Philips DVD724AT Progressive-Scan DVD Player
This baby does it all.
This DVD player is amazing.<br />Features<BR>It has progressive scan, s-video, component video, coaxial and optical audio connections in addition to the RCA connection.<BR>It plays different kinds of media. I tried regular DVD movies, an original VCD, a cheap VCD, a home made VCD (using Nero), a home made music CD (MP3 files), a CD that contain photos organized in different files (Jpeg files), I even tried a Mini CD filled with photos and a short movie (my digital camera saves directly to a mini CD), each and every one played flawlessly. I still want to try DVD+R and DVD+RW as soon as I do that I will post an update.<BR>When using Jpeg CDs<BR>-You can watch your photos as a slide show and change the transfer time between the photos with one push on the remote (very nice when you want to take your time watching photos you love or just want to go quickly on others).<BR>-You can choose either that the player runs the all photos automatically or you choose which file contents to play (saves a lot of time when you want to watch a specific group of photos).<BR>-You can rotate a photo (very important if you took the photo vertically and you didn't edit it).<BR>-You can zoom in and out (it's beautiful to watch the face of my niece fill the screen).<BR>-You can press next or previous to navigate (and you get a very fast respond).<BR>-You can watch a thumbnail of all your photos by pressing preview on the remote control (although it takes a long time).<br />What I like about this player<BR>The features I mentioned earlier.<BR>The clean cut of the player and that it has the 4 most used buttons Play/Pause, Stop, Prev. & Next on the player itself just in case you can't find the remote.<BR>When you turn this baby off, no lights remain on.<BR>The feel of the remote control.<br />What I don't like<BR>How slow it is when viewing thumbnails.<BR>The player can't add effects between pictures when using the slide show (so if I want to watch a group of pictures with effects I make a slide show with my computer then burn it to a CD, but with the prices of the CD-R going down and the fact that with a slide show program you can make much better slide shows than any DVD player can and on top of that also add sounds the lack of the slide show is not a big deal, although it would've saved me time and effort if I can watch all the photos with effect just by using the DVD player).<br />I really recommend this player, if you just want a regular DVD Player you can't go wrong it plays movies beautifully with great sound for an amazing price.<br />If you have a top notch TV, stereo or surround sound, or might get one in the future it is important to have a DVD player that will take advantage of it.<br />If you don't use Jpeg CDs, it is also nice to have that feature especially that in these days a lot of people send each other photos on CDs, so if you have this player you can just pop the CD in and watch the photos on your TV no need to use the computer or be limited by your monitor size.