Philips DVP5960 DVD Player with HDMI, 1080i Upscaling, DivX Ultra, USB direct
A COLLECTION OF GOOD AND BAD POINTS
I love my Philips 642 (which I use with the bedroom TV) and since my Zenith player in the living room was giving me trouble I thought I'd try this model.  Sadly, it's gonna go back - <br /> <br />GOOD POINTS <br /> <br />Great picture quality.  I haven't tried the upscale feature.  My HD set only has DVI and I don't feel like buying an adapter, especially since (supposedly) the HDMI output on the player cuts off the coax digital audio output if you use it.  Groovy if you've got a HDMI amp you can snake it to, I don't. <br /> <br />Hackable.  Simple to turn off the region code and play PAL discs, and the PAL conversion is the best I've seen, even better than the 642.  Very nice if you have import discs. <br /> <br />MP3 playback supports DVD mp3 discs, and sounds GREAT.  The menu is a bit crude (like almost every DVD player is when it comes to mp3) but better than most.  It at least displays the bitrate and total files in folder.  It also allows you (via the \\"display\\" button) to select single, shuffle, folder and repeat folder options.  That is an EXTREMELY nice option, since most of the time I only want to hear one folder (album) and damn near no other player I've come across features this. <br /> <br />I haven't messed much with the DivX playback, but the little I did worked fine. <br /> <br />CONS <br /> <br />Audio occasionally mutes on my burned DVD-Rs and RWs.  BIG drag.  This may just be a defect with this particular machine, and I'll try another before giving up on this model.  Otherwise it doesn't seem to have any problems reading them. <br /> <br />Biggest complaint - NO DTS OUTPUT.  WTF??  Even the cheapest chinese throwaway players offer this.  I don't have a HUGE collection of discs with DTS, but enough to make this a BIG drawback (since I happen to prefer DTS when available).  Don't know what they were thinking with that one. <br /> <br />Oh, and the remote is pretty lame . . . . not as bad as the 642 but still cheap and awkward. <br /> <br />If the above drawbacks aren't dealbreakers I'd say go for it.  For an under $100 player it's got a lot of nice qualities.