Why am I STUPID? Philips DVD 724

[flitcher]

Ok,
I spent the whole day yesterday reseraching VCDHelp.com's DVD player database looking for a player that supported DVD, VCD, SVCD, MP3(full character display) with progressive scan and optical output all for under $150. So after researching for 3-4 hours (Its the truth!) I finally found one that fit my appeal - Philips DVD 724 (http://www.vcdhelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=Philips+DVD+724&DVDselect=&Submit=Search&Search=Search)

Well, I just went to Best Buy today, took it home put in The Matrix VCD copy I made from the DVD, and.... absolutely nothing happened. So I went and got Spiderman VCD, still nothing. I put in Oceans Eleven VCD, nothing again! Then I put in Blade 2(VCD I believe, or it could be SVCD but its only to 2 cds) and it played immediately, but the picture was scrolling up the screen on a continuos loop. Can someone please explain to me why I cant get any of my VCD's to work? I am burning them in Nero 4.0.9.1 as a VideoCD and they are being burned on the CD as a .dat file, is that the correct format? By the way, all the CDs play fine on my computers DVD drive. Please help! Should I return the player and get a different one or am I burning these files wrong.

[Morphius]

Sounds like you have incorrectly setup the player.

How do you have it hooked up?

Composite or S Video?

I had the same problem with my new Samsung 5 Disk changer...I completely forgot to set the switch to composite from S Video. Switched the little switch on the back of the player and I was up and running!

Also, some players require you to setup the player via an inside menu after you turn on the player.

Hope this helps you

[flitcher]

I have it setup as Composite, and I could not find a switch on the back of the player. And just to let you know, I am able to play DVDs and MP3's. Should I take the player back or is there something else I can do?

[beauwinkl]

Try the latest version of Nero. Check your 724's setup for the PAL setting and set it to NTSC if needed. I'm interested in this player as well - onecall.com is selling them for $115 shipped.

I have a question for you: What kind of display do you get when selecting and playing MP3's? How many characters does it display?

Thanks!
/ Beau

[flitcher]

Ok,
It was on Multi and I changed it to NTSC, and by doing so enabled Blade 2 to play! But I still cant get Spiderman or The Matrix to play. It recognizes their format because it displays VCD in the LED screen, and it displays the CDs total running time. I also tried playing them in PAL but that didnt work, instead it had the looping screen thing. And to answer the previous posters question, I only tried the MP3 function at Best Buy and did not pay attention to how many characters it displayed, sorry.

[Fredrick]

Take it back. Best way is take a SVCD that wouldn't play along and find one that does play.