Philips 642 or LG 530??

[LBPL]

I am hesitating between these two models : Philips 642 and LG 530. First, you should know that I watch ALL my DVDs with a 27'' 4/3 television. You should also know that I don't(and will never) use the Divx feature, as well as any burned discs ; just commercial DVDs. Finally, I'm planning on buying R2 movies, so I need a VERY GOOD PAL--»NTSC conversion.

Philips 642
It seems to be a very popular player! I'm saying that because there's about 350 comments about it, and they don't seem to agree on the same thing! Is the video quality good or bad?? Is the PAL--» NTSC conversion good, or bad(regionfreedvd.net seems to say it has a 8 mb converter...)? It seems to me that the player is instable and cheap...is it true? Please help me, because I'm SO lost here!

LG 530
I don't know much about this player, except people seem to prefer it to the Philips 642... What do you think?? Is it better?


I've been searching a LONG time to find the BEST player that converts PAL---»NTSC without any glitches like cropping.

[Severity]

I don't know about the LG but I had the Phillips and yes the video quailty on that machine was not good at all. The PAL conversion was ok. I was so fed up with the picture quality of the Phillips, that I bought the Pioneer DV-383. Does everything the Phillips did. Pal, divx, region free and more. And the picture quality was so much better. It was like having my Sony hooked up again but with the ability to play any disc that was put it.

[parallax1]

Well allow me to retort.......

I think the quality of the 642 on my 27 in. TV is very good. Having gone from an Apex 600A to an APEX 1500 to a CyberHome 500 to the 642 has been a step up all the way. I know it gets better, but at what cost? $50-$60 for the 642 isn't bad and if/when you get a bigger/better TV you can splurge for the "better" DVD player and the 642 becomes a nice backup for the bedroom.

[gll99]

I can't speak for the LG but I have the DVD-642 and I'm very pleased with it. No problems at all with properly encoded dvd or avi (divx) discs. I mostly encode my own divx /xvid so easily avoid the problems some have had. I don't have my player hooked to a progressive scan tv so can't comment on that but it looks great on my 32" set connected through svideo.

The only thing I would consider now before buying is that I heard that the DVP-642 is discontinued. If that is true then support may not be as available as current users like myself move on to other newer units in the months and years ahead.

Another thing to consider with the move to HDTV which affects all models is that any dvd player that does not have a hdmi output connector may have a limited lifespan.

[GullyFoyle]

The 642 looks fine on my Toshiba 42 inch widescreen. I run it on progressive without any problems. Divx looks fine. Surprisingly fine.
I don't really use it for commercial dvds or even dvds I burn myself. Just Divx.
I have no problem with audio, when it is run from the rca jacks. I can't seem to get any files to play through the optical out. But that could be my older reciever. It used to get touchy when changing sat channels as well.