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

[kauser]

is it possible to buy Philips DVP642 DivX, XviD, MPEG4 DVD in the UK.

[fskof]

THIS THING DOESN'T DO DTS!! Doesn't that bother anyone? My $20 Apex does, but not my $70 642. Back to the store it goes. It *detects* DTS, and proceeds to throw a black screen up with the message "DTS Not Supported -- Use Menu Key To Choose Alternate Audio" or something. It seems like it was more effort to create a warning screen than simply flagging the DTS stream and passing it through would have been, but what do I know?

Have you taken it back yet? I've seen lots of other posts that claim their 642 does DTS without any problems.

[junkmalle]

I believe the Philips DVP642 is sold in the UK as the DVP630.

[MrPib]

THIS THING DOESN'T DO DTS!!

Have you taken it back yet? I've seen lots of other posts that claim their 642 does DTS without any problems.

I tried FOTR:EE in DTS, and was greeted with the "DTS Unsupported" screen. I also called Philips to verify that it didn't pass through DTS, and they said "definitely no DTS". My deck had the latest firmware, BTW. It's a shame, as this is a great looking player. Anyway, the CompUSA where I got it still has 5 or 6 new ones there.

[LisaB]

Okay, why on earth does a 720x416 pixel AVI display full-screen when played with this player?

If anyone out there has figured out all the mysteries of how this player scales/distorts AVI resolutions, please reply!

These are the rules I have determined so far:

1. For an AVI that has a *width* of 720 pixels or 704 pixels, the AVI will be stretched vertically to create a 4:3 output....so even if your AVI is 704x100, it will play full-screen.

2. For an AVI that has a *height* of 240 pixels, the AVI will be stretched or shrunk horizontally so that 352 pixels corresponds to full-screen width. In other words, a 352x240 pixel AVI will play back full-screen, while a 320x240 AVI will be squished horizontally (to about 91% full-screen width), so that there are black borders on the left and right.

3. For all other AVI's, the proper 1:1 VGA aspect of the AVI is respected. The AVI is scaled proportionately to fit on the screen. It seems to choose a scaling such that 704 pixels corresponds to full-screen width. In other words, a 640 width AVI will be scalled proportionately, but will not fill the entire width of the screen. Also, I swear that some 720 width avi's *are* scaled proportionately -- I have no idea why the *magic* height of 416 pixels leads to a full-screen distortion.

Any comments welcomed...Also if anyone knows where to download a simple test disc containing AVI's of many different resolutions, which are just a pattern that is black with a white circle, that would be a great way to test AVI scaling on divx players!

Everyone knows that an AVI should have a 1:1 VGA aspect ratio (it is what it is), so I don't understand why they didn't design the divx player to play them all appropriately.

[fskof]

I tried FOTR:EE in DTS, and was greeted with the "DTS Unsupported" screen. I also called Philips to verify that it didn't pass through DTS, and they said "definitely no DTS". My deck had the latest firmware, BTW. It's a shame, as this is a great looking player. Anyway, the CompUSA where I got it still has 5 or 6 new ones there.

I found another post in another forum that said that it played DTS for him, but with that "Can't decode DTS" message on the screen. If he paused the player and then unpaused it, that message went away and he could watch it in DTS. Seems very weird.

I don't have a receiver that does DTS, so I can't test it myself, but since I'm mostly likely getting a surround setup at some point, it would suck to not have DTS on my DVD player.

[LisaB]

Well, this player does very poorly at playing back AVI's with the appropriate aspect ratio.

It appears that for AVI's with width greater than 704, this unit:

1. resizes vertically to full-screen resolution (i.e., 480 lines)
2. resizes proportionately so that the width is 704 pixels.

The result is that a 720 width AVI will have very thin letterboxing on top and bottom...and it's aspect will be off....

So, a 720x416 pixel AVI will be stretched too much vertically on a 4:3 TV and will be slightly squished vertically on a 16:9 TV....take your pick - fat people or skinny people...no way to make the aspect right.

[FulciLives]

I admit I don't have one of these but I thought full screen resolution for the MPEG-4 codecs (like DivX and Xvid) was 640x480

So what happens if you play back a full screen DivX AVI at 640x480?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[CaseyComb]

There should be some sort of manual resizing for the player. I have to adjust each file when I play an .avi with my lite-on LVD-2002 using the zoom function, it works differently than when playing a DVD. You can bassically adjust the horizontal and vertical res seperately when playing an .avi

[dynoqc]

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)

Hello LisaB,

I found the solution concerning the grey line, in the played movie, go to video setup, switch to Progressive and return to normal immediately, the grey line is disappeared

I well look forward to seeing a new firmware to correct the manually zoom...

Bye

Dynoqc

[LisaB]

FulciLives, 640x480 plays back fine and undistorted on this unit. That's a good choice if encoding a full-screen movie, but I think it's unreasonable that we should have to letterbox our widescreen AVI's just to get them to play back properly on the standalone.

Interesting solution for the grey line problem, but it doesn't help those with HDTV's who keep their unit in progressive all the time.

[FulciLives]

FulciLives, 640x480 plays back fine and undistorted on this unit. That's a good choice if encoding a full-screen movie, but I think it's unreasonable that we should have to letterbox our widescreen AVI's just to get them to play back properly on the standalone.

Interesting solution for the grey line problem, but it doesn't help those with HDTV's who keep their unit in progressive all the time.

So if you have a widescreen DivX/Xvid AVI with 640x480 it will display with perfect aspect ratio BUT if it is widescreen with the black cut off so that you get ... for example ... 640x352 then it doesn't play back at the correct aspect ratio?

That sounds to me what you are saying.

In that case I guess the work-around would be to encode widescreen with the black so you end up with 640x480 total image size.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[supersonicl2]

Hey can any1 tell me what this firmware does besides mess up some of the controls. Does it:

A.Improve playback compatability for Divx/Xvid files
B.Increase loading speed of discs
C.Fly around the room spitting flaming DVD's
D.All of the above

But I just want to know before I upgrade my player

[dynoqc]

Interesting solution for the grey line problem, but it doesn't help those with HDTV's who keep their unit in progressive all the time.

Hi LisaB

I have not of HDTV (I have only a old panasonic Gaoo TV of 1992) , it is necessary to put back the normal tv mode afterward, try this: choose progressive and cancel...

Dynoqc

[boerbok]

The player does stream dts to your receiver if you connect via digital outputs and your receiver can decode it (Have not tested it with analog audio). The message that you have to manually get rid of are annoying .

The biggest problem I have is that the player heats up a lot when using it.
Is that normal ?

[jacobb]

si, i just bought one and played 2 xvid no problem, tried the 3rd and got "unsupported codec" the codec used was xvid rc1.. other then that it seems to be working good, but why would i get unsupported codec?

[MrPib]

I found another post in another forum that said that it played DTS for him, but with that "Can't decode DTS" message on the screen. If he paused the player and then unpaused it, that message went away and he could watch it in DTS.

Hmm, that's very interesting. Considering how infrequently I watch a DTS title, that might not be too much of a pain in the ass. I do recall reading that it passes the DTS stream as PCM. Perhaps some receivers are able to tell that it's really DTS coming though, even though it's not flagged that way.

I'm tempted to re-buy a DVP-642 at CompUSA just to try it. As I said, it's a nice player otherwise. (And I have a store credit burning a hole in my pocket from my return of the 1st one -- I took the credit to avoid the 15% restocking fee).

Thanks for the info!

[LisaB]

jacobb, you got an "unsupported codec" message because your video file contained b-frames. This player does not support b-frames, which are a newly added feature in Divx 5.1.1, and can also be used with the final XVID. (you mentioned the file you tried to play was a release candidate of XVID...by the way, the final is out)

B-frames give a little boost to encoding efficiency/quality, and since they are now supported in the latest Divx and Xvid codecs, you can expect to see more and more files that this player won't be able to play. Remember that using B-frames is optional, but many encoders will choose to use them since they'll give a quality boost for a given file size. You just have to remember not to use them when you encode your own Divx or Xvid, if you want them to play the video in this player.

You should probably not buy this player if you want to play files downloaded through filesharing, etc. In a few months, you can expect that this player will not play *any* newly encoded divx/xvid. B-frames are rapidly becoming the standard, and this player will soon be obsolete. It should play most of your current collection, however, if that is good enough.

This player does a great job playing those video files it is compatible with, but it doesn't do subtitles, b-frames, OGM container, PCM audio, or Divx audio, and it screws up the aspect ratio of almost every divx/xvid that doesn't have a width of 640 pixels. One kind of cool thing this player *does* do is that it will play AVI with multiple audio streams (you can switch between the audio streams using the "audio" button on the remote control!). I don't know if anyone else had noticed this feature, or whether other divx standalones did this, too....

[lifeisfun]

I'm not sure that your information is correct, since I re-encoded many movies to DivX 5.1.1 usin Dr.DivX and I have no problems playng those files on DVP642 .... How can I check for B-Frames ?
There is no player on the market that supports Qpel ....

[LisaB]

lifeisfun,

yes, but did you use b-frames? Just because you used divx 5.1.1 doesn't mean that you used b-frames.

I don't know of any sure way to check for B-Frames. I do know that sometimes when you open an avi in Virtual Dub Mod, you see the message "B-Frame decoder lag, nothing to output". Avi's that yield such a message definately have B-Frames, but this is still not a great way to check since not all B-frame AVI's will yield this message!

[supersonicl2]

lifeisfun,
...
when you open an avi in Virtual Dub Mod, you see the message "B-Frame decoder lag, nothing to output". Avi's that yield such a message definately have B-Frames,

Well LisaB I have found out that it does support B-frames(But you probably already know that don't you since you're so smart )

But any way is there any way to play Xvid RC1 on this player because I had success with all Xvid codecs except the RC1 version for some reason. Do I need the firmware upgrade or what or can I change the FourCC??? I mean what, can someone help me this time?

[LisaB]

Indeed, B-Frames are not *necessarily* the problem. I have discovered a clip that displays the B-Frame error message in VDubMod, yet plays fine in this player. Unfortunately, though, most AVI's that I have found that contain B-Frames will not play properly in this player. This is most likely because they use other advanced features of the XVID codec.

Actually, it makes a lot of sense that this player can play AVI's that contain B-Frames. It is DivX certified, so it should be able to handle anything that DivX can handle, and DivX does allow for B-Frames.

However, supersonicl2, just because you (and I as well) have found clips with B-Frames that play in this unit does not prove that B-Frames are not at the root of the problem. This is because DivX allows for B-Frames, but not *consequtive* B-Frames. XviD, on the other hand, will allow for consequtive B-Frames. It would surely be helpful, supersonicl2, if you could give us some details on your testing. I presume you encoded an Xvid test clip with B-Frames...but the million dollar question is: what did you set as the "max consequtive BVOPs"? And did you use trellis quantization? Did you use chroma motion? Did you use adaptive quantization? Some of these advanced features may only affect the encoding calculations, but others may actually lead to output which is not compatible with DivX, and that is what we are trying to get at here.

I seriously doubt that changing 4cc will have any affect. This is a DivX certified player, not an XviD certified player. It should play anything that DivX will play, and DivX will play XviD. The firmware surely includes only a DivX Codec. Whether you label your videos as xvid or divx makes no difference...it gets passed to the same decoding codec (DivX).

[deathbyzen]

Have 3 of these to test (two for relatives) and some notes now:


UDF/ISO format discs are why some people complain about 'chirping'. This is the format needed for really long file names, and stick a disc like this in there and it takes forever to load up and does crazy seeking. Data or UDF alone and the same files on a different disc load in normal times. Just need to stay away from UDF/ISO for discs for this. It will eventually read them but takes forever and is a major workout for the drive.

Have some files that it won't play. AVIMux and GSpot give identical info to files that do play, haven't determined if it's the file or player 100% but looks like the player balks on some starts. Demuxed and remuxed with VDub, and still wouldn't play but did start once on that one. Chop a second off the beginning with VDub and rewrite and they play fine.

Overall I like it even with a few quirks etc, most things simply play. Once I get my divx capture/conversion setup up to par then all of my TV caps will be moved to Divx.

Alan

Alan,

I have encountered a problem similar to this, but your scenario seems a bit different from mine. My scenario is:

Using Ritek G04 media, when I burn in UDF mode I get the crazy chirping/seeking. It often doesn't read the disc at all and rejects it. If I keep feeding it the same disc, EVENTUALLY it's able to read it. I don't have this problem when I burn in ISO mode, but I haven't tried UDF/ISO.

However, when I burn in UDF mode to a DVD+RW disc, the player reads the disc just fine. I'm not sure if it's the G04 media, or if the DVP642 just has issues with -R media in general (it is a Philips player after all ).

I bought this DVD player this past monday (mostly due to the positive replys in this topic) and I have found that when I burned a DVD in ISO Level 1 Mode with Nero the chirping/seeking is very short. The DVD was a Memorex 8x DVD+R with a bunch of anime on it (subtitles a little cut off -_-) and my player took VERY little time to read the disc before playback.

I then burned another disc in Neo using the UDF/ISO Level 1 format. It read the disc at the same speed as the one burned in ISO. The player had trouble reading about 3 or 4 of the files on there, but DVDinfoPro detected no errors on the disc, so I'm not sure what that could be.

Before I burned those 2 in Nero, I was burning my DVD's in RecordNOW Max in UDF. All of those DVD's read slow (but its not THAT big a deal) and make the player make the chirpy noises. Thankfully, my player has not totally rejected any of my DVD+R's burned in UDF.

Well, thats all. I'll be buying more of these Memorex 8x DVD+R's later...

[EatMoreChickens]

How's the playback of the Philips on an HDTV? I'm in the market for a 42" plasma or 50" DLP and was wondering how DivX files look on the larger screen, say 1.4GB movies and 350mb 45min tv captures. TIA

[peterson65]

i have a mitsubishi 65" hd tv and the divx looks good, i mean its divx
not dvd quality, you notice pixels in dark and grey areas that you dont
on a smaller screen. the dvd playback on the hd i think sucks
i also have a sony progressive scan that i paid $300 for (dont remember
tha model right now) and its a night and day difference on the hd tv
the philips you notice around the edges of people and objects scan lines
almost like interlaced video and thats there in progressive scan mode
and normal but hey what do you want for the price? it plays divx
i would not recomend it as your only player for a hd bigscreen.

[LisaB]

I agree totally with peterson65 -- I see the same defects in regular DVD playback, and my HDTV is only 32". That is why I have the Phillips 727 to play back dvd, svcd, jpegs, etc....everything that is not divx.

However, the divx playback is awesome, and if you are viewing a high-quality divx (2-cd rip), I think it looks every bit as good as DVD.

So bottom line...just use this player for divx...get another for everything else. Actually I also like the mp3 playback on the 642.

[tommyoz]

I agree also, I stated this on the the third page of this thread.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=215682&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

[dvdragon]

Is anyone else having problems with this player, having the picture display beyond the bounds of the TVset, for instance with Anime the bottom of the picture cutting off and having the subtitles cut in half.

Or for other videos just generally looks like the unit is zoomed in a bit, all that would be needed for correction, is to zoom out.

This happens with divx movies I have tried, changing the aspect ratio makes no adjustment to the picture.

Do I just have an old TV or something?

I have the same problem that you have. I have updated the firmware yet the problem persist. If I can't fix it this thing it is going back to Wal-Mart. I am very disappointed. I guess for $69 it was to good to be true.

[Flave]

I think it's silly to buy this player as your primary machine. Spend the money and get a good quality player for that role (for instance, a nice Panny).

This player should be bought *strictly* for its Divx/Xvid playback which it does superbly (except for QPel videos).

[Madz]

This player should be bought *strictly* for its Divx/Xvid playback which it does superbly (except for QPel videos).

That's exactly what I wanted one for. Sold out everywhere I checked, however. Looked on sites for Target, CompUSA and Best Buy (who wants $10 more for it, BTW). Even called stores to confirm. Wal-Mart doesn't even have it listed on their site (in fact, the only Philips items there are a couple of DVD/VCR combos).