Philips DVD711AT DVD Player
Its alright
I am writing this review based on a person who owns a two-speaker system with an amlifier (didn't really use rears) and a twenty-seven inch TV with S-Video input.<br />Let's really face it here.  It doesn't really matter how many more lines of resolution a Toshiba sd1600(540) has over a Philips DVD711(500).  If you have a regular television, it doesn't even hold 500 anyway.  I mean, unless you are the small percentage of people that have really keen eyesight and a great HDTV or better television, as far as the picture quality goes, if its a DVD player, its good enough.  What I want to focus on here is the features and the sound performance of this thing.<br />As for its features, there is a heavy rumor that it plays DVD-Rs as well as CD-Rs and RWs.  Lots of you would think that those are great features.  But its not really a feature to look for.  Some people here say that the menus aren't very good.  To my viewpoint, that isn't true at all.  Although it takes more than just one keystroke, they aren't taking over your life.  It creates an on-screen menu of options on the top of the screen.  To my opinion, the Video Black Level controls didn't really help in any of the viewing quality as well.  Neither did the zoom because it--not like other dvd players with zoom--pauses after zooming.  I guess it is to examine artifacts or bullets that are flying.  To my opinion, zoom is supposed to let one be able to watch their movie as a full screen perspective for the people that have smaller TV sets.  Its sound seems pretty crisp and clearer than other dvd players I have tried such as the Aiwa XV-DV370 by a little(highly recommended and costs the same and has this professional remote control, great quality virtual surround sound and sound in general with comparison to others at its price range--A definite five star in my book) and the Apex AD-660 by a lot(Highly don't recommend because of lack of sound quality although has good 2x zoom in options).  With the TruSurround 3d, one would notice that you must also place the speakers an average of 6 to 8 feet apart in order to produce the effect.  The effect of this feature is not so good either.  The most it did was create a center channel, and not the other side ones.  Spatializer N-2-2 seems to do a better job.  The remote control seems as small as a regular cell phone--easy to lose.  I didn't like how toy-like it looked and felt.  It also has no missing connections as well.  I mean that it has S-video, Component, two analog, optical, and coaxial outputs.<br />As for cons, the DVD711 has skipped once and placed me in different areas of a movie--which really sucks big time if you're watching something like the Sixth Sense.  And as I said, it doesn't make a good 3D effect on sound.<br />Why do I give it four stars you ask?  It is because its wonderful crisp sound(no matter what mode), its DVD-R capability, and the fact that its feature upgradable.  Another thing to keep in mind is that when they say its feature upgradable, its just saying that it only upgrades when the player has problems with playing new DVDs.  If you don't really like the control, just get another one.  If one was to spend this much money on a DVD player, I would certainly suggest you guys go out and buy an Aiwa XV-DV370 (plays mp3s CD-Rs and RW), Panasonic RV-30 ($50 rebate makes $130 with Digital Cinema Mode which just changes the picture mood, 2+subwoofer output along with Dialog Enhancer, smooth scanning, but missing a coaxial output.), Sony SD360 (With Active Tilt control which helps read messed up DVDs and Smoothscan modes to help less jerkiness in fast-forwarding and slowing down and great looking remote control.  Many different modes of cinema sound.  Best rated out in the market with $50 rebate makes $200), Toshiba SD1600 (only one of these with zoom feature to fit screen. No optical output.  Top seller here on Amazon, but I heard it skips and destroys DVDs sometimes if you got one in a hundred.), or the Philips DVD711 (Not really bad at all).  I just hope that all of this was helpful.  And by the way, the DVD711AT and the DVD711 are one in the same models.11 (Not really bad at all).  I just hope that all of this was helpful.  And by the way, the DVD711AT and the DVD711 are one in the same models.