Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Very Pleased with Features
As a college sophomore, I like to enjoy watching my shows and movies with my suitemates.  However, as most of our videos are in DivX or similar formats, we were stuck watching them on the computer.    The Philips DVP642 changed all that.  Initially, I placed an order with Amazon.com, but after waiting 4 days and as it was still not in stock, I switched over to Circuitcity.com.    The unit arrived 2 days later.  So far, I have tested DivX, Xvid, and SVCD formats on DVD+R amd CD-R disks and have been very pleased with the results.   However, some versions of Xvid encoded media files have problems.  For example, my Family Guy DVD Ripped Xvid back up copies would play for 8-30 seconds, then skip to the next track.  This drove me nuts.    Secondly, while I did not find the remote to be too cheap as others have complained, I also would have appreciated a better layout and a stronger signal to the DVD player.    I have tried the all-region \\"hack\\" [7,8,9 ok 0] to of no avail.  However, the [5,6,9 ok] worked fine.  This may be due to a difference in firmware versions.  I also don't know why the \\"hack\\" is needed, as the Philips DVP642 is advertised to a be a region-free player in the first place.  I have not had any problems so far with regional dvds [regions 1 and 3 tested].    Overall, the Philips DVP642 is an excellent player for the budget-minded consumer who enjoys a sleek, compact, and extremely compatible player.  For the price, the DVP642 has few faults and the constant firmware updates are a welcome addition to ensure the extended life of the product.    Update 9/06/04:    Noticed that the DVP642 crops video files.  I never noticed it before since everything I played was widescreen, but when I began playing my anime full screen TV shows, I noticed that the top and bottom sections were cut off [ie no subs!].  I will search the forums for a solution [there must be one] and hopefully update soon.    Update 9/16/04 - Player not good for Anime fans.    Small change of heart: a big thumbs down to the automatic cropping feature of the Philips DVP642.  While most people may not notice this--it becomes very apparent to those who are anime fans.  If the show is not in widescreen format, subtitles are cut off by the DVP642.  Unless Philips releases a firmware update that will fix this issue or unless anime fansubbers start placing subtitles higher, this is a pretty big deal for people who buy this unit to play their anime fansubbed shows.    Philips has been hiding their firmware update page, I know at least I had a really hard time finding it.  For your convenience, here it is:  [...]    Update 9/25/04:    Regarding the skipping issue I experienced with my Family Guy Xvid encoded back-ups I noted above, I had the same experience with DivX 5.11 encoded files.  I am not sure if it is a problem with my burner or if the DVP642 just acts screwy when there are over 30 files per disc.    Yesterday, my suitemate watched the movie Old School which was encoded in Xvid and there were no problems at all.  To my credit, I had also burned those Family Guy episodes three times as well.  I will try burning the Family Guy episodes on regular CD-R instead of cramming them all on DVD+R and see if it makes any difference.  If it does make a difference, that kinda sucks since it means I have to walk ALL ten feet over to the DVD player and open the disc tray to switch discs every 4 episodes ;-).