Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player
Play PAL (Europe, Japan) DVDs on NTSC (North America) TV!
This is an all-round excellent player. The playback is pretty flawless and the picture quality is extremely high. It's also very inexpensive - a bit incongruous considering the excellent overall file compatibility. So far it has played every disc and every format that I have thrown at it including home-brewed CDs, DVD+-RWs, DivXs, SVCDs, ISOs and MP3s) - it plays everything my computer plays, no lie!! <br /> <br />For me though, the key feature is the built-in PAL to NTSC converter. The high-quality conversion means that I can simply pop in a PAL DVD, say Nigella Bites or Naked Chef (purchased from amazon.co.uk and frustratingly and inexplicably unavailable in North American NTSC format), and watch it on my TV without hassle and without losing any sound or image quality. <br /> <br />It's also very simple to make it a region free player: just a press a couple of buttons on the remote and you're done - Google for details. <br /> <br />A couple of nice details: it's much slimmer and far more stylish than the (few) other players that offer built-in PAL/NTSC conversion; plus the firmware is upgradable. <br /> <br />Solid 10 out of 10.