Philips PET724 7-Inch Portable DVD / DivX Player

by Philips

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 7.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000F071T8
• Item model number: PET724/37
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,531 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 15, 2005

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Enjoy highest-quality images that are free from annoying blank spots on the LCD screen. LCD displays commonly have imperfections, termed as 'bright dots' by the LCD industry. A limited number of bright dots were once considered an inevitable side effect of LCD mass production. With Philips' strict quality control procedures used in our Portable DVD Players, our LCD displays are produced with zero tolerance for bright dots. Select Portable DVD Players come with Philips Zero Bright Dot™ Policy to guarantee optimal screen quality.

With DivX® support, you are able to enjoy DivX® encoded videos in the comfort of your living room. The DivX® media format is an MPEG4-based video compression technology that enables you to save large files like movies, trailers and music videos on media like CD-R/RW, memory cards and DVD-video. DivX® CDs can be played back on selected DVD players, DVD Recorders and Home Theater Systems.

Other standard features include: Built-in quality stereo speakers. Share entertainment fun with dual headphone jacks. Car adaptor and slim remote control. Contemporary precision design with piano-white top cover.

Product Description

7" Portable DVD, DivX 3.1, Widescreen, Plays MP3, DVD, DVD+/-R/RW, CD-RW, JPEG pictures, Built-in rechargable battery, up to 4 hours play time, Beautiful piano white finish, Car adpater, Slim remote control, Sero Bright Dot screen

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Money well spent, February 16, 2007

By 

M. Weaver (Del Rio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips PET724 7-Inch Portable DVD / DivX Player (Electronics)

We spent about 6 months trying to decide if we would use a portable player enough to justify the purchase, and if so, which one to buy. As a BitTorrent user, I have a lot of DivX files already, so when I saw a player with that capability at this price, I pulled the trigger. Very good decision. We've been using the player heavily for about a month now, and we are very satisfied, often wondering why we waited so long to buy one. We got it before a long roadtrip (7 hours each way), and it made the travel much more pleasant for my 4-year-old. He actually looked forward to getting back in the car so that he could watch his shows! I was able to fit about 10 hours of kids shows on one DVD-R using the free DivX software player/burner for windows. The Phillips portable has played all DVDs, DVD-Rs, and DVD-RWs that we've thrown at it without the slightest skip or freeze. I can't even say that about our full size home player. It feels very sturdy, and has held up perfectly so far even at the hands of a rather rugged 4-year-old.
The battery life is very good, but I don't have any specifics. Longer than 5 hours, at least, which seems good to me. The included adapters allow you to use it plugged in to the wall or cigarette lighter without the battery attached if desired (much lighter that way). The car adapter cord is long enough to reach from the dash to the back seat in a big vehicle, but probably not the third row in a mini-van.
The screen is not huge, especially when viewing 4:3 aspect content. The 7" diagonal measurement really only applies to 16:9 (widescreen) content. The built-in speakers are OK sounding, and suprizingly loud. There are 2 headphone jacks, which is an outstanding feature so that you don't have to use a splitter.
The included AV cable lets you hook it to your composite inputs on your TV or VCR, so you can use this with your home entertainment center. I was considering buying both a home DivX player, and a car video system. This player satisfies both requirements for much less than I was planning on spending for either one. This qualifies as the best consumer electronics purchase I've made in the last 2 years -- a very pleasant surprise.

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars its ok, August 2, 2006

By 

Momojojo (Santa Clara, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philips PET724 7-Inch Portable DVD / DivX Player (Electronics)

I've always wanted a portable dvd player due to my large dvd collection. I waited almost 2 yrs until i finally decided to buy one, mainly because they were too expensive, and battery life only last about one movie (max at 2hrs). I saw this player reviewed by Wired magazine and it performed the best out of all the ones they've tested. What attracted me even more to this unit was:

1. price was cheap, about $150.
2. battery lasts about 4 hours
3. it plays divx and other formats.

Right out the box, the unit is beautiful, the outer shell is composed of the ipod white plastic with a slim silver plastic trim around the edges. The unit feels well built and sturdy but is probably very prone to scratches like the ipod. The battery attaches to the back of the unit and sticks out about 2 inches similar to how a large capacity battery sticks out of a laptops. So here's the bad part (keep in mind this is my first portable dvd player)

1. the screen resolution is very low. It could not display the full resolution of the dvd, everything feels scaled down and pixilated. For example: a diagonal straight line looks totally jaggered and pixilated. Each pixel on the dvd's LCD feels twice as big as the pixels you see on a LCD monitors. Maybe all portable dvd players are using low resolution LCDs and I am just being too picky.
2. After 35min of use the bottom heats up like a Intel Macbook. (very hot)
3. when starting the dvd it makes a loud and fast spinning noise, noise is reduced after the 15secs.
4. Personally, the 7" wide screen is just too small for me to watch for an extended amount of time. After watching a dvd for 35min I got really dizzy and felt crossed eyed.

overall, the unit "looks" good but I am planning on returning it and either wait for a 10" portable dvd players with higher resolution and long battery life or when they come out with a thin and light 3lbs laptop thatz got 6hrs+ battery life under $1000.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent All Around Machine: Best Under $175, August 24, 2006

By 

J. Katz (Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips PET724 7-Inch Portable DVD / DivX Player (Electronics)

Likes: Excellent screen. Best in its class by far. As good (in terms of clarity) as its 10.2" brother which costs $300 plus. Audio from on-board speakers is good. Use headphones, and the audio moves from good to superb. Don't know yet about the battery claim of 4 hours, as I've only used it for 2.5 hours at any one time. For the price, there is nothing in a 7" screen that's even close in terms of value as I write this (Aug. 06). This unit performs far above its cost. We'll see how long it holds up.

Dislike: Do NOT like the fact that when I turn off the unit in the middle of a movie, it won't take me back to that point when I turn it back on. Not a huge deal, but a nuisance all the same.

Summary: I couldn't find another unit for less than $175 that could beat this model. Tested the Sony model (FX 810) that runs about $175. Screen wasn't as good as the Philips PET7247, and the Sony wouldn't play my HP DVD-R discs that I used to record tv shows. The Philips had no problem playing the very same disc.