Customer Reviews

PHILIPS DVP 5140 MUTI REGION CODEFREE DVD PLAYER WITH DivX & MP3. PLAYS PAL/NTSC DVDS FROM ANY COUNTRY ON ALL 110V AMERICAN TVs.

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Philips playback just keeps getting better. I enjoy watching shows from the UK, Australia, and occasionally Asia, and this box handles the various region DVD's, plus does a great job of playing Mpegs and DivX/Xvid avi files in their various formats. My only complaint is that the user interface via the remote can feel a little awkward at times, but the performance, sound, and picture quality are wonderful on my big hidef tv. Great stuff.

Thanks to Gavin R. Jewell "BigHairyScaryMonster" who linked us to H.A Emet review. We couldn't play our European DVDs on this machine. We called Philips who told us (two different reps) they don't make multiregional machines. Searched the comments and found the way to make it multiregional. Thank YOU!! It works now. Can't wait to finally watch my DVDs.
This is what H.A. Emet wrote for all of you in the same predicament that I was in.
To make it region code free follow these instruction:
1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
6. Press the down arrow once to enter the Preference page
5. Enter 138931 on the remote
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Play" button on the remote

Happy watching.

This PHILIPS DVP 5140 is identical to the one amazon sells for nearly half the price at Philips DVP5140 Multiformat DVD Player with DivX, MP3, Windows Media Support. Although it ships from Amazon in region 1 mode, its a cinch to switch it to multi-region mode following the instructions in one of the reviews there (http://www.amazon.com/review/R1XJZ8ZG9KQRL7/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm) - I know 'cos I just bought one. I plugged one of my PAL region 2's in before changing anything and it gave me a region error, then I followed the instructions and my region 2 PAL DVD magically played, and on an NTSC TV too.
I only plugged it in for the first time today, but it just worked first time with no set-up at all (other than the multi-region thing).
Only down side so far is the delayed response to the controls, both remote and buttons - other than that, I'm totally pleased.
1 star reflects the price of this page only - not the product.

Played PAL/NTSC All Region right out of the box from Target for $39. Excellent pic. Better or as good as my $90 Tosiba which I cannot hack for PAL-All Region...thus the Philips 5140.

No problems of any sort with my remote. But I do not expect a split second response times. All functions on remote work just beautifully, but one must read and understand the owner's manual thoroughly to get the best from the remote which will do it all assuming the operator is knowledgeable in this respect.

I am very pleased with this player. All menues are easy to navigate.

Did I mention...READ & THOROUGHLY UNDERSTAND THE OWNER'S MANUAL WITH RESPECT TO THE REMOTE! :)

I bought this Philips 5140 and it is an excellent DVD. BUT----the 138931 "hack" did not work for me at first. The list of regions did not
come on screen after several careful tries. Then I shut it off for a while, and let everything calm down, then turned it on again----much like a re-boot of a computer. Tried the hack again, exactly as before and TAH DAH! It worked..

So if the hack doesn't appear to work after several tries, turn the DVD off for a few minutes to let it clear itself, then try again.

Our last multi-region lived for so long, it was like losing the family cat when it died. This one's fine. My 2 peeves: (1) the buttons on the remote have to be pressed pretty hard and it has no "eject" button; (2) there's no S-video connection, which I was expecting (maybe I should have checked first), so I'm having to use the yellow/white/red wires, which produce slightly crappy results. On the plus side, it works (so far) and it's not too expensive.

The only thing that could make this DVD player better would be for it to be able to come in Blue-Ray compatible.

Other than that minute detail, this DVD player is the best thing for me, since I constantly engage in watching foreign films, where my XBOX 360 and my other portable DVD player could not play DVD from Areas 3, 4 and various others.

The features that the DVD offers can fit to just about any model, make, size and shape of televisions and having Progressive Scan enables you to watch movies that are not normally in HD...in HD! Amazing stuff, and I recommend this DVD player to anyone who wants a reliable player, compact and stylish for the great price.

My BF bought this for me Christmas 2006 because I had just purchased a Philips 42" LCD flat screen and needed a DVD player. I cannot say it ever really worked well. The remote was slow to respond, when it responded at all! It's just very slow in it's overall performance when you want it to do something. About 6 months into use, and rarely was it used, it really just stopped working. I would say it would play about 1 of every 2 DVD's we'd play. Now we're lucky if it even starts a DVD and when it does it doesn't play without breaking and pausing and stuttering. It's really, really, really bad! I would estimate I've used this DVD player less than 40 times in the past year. Unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. Of course I doubt we can get Philips to do anything about it. DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE!!!!

Great product. Arrived promptly..Highly recommend if you are looking for a DVD player that can play PAL disks.

Don't pay high prices like this ( $139.99 ) for a Philips model 5140 DVD player. You can purchase this model NEW for 1/4 the price about ($40-$45) and make the changes yourself in less than a minute . Sellers who claim to have so-called 'code-free' players have simply made the changes you can make with the following instructions.

To make it region code free follow these instruction:
1. Turn on the unit
2. Open the loading tray
3. Press the "Setup" button on the remote
4. Navigate to the "Preferences" page using the right arrow key
6. Press the down arrow once to enter the Preference page
5. Enter 138931 on the remote
6. You will now see the current region code displayed
7. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to select the region required or "0" for all regions
8. Press the "Play" button on the remote

Philips also has models which can be made to play any Region using these same instructions. There are many makes and models which can be made code free, using similar instructions but not the numbers (ie. as above) . You may already own a player which you can reprogram to play any or all Regions. Just use a search engine and type in a phrase such as ' How to change a DVD player to play all Regions'. There are many people with the electronic genious to sit and figure this out and post their findings so any one can use them for free. I would put a web address, but it would only be deleted , thus simply do the search and save yourself enough to purchase many DVDs to play in your newly programmed player. THIS REALLY WORKS!! I purchase many DVDs from Amazon.co.uk , as we love all the old British Comedies and Dramas from what I call the 'good years of tv'. Shows such as you only see on PBS and many which never have played . You will find TV shows from the 50s-90s which are only availabe in Region 2 , many which you have probably never heard of unless you spent time in the UK. Shows like "Rising Damp", "Open all Hours', "Only Fools And Horses", " Steptoe And Son"( from which "Sanford And Son" was made and seen in the US) , "Man About The House" ( from which "Three's Company was made ) , " The Darling Bud's Of May"( Catherine Zeta Jones' first role in TV )and many , many more from the same stars you may have seen in PBS shows and wondered about British TV they had played in , when beginning and at the present time . These DVDs from the UK have totally changed our viewing habits ( the older ones which were made to make you laugh without all the gratuidous sex and bad language the writers of both BritisH and US TV seem to think is necessary to attract an audience , these days ).