Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Great player for the price
I ordered the Phillips DVP642 a few weeks ago and I am very impressed with its performance.  I actually received the 642/37 (some places charge extra for the region-free pre-hacked version).  Here are the pros and cons: <br /> <br />Pros: <br />1. It plays DivX/XviD (without QPEL/GMC) and MP3 files with great quality. <br />2. It has progressive scan 480P output. <br />3. It is \\"hackable\\" to be region-free by opening the tray, pressing \\"7 8 9 OK 0\\", then closing the tray and powering off. It can play NTSC and PAL DVDs on NTSC and PAL TVs.  I am buying a second one for relatives in South America for the region-free ability alone. <br />4. Great price tag (&lt;$70). <br /> <br />Cons: <br />1. Only displays 8 characters of the DivX/XviD filename.  \\"moviename part 1.avi\\" becomes \\"movienam.avi\\" then \\"moviename part 2.avi\\" becomes \\"movie000.avi\\" and is displayed BEFORE \\"movienam.avi\\" due to alphabetizing, making the play order the opposite of what it should be.  This can be remedied by burning discs in ISO 8+3 mode renaming beforehand, but long filename support (Joliet or UDF) would have been a huge bonus.  I find it no surprise because I am not aware of any DivX/XviD DVD players with long filename support for under $200,besides my hacked XBox ;) <br />2. Subtitle files (.srt and .sub) are supported, but don't always work unless named the same as the .avi (recommend 8+3 again) and selected before playing the movie.  Many people in forums have reported issues with subtitles in foreign languages, but I only have experience with english subtitles. <br />3. When you insert a DVD+-R with DivX/XviD files, the player takes a long time to bring up a menu with all the filenames for play selection (about 20-40 seconds).  This is enough of a wait time to be mildly annoying. Hint: Always use the \\"stop\\" button to return to the generated menu, not the \\"Disc Menu\\" button. <br />4&5. The drive can be VERY noisy when reading DVDs.  Some people have returned their players for this reason.In my opinion, this is the player's biggest drawback as it can be very distracting while listening to the movie or music.  No other player that I have encountered makes this much drive noise. <br /> <br />In Summary: <br />I recommend this player to anyone looking for a great priced progressive scan, DivX/XviD, or region-free DVD player with the only major drawback being a noisy drive.