Customer Reviews

Philips- DVP5990 - Multi Region DVD Player 1080P - upscaling

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This is a top-notch DVD player for those whose tastes in movies goes beyond what is currently being offered by US companies. I personally hate to be at the mercy of what companies think I should or should not be able to watch, and am really pleased to find such an excellent region-free player.

So far, it has handled all my DVDs with no problem. Region 2 Japanese DVDs? Plays great. Region 2 PAL DVD from the Netherlands? No problems. (A real shame that Orson Wells classic "Falstaff" does not have a US release, but that just shows why a region-free player is necessary.)

Aside from DVDs, this player handles CDs, DivX and everything else I have popped into it. It even has a USB port, so if you download anything you can just pop it into a Flash memory stick and watch it on this player.

Sadly, I haven't used the upscaling function yet, because I don't have an HD TV yet. But if it works as well as everything else has on this player, then I assume I have nothing to worry about, and am looking forward to being able to try it out.

This player is better than 2 older model Philips DVD players I have (5140, 3140). Also, my remote was a slick black one, not the gray one shown that came with older models. The whole player is very thin and slick.

This one plays music CDs (normal audio CD or mp3 files), DVDs in PAL or NTSC format (including avi files on a data DVD as well!). Note PAL is the standard in England (Phase Alternating Line) and NTSC is the standard originating in the USA and Japan (National Television System Committee). With these two video encoding standards playable, you can play just about every DVD available. Also, you can put MP3 files and video files (avi, mpg, mp4, etc.) on a USB device and play them directly off of that plugged into the front of the player. VERY Convenient! I love it!

Also neat is that it remembers where DVDs were (DVDs playable on all players, not data DVDs with avi files). So you are watching your favorite movie, your spouse has a DVD to watch for work. No problem, pop out your DVD. She watches here movie. Pop yours back in, and it starts right back up where you left off! (or you can pres PREV to start from the beginning). Really a nice feature!

You should change the region to 0 (region free - accept discs from any region of the world, which is not the same as PAL/NTSC standard). I saw a couple of prior reviewers were confused by this distinction. This player can play both PAL and NTSC formats, as well as any region encoded discs once you make the change below.

To change your unit to be Region Free:

Be sure there is no DVD/CD in the unit.
Close the tray door.
Press Setup on your remote control.
Using the circluar control around the OK,
press on the right side 3 times to select Preference Page
Then press 1 3 8 9 3 1
This brings up Region Code
Use the up/down to change region code to 0
Press OK on your remote

To see your current firmware version (and region code):
Press setup
You will be on General Setup Page
Press 1 3 7 9

I am using this item for over 4 months now.

All region DVDs play perfect and the picture quality is just great.

It was 4 months after that I found out that there's a problem playing music CDs.

A small noise comes out with the music CD. Some kind of distorted noise.

I played the same music with Blu-Ray player and it didn't happened.

I think there's some kind of collition happeneing when I play music CDs.

Be aware about that.

I am buying a 6 CD player because of this problem.

I ordered this player specifically to play British DVDs. All the reviews sounded great. But when I tried to play a Region 2 DVD, I got a region error on the screen. Most of the reviews said their unit worked right away. I was confused and read all the documentation over and over but no comment on how to make this player region free. I then read another Amazon review that said I needed to change the zone from 1 to 0 (my region code on the back said region 1). Why did my player not work while other's did? So I followed these instructions and now the Region 2 DVDs play fine, including my region 1s.

To change your unit to be Region Free:

Be sure there is no DVD/CD in the unit.
Close the tray door.
Press Setup on your remote control.
Using the circluar control around the OK,
press on the right side 3 times to select Preference Page
Then press 1 3 8 9 3 1
This brings up Region Code
Use the up/down to change region code to 0
Press OK on your remote

To see your current firmware version (and region code):
Press setup
You will be on General Setup Page
Press 1 3 7 9

The first one we received didn't work properly .. but this was no problem the seller replaced it straight away and it is brilliant I mean brilliant.. the quality is excellent and it works beautifully on both our UK dvd's and US dvd's

Can't rate it highly enough it was a bargin and the seller was excellent

Last night, the region-free DVD player that is the backbone of our family's entertainment (being from Slovakia and living in the USA) froze and stopped reading all DVD's- NTSC or PAL. This product was great right till the end, but the fact is that the one year warranty went out just two months ago. This is very likely a case of "built-in obsolescence." When I called the manufacturer, they appologized for the inconvenience- and left us to buy another one. Therefore- let the buyer beware: you may be buying one every year... just after warranty.

Tired of watching my Region 2/PAL DVDs on my computer and looking for a better way, I typed in "multiregion" in the search box and came up with this gem. And it couldn't be any easier to use-- unwrap, plug in, attach HDMI cable, put batteries in remote, set screen language to English, and play. I immediately tried one of my German DVDs-- it worked great, without a hitch. Then an American Region 1/NTSC-- ditto. Excellent picture and sound quality. As a bonus, the remote has some discrete buttons for features that are sometimes buried in menus with other DVD players. Highly recommended.

December 9, 2010 addendum: It's still working great, with rather heavy use. Reliable.

I've had this player for maybe over a month now. At first it seemed like it was very loud while loading British DVDs, that quickly stopped. Once while shifting from Region 2 to region 1 it kinda freaked out.

After that bit of moodiness in the beginning, it's been working great! I use it for American, British, and Japanese DVDs.

The biggest delight/surprise in this player was it's USB drive. I ended up plugging in a Western Digital 500GB portable hard drive, and using the USB on the DVD player, I'm able to watch AVI files! Doesn't read OGMs or anything else that I can tell. Oh well, still awesome!

*it's been over almost 2 years and this DVD player still kicks ass! I still have a TB drive hooked up to it. the only bummer is nowadays I have files with multiple audio and subtitle tracks- which the player does not read. Boooo.

Works great with PAL DVD's, and is region free. Of course, NTSC (US Standard) work fine too.

HDMI output works fine with my HD TV. Great picture from any video.

Price made this a no-brainer and real bargain.

I bought this player so I could watch PAL (European) DVDs. It does that right out of the box. It also coincidentally plays NTSC (US) dvd's without any apparent need to do any type of reconfiguration. Picture looks great. I can't speak to its ability to play dvd's from other regions since I dont own any.

90 day warranty doesnt speak well of manufactuer's faith in product's longevity, but this seems par for the course with most dvd players in this price range.