Philips DVP5140 DVD Player
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- Number of Discs: 1
- Progressive Scan: With Progressive Scan
- Playable Disk Types: DVD Video VCD SVCD DVD-R DVD-RW DVD+R DVD+RW CD (Audio) CD-R CD-RW Picture CD
- Playable File Formats: MPEG2 DivX MP3 WMA JPEG MPEG1
- DVD Type: DVD Player
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DIVX playback on the cheap
Pros
Plays divx files, slim profile
Cons
Slow response time, flimsy construction, poorly designed remote
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Cheapest DVD player I've seen at brick-and-mortar stores that comes with divx playback. If you need that and nothing else, this works.
Well, DVD players have finally become VCRs; you can get a DVD player for under $10 (I saw a stack of super-slim players last year on clearance for $6.99 each) and basic recorders for under $50. So unless you're getting something super fancy, you shouldn't pay more than $50 for a DVD player, right? That was my thinking going into this purchase, as we just wanted a second (technically a third) DVD player to go in the kid's playroom. It doubles as a guest bedroom, so we thought that putting a DVD player in there not only helps out the guests, but also may save us some trouble when the kids want to watch one thing and the adults want to watch something else. As this DVD player would be hooked up to an old CRT television (no Hi-Def), I didn't need anything fancy. Since I do have some video though that is compressed and saved in the divx format, I decided to pay a little extra for a DVD player that could play that file format. After searching through our local stores, the most affordable player ended up being this Philips DVD player, coming in about $10 less than other players. I'll divide this review into three areas: specifications, installation, and usage.
Specifications-
This player has the usual DVD specifications but includes the following extra:
progressive scan, 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, Divx compatible (divx 3.11 through 6.0 and Divx ultra), MP3 and WMA playback, Dolby digital sound
As I said earlier, the divx playback capability is great for content grabbed off of the internet or for compressing your own video down. I can fit roughly 6 hours of video on a single layer DVD using divx and still have video that looks ok. You can compress things more, but the video quality really starts to suffer.
The more expensive players also came with an HDMI output, which this player lacks. For my needs, component outputs (or even composite outputs) are fine, but many users may prefer having HDMI available. Personally, I've found that HDMI and component outputs give almost the same quality of image, with the major difference being that HDMI requires fewer cables. So if HDMI is an important specification for your player to have, you'll want to pay the extra money for an HDMI-equipped player or try waiting until Blu-ray players consistently drop below $100. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened shortly into 2009.
On the audio connection side, this player does have a digital audio coaxial output (a bit hidden amongst the video outputs). There is no optical audio output.
Final verdict- has the specifications of a super-cheap player, but throws in Divx compatibility. That one addition results in about a $20 bump in the price, but it is still cheaper than other easy-to-find, name brand DVD players with divx compatibility. Grade: A
Installation-
Installation is as simple as any other DVD player or current VCR: connect the audio via the red and white (left and right signal) audio jacks on the back of the player to the audio input jacks on the back of your display and connect the video either via the single yellow video cable (lower quality video) or the red, green, and blue component video cable set on the back of the player to the corresponding colored jacks on the back of your display. Once that is done, slap the batteries in the remote, turn everything on, and you're ready to go.
Unlike many VCRs, most DVD players (with DVD recorders being the exception) do not have play-through capability. That means that you can't leave your DVD player on and watch TV "through" the DVD player like you can with a VCR. So when the DVD player is on, it's strictly for watching movies or listening to music (assuming you also use your DVD player like a CD player or an MP3 player if you have a disc full of MP3s). For most newer displays, that means that to watch a DVD, you'll need to switch to one of your input or video connections; older displays may still rely on your turning the display to channel 3 or 4.
Final verdict- As easy to install as any other DVD player or VCR. It took me about 5 minutes to do, although I did have all of the cables close at hand. At most, it should be about a 10 minute installation. Grade: A
Usage-
This is probably the "bread and butter" section of the review, so I'll try to skip things that generalize to any DVD player and instead focus on things that are of specific importance for this player.
The first thing you'll probably notice is that the player is slow to respond in just about every fashion, from opening the disc tray to making a selection from the DVD menu. It's something that you may not notice unless you have a small child jumping up and down next to you in anticipation of a movie starting:-)
As you're waiting to get the movie going, you'll run into the most obvious flaw in the design of the player; the remote. Many IR remotes have the IR transmitter situated at the very front of the remote, making it easy for the remote to maintain line of sight with the device you want to control. Philips decided to put the IR transmitter at the front, but extend part of the remote over it so that the transmitter is in more of a cubby at the front of the remote. That means that if you have the remote angled up, it works well, but if you angle it down, it sometimes fails to control the DVD player. The TV that this DVD player is connected to sits on a stand about 2 feet off the floor, so if I am standing, I have a tendency to point the remote down while I look down at the TV and down at the remote. I end up hitting the same button several times then to get a response. The same thing happens if you end up being close to parallel with the DVD player, as the cubby reduces how well signals extend fromt he side of the remote. Oh, and the remote isn't a universal remote. Combine the two issues, and you'll want to immediately find a code to program your universal remote to work with this DVD player.
The video signal is actually pretty good, all things considered (old CRT display instead of new LCD, using component instead of HDMI). I haven't seen any artifacts or glitches during DVD playback, and although I've only tried a handful of divx video in the player, it has all looked ok (some boxing and pixelation here and there, but nothing so horrible as to be unwatchable).
The audio, like the video, is also perfectly fine. Keep in mind though that I am not running the audio signal into anything but the TV speakers, so I don't expect to benefit much from the Dolby digital specifications of the player.
The menu screens remind me of digital camera menus; a funky background with the menu items overlaid. The menus make sense and are easy to follow (unlike my DVD recorder that has the Disc finalize option hidden in the system setup portion of the menu).
As a side note, this player is 100% plastic, so probably not the most durable device out there. In fact, the DVD tray is pretty flimsy, so you can't be too rough with it. I'm actually a little worried that if our three year old tries to put a movie in himself, he'll snap the tray right off! Luckily, we keep the DVDs well out of his reach, so hopefully he'll have no reason to open the tray without an adult being present (no toys will fit in that slot like they used to fit in the VCR slot).
Final verdict- good audio and video signal for the average display, but some design issues, primarily the poor remote and lower-quality construction. Those things, combined with the slow response, make it feel much more like a cheap DVD player. So as I said earlier, the only reason to pay extra for this player is for the divx playback. Grade: C
Overall verdict-
It does what it says it will do: play DVDs, MP3s, and divx video. At the price I found it ($40), I would say it was an ok purchase, but not a great bargain considering players that play DVDs and MP3 files can be had for as cheap as $10 almost any time and for $60 you can get a basic DVD recorder. I do remember years ago when divx compatible DVD players were a great secret and if you could find one, you jumped on it like it was a leprechaun holding his treasure map. Today though, with so much digital video flying around between cameras/ camcorders and the internet, I expect almost every respectable DVD player to include divx playback. Until that day though, I'll have to settle with DVD players like this one when I need a cheap extra DVD player.
Overall grade: B-
Specifications-
This player has the usual DVD specifications but includes the following extra:
progressive scan, 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, Divx compatible (divx 3.11 through 6.0 and Divx ultra), MP3 and WMA playback, Dolby digital sound
As I said earlier, the divx playback capability is great for content grabbed off of the internet or for compressing your own video down. I can fit roughly 6 hours of video on a single layer DVD using divx and still have video that looks ok. You can compress things more, but the video quality really starts to suffer.
The more expensive players also came with an HDMI output, which this player lacks. For my needs, component outputs (or even composite outputs) are fine, but many users may prefer having HDMI available. Personally, I've found that HDMI and component outputs give almost the same quality of image, with the major difference being that HDMI requires fewer cables. So if HDMI is an important specification for your player to have, you'll want to pay the extra money for an HDMI-equipped player or try waiting until Blu-ray players consistently drop below $100. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened shortly into 2009.
On the audio connection side, this player does have a digital audio coaxial output (a bit hidden amongst the video outputs). There is no optical audio output.
Final verdict- has the specifications of a super-cheap player, but throws in Divx compatibility. That one addition results in about a $20 bump in the price, but it is still cheaper than other easy-to-find, name brand DVD players with divx compatibility. Grade: A
Installation-
Installation is as simple as any other DVD player or current VCR: connect the audio via the red and white (left and right signal) audio jacks on the back of the player to the audio input jacks on the back of your display and connect the video either via the single yellow video cable (lower quality video) or the red, green, and blue component video cable set on the back of the player to the corresponding colored jacks on the back of your display. Once that is done, slap the batteries in the remote, turn everything on, and you're ready to go.
Unlike many VCRs, most DVD players (with DVD recorders being the exception) do not have play-through capability. That means that you can't leave your DVD player on and watch TV "through" the DVD player like you can with a VCR. So when the DVD player is on, it's strictly for watching movies or listening to music (assuming you also use your DVD player like a CD player or an MP3 player if you have a disc full of MP3s). For most newer displays, that means that to watch a DVD, you'll need to switch to one of your input or video connections; older displays may still rely on your turning the display to channel 3 or 4.
Final verdict- As easy to install as any other DVD player or VCR. It took me about 5 minutes to do, although I did have all of the cables close at hand. At most, it should be about a 10 minute installation. Grade: A
Usage-
This is probably the "bread and butter" section of the review, so I'll try to skip things that generalize to any DVD player and instead focus on things that are of specific importance for this player.
The first thing you'll probably notice is that the player is slow to respond in just about every fashion, from opening the disc tray to making a selection from the DVD menu. It's something that you may not notice unless you have a small child jumping up and down next to you in anticipation of a movie starting:-)
As you're waiting to get the movie going, you'll run into the most obvious flaw in the design of the player; the remote. Many IR remotes have the IR transmitter situated at the very front of the remote, making it easy for the remote to maintain line of sight with the device you want to control. Philips decided to put the IR transmitter at the front, but extend part of the remote over it so that the transmitter is in more of a cubby at the front of the remote. That means that if you have the remote angled up, it works well, but if you angle it down, it sometimes fails to control the DVD player. The TV that this DVD player is connected to sits on a stand about 2 feet off the floor, so if I am standing, I have a tendency to point the remote down while I look down at the TV and down at the remote. I end up hitting the same button several times then to get a response. The same thing happens if you end up being close to parallel with the DVD player, as the cubby reduces how well signals extend fromt he side of the remote. Oh, and the remote isn't a universal remote. Combine the two issues, and you'll want to immediately find a code to program your universal remote to work with this DVD player.
The video signal is actually pretty good, all things considered (old CRT display instead of new LCD, using component instead of HDMI). I haven't seen any artifacts or glitches during DVD playback, and although I've only tried a handful of divx video in the player, it has all looked ok (some boxing and pixelation here and there, but nothing so horrible as to be unwatchable).
The audio, like the video, is also perfectly fine. Keep in mind though that I am not running the audio signal into anything but the TV speakers, so I don't expect to benefit much from the Dolby digital specifications of the player.
The menu screens remind me of digital camera menus; a funky background with the menu items overlaid. The menus make sense and are easy to follow (unlike my DVD recorder that has the Disc finalize option hidden in the system setup portion of the menu).
As a side note, this player is 100% plastic, so probably not the most durable device out there. In fact, the DVD tray is pretty flimsy, so you can't be too rough with it. I'm actually a little worried that if our three year old tries to put a movie in himself, he'll snap the tray right off! Luckily, we keep the DVDs well out of his reach, so hopefully he'll have no reason to open the tray without an adult being present (no toys will fit in that slot like they used to fit in the VCR slot).
Final verdict- good audio and video signal for the average display, but some design issues, primarily the poor remote and lower-quality construction. Those things, combined with the slow response, make it feel much more like a cheap DVD player. So as I said earlier, the only reason to pay extra for this player is for the divx playback. Grade: C
Overall verdict-
It does what it says it will do: play DVDs, MP3s, and divx video. At the price I found it ($40), I would say it was an ok purchase, but not a great bargain considering players that play DVDs and MP3 files can be had for as cheap as $10 almost any time and for $60 you can get a basic DVD recorder. I do remember years ago when divx compatible DVD players were a great secret and if you could find one, you jumped on it like it was a leprechaun holding his treasure map. Today though, with so much digital video flying around between cameras/ camcorders and the internet, I expect almost every respectable DVD player to include divx playback. Until that day though, I'll have to settle with DVD players like this one when I need a cheap extra DVD player.
Overall grade: B-
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