Customer Reviews

Philips PET702 7-Inch Portable DVD Player

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is a relatively nice unit, but whether or not you should buy it depends on what you watch. It is solidly built, easy to use, plenty loud, and the picture is bright and clear. However, I tested it extensively with various commercial dvd movies and discovered the following: 1) widescreen movies in 16:9 aspect ratio (most modern movies) look great as that is the size ratio of the lcd display. 2) ultra-widescreen movies look fine also, though one gets the expected horizontal black bars across the bottom and top of the screen as the pictures adjust to fit the width of the lcd display. 3) old movies and most TV series are a serious problem. One would expect that the player would auto-sense the older 4:3 aspect ratio and display the pictures to fill the height of the display and put vertical black bars on both sides. But, no, every dvd I tried was stretched to fit the 16:9 lcd display width, with the result that all people look like they're 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide (exceptionally funny and ironic on fitness dvd's actually). Really gross distortion and, to me, absolutely unwatchable. Yes, one can go in and manually alter the aspect ratio to 4:3 in the Setup menu (make sure the lid is up or that there is no disc in the player, or one is locked out of this feature), but this setting has no effect on how old movies and TV shows are shown on the lcd display - all are distorted as they are stretched width-wise as I describe above. Perhaps this setting affects the video output that could be fed to a full-size TV set, but I didn't check on that because I bought this unit to view only as a portable. I've spent a couple of hours scouring the web for solutions to this problem with no luck. Needless to say, as a fan of TV and pre-1960 films, I'll be returning this player. Too bad, as it seems very nice otherwise. If you only watch newer movies, I would recommend that you go ahead and purchase it. Good picture, more solidly built than most, and inexpensive.

I bought this from a walk in store the day before a long car trip with our daughter. I picked this unit over a Panasonic that was twice as expensive since the Panasonic's screen though bigger, had a much worse picture! (lots of jaggies on the Panasonic). This Philips screen is nice and clear.

The unit appears to be well constructed and even survived 2 falls from the rear seat of our PT Cruiser to the floor during a couple of hard stops. Though it fell and clunked hard (there was a DVD movie in it but the unit was turned off) the player worked flawlessly over the next 4 days.

I like that it has a volume knob and not just up/dn pushbuttons - this is much easier to adjust the volume on. Volume levels using the built in speaker are loud, but not likely loud enough in the environment of a driving car. Headphone volume is plenty loud if need be.

Over the 4 days we played store bought movies, but also some DVD's I burned onto -R discs (a video of a play my daughter was in). There was no skipping or cutouts during any of the videos, even in our bumpy PT Cruiser.

Battery life was better than 2 hours when we used it in the hotel room. In the car you can use the lighter adapter to power the unit which has the added benefit of giving you a brighter screen (the screen brightness is turned down a bit on battery power to save energy).

Overall I am quite impressed with this unit and glad I picked it over the Panasonic L80.

In regards to the other user stating the way the DVD is held damages the discs, I found no such problem or concern. The method of attachment is similar to all the portable DVD players I've had in the past, and laptop CD/DVD drives. You 'snap' the DVD onto the spindle but I saw no damage being done.

The only improvement I would like to see in this unit is that the laser pickup assembly should move to the innermost parked position when the DVD is stopped (when you press the stop button twice). Otherwise it can be near the outer edge of the DVD when you're going to remove it and be in the way of your fingers. What I do is turn the player off, then on long enough to hear the pickup assembly move towards the hub, then power it off and remove the DVD.

Does what it is supposed to do, but speaker sound is not quite loud enough for me to hear it well while using an elliptical trainer. I am sure it would suffice for a car or plane with headphones, but that is a pain while exercising. Region free function is great and the controls, even without using a remote, are easy to use. I'd buy it again.

Great entry level region free portable DVD player. To unlock the following needs to be entered:

Turn on power
Open DVD door
Press' setup' on remote
Move cursor to 'preference' (no need to select)
Enter '9653'
Select zone "0"
Press 'setup'
Turn power off and on again
The portable DVD player pet 702/37 is now region free

At first I was delighted with this unit. The screen is crisp and sharp, and the controls simple. However, the player's spindle design damages inserted discs irreparably. There are four spring-loaded hooks which recess on the spindle to hold the disc in place after it has been firmly pressed down. The design flaw which damages the disc comes upon removal. Although it is possible to place one's fingers close to the peg when inserting the disc, yielding little torsion or torque, prising the disc back off the peg after play requires grasping the edge of the disc and lifting firmly upward. The over-firm snap hooks then chip the inner edge of the spindle-hole and cracks form around it in the center of the disc. I only noticed this after playing my Snow White Platinum Edition film several times, when the plastic around the hole shattered into chips and sprayed everywhere, leaving the disc unplayable with a jagged, irregular mount point. Examination of other discs which have been in the player show similar cracks and chips (other players in the house are slot-loading). Testing with blanks (so as not to ruin any more DVDs) reveals that after one insertion, a disc will exhibit minor chipping, and after several more, the cracking will be severe, until the middle of the disc becomes jagged and is no longer round. I am now extremely unhappy with this purchase, and I cannot recommend this player to anyone who values their DVD media collection.

I bought this DVD player because I travel a lot
and pass a lot of time in trains. I used it in a
long trip which took 23 hours and this DVD player
was my best friend in that trip!
It has a very good screen quality, good sound quality
and if charged enough ( until the red light turns off)
it'll play back for 2 hours. It's not very light but
good enough for travel.
The only problem is that it comes without a bag! You need
to get a bag or cover for it.

This item serves two purposes for me: 1) Plays titles that my pretty-old DVD player cannot play. I just plug it into the AUX port on my old DVD player. 2) Plays DVD movies that I take along to hotel rooms when traveling. It does both flawlessly and the remote is very capable from sitting on a bed across the room in the hotel or at home.

Another bonus is that I don't have to lug my PC around just to play movies on a plane, for example. This player is quite light and compact.

Did a test on battery life and it was right around 2 hours.

Sound is great through headphones as well as through AUX port or directly through TV video ports in hotel room. Sound through its own speakers works, but recommend headphones. Picture via video ports looks just as good as my home DVD player and LCD picture is what you would expect (i.e., good considering size).

I recommend this product for those seeking similar DVD player capabilities.

I bought this product mainly because of the Philips name and the cost. Sure, some other models may be cheaper, but this was the best balance between cost and known brand (at least for me).

Pros:
The picture is very clear and crisp.
The sound is good, I don't consider that is bad at all (consider the cost, of course)
it is very ligth
it contains the wall and car adapter.
Cons:
It feels cheap, so be aware the as any electronic device you need to pay extra care (shocks, falls, etc). This is reason of the 4 stars.

To make it multiregion:
Press setup on the remote
Use the arrows to navigate to Prefreneces (pref)
type 9 6 5 3
Select Region code (press down arrow to set to 0, open for all codes)
Press setup again to exit

This is great!

I wish that I could assign this product 0 stars.

Picture quality was good. Controls easy. Wished that there were better sound range, as different disks seem to have different volumes and this player couldn't compensate. It was often difficult to hear over average car noises. But, all of these observations are irrelevant when compared to the mechanical problems.

Purchased this model in April with a one year warranty. In June, some occasional problems, but we attributed them to worn or smudged disks. In July it began skipping and stopping continuously. Tried disk cleaners, DVD cleaners, to no avail. Closer examination revealed that it was the spindle.

Returned to Philips who replaced it...with a reconditioned model with a 3 month warranty. I was suspicious when I received it, but reasoned that a reconditioned model should work. Unfortunately, it has died (pixelated screen) at just 3 months. I've been shorted 6 months off of my original warranty and Philips is not sympathetic.

Next stop, Better Business Bureau or other agency.

I will not again purchase a Philips product.

Larger screen but much smaller and lighter than the DVD Player it replaces.
Worked like a charm on our first long car trip. Battery life 10% or 15% shorter than previous player but it's possible to buy a second battery if you need to watch more than one DVD at a time and still be way ahead on portability.