Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Does what it promises, hope firmware is fixed for 1.5x zoom
First of all, let me say that this unit is very well worth the money. As \\"just a dvd player\\" I give it FIVE over FIVE points (or ten/ten if you wish).<br /><br />The unit comes locked for Region 1 DVDs, but can be easily unlocked (just google for the asnwer) to make it region-free. I have tested my unit purchased on amazon.com and unlocked with Region 1, region 2 dvds purchased from Britain, and region 4 DVDs purchased in South America. It just works.<br /><br />The unit's COMPONENT-VIDEO output is superb, even if you use an CRT TV. I recommend you get a quality component video cable and use that instead of the \\"composite video\\" output.<br /><br />When playing MPG and AVI files, the component video output shows pixelation and artifacts on low-quality or low-resolution avi/divx/mpg files, but when playing back the same files and switching the tv to component video, these problems go away!.<br /><br />Component video, it should be noted, is superior to \\"s-video\\" (which just separates color information from luminance), as each basic color (Red-Green-Blue) travels on a separate shielded cable.<br /><br />Now, the \\"extras\\" besides basic DVD playback<br /><br />1. DIVX and XVID are supported. But some .avi files will play back with NO SOUND if the original file was encoded with a \\"codec\\" (compression algorithm) that is not supported by this unit. Just because a file plays back ok on your PC with \\"Windows Media Player\\" it doesn't mean it will playback in this unit.<br /><br />2. DVD-R media *IS* supported. You might need, however, to update the firmware (it's available for download from the philips.com web site. You have to download a .iso image, burn the data to a cd-r, press a key combination on the remote and then insert the cd-r disc).<br /><br />Now the problems:<br /><br />1. Even while DivX is supported, mpeg4/divx files compressed with the Divx Pro software using the \\"QPEL\\" (advanced motion optimization and prediction) will NOT PLAY on the unit. The unit will display an ugly \\"QPEL CODEC NOT SUPPORTED\\" message and stop there. There's no way to play back QPEL encoded files on this unit (it would require a much faster processor inside).<br /><br />2. ZOOM LEVELS ARE INCONSISTENT. On DVD movies, zoom levels featured are 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 4x. However when you are playing back \\".avi\\" (mpeg4/divx) files, you will find that often the only zoom levels available are \\"normal\\" (no zoom) and \\"2x\\", and that's it!.  There is no 1.5x zoom level when paying back mpg and divx files! So forget about watching that wide-screen (4:3 format) movie in full screen by switching to 1.5x zoom mode. If it's a DVD movie you can. But if it's a DivX/MPEG4 movie you can't!.<br /><br />3. A-B loop doesn't work most of the time on DivX/AVI files. Sometimes, when it does work, after you selct an a-b loop, you turn the feature off by pressing the a-b key once again, and when you want to create another a-b loop, the feature no longer works! (unless you press STOP and PLAY the file once again). VERY annoying.<br /><br />4. PHILIPS doesn't seem very interested in updating the firmware. The last update is dated May 2004, and there has been no update since then, even while the number of bugs is high (see above).<br /><br />However, even after all this, I think that for ~$70 dollars or less including Amazon.com's free ground shipping, you can't go wrong with this unit, as DVD playback is superb, and the ability to play most (but not all!) .mpg / .avi (DivX/MPEG4/Xvid) video files is just a nice extra to have in there as a \\"bonus\\".<br /><br />Burning .avi and mpg files to DVD recordable media also works.will display an ugly \\"QPEL CODEC NOT SUPPORTED\\" message and stop there. There's no way to play back QPEL encoded files on this unit (it would require a much faster processor inside). <br /> <br />2. ZOOM LEVELS ARE INCONSISTENT. On DVD movies, zoom levels featured are 1.5x, 2x, 3x, 4x. However when you are playing back \\".avi\\" (mpeg4/divx) files, you will find that often the only zoom levels available are \\"normal\\" (no zoom) and \\"2x\\", and that's it!.  There is no 1.5x zoom level when paying back mpg and divx files! So forget about watching that wide-screen (4:3 format) movie in full screen by switching to 1.5x zoom mode. If it's a DVD movie you can. But if it's a DivX/MPEG4 movie you can't!. <br /> <br />3. A-B loop doesn't work most of the time on DivX/AVI files. Sometimes, when it does work, after you selct an a-b loop, you turn the feature off by pressing the a-b key once again, and when you want to create another a-b loop, the feature no longer works! (unless you press STOP and PLAY the file once again). VERY annoying. <br /> <br />4. PHILIPS doesn't seem very interested in updating the firmware. The last update is dated May 2004, and there has been no update since then, even while the number of bugs is high (see above). <br /> <br />However, even after all this, I think that for ~$70 dollars or less including Amazon.com's free ground shipping, you can't go wrong with this unit, as DVD playback is superb, and the ability to play most (but not all!) .mpg / .avi (DivX/MPEG4/Xvid) video files is just a nice extra to have in there as a \\"bonus\\". <br /> <br />Burning .avi and mpg files to DVD recordable media also works.