[TheOmniarch]

Hey folks,


Has anyone purchased/demo'd this player? (Philips DVP642 Progressive-Scan DVD Player)


I have a fair bit of DivX content and am about to buy an HDTV, so I was wondering if the chipset in this would do the new tv justice? Will it be a significant trade-off in quality, or would the built-in de-interlacer of the TV make up for the cheaper one in the player.

That and I am curious as to how well it works on decoding divx, and how good/bad it will look on a digital displa; plasma and/or projector.


Thanks,


-TheOmniarch, nee Adil

 

[Kermee]

I have one and it works fairly well on DivX and XviD content. There's two gripes I have with it right now.


One is that it doesn't properly support 16:9 display devices on playback of DivX and XviD content. (DVD side of it, of course works fine.) If you attempt to play back a DivX or XviD file which has a widescreen AR on your 16:9 screen, it's going to get squished. The player adds black bars above and below it thinking it's outputing to a 4:3 display device.


Second gripe is that the internal deinterlacer is a piece of junk. I have no idea what it is, but it's so bad that I let my Toshiba 40H80 do the deinterlacing over components.


Pros are that this player basically does play almost everything MPEG-1/2/4, VCD's, SVCD's, etc. It even properly supports MPEG-4 BVOP's. But alas, still no chipset with GMC and QPEL support.


Hope this helps!

 

[Q of BanditZ]

Solid at $70, that's for sure. It's got a lot of nice tricks up it sleeve and I've heard some nice stories about some easy mod jobs and such that can be done with it. Rather eye opening stories, actuallly.


You could do a hell of a lot worse for $70, that's for sure!

 

[Von]

I have 2 of these players, it does a good job with Divx and Xvid content an not as dodgey as my D1. Check this link out, I found it to be helpful when I was searching for a Divx capable player. www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php or do a search for DvD player Compatibility list. In addition, target.com has several Mpeg 4 players listed on their web page. See pages 3 &4

 

[TheOmniarch]

Thanks for your quick replies,


I guess the real question is, given that I'll be grabbign a proj/plas within the next 6 mos, shoudl I buy this, or a similar DivX, player as a solely DivX player and then grab a 'real' DVD player for actual DVD encoded content?

Or am I thinking that this player will do worse on DVD than it does?


Thanks again,

-Adil

 

[Von]

You may want to consider the Bravo D2/D1 or the Momitsu. Although a little more costly one of these three players might fit your needs. Also, I believe JVC has a Divx capable player going for $100+ dollars. Check Best Buy's web site for more info regarding this player. Secrets may have reviewed all of these players as well.

 

[huma]

I stopped using my philips dvd727 because you couldn't turn the angle icon off at all.


any issues with the 642?


the 727 also only had one black point setting (or none rather) which was a lot lighter than my xbox's black point, so I went back to my adjustable panasonic. any input on that?

 

[TheOmniarch]

Is Mpeg-4 & MP4 decoding equivalent to DivX & XviD ? The Bravo and Momitsu seem to not mention those specific codecs..


Also do the bravo and momitso have good deinterlacers? Or would I be better off going with a more standard DVD player eg Denon.


Cheers,

-Adil

 

[Von]

I would say yes, because my D1 plays them and from what I've read the Momitsu v880 does also. Here is a testimonial by some one who owns the D2 from the DVD compatibility list web page. "OK since nobody has written anything useful I will! I bought this player a few months back. It plays everything I have thrown at it including divx/xvid. It pillar boxes 4:3 material on a 16:9 TV which is nice. It up-converts to 720p or 1080i over component and DVI. It plays all of my DVDR but has trouble with some discs. I will explain this more. I have a really crappy optodisc dvdr of the Fifth Element. Most players cannot play the entire video. For example, my old Pioneer DV333 pixilates and locks up, while my Phillips DV727 plays with only a few hiccups. The Bravo pixilates and locks up but does a decent job compared to most players. It plays MP3's but no ID3 tag. As far as I can find, there is no random mode either. It plays the Star Trek Enterprise XSVCD that I downloaded off of suprnova and it plays 90% of the divx/xvid I have tried. This player has so quirks like the remote is unresponsive and there are crackles/pops in my speakers when i skip chapters. Overall its a pretty sweet player and I give it thumbs up".

 

[TheOmniarch]

One more question, of all these DivX players do any/all of them support subtitltes with .avis? [ie .srt]



Because I have a handful of foreign flics which I wouldnt mind watching 'on the big screen' but alas my Hungarian/Japanese/Madarin skills aren't exactly up to par.


Again thanks,


-Adil

 

[Von]

That I do not know.

 

[redfox]

The Philips does support .srt subtitles with the latest firmware. I would recommend using this player only for divx/xvid, and getting a good dedicated dvd player.

 

[TheOmniarch]

Redfox,


Thanks alot for the info. In an eery turn of events, walking past the campus 'microstore' where i work i spotted this exact player sitting there with no explanation. Guess I'll go pick it up


Cheers,


-Adil

 

[stokey7873]

"One is that it doesn't properly support 16:9 display devices on playback of DivX and XviD content. (DVD side of it, of course works fine.) If you attempt to play back a DivX or XviD file which has a widescreen AR on your 16:9 screen, it's going to get squished. The player adds black bars above and below it thinking it's outputing to a 4:3 display device."


Are they going to fix this?!?!?!?! I can't overlook this issue and will have to return the player if not.

 

[Professor Gascan]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but if I burn a Divx file onto a CD-RW, will this player be able to play it, or does it have to be on DVD-R/RW to work?

 

[Von]

It does support divx on CD-R

 

[Kermee]

Quote:

Originally posted by Von It does support divx on CD-R

Answer: Yes.

 

[Kermee]

Quote:

Originally posted by Professor Gascan Maybe this is a stupid question, but if I burn a Divx file onto a CD-RW, will this player be able to play it, or does it have to be on DVD-R/RW to work?

You can burn DivX onto a CD-R/RW or DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and it will play fine.

 

[Kermee]

One other note:


This player does not support custom MPEG quantization matrices. Meaning that if the author of the DivX or XviD MPEG-4 file didn't use the H.263 or standard MPEG quantization matrices, it's going to look 'weird'.

 

[glweeks]

I just picked up a 642 as a gift.... Can you put multiple divx files on a cd or does it have to be one per disc? Thanks!