Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player
THIS THING ROCKS!!!
Okay, I first posted my review in January 2005, now it is February 2006 and time to put in an update.  My DVP642 is more than a year old now is still going strong.  I have one and I got one for mom.  In addition, at least four of my coworkers each have a DVP642 and I have yet to hear one complaint from them.  I will probably pick another one up soon for the bedroom by either ordering from Amazon or just stopping by Wal-Mart.      PROS:    --your bang for the buck is high  --Philips is a good name brand  --component video outputs  --composite outputs (\\"RCA jacks\\")  --progressive scan  --plays most AVIs and MPGs burned to blank CDs and DVDs (including -R, +R, and RW DVDs)  --plays MP3s  --plays both NTSC and PAL discs (I have several Region 2 PAL DVDs, so I need this feature)  --can be set to \\"region free\\" easily (open the tray, press  7 8 9 OK 0  on the remote...voila!).  Please note some people are saying the newer versions of this model (newer firmware) disallow changing to region free mode, though, but I have not confirmed that (I'll update this if and when I find out if this is true).      CONS:    --limited controls on the device itself to play/stop a movie  --so-so controls on the rather small remote  --no dedicated eject button on remote (however, holding STOP in for a few seconds does the eject as well as closing the tray remotely)  --silver color only (which clashes with my black black TV, black VCR, and charcoal gray DIRECTV box).  Why did the manufacturers start making EVERYTHNG silver?!  --video file movies burned to disc only recognize the FIRST ELEVEN characters of the filename (so when burning to disc, take this into account when naming the files).  Someone else reported it only uses the first eight characters, but on mine it's eleven characters based on the old DOS 8.3 naming convention (8 + 3 = 11).      Despite the cons, I still give this unit 5 stars for its price range and the fact it comes from Philips, a name I trust (along with Magnavox).  In anutshell:  this DVD player ROCKS!  This is a name brand, progressive scan player for about 60 bucks that *also* plays computer video files directly.      I definitely recommend this player for its price range, but if you are looking for a high end player with more features, then look for a player in a higher category.  And if you want a differnt DVD player that will also play computer video files, then you can find a list here:      [...]