Philips DVP642 Progressive Scan DVD Player

by Philips

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 17 x 9 x 1.7 inches ; 16 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
• ASIN: B000OESPJ0
• Item model number: DVP642
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,622 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: December 14, 2006

Product Description

Plays any region PAL or NTSC DVD movies! Divx Certified Superb audio and video performance ? Progressive Scan for razor-sharp and flicker-free images ? 192kHz/24bit audio DAC Plays practically any disc format ? ® 3.11/4.x/5.x ? Music: CD, MP3-CD, CD-R and CD-RW ? Pictures: Picture CD (JPEG) with music (MP3) Ultimate convenience ? Smart Picture for personalised image PICTURE Playback formats ? Video: DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/-RW, VCD, SVCD, MPEG-4, DivX® 3.11/4.x/5. ? Audio: CD, CD-R/RW, MP3-CD* (-256 ? Pictures: Picture-CD (JPEG) with music * Plays MP3-CD (supports 32, 56, 64, 96, 256 kbps and variable bit-rate) DVD functionality ? Multi-angle selection ? Audio selection ? Subtitles selection ? Aspect Ratio Conversion (16:9, 4:3 Letter- Box, 4:3 Pan Scan) ? Disc Menu support Picture-CD & MP3-CD functionality ? Playback of pictures automatically ? Picture selection ? Zoom ? Rotate, Flip pictures ? Album and track selection Connections Video output: - Component video (Y, Pb, Pr) - S-Video - CVBS (Yellow cinch) Audio output: - Analog (L+R) : cinch (white/red) - Digital : 1x coaxial, 1x optical IEC60958 for CDDA/LPCM IEC61937 for MPEG-1/ Dolby Digital

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what you need, January 21, 2008

By 

Chris (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philips DVP642 Progressive Scan DVD Player

We travel a lot and are a multi-lingual family, so we play DVDs from the US, Europe and China. This player can handle PAL and NTSC and also ignores the really annoying region code. I have yet to find a DVD this thing can't handle. I prefer it many times over my $200 Sony player which rejects half of my disks and has a terribel error correction flaw. If you want to play DVDs from Europe and the US, this player is great !

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT DVD Player, November 16, 2007

By 

Corbet Griffith (Northwood, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips DVP642 Progressive Scan DVD Player

The Philips DVP642 DVD player is a great device with a ton of features with the geek in mind. Many DVD players perform the basic function - perform DVDs, but the DVP642 does more then that. One popular feature is DivX ability. DivX is a video codec that allows for smaller sized video files. Normally, a player wouldn't read these files but the DPR642 does. It also provides PAL to NTSC conversion, which allows you to import your favorite movies only available in other countries. The DVP642 provides many outputs, including opitical out and component for high quality audio and video. It also supports progressive scan. One thing this DVD Player is lacking is upscaling of video via HDMI, which some may say is a dealbreaker.
Overall I really enjoy my DPR652 and think it is the best DVD Player for under $50. It's PAL conversion and DivX compatibility are great features for such a cheap player.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars FIX for blinking red light, plus BONUS: Region-Free code, July 18, 2010

By 

Jason Kirkfield "The Pride and Sorrow of chil... (Purple Mountains Majesty) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips DVP642 Progressive Scan DVD Player

This was a great player which, by entering a simple three-digit code* via the remote, was easily turned into a cheap Region-Free DVD player. Unfortunately, this line of Philips players also has a weakness: a capacitor on the board goes bad (specifically, C316), and since it controls the power supply, this effectively ends the unit's life for most home users. Googling DVP642 and "blinking red light" will yield many, many instances of this specific failure. To be sure, plenty of low-star reviews here on Amazon evidence the same problem.

But if you are handy with a soldering gun and don't mind spending two bucks at Radio Shack, I can assure you with moderate certainty that this DVD player will keep on tickin'; certainly it worked for me. I will include a DIY fix-it link in the Comments section below. In fact, a handy and enterprising soul could conceivably pick up some "broken" units, perform the fix, unlock the region code, and sell them as reconditioned Region-Free players.

In the interim I moved on to the slightly more expensive (but still great value) Philips DVP5990/F7 DVD Player with 1080p HDMI Upconversion and DivX; the DVP642 is now ready as a backup. If mine had not died, I would probably rate it four stars. As it is, I still rate this three stars because even with the necessary fix, you still get a Region-Free DVD player that plays tons of formats for forty bucks. The remote control is junky, though.


*The code for this model is 789.

Full instructions to change the region setting (i.e., Region 1 = USA/Canada, Region 2 = Europe/Japan, Region 5 = Russia/India, Region 0 = ALL REGIONS):

Turn on DVD player
Open disc tray
Using the remote, enter 7,8,9, then OK (this accesses the hidden region setting menu)
Enter 0, then OK (this chooses Region 0; you may notice a zero appearing briefly in the lower left side of your screen)
Close the tray, turn off DVD player, then turn back on to test. Now you can enjoy DVDs from around the world!