Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Nine months, still working
Well, I have had this player for nine months, and have pretty much watched part or portion of at least one DVD on it every day during that time, and it is still working as well as it did when I first received it new. The moment I opened the package it arrived in, I knew that it had to be \\"babied\\" and would not hold up to any accidents or abuse.    One thing I have attempted to maintain longevity is I have not played any CDs on it, as I have heard that playing audio CDs on DVD players messes with the reading mechanism (urban legend or not, I felt that my last DVD player started to skip a lot when playing movies after I started using it as my main CD player -- caveat emptor).    I followed the manual to the letter, and haven't placed the player on top of a television, or under one. I allowed \\"breathing room\\" of at least an inch or so in all directions around the player so that it wouldn't get overheated. So far, it's responded well and not frozen or broken on me.    I love the way the DVP642 plays DVDs from the UK (or Region 2), after using a simple hack I found on the Internet. It plays rental-by-mail discs fine (although I have had to Windex a few to enable them to be read) as well.     I give it four stars only because of some of the clunkier aspects of the remote control and the lack of some function buttons. Otherwise, the remote allows you to access any moment of the DVD you wish by entering the time and/or the chapter, and you can display how much time has elapsed on screen (all that important stuff you need to know!).     At the price, this is a good bargain. But it is without a doubt a very fragile machine.    UPDATE: Still working, one year after purchase. I still play a disc practically every day. And, I swear, I am not a Philips employee!    UPDATE 2!: Here it is, just about two years later, and I'm still playing more than one DVD a day on this player, and still getting solid performance out of it. And I still don't work for Philips.    UPDATE 3!!: It's now August of 2009 and the thing still works as well as the day I got it. Honest!