Philips DVP5982 1080p Upscaling DVD Player
by Philips
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List Price: Our Price: $39.00 You Save: $50.99 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Philips DVP5982 1080p Upscaling DVD Player
Customer Review: About the whole PAL/NTSC thing...
Summary: 4 Stars
If you own a multi-system television (or a PAL television), you should be aware that all current USA Philips DVD players (including the 5982 and any models made thereafter) have the "TV Type" selections disabled in the firmware. The ONLY choice of output system (for U.S. machines) is NTSC, which is fine for most people, but if you have a multi-system TV, this means your PAL discs are going to undergo an unnecessary standards conversion (to NTSC).
All other worldwide versions of Philips machines still have NTSC, PAL and MULTI as choices in the "TV Type" menu. Why was it removed for the USA? My guess was to end calls to customer service for people complaining about black-and-white pictures (MULTI used to be the default choice back when US machines included all three types).
The 5960 is the last US model of this type/price point (including a USB port) to come with changeable TV type options, FYI.
I HAVE DISCOVERED there are work-arounds for SOME 5982s (but not all), however. It all depends on the internal chipset and firmware variation you're running. On mine, you can change the player to multi-system by the following process:
1. open the tray
2. press "3" on the remote. The word "MULTI" should appear in the upper corner of the screen. Now, all NTSC discs will be output as NTSC, and all PAL discs will be output as PAL.
This process does NOT restore the TV type choices to the menu system, though (would take a firmware change to do that). However, if you wish to revert to "NTSC-only" output, simply go back through the menu system, go to TV Type and reselect "NTSC".
I have another 5982 that has a completely different work-around, but it's a bit more complicated. Also, I had a third one that had NO workaround whatsoever.
For the majority of US buyers, you won't need this work-around, but if you have a multi-system TV (whether advertised as such or not), you will want to be able to output a true unconverted PAL signal for PAL discs.
Customer Review: Pretty good value for the money
Summary: 4 Stars
I should perhaps preface this review with the fact that I don't use this device as a media center; I stream my video and audio files through my Xbox 360. I am reviewing this purely on its performance as a DVD player.
This is a pretty solid little device. It's light and thin, having a fairly attractive and sleek appearance with its black finish. The upscaled image looks great on my 32" Samsung LCD with great color reproduction through the HDMI connection, though occasionally red objects seem to suffer from interlacing artifacts -- this mostly occurred on older, non-anamorphic DVDs, but it was a small concern and deserves to be noted.
More aggravating are the startup and menus. They're slow, bordering on painfully so. It takes a good ten to fifteen seconds for the tray to open when starting the machine via the "Open Tray" button. The menus often have a slight delay when navigating them, which can occasionally result in highlighting the wrong choice.
My biggest beef lies in the HDMI audio out. Due to a limitation with my television, I have to rely on the coaxial audio out to receive surround sound on my stereo system. Some hiccup inside this player constantly changes my settings back to HDMI audio out, which does me no good; even worse, it's not consistent, as sometimes my settings are left undisturbed, but mostly, once the player's been off, I need to readjust when I turn it back on. Thankfully, the setting has never reverted during playback, but it is a bit of an annoyance nonetheless.
As this review focuses on concerns about the device, you're probably wondering about the rating. Honestly, I wasn't expecting the greatest player on the market when I paid $50 for it, and the video quality has always been satisfactory, often exemplary. While it does have its foibles, the Philips DVP5982 does get the job done and is extremely affordable.
I suppose a truly accurate rating would be 3 1/2 stars.
Customer Review: Simply nothing close to it in its price/range
Summary: 5 Stars
The Philips DVP 5982 is really a stand DVD player without peer. For the $59 that Amazon is charging, nothing is close to having its features and quality.
The playing of compressed Divx Video (it has the highest level of Divx licensing), look spectacular, especially when connected to a TV that allows for 1080p and wide screen. Unreal. I can fit about 4 full length videos on a single DVD. MAKE SURE that you don't compile a Divx video with a width greater than 720 !! With the upconverting it doesn't matter anyway.
I have used the USB input lots of times. For playing Divx compressed video as well as music. Looks great and sounds great.
One simple connection with a single HDMI cable to your TV or PCs high level graphics card and that is all that is needed for HD video and audio.
The most important thing is how great the output of DVDs, Divx, MPEG video looks and how good the .jpg photos look and the audio sounds.
That is the bottom line.
Some lose the fact of what they get a DVD player for and what is important is the flexibility of the formats (especially having Divx and allowing for USB in), the HDMI out, the up converting, and how flipping good DVDs and other videos look and sound !!
For $59 I am not looking for perfection. Yes, I would like the remote to be laid out better, a few more buttons to run it manually if I want, BUT, it is $59 !!!!!!!!
Those that have issues with it playing I guarantee are because they do not understand multi-media and give knee-jerk reactions rather than research it. Plus it always takes some time to get used to the remote and some idiosyncrasies of it.
At this price-point, nothing is close.
Please don't be a CONSUMER SUCKER and waste money on Blue-Ray and big name products. Lets expand what compressed video can do, which saves all of us SOOOO much money.
Jon
Customer Review: It's Ok
Summary: 4 Stars
I had purchased the Toshiba HD-A3 HD-DVD player on Christmas Eve in order to play an HD-DVD formatted movie my daughter was to receive. I had researched Blu-ray and HD-DVD and really couldn't make sense, at the time, on who would be the winner. After Warner's announcement (around 1/11 or so) that it would only support Blu-Ray, the death of HD-DVD was imminent. So, I returned the HD-A3 player to a local retailer for a refund. I also decided that I would not invest in Blu-Ray because of the expensive players and the unsettled versioning. I wasn't about to drop $300+ for a Blu-Ray player only to learn that newer models would be out by year's end. The current models can't be upgraded. Yes, I know Play Station 3's can be upgraded, but right now I don't really need/want a PS3 player.
So, I was on a search for a decent up-converting player. The Phillips DVP5982 had high reviews and was a top seller on Amazon. Unfortunately, I ordered my unit from someone else because the price was a little cheaper. Due to the retailer's nearby distribution center, I got it basically overnight compared to waiting 2-3 days for Amazon's shipping.
Everything about the Phillips player is easy to operate. The remote is well designed, menu systems are logical. If you are not up on current technology, you may become confused with some of the settings, 780p, 1080p, HDMI, etc. I think the Toshiba HD-A3 player did a better job at upconverting basic DVD's, but this Philips machine does quite a decent job. I'm pleased.
The USB port is a nice feature but is rather slow with modern, large jpg files. It is probably faster with scaled down pictures that are not so large in size. I think I'd rather burn the pics to a DVD and view them that way instead of waiting for each to load via USB.
Power up time is a little slow. You may wonder if you actually turned it on or not. DVD load time is about average to other players.
Customer Review: What's not to like?
Summary: 5 Stars
There's obviously lots of feedback on this unit, some of which actually gave me pause before electing to order the Philips DVP5982. On the off chance you may be similarily questioning this player due to previous reviews, particularly complaints or concerns, here's my take.
First of all, yes it's a region free player...no little accomplishment for a DVD player and at this price point (I paid $49.00 which included free shipping) an unbelievable bargain.
Secondly, despite some reveiwer's observations, the unit required little or no set-up...it's a simple HDMI plug and play procedure unless you have an odd assortment of equipment which seems unlikely if your purchasing an upscaling player for your HD plasma or LCD TV.
Addtionally, it plays everything I've thrown at it flawlessly with no need to re-adjust any settings between various discs.
Speaking of settings, the menus while "boxy" or old-fashioned as some have complained are nonetheless easy to navigate and clear as to the directives. Frankly, given the aforementioned features, how picky do you have to be to carp about the asthetics of the menu design? Still, if you're purchasing a DVD player to gawk at the menu set-up design then I suppose this player isn't for you.
Working in the TV production industry I spend no little amount of time looking at HD content and while this player isn't going to match true HD it does deliver an exceptional picture able to satisfy the most exacting viewer.
The remote is FINE...like the other aspects of the unit it's about function and value. So no, you won't run and show your friends your new DVD player remote but it feels and looks like a thousand other remotes...no better, but certainly no worse or "cheaper" than the next.
Frankly, I rarely ever bother to write product reviews but I was so impressed with this Philips player I felt compelled to let would-be buyers know it's a steal.