Philips dvp642 $69 Divx player at Compusa - anyone knows?

[wulf109]

Picked one up at my local Compusa. None where on display but the web page said the store had stock. I showed a salesmen the web page I printed out and he did find they had stock,so check stock on your local store and have a salesmen check.
It plays DIVX O.K.,I do notice a glitch in audio playback. A momentary stumble,at least in MP3 audio. It will not load a DIVX made with AC3 audio. It locks up and you have to turn off power and on again to eject the disk. Same thing with Nero MP4 files. Does XVID produce any better results than DIVX,I ask because it seems many people use it in place of DIVX.
What kind of audio are others using in there DIVX files?
It also plays miniDVD quite well. Also plays SVCD very nicely.
Overall I'm impressed but would like to know if i'm the only one having the audio glitches in playback.

[LisaB]

Just picked this up and have finished some initial tests.

I'm really pleased with DIVX/XVID playback. The quality is excellent, and it has played everything so far except OGM containers. That includes XVID, DIVX3-LowMotion, DIVX5, and MS MPEG4 V3. Haven't tested subtitles yet.

It also is able to play 16:9 PAL DVD on an NTSC TV with proper aspect ratio.

Unfortunately, this player has a number of issues:

1. it makes irritating disk access noises when playing DIVX. in general, it has a somewhat noisy drive system. You probably won't notice if you're 10 feet away and you have the volume turned up.

2. I put an MP3 CD in it, and it locked the player up. This same MP3 CD plays fine in my Philips 727.

3. You can't change volume from the remote like you can with the Philips 727. This probably won't be an issue for most people.

4. It just doesn't have the playback quality of the Philips 727. I was really hoping that this could replace my Philips 727...but the playback quality of this unit for regular DVD's is sub-par. I will add that all my test DVD's were PAL. It could be that the 642 just has bad PAL->NTSC conversion compared to the 727...I don't know. Also, all tests were done in progressive mode and viewed on my HDTV. On a regular TV, you probably would not be able to tell the difference between the 642 and a high-quality unit like the 727. Because of the quality issue, I will probably only use this player to play AVI files.

[wulf109]

This player appears to be macrovision free out of the box. I've tried several DVD's that I know have macrovision and there's no macrovision when I put my vcr in record mode and the tape playsback normally.
I taped a Star Trek Voyager disk and playsback normally in spite of the DVD having macrovision.

[tommyoz]

I just picked up my reserved player from compusa. I am very impressed. Unfortunately I am in the process of moving and I already boxed away some older Divx movies that I have. I am mainly testing the more recent ones.

So far it has played everything without a hitch. I am not having any audio problems like wulf109 is having. It plays Divx with AC3. The only thing is the non support for long file names as mentioned before by lurker
I only get up to 11 characters so it's hard to distinguish if you have different versions of the same movie.

I own a Neuston Divx player that I bought last year for $250.00. This player handles everything quite well except for the fast forward/reverse.
The Philips does this very well and for $69.00 you can't go wrong. They will probably get better with these types of players. This one can always be an extra one.

[wulf109]

LisaB:

Mine is silent and I've seen no other complaints about noise. You may have a defective drive motor and/or drive system. You would be well advised to exchange your player.

[deallover]

Newbie here.
Can I copy *.ogg and *.srt files on a DVD disc as data and then play it in this player to view it on TV?

If I have three *.ogg files then can it play them in order or stops after the first file is played?

Plz let me know.
Thanks.

[somebodeez]

I'm not experiencing problems with noise either and have been able to play DivX w/AC3 audio.

Here's my initial test results:

Philips DVP642 DVD Player

(Player is set to its default settings, NTSC TV)

PAL DivX – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 8x)

NTSC DivX 3 Low Motion – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 8x)

DivX with AC3 – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 8x)

DivX 3 Fast Motion – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 8x)

PAL XviD – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 8x)

XVID with AC3 – YES!!

PAL DivX 3 Low Motion – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 8x)

NTSC DivX 4 (open DivX) – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 8x)

PAL SVCD – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 4x)

NTSC SVCD – YES!! (Fast forwards up to 4x)

DVD+R Data Disc with 12 NTSC DivX 5.0.5 AVIs (no folders) – YES!!

DVD+R Data Disc with 12 PAL DivX 5.1 AVIs w/AC3 Audio (no folders) – YES!!

Movie on a DVD+R disc NTSC – YES!!

Movie on a DVD+RW disc NTSC – YES!!

OGM – No Player stayed on “Loading”. I had to unplug it, hold down the open/close button while plugging it back in to get the tray to open.

[lets]

It just doesn't have the playback quality of the Philips 727. I was really hoping that this could replace my Philips 727...but the playback quality of this unit for regular DVD's is sub-par. I will add that all my test DVD's were PAL. It could be that the 642 just has bad PAL->NTSC conversion compared to the 727...I don't know.

I also have a 727 model. Philips 727 does the better job for PAL discs, for NTSC it's the same. The 727 is also better for JPEG, 642 shrinks the pictures.
Do you know, to open and close the tray by the remote you should hold "stop" for 5 sec?

[EatMoreChickens]

Just got mine from CompUSA. They didn't have them on display, so you should ask them to look in the storeroom.

Tested about a dozen discs, VCD, SVCD, meg-iso, DivX, and Xivd, and no problems. Didn't have a problem w/ Divx w/ AC3, either. Looks like a winner so far.

BTW, there's no sub suport for Divx. And my machine's pretty quiet, compared to my Lite-on.

[aquahallick]

I got mine a couple of days ago and have been testing it out on some of my movies, and have noted only one problem-- When playing some of my older divX files from 4 years ago the audio is out of sync with the movie, but only about a couple of seconds. I have a collection of over 700 divx/xvid movies and about a tenth of that are the older ones having the problem, so it was well worth the money. But if there is a solution to this problem please enlighten me, even if means re-encoding the discs.

[LisaB]

hello "lets",

I don't have any JPEG discs to do tests with, but would like to make some in the future. Do you know what the file limits are per folder and per disk, and how they compare with the 727? The only info I can find in my 727 manual is "max 500 per folder", but no indication on max for the entire disk, or max number of folders, levels of folders, etc.. You could presumably fit a lot of JPEG's on a DVD, and I was wondering, if you did fill up a DVD, would you be able to access every picture?

Incidentally, I'm finding it rather awkward having both the 642 and 727. I turn off the 727 to test the 642, but whenever I press "play" or "enter" buttons, the 727 will turn back on! That is one serious drawback to having two players from the same manufacturer.

I'm also betting the 727 has a better DAC for quality of audio output, but
I'm finding it really hard to tell much difference myself.

To be more specific about the video quality problems with the 642:

1. on 16:9 anamorphic PAL, there is a grey line at the top of the image (i.e., at the border between movie image and letterboxing)

2. with all PAL movies, I noticed "jaggies" at the edges of objects, interlace-type artifacts (why? PAL is 25 FPS progressive frames! - well, I'm guessing this is introduced during PAL->NTSC conversion), and flickering in areas where there are smooth gradients. The "VCI" logo sequence that appears at the start of many BBC produced PAL discs provides excellent examples of all these quality issues.

[LisaB]

aquahallick,

2 seconds is *huge* when it comes to audio synch! don't say "just two seconds"!

I hope you're able to figure out what causes this, too. I haven't seen any synch problems yet, except after doing fast-forwarding. Some, but not all, avi's will lose synch after you fast-forward them. I can't find anyway to regain the synch, but to re-start them at the beginning. This could spell trouble for long movies!

[LisaB]

Do you guys join multi-part movies before burning them to disc?

I have movies that I have stored on 2 CD-R. But I'd like to archive on DVD-R. I'm tempted to join them with VDub, but I'm concerned it could lead to audio synch problems in the 2nd half, especially if the audio and video of the 1st half are not exactly equal in duration. Should I worry about this?

[lets]

Hi, LisaB
The size of each of my pictures is about 0.5 Mb. I can fit 1400 pictures on 700 mb CDR. It's too much, not easy to find what I want to see Never heard about limits (disk per folder), but you can make your own folders.
When you talk about PAL discs, do you mean DVD or VCD? I have only PAL DVDs and didn't see what you saw. I have a multisystem TV, so I could test 642. There is a huge difference when you watch PAL DVD on PAL and NTSC. To be honest, I tested only one PAL DVD. When I tested MPEG4 (PAL), the quality was the same on PAL and NTSC system. BTW, I burned six music clips (mpeg4) on CD-R and had a problem watching the first clip. Then I burnd the same on data DVD and didn't have the problem at all.

[LisaB]

Hey lurker,

the time edit mode works like a dream for me. I can simply enter a time, and it will jump right to it. This is when playing an AVI. I don't know why you were having a problem. Just press display button, then press "0" a few times (to designate 0 hours), then enter the minutes and seconds you want to jump to, then press display again.

[EatMoreChickens]

Anyone have problems w/ XVCD's? I can't seem to play The Recruit released in XVCD.

[boroda]

Well, I am returning the one I bought. A couple of reasons.

Reason number one: I don't really need two MPEG-4 players. I bought the 642 at the CompUSA to compare with my LiteOn LVD-2002, and I decided to keep the LiteOn.

Reason number two: In my opinion, this player does not favorably compare with LiteOn LVD-2002.
- There is no separate file subtitle support at all. May or may not be in the future. LiteOn finally has it. This is very important.
- The ZOOM adjustment feature is nowhere as powerful as in the LiteOn.
- The picture quality is not all that impressive.
- The weird squeaking noises from the DVD drive while playing DivX are driving me nuts.
- When this player cannot play a file it simply skips it - the LiteOn tries to let you know it can't play it.
- At some point in my testing the player got into this strange state where it played each file one second out of 5 minutes at a time. Kind of "preview" mode - picture-skip-picture-skip... Had to unplug the power to get out of it.
- The way to eject disk with the remote is very counter-intuitive.
- As of now there is no Region hack (the "standard" Philips hack eject-9,9,9,9,0-power doesn't work with 642).

My overall impression: this is a repackaged cheap ESS Vibratto based player. Possibly designed my Yamada or some other Taiwanese manufacturer. Nice box design, pretty solid for the money. Not as good as the LiteOn though.

[lucky777]

My overall impression: this is a repackaged cheap ESS Vibratto based player. Possibly designed my Yamada or some other Taiwanese manufacturer. Nice box design, pretty solid for the money. Not as good as the LiteOn though.

I tend to agree with boroda. Philips manual states:

"GMC (Global Motion Compensation) and Q-Pel (Quarter Pixel) not
supported"

It is old design with Vibratto chip. Liteon players are way better especially after 3.02 FW upgrade. Also there is no known hack for philips to disable macrovision/change regions.

[absolutic]

That is not correct at all. A member of another forum opened the player and discovered that it has
ESS Vibratto II ES6698F F024 TTWDQ32122A

As you probably know Vibratto II is a newer chip which is included in all these 'award-winning' players sold on ebay for upward of 100$ from Europe. So it is not an older repackaged Vibratto chip.

A lot of members on this and other forums, like me, purchased this player as a second player to a Liteon or some other player, to use it at another room. With this in mind, this 69$ machine is satisfactory.

As far as the noise from the drive, my Liteon 2001 also sometimes creates noise when reading dvds. I don't care

[smelepo]

Have any of you opened this player to make sure it is a ESS Vibrato player?

ESS Vibratto II

[LisaB]

boroda,

can you comment more on the quality of 2002 vs. quality of 642? And what are you viewing on - that could make a difference.

I think the quality for playing divx on the 642 is great. I am not so impressed with the quality of MPEG/DVD, however. DVD quality is not bad, but my other player does better. I think maybe the 642 does not have 3:2 pulldown, and that makes the difference. AVI is all progressive frames, so 3:2 pulldown is inconsequential for their playback...

Does the liteon have 3:2 pulldown?

Is there anyplace where one could still buy the liteon?

[tommyoz]

A lot of members on this and other forums, like me, purchased this player as a second player to a Liteon or some other player, to use it at another room. With this in mind, this 69$ machine is satisfactory.

As far as the noise from the drive, my Liteon 2001 also sometimes creates noise when reading dvds. I don't care

Well said, everyone has their own needs and I too am satisfied with this player for $69. As far as noise, I don't hear a thing.

[sushix]

It is old design with Vibratto chip. Liteon players are way better especially after 3.02 FW upgrade. Also there is no known hack for philips to disable macrovision/change regions.

It is already Macrovision free out of box but no region hack yet.

[lets]

Is there anyplace where one could still buy the liteon?

Wnen I got my Philips 642 in CompUSA store, I saw a Liteon (don't remember the model number). Comparing to Philips it looked ugly and was more then $100. I also saw JVC 312 there. The box said it can play MPEG4 simple profile. Don't know what that means. So, I was a little bit surprised to see DVD players with MPEG4 here in US

It is already Macrovision free out of box...

I doubt

[absolutic]

updates:

1) for time search on divx hit display and enter the time with numbers.

2) I removed the firmware upgrade link because it resets it to a different player and the philips support people have no idea what is going on.

[Roosevelt Franklin]

I just got this player today and I am impressed so far. All Divx files I had play very well (3.11/4.x and 5.x). I have tried JPEG files and it loads very well, quick viewing also along with rotate features. Raw MPEG2 was fine. I tried some "irregular" file types to test and found:

WMV files played, but no sound
RM files (real media) played just fine ( I was surprised as the manual says it is not supported)

MP3 worked great. File names are a pain being short, but hey not bad for the price.

I have it hooked up via SVideo and Optical Digital Wires.

Not bad at all

[steelyken]

I got it today at CompUSA in Indianapolis and I am less than impressed.

Divx playback varies from great to spectacularly blocky, though I suspect this is more related to how the files were encoded than any fault of the player. Scanning is hit and miss: I hit the display button on one disc and the time display was stuck onscreen. I had to turn the machine off and restart it to get the time off screen.

Some cds "chirp" when loading, but not all. No biggie there.

The one problem that is really bugging me is svcd2dvd playback. I have tried all I have and every one of them plays with a garbled screen. The only way to "fix" it is to enter system menu and then exit. They play fine then until I hit the scan or next chapter buttons. These discs played fine on my 3 previous dvd players.

I am kind of on the fence about keeping it. CompUSA charges a 15% restocking fee, so I will be out $10.50 if I return it.

[absolutic]

steelyken,

do you have other divx players to compare this one too. If you are not too impressed, do you have a divx player which you are impressed by?

All divx players have problems that you have listed. I have 2 divx players, Liteon LVD2001 (sigma chip) and this one (ess vibrato II chip). The movies that show blocks on Philips show blocks on Liteon as well. There is no magic formula

[steelyken]

I have no other divx players; this is the first one I have seen in person.

I was looking for an all-in-one solution to my video entertainment needs. I cannot afford more than one dvd player. If I could keep two, I think keeping the philips would be a no-brainer.

The svcd2dvd problem is the main sticking point with me now. If there is no solution, I will probably return it. I have 13 days to think about it.

[LisaB]

I also notice that this player will play wmv files, but no sound. Without sound, this feature is really pretty useless, though.

Is there a good program out there that will allow me to extract the sound, put it in a compatible format, and mux it back into the wmv. The wmv I have has "WM-AUDIO".

Unfortunately, modern VDub will not open it. VDub 1.3c complains with an error when I try to open it. Of course I could load it into TMPGEnc, audio only, and make an mp2 audio file, but how could mux the mp2 audio (or any audio, for that matter) back into the wmv if I can load it into VDub. The trouble with wmv is that there are just no tools that will work with it!