Customer Reviews

Philips DVD724AT Progressive-Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

This DVD player is amazing.

Features
It has progressive scan, s-video, component video, coaxial and optical audio connections in addition to the RCA connection.
It plays different kinds of media. I tried regular DVD movies, an original VCD, a cheap VCD, a home made VCD (using Nero), a home made music CD (MP3 files), a CD that contain photos organized in different files (Jpeg files), I even tried a Mini CD filled with photos and a short movie (my digital camera saves directly to a mini CD), each and every one played flawlessly. I still want to try DVD+R and DVD+RW as soon as I do that I will post an update.
When using Jpeg CDs
-You can watch your photos as a slide show and change the transfer time between the photos with one push on the remote (very nice when you want to take your time watching photos you love or just want to go quickly on others).
-You can choose either that the player runs the all photos automatically or you choose which file contents to play (saves a lot of time when you want to watch a specific group of photos).
-You can rotate a photo (very important if you took the photo vertically and you didn't edit it).
-You can zoom in and out (it's beautiful to watch the face of my niece fill the screen).
-You can press next or previous to navigate (and you get a very fast respond).
-You can watch a thumbnail of all your photos by pressing preview on the remote control (although it takes a long time).

What I like about this player
The features I mentioned earlier.
The clean cut of the player and that it has the 4 most used buttons Play/Pause, Stop, Prev. & Next on the player itself just in case you can't find the remote.
When you turn this baby off, no lights remain on.
The feel of the remote control.

What I don't like
How slow it is when viewing thumbnails.
The player can't add effects between pictures when using the slide show (so if I want to watch a group of pictures with effects I make a slide show with my computer then burn it to a CD, but with the prices of the CD-R going down and the fact that with a slide show program you can make much better slide shows than any DVD player can and on top of that also add sounds the lack of the slide show is not a big deal, although it would've saved me time and effort if I can watch all the photos with effect just by using the DVD player).

I really recommend this player, if you just want a regular DVD Player you can't go wrong it plays movies beautifully with great sound for an amazing price.

If you have a top notch TV, stereo or surround sound, or might get one in the future it is important to have a DVD player that will take advantage of it.

If you don't use Jpeg CDs, it is also nice to have that feature especially that in these days a lot of people send each other photos on CDs, so if you have this player you can just pop the CD in and watch the photos on your TV no need to use the computer or be limited by your monitor size.

I bought one of these but had to return it since it would freeze up and/or stutter while playing the second layer (about an hour or so in) on most of my DVD's. The player seems cheaply made and the features are not that great. The remote, in particular, is very flimsy, with tiny buttons that you can't read in a dimmed room. Afer returning this, I got a JVC XV-S500BK for about the same price and I'm much happier with it.

This is a wonderful machine I have had it a month or two but I have tested every feature they work better than I thought they would.

I am using cables I bought later on that are gold plated plugs and shieled wire. There is such a difference in the quality of sounds and picture with the better cables.

PROS:
-Sharp clear picture
-Crisp clear audio
-Easy to navigate menus
-Easy to use remote that is not as cumbersome as other brands
-Quick disc loading time
-Component video, S-video, and composite A/V outputs
-Optical, coaxial, and A/V audio outputs
-Virtual surround sound for use with 2-channel audio systems
-Built-in Dolby Digital decoder with 5.1-channel analog outputs
-Compatible with MP3 audio files
-View digital still images (in JPEG format) from Picture CDs
-Easy to view and change images when viewing JPEG images from CDs
-Multistandard-compatible: plays both NTSC (American) and PAL (European) DVDs
-480p progressive-scan video output (courtesy of a Faroudja 12-bit/54MHz processing chip) with 3-2 pulldown
-Plays DVD-Video, VCD, SVCD, CD-DA, CD-R/RW, HDCD, MP3-CD and Picture CD formats
-Zoom feature so you don't have to watch it in widescreen
-Inexpensive, compact, and lightwieght
-I compared it feature for feature to a Toshiba SD4800 and it was much more inexpensive the only feature the Toshiba had that this didn't was an onboard DTS Decoder which I don't think is nessecary.

CONS:
-To use the menus and other features you have to use the remote there are no buttons on the player besides Power, Eject, Skip Backward, Skip Forward, Play, and Stop.

I highly reccomed this player for a great DVD Player with incredible audio and picture at a much lower price than any other player on the market.

This machine was nicely priced and has a lot of features. I noticed at first that it skipped and froze and assumed it was defects on the discs. The same with new discs. It got to the point it was impossible to watch a movie. I tried cleaning it only to have the thing completely konk out. My warrantly is expired... Be warned.

Got more than I bargained for -- and no, that wasn't supposed to be sarcastic -- when the pimply guy at The Good Guys! tried to sell me this machine, which was more expensive than the model I wanted. Good thing I followed his advice. I've owned this DVD player for about 4 months now, and it is practically rock-solid.

Pros:
- Plays most anything I put inside: DVDs, CDs, CD-Rs full of mp3s, CD-Rs full of jpgs, CD-Rs full of mpgs (a little iffy, but that's fine).
- Chapter transitions are smooth, even on dual-layer DVDs.
- Picture and sound are nicely sharp.
- A directory shows titles of mp3s/jpgs, though unfortunately the names are in 8.3 format and are therefore truncated.
- Very easy to set up (both in terms of cables and the system menu), even for a beginner like me.
- Sleek silver body.
- A nice surprise: a built-in PAL to NTSC converter!
- There's also another (unlisted) surprise, but you'll have to look around the web to find it. =)

Cons:
- The remote is rather small.
- Stutters, but very rarely, between tracks on some music CDs.

I thought this dvd player was a great buy since it had component output for my HDTV screen (which was also a Philips)...needless to say, the people who reviewed this were right: bad quality product. This one just started freezing and then finally lost the picture...I never touched the configuration section so it had to be something internal. I decided that it was cheap enough to let go...I guess I'm back to buying a Pioneer player instead....

This was a great buy for the first 3 months I owned it. This was until the output video completely died. At least the audio still worked. Every single video output all of a sudden is broken. Tried every type of cable, tested the TV, even running it through my VCR... dead screen. I've never owned any electronics product that only lasts 3 months.

This little guy appears to be a great value for the price... but as the saying goes... you get what you pay for. After roughly three months (as soon as the warranty expires), the unit starts to do random things... things... things... like repeating sections. Stoping suddenly, and then restarting, and just ending the movie you were watching. It would cost more to repair then to fix... so needless to say - I won't be buying a Philips DVD player again. UPDATE (May of 2003) The warranty and customer service are amoung the WORST I have ever incountered. I took the unit back to where I had purchased it, they in turn sent it to Philips (who had it for 5 weeks because they were "back logged." - and then sent the unit back to the merchent stating "it couldn't be fixed (they stated they couldn't get parts). It was less then 4 months old! When I called customer service to see what to do they were curt and told me to mail it (at my cost) to them with a check ... and they would send me a new DVD player. I opted to ask the merchant I bought from if they would swap it out - which they did... I might mention, they let me choose another manufacturers product... and I bet Philips sales tank at this particular store (I made sure every salesmen on the floor knew what happened and how I was treated). Its a good product if it works... but if it doesn't... watch out!!

For those of you who are wondering about the debate regarding whether or not this unit has built-in Dolby Digital and DTS decoders... The answer is no.

This unit does (like pretty much all DVD players), have digital outputs that allow it to connect to your receiver with built-in Dolby Digital / DTS decoding.

But, if you're looking for a player that decodes those formats, and provides the 5.1 channels of sound in the form of RCA audio jacks, then you need to look elsewhere.

Philips model DVD Q35 does include a built-in Dolby Digital / DTS decoder. (That model is also known by the designation: DVDQ35AT )

This DVD player skips badly, even for new DVDs. And at about 9 months the video output has stopped working. Don't but this piece of junk.