...which is not uncommon, as it turns out.

I had this machine for about a year and it quit on me. The standby light blinked, and that was "game over" for the player. I had to pry the DVD out of it. As you can see, many other customers have had the same problem.

This is a piece of junk and it's the last thing I'll buy from this company.

Pros: Best DivX player
Cons: Codes for universal remote hard to find

This player can play almost every DiVX file except the latest XVid, mkv, ogg. There are some ways to fix that.
It doesn’t have options that more sophisticated players do such as buttons on a remote, some functions, etc.
It doesn't have to.

It is cheaper than my LiteOn, it doesn't choke on DVD-R disks like my Norcent, it plays DVD+R unlike my Sony.

It is made by Phillips which means future updates unlike RJ Tech.

Thanks to Phillips: now I can watch DiVX on a large TV screen for a very reasonable price of $66.49 free shipping from Amazon.

Pros: Plays burned cd's and all dvd's.
Cons: Only works well for maybe 6 months

I got this because it was a reasonable price...not the cheapest but not the most expensive. Plus it seemed to be what I needed. It worked really good for the first 7 months or so. Played burned cd's and all. Now I'm lucky to be able to watch an entire 60 min movie without it pausing or stopping. Of course it won't play at all after it starts acting up.

Pros: plays Divx, XVID VCD, SVCD, AVI and other. Inexpensive, sleak
Cons: Remote layout, always could use more bells and whistles

I just bought one of these over Christmas and was amazed with its versatility. It plays almost all formats, and on many different types of media. I was able to but 100 episodes of one of my favorite shows on a dvd and play it without a hitch. Like other reviews about this product, I dislike the remote layout, but it's not that horrible. Also though it wouldnt allow it to be streamline, I would like to have seen more buttons on the unit itself. I constantly loose remotes and this machine would be very difficult to use without. All and all a great product

Pros: Easy setup, nice sleek design, works logically.
Cons: Remote button icons for FF, REV, Slow, Eject, not the industry standard

I purchased this player this morning and am already in love with it. We owned an Aspire DVD player that had a mind of its own, did all sorts of whacky things, wouldn't read slightly imperfect discs, and took forever to load. The Aspire also took something like an hour to set-up and was difficult to program its remote buttons in to our universal remote. This Philips DVD player has none of those issues. Right out of the box it worked like a charm. It reads problem discs, I don't see any random digitizing of the picture (as with the Aspire), and it's pretty user friendly and intuitive. It seems logical and I only had to do minor set-up.
Others have mentioned the remote doesn't have an EJECT button, the manual says to hold the STOP button for 1-2 seconds - works like a charm.

Pros: Worked well while it worked.
Cons: Died 6 months after purchase. Philips customer support was worthless.

This DVD player is not worth one red cent! I bought the Philips DVP 642 in February 2006 because of its ability to read DivX format. It stopped functioning properly by August 2006!!! Problem was consistent regardless of which DVD was played (screen would randomly scramble, turn green, freeze, then player would turn off). No improvement with either cleaning or unplugging the player for 10min as the Philips support center suggested. THEN Philips wanted us to pay $40 for a replacement with an additional $10 shipping charge- for a DVD player we paid $70 for 6 months ago! Philips refused to budge on their policy so we gave up. Just got back from Best Buy with a new Toshiba DVD player.

p.s. our 2y.o. Philips TV also just died on us and we paid $150 to get that one fixed (only 2 weeks before the DVD player went!) I sure won't buy anything made by Philips again!

Pros: Good quality and plays a multitude of formats
Cons: The eject button is so hidden it took me 6 months to find it :)

This is a great player, have owned it for 6 months and it plays just about anything you throw at it.

After these 6 months of ejecting the disk tray from the main unit, I discovered, after watching a movie that if you hold down on the STOP button for 2 to 3 seconds the disk ejects. Kinda cool, but would have been a lot better if it had it's own button

Pros: Will play just about anything. Good value in my humble opinion.
Cons: Have had to switch on/off when trying to access a really large collection of files.

The Philips DVP642 is a great DVD player. It's easy to get it region free, it plays just about any media I've put in to it. Your living room too far from your wireless LAN, put your song collection on a DVD and play it on this machine.

Great quality in video playback (I'm no audiophile - but it does everything I've wanted)

Pros: Cheap.
Cons: Unreliable. Capacitor 316 burns out.

Bought the Phillips DVP642 last November 2005. Played maybe 3 discs a month until yesterday December 2006, when it died. NO DISC error.

There is a forum on Yahoo, explaining how you can change a capacitor - look up
no disc dvp642 or blinking dvp642 on Google. I changed the capacitor just now and it still doesn't work. Trashing it.

Be aware, these have a history of dying at 6-12 months. I hardly used mine and it happened.

Pros: Multi-format capabilities, price, size, style.
Cons: Erratic behaviour.

Bought this primarily for its low price and PAL and DVD+/- capabilities. It will play PAL format multi-region disks, but will not play the one disk I have marked "2 PAL" (for region 2 - Europe).

The remote is not intuitive and takes some getting used to. I have 5 other remotes and they were much easier to "learn" than this one. It does have all the useful features like zoom, A-B repeat, and fast and slow speeds for reverse and forward.

The machine does seem to get easily "confused" and will shut off for no apparent reason. An example is using 8X fast forward then pressing "Play". Other combinations will cause it to shut down also. I've read other reviews and nobody has mentioned anything like this. I wish I were making this up, but unfortunately I'm not.

For the money, I'm satisfied with it, but I would have expected better from Philips.

Pros: PAL, DivX... you name it, sharp picture, great sound, loaded!
Cons: Small display, no eject on remote.

I went to buy a DVD player with optical audio out and component video out. Ho, how much more I got for very little cash!!! Check this out: I popped in a PAL format European region DVD, and the new love of my life PLAYED IT through my NTSC TV! Not to mention the other formats everyone is raving about. That alone is worth the money, and it wasn't even mentioned on the box! This puppy converts almost everything into your TV!

I've only had it for a couple of hours, but the Lord Of The Rings never looked better on my little widescreen. I heartily recommend it, Philips is a solid brand, and you won't have to regret.

Pros: Price, appearance and remote features.
Cons: Stops playing and starts frustrating after a few weeks. Complex on-screen menus and worthless manual.

About: Philip's DVP5140/37 bought in mid- November from WalMart... for $45:

I'm a heavy DVD user...about 100 hours monthly... mostly due to Netflix membership.

The Philip's was on sale...and I was desperate and IGNORANT.

The Philip's worked great for TWO weeks.

Then it started to fail rapidly.

"Loading" began to take forever...followed by too many "no disc"...and "unknown disc" notices to count.

I returned it yesterday...BEFORE WalMart's 30 day no hassle policy ended...but only after calling the Philip's hotline and getting NOTHING of value re the machine's constant failings.

It seems that under $100 DVD's are to be regarded as disposable! Not worth mailing back and repairing.

Pros: An excellent player overall. It plays most types of DVD and video computer files.
Cons: Serves for 2-3 years then need a new one. But it is well worth it.

Basically a great product that somebody is trying to have you buy for 3 times of what it cost. I bought my last one for $55 (and had two more for about the same price before that one) more than 3 years ago and it served splendidly untill now. Now I need to get a new one, and I see $169 price tag - get real guys. I know it's Christmass and all, but 3 times as much is way too expensive.