Philips BDP2900, how bad?

[erek]

I was going to pick up a Philips BDP2900 for $35, but on Amazon i'm reading horrible reviews... rock bottom but it mostly seems aimed at the lack of Wi-Fi, which i am not at all concerned with. Though some people mention there is sometimes play back problems and also failures.

I was able to test the unit with an AVCHD DVD that had 1080p content (25 seconds) and it played fine. Is this unit way too subpar to consider using it for Blu Ray play back and AVCHD DVD playback?

I was hoping to get away with buying it tomorrow.

Thanks

[johns0]

I had a phillips bdp 2600 which would freeze even when not playing a disc,had to send it to phillips where they sent me a cheque 6 weeks later as they had no equivalent replacement,seems like the one you want to buy has some of the same issues,my sony bdp-s350 which i bought 5 years ago is still running with no issues as well as my sony bdps-380 after 2 years.

Best to go with samsung,sony or lg since the phillips tend to break down a lot more than the other brands.

[DB83]

Well if you tested it for some playback you should test it for other.

From where I sit, $35 is rediculiously cheap for a BD-player. The old addage says you get what you pay for.

[jman98]

Philips low end players are a bit hit and miss. The infamous DVP642 gave me years of faithful service before it crapped out. I think jagabo also bought one and his lasted just a few months. Philips players do best if given a LOT of free space around them to air cool. I can do that as I have a small open air TV stand. If you're going to wedge it into an entertainment center where the only free space the player has is the front of it where the cabinet begins, you'd probably be better off to get a different model. But do note that pretty much everything today does better with more free space around it to air cool the player.

[erek]

It's coming from a Swap Shop and these retail for 58.88 at Wal-Mart

[johns0]

Avoid stuff coming from swap shops,especially blu-ray players,for $20 more you get a warranty at least.

[erek]

i'm taking in a Blu Ray movie to test out on it

[William924]

Seems like there are two BDP2900 models. I recently purchased one that is region free for DVD & BD but its much smaller then the one described on Amazon that has very low ratings. It can connect wirelessly if you want to shell out another $40 for a dongle. It goes for almost $200, but plays everything I've put into it so far.

[erek]

mine is running fine so far... updated the firmware

[Constant Gardener]

Don't know why some retailers sell the BDP2900 for so much. Best Buy has them for CDN$ 60, and a quick search finds the DVD region hack.

[William924]

From what I can see the newer model which is significantly smaller then the original is higher priced.

[Constant Gardener]

Ours is 310 x 40 x 203 mm and cost $70 in March.

[wulf109]

The "second" version is a hardware modded player to allow all region play of blue rays. That's the $200 version. It's not directly from Philips.

[jagabo]

Philips low end players are a bit hit and miss. The infamous DVP642 gave me years of faithful service before it crapped out. I think jagabo also bought one and his lasted just a few months.

No, mine was still working the last time I tried it (a few years ago, it's sitting in the closet now). I agree that Philips is hit and miss, and keeping them cool is a must.

[deadmeow]

I had good luck with my old DVP 642, but I have a newer model philips and it chokes on 90% of the dvd's you put in it, and for the 10% of dvd's it plays, it sounds like it is going to blow up. The only good side is that it plays divx/xvid files from the usb port very well.