what's a good quality dvd player that plays DivX?

sepultura · Member Joined: 25 Feb 2004

Looking for a good quality dvd player that plays DivX discs. what are the good ones out there? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

CrayonEater · Likes Monkeys Joined: 07 May 2006 Location: United States

The Philips DVP-642 proven rock-solid and will play just about anything. I hear the 5960 is better and it upscales too. Best Buy has it this week for $74.

FulciLives · Posted: Sep 17, 2006 02:24

The Philips DVP-5140 can be bought at WAL-MART for around $55 and does DivX and XviD and best of all can be made REGION FREE with a simple remote control hack. It will also convert PAL DVD discs to NTSC which is another nice plus.

However it does lack a S-Video output (it does have composite and component) and it does not support DTS audio.

The Pioneer DV-393-S is another good choice and it does have S-Video output (along with composite and component) and it does support DTS audio. It will convert PAL DVD discs to NTSC but the PAL DVD must be region free as there is no simple region free hack. You can buy one for a premium that has been hacked already to be REGION FREE but you end up paying more for it that way. The best price I have seen for a hacked REGION FREE version is at 220-Electronics

Some people feel (probably rightly so) that the Pioneer model is better than the Philips model.

Please note that the Philips DVP-5960 is the same as the DVP-5140 but the 5960 adds an HDMI output with HDTV up-conversion.

Pioneer also makes a "step up" model which adds a HDMI output with HDTV up-conversion. That would be model DV-490-S and again you can buy the regular USA model or buy it pre-modified to be REGION FREE from 220-Electronics or any number of similiar websites.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman
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"The eyes are the first thing that you have to destroy ... because they have seen too many bad things" - Lucio Fulci
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LloydAZ · Member Joined: 12 Jul 2002 Location: United States

I'm very happy with my Toshiba SD3990.

handyguy · Member Joined: 25 Mar 2003

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

TBoneit · Member Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Location: USA

Phillips DVP-5960 has Composite, No S-Video, Component and HDMI. It will upscale only via the HDMI output. Pros it has played any Divx or Xvid I've thrown at it. OTOH the remote could have more functionality and it won't play HD Divx/Xvid. The Toshiba 3990 as mentioned above is nice, much better remote functionality but it is pickier and would not play a couple of divx/xvids that the phillips played OK.

I suspect it may be better built. It has a power button on the front that the Phillips lacks. I also do not like the way the Phillips turns off if not playing for a while, even if paused. This means if I pause it and don't get back for a while I have to FF to get back where I was. The Phillips is Ultra Divx certified.

I have both in use in different rooms. The Toshiba is on the main TV as it has a better remote that is easier for non techies to use.

End result, either is a good machine that you would probably like. If you make all your own Divx then for sure the Toshiba. If you don't make all your own Divx then maybe the Phillips as it plays them all for me.

Another nice feature on the Phillips is the front USB than can play videos from a USB memory stick or a fat32 formatted external hard drive. It won't supply enough power to power a external laptop drive so the drive does need to be powered but it works very well and is handy for testing and encode before burning or just for holding tons of videos without having to switch DVDs. I use a 80Gb myself.

Best Buy had both last time I looked.

Good Luck

sepultura · Member Joined: 25 Feb 2004

i appreciate all your replies so far, guys and gals. For now, i guess i'll just go get the Philips one at Wal-Mart. One more question.. is there a difference on which DivX version encoded the video? Does it play all the DivX videos fine? thanks again!

TBoneit · Member Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Location: USA

Iy isn't the Divx version that makes a difference only, it is also the options chosen for the encode.

Do a search on the phillips 642 and you'll see the problems that the 642 an older player has playing Divx encoded with GMC or QPEL.

The new models seem better. The Ultra Divx certifcation means that Divx 6 that are authored to have menus and chapter will work too.