Toshiba SD-4980 DVD Player with HDMI and DivX Playback
Current best inexpensive Divx player
I currently own a Toshiba 4800 DVD player and a Philips 642 Divx/DVD player.   I use the Philips to play Divx/Xvid files, but the picture quality is not as good as the excellent Toshiba, so I've continued to use the latter for DVDs.    So, when I saw that Toshiba now has a DVD player that plays Divx/Xvid files, I was quite interested.   I was hoping that it removed the annoyances of the Philips first generation player, and indeed it has:    - 28 character file name display instead of 11 characters on the Philips  - Plays GMC and QPEL encoded files that cause problems on the Philips  - Standard Toshiba DVD player remote codes which allow use of a universal remote  - Display button provides elapsed time, remaining time, file number and video and audio encoding details.  - Picture quality on both Divx/Xvid files and DVDs that is up to Toshiba's usual high standards.    I don't have HD (so I can't comment about upconverting), but I have a very good quality SD set, and I'm quite satisfied with the picture quality, so I've now replaced my Toshiba and the Philips with this player.    I have not yet had one disk freeze.   My guess is that the first production run had a bad batch of lasers, and that subsequent production has better quality.  I can't imagine why else the fall reviews describe this problem, while the winter reviews don't.  (Note that any particular retailer might have old stock.)    Personally, I'm not bothered by the blue light, and neither is my wife.   However, my player is up above the TV in the entertainment center.   Probably the key is to not have the player at seated eye level where the blue light might be shining directly at you.    By the way, about the only annoyances with this unit are that \\"auto-play\\" is hard-wired into the unit - you have to press stop to get the menu of Divx or MP3 files.   And, there is no \\"root\\" menu display of folders - left or up arrow goes to another folder's file listing.  And, oddly the folder names are only 18 charactersrather than 28 like the file names.    PS  Concerning remotes - note that home entertainment devices are shipped with really cheap batteries that may have sat around for months or years.   So, before complaining that the remote works badly, try replacing the batteries with new alkalines.    UPDATE:  After another month, still no problems whatsoever (no disc freezes).   And, I've discovered that it will play PAL DVDs as well as NTSC.   Of course, there is still the normal region restriction.    2ND UPDATE: I've discovered that if any file has more than 64 characters in the filename, the player will hang.  Thus, you need to burn your Divx, Xvid, Mpeg, Jpeg, MP3 and WMA files in ISO 9660 + Joliet mode (and do NOT check \\"Allow more than 64 characters\\").   This is actually in the player's specifications, but there are some things in the specs that don't apply - for example, you can use DVDRs in addition to CDRs and you can use RW disks.   You don't need to keep track of any of this if you only burn DVD-VIDEO disks or VCDs, because those automatically conform to the same standards.  If you do get a lockup accidentally from a filename longer than 64 characters, unplugging the unit and plugging it back in, should clear it.    By the way, I've read in another customer review that the player can read Ogg Vorbis files, but I have not had any success with that.  And, in case anyone is wondering, it will not read MKV format files either.    And, still no freezes in playback.