Help finding new dvd player similar to the Philips 5990?Any Recommendations

[frieday]

I was thinking about the Philips DVP2880? But from doing some reading It wont convert PAL to NTSC like the 5990 model did? Something about having to use the composite cables to watch PAL on an NTSC TV or only being able to watch at 576p?

Am I right here, does the 2880 not convert PAL to NTSC 'on the fly' like the 5990 did? Thus not allowing me to watch upconverted 1080p PAL Dvds through the HDMI?

That would be unfortunate cause I really enjoyed pal dvds on the 5990. Looking for a suitable replacement because I think the 5990 I currently have has died...no disc error, discs just spinning, player making hissing noises etc. So if the 2880 doesnt display PAL movies properly like the 5990 did, is there any other players out of the box that I can purchase? (Looking for region free, and divx would be nice too)

Or should I buy something already modded? (sucks if I had too) wish I could go back to 2008 buy a couple more 5990 units


thanks for your input

[jman98]

I really don't know as I bought my most recent Philips DVD player (don't remember the model number) about 3 years ago and it definitely converts between PAL and NTSC.

We have a thread here
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/358775-Philips-DVP2880-F7-region-free-code
where this gregoryh character joined us as a one post wonder and posts definitively that Philips players no longer convert between PAL and NTSC. I can only tell you this. He claims that Philips DVD players only convert on component out and this is pure bs because my player only uses HDMI and it most definitely converts. He never posted again here so I really don't know that you or anybody should put all that much stock in what he says. All I can tell you is that in the past Philips DVD players ALWAYS converted between PAL and NTSC. Now we have had reports for a while that some Philips BluRay players won't convert at all, but that thread I listed has a post where somebody says that his BluRay player does convert. And the guy who said that is a regular here so I'm willing to trust his comments.

I guess the best advice I can give is this. Go to a store that has the 2880 and tell them that you won't buy it unless you can look at the setup menu. See if you can change the video output from ANY or MULTI (I don't remember which Philips defaults too) to NTSC. If there is no way to change the video output setting, then the player probably can't convert. We do have a link on our Players section description for this player that claims to be able to unlock it so there is some chance that the player can be unlocked, but no guarantees. Be sure you can take the player back if it won't unlock and if you do unlock it, do NOT ever upgrade the firmware or you will very likely permanently destroy the player's ability to be region free.

You can always not roll the dice and pay more and buy from sites like
http://www.world-import.com
http://www.220-electronics.com
where you know you are getting a modded player that can definitely be unlocked.

[Krispy Kritter]

Depending on your TV, it's entirely possible that the TV can scale content as good if not better than a budget DVD player. ALL content that doesn't match the TV screens native resolution gets scaled, so it's not necessary for the input device to perform the scaling. I would concentrate on simply finding a DVD player that supports PAL as you already noted.

[frieday]

Thanks krispy and JMan for the help. Well after going to my local walmart... I found out they have jack sh*t when it comes to stand alone dvd players.... and the philips dvp 2880 didnt look like it was made as well as their older models, so I decided to go with a Pioneer Multi Region player (DV-3032)

I hope it at least performs as well as the 5990 did when watching PAL, or divx... but I read some good things about the Pioneer unit so thought Id give it a chance.

[Krispy Kritter]

Good luck, and let us know how it works for you.