Philips Dvp642 Progressive Scan Dvd Player By PDCD on Oct 09, 2007 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

The Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player is a full featured DVD player with a variety of extra playback options such as VCD, audio CD, image CD, MP3 CD, and data CDs with DivX encdoded video files.

The DVP642 is slim and attractive, and has all the standard options and outputs you'd expect from a DVD player including RCA, S-Video, and component. It can be picked up quite cheaply now if you don't want to shell out the extra money for a HDMI upconverting DVD player or a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player.

It is about what you'd expect from a DVD player, with nothing really standing out, but the big problem is with the remote control. The navigational buttons are interlaced with the playback buttons, leading to many inadvertent button presses. Even after using it for 2 years I still make mistakes, which is annoying.

Overall I like the DVD player, but I wouldn't buy another one unless I got a really good deal on it. A poor remote can sour even the most feature-laden electronic device. I'd highly recommend using your favorite universal remote control with it. Though some features may not be available, the most often used ones will be.