Philips DVP5982 1080p Upscaling DVD Player
by Philips
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List Price: Our Price: $35.00 You Save: $54.99 (61%) 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: Works great!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I received my Philips DVP5982 1080p Upscaling DVD Player today and it works great! I did not experience any of the problems reported by some reviewers. It could be that the latest software has fixed the problems they experienced, or their unit was damaged in shipping or mishandled. The unit is fragile and must be handled with care. It is a slim design so nothing should be put on top of the unit, and free air circulation should be allowed around the unit for cooling. Also the tray is thin and must not be stressed, and the DVD or CD must be placed carefully in the shallow indentation. Philips could have made the unit big and heavy and strong, but the slim design looks great and doesn't take up too much vertical space. It sits on top of your cable or satellite box and is almost invisible.
The firmware version was 37.07.56.22 so I did not have to update it since the firmware update available from the Philips website is 37.07.32.43.
I enabled HDMI on my SONY 46" 1080p HDTV and connected the Philips DVD Player to it with a HDMI cable. I changed the region code on the player from 1 (US) to 0 (All Regions). I had recently purchased Celine Dion's Live in Las Vegas (2007) DVD but could not play it on any DVD player because it was made in the UK and is recorded in PAL (European) format instead of NTSC (US) format. It worked on my laptop, but who wants to watch a concert on a laptop. I was about to return the DVD, but upon researching on the internet, decided to buy this DVD player. The Celine Dion DVD worked beautifully and we watched the concert once again on the big screen TV. The DVD Player upscaled the DVD to 1080p. I have also ordered Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series DVD with David Attenborough to watch on this upscaling DVD Player since I am not yet ready to buy a BlueRay Player or a PlayStation 3. There is very little difference between 1080p up-conversion and the real thing. Plus your entire library of old DVDs and downloaded movies can be up-converted, as well as rented DVDs. Also your camera pictures are displayed in full 1080p resolution (2 megapixels).
Customer Review: You get way more than you pay for!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been a happy user of Philips DVD players for some time, having at owned several models. Yes, I have had minor cosmetic issues in the past with the overly small and lightweight remotes, and the not-so-great on screen menu layouts and design, but overall they have delivered a quality image. I recently bought two Sony Bravia HDTVs and decided to go with this upconverting Philips model until I see how the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray war plays out. I have been astonished by the fidelity and quality of the image of regular DVDs played through this unit! Although my Bravia's only support 1080i (and not 1080p) I am still amazed by the detail this unit seems to tweak out of SD DVDs. Also, the footprint of this unit is tiny and matches the base of my Bravias in color and size, so it's a perfect design fit. I have not an issue with the on-screen menus. They are far better than previous Philips models. Also, the remote is the new-style design (where it looks like an actual product designer and not an engineer figured it out... but it's still small and a bit too light). My only complaint is that the upconverting happens only via the HDMI output. My Bravia's only have a single HDMI input, so I had to sacrifice that to the Philips DVD player, and use the component inputs for my DirecTV HD signal. I use quality cabling and could discern no difference to the DirecTV signal. I also used a quality HDMI cable and the DVDs I've played are pretty breathtaking with the upconversion. I watched Pan's Labyrinth recently and there was astonishing detail in the foliage especially. I plan to watch the (non HD-DVD versions) of the Planet Earth series and hope they are almost as spectacular as the Discovery HD Channel broadcasts. (Sorry, I just couldn't handle the Sigourney Weaver voice over on those, and had to get the original Attenborough versions!). Bottom line, if you want to wait out the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war, then buy this for $70 and enjoy what you've been missing in your SD DVD collection! Also, I receive and play a lot of commercially purchased DVDs from the UK. With a simple series of remote control commands, I was able to unlock this player and make it region-free. It even handles the PAL conversion flawlessly! Try doing that with many Sony and other models!Customer Review: Such A Bargain...
Summary: 5 Stars
All in all, I am super pleased with this player after about a week of use (bought it refurb $43.95 + 7.49 shipping). After using my Samsung HD-941 DVD player for 2 years ($200+ when it first came out), I figured that it was time to swap it out with something else after enduring a couple of its annoying shortcomings.
The most impressive is the crisp picture quality. The unit processes dark shades without the annoying pixelation, which bugged me to no end with the Samsung. Another observation is that my picture was much sharper with the new player.
For the more savvy in A/V electronics: So far, I have played Xvids, AVIs, Mpegs, and also normal DVDs. It plays just about everything except .ogm (I think there were a couple more formats, but I am not 100% sure). That was the key reason for me in purchasing the Philips. You can also unlock the player to make it region free. Just search the web for "unlocking dvp5982" and follow the instructions. Another cool thing is that the unit reads multisession discs, which saves everyone a lot of money in the long run if you are a burner like I am.
A small gripe that I have is that the until does not have optical audio out. Because of my strange A/V setup, I cannot use HDMI for audio from the unit. Just a heads up...
The Philips DVP5982 is tiny, which is nice. It feels a bit tacky, but Philips did a great job of using shiny plastics to spruce it up in the looks department. I appreciate that it does not have any annoying, super-bright LEDs on the front to distract you while viewing movies.
Another feature of note is that the player can process 1080p, which is great since videos are starting to be distributed in higher quality formats.
Now for the remote: It is laid out fairly well. The reason I say "fairly" is that when I do grab it in the right way, all the buttons are where I expect them to be. On the other hand, I have had occasions of holding it upside down (I think the jog buttons should have been on the bottom). I had read some other reviews stating that the remote does not have a button to open the tray door. If they would have read the manual, they would learn that the stop button doubles for eject.
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: 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.