Customer Reviews

Remanufactured Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I originally ordered a refurbished Philips DVP642 from Overstock, and it was a comedy of errors (did not work at all -- could not read any discs -- came with a photocopy of the manual instead of a real manual, and came with the wrong remote such that even if the machine had worked, I would not have been able to use it [no "setup" button on the remote or on the front panel]). I am glad to say that I immediately returned it (and told Overstock [who I found out often/always ship the wrong remote! Bad!!!] I wanted a refund, not a replacement, and I'd go and order it from Amazon instead).

Amazon, you are wonderful! My refurbished/remanufactured Philips DVP642 arrived in great condition, perfect working order, had the real manual, and had the correct remote!

As for the player itself, it does what it claims. It happily plays regular DVDs (and even over composite and through a video switch, it outputs a really clear, sharp picture--far, far better than the Sampo player it is replacing). It happily played random avi/mpg files off a DVD-R. I have not actually tried playing non-region-1 discs in it yet, but that's purely due to my lack of time to play with it, not due to any difficulty. As I understand it, it's very easy to switch regions or put it into multi-region (region 0?) mode, which I'll do at some point.

Bravo Philips! Bravo Amazon.com!

I've enjoyed this unit and just bought my 2nd after the first one died ... lasted about 1 1/2 yrs. Other reviews indicate that these units seem to die after some time and I've read it's related to a power capacitor (probably an easy fix for someone skilled in electronics). Other problems are that some DVD-Rs won't load in this ... seems really arbitrary though, not any specific brand. I like it to play .avi files from the computer. If I were just playing store bought DVDs, I think I would choose something a little more reliable. I bought my second one from a retailer that offers a 4 year extended warranty for $20. I figure the extra money is worth it as 4 out of the 5 DVD players I've owned have died within 3 years. So my advice ... make sure you have a good warranty and expect to replace it, enjoy it while it works.

Worked well for 30 days and then started having problems turning on. Really a pain. Won't turn on normally and have to spend 10 min. or so pushing the stand-by button to get it go on. Don't be a remanufactured one.

Great little Divx player with progressive scan. Component outputs provide great digital signal and optical output provides digital sound. Divx has been great as we can watch movie files from camcorders and cameras without reformatting to DVDs. Would recommend. Also very thin and has great form factor to fit into tight spots if needed.

Cons: No HDMI/DVI output, but for this price, nothing does... yet.

Great valued unit - but buy it new. Bought a remanufactured unit as a second DVD/DivX player - died on me just after the 90 day warranty ended (No Disc error for DVDs, plays CDs fine). Meanwhile, my original non-remanufactured unit is still working fine after a year and a half.

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!

I've been using this unit for playing CBT's and although it doesn't like Real Media and Quicktime files there are bunches of converters that will quickly convert these to MPEG and they run great. Much better than being limited to VCD like many players play, because you can burn hours of MPEG video onto a standard RCD as opposed to an hour or so as a VCD or DVD. Google SUPER (Simplified Universal layer Encode & Renderer by eRightSoft) and your good to go.

Bought it for use in Mexico. For its price, it does exactly as advertised. Easily found a region hack allowing us to use it for all regions. Vendor shipment arrived on time and as promised - new manual and very safely packed with bubble wrap.

Fast shipping, great condition. Nice size. Works very good... , but sometimes the sound jumps... but overall OK.

The price on this remanufactured item was great. (I consider a remanufactured item to have gone through a more rigorous quality control check than a regular item.) It has worked perfectly for the year or two that we have had it and I particularly like that it is so slim (low profile) that by putting the TV on a couple of little blocks I was able to slide the DVD player just beneath the TV.