Philips DVP642 DVD Player

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