November 12, 2007

Philips DVP-5140 or DVP-5982 for DivX and PAL playback

I’ve been looking for a cheap DVD player that handles DivX for all of the TV shows I download and that can playback PAL DVDs.

I used to have a Philips DVP-642 DVD player until the tray became jammed. When the public library called for an overdue copy of Zathura I unplugged the broken DVP-642 and gave it a shake.

Yup! Something was loose inside. I undid several screws, peeled back the sheet metal and found the missing DVD. Then I went to my son’s room and yelled at him for 5 minutes.

A year later, I’m in need of a DVD player that can play my DivX TV shows. Converting the shows into DVDs with Visual Hub just takes too long.

The Philips DVP-5140 looks like a good update to the DVP-642. I can get one at Best Buy for $46.00 CAD which is much less than what I paid for the DVP-642.

I found a great site with an indepth review of the new player — Comparing the Philips DVP-642 and DVP-5140. The DVP-5140 has:

  • a much nicer remote (still no open/close button),
  • better onscreen menus,
  • improved video playback (updated video codecs)
  • and it runs much quieter.

I’m also looking at the possibility of getting the Philips DVP-5982 for $76.49 CAD. It has an HDMI input, a USB port and it up-converts the signal to take advantage of HDTV displays. Other than that it seems to very similar to the DVP-5140.

Hmm. I just read a comment on Videohelp.com about the Phillips DVP-5982.

I recently bought two Sony Bravia HDTVs and decided to go with this upconverting Philips model until I see how the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray war plays out. I have been astonished by the fidelity and quality of the image of regular DVDs played through this unit! Although my Bravia’s only support 1080i (and not 1080p) I am still amazed by the detail this unit seems to tweak out of SD DVDs.

Having recently purchased a Sony Bravia HDTV with 1080i support this might be the DVD player to get. The region-free hack for this unit is also available at videohelp.com and enables playback of PAL discs.

Does anyone have any experience or opinions on the Philips DVP-5140 or DVP-5982?

Posted in Home Theatre at 12:15 AM