Philips DVP642 DivX-Certified Progressive-Scan DVD Player

Comment: This was a great player which, by entering a simple three-digit code* via the remote, was easily turned into a cheap Region-Free DVD player. Unfortunately, this line of Philips players also has a weakness: a capacitor on the board goes bad (specifically, C316), and since it controls the power supply, this effectively ends the unit's life for most home users. Googling DVP642 and "blinking red light" will yield many, many instances of this specific failure. To be sure, plenty of low-star reviews here on Amazon evidence the same problem.

But if you are handy with a soldering gun and don't mind spending two bucks at Radio Shack, I can assure you with moderate certainty that this DVD player will keep on tickin'; certainly it worked for me. I will include a DIY fix-it link in the Comments section below. In fact, a handy and enterprising soul could conceivably pick up some "broken" units, perform the fix, unlock the region code, and sell them as reconditioned Region-Free players.

In the interim I moved on to the slightly more expensive (but still great value) Philips DVP5990/F7 DVD Player with 1080p HDMI Upconversion and DivX; the DVP642 is now ready as a backup. If mine had not died, I would probably rate it four stars. As it is, I still rate this three stars because even with the necessary fix, you still get a Region-Free DVD player that plays tons of formats for forty bucks. The remote control is junky, though.


*The code for this model is 789.

Full instructions to change the region setting (i.e., Region 1 = USA/Canada, Region 2 = Europe/Japan, Region 5 = Russia/India, Region 0 = ALL REGIONS):

Turn on DVD player
Open disc tray
Using the remote, enter 7,8,9, then OK (this accesses the hidden region setting menu)
Enter 0, then OK (this chooses Region 0; you may notice a zero appearing briefly in the lower left side of your screen)
Close the tray, turn off DVD player, then turn back on to test. Now you can enjoy DVDs from around the world!

Comment: Good progressive scan DVD player. Only drawbacks I see are no HDMI output (have to use component) and no USB input.

Comment: Same problem as many other reviews. Flashing power/standby light. I've treated this thing like gold and it craps out for no reason. How can Phillips produce a product like this and not stand behind it, especially since this is such a widespread issue??? I know it has something to do with a bulging capacitor on the main board, but, I don't have any soldering irons or tech know-how to fix it myself. Going with a Sony next time around.

Comment: This dvd player was very nice, played dvd, cd, mp3 and avi. Unfortunately it died after just 1 year of service, but for the price of under $50.00 it was worth buying.

Comment: 3 months after purchasing this Phillips DVD player it started acting funny. It would be temperamental about which discs it would play despite all of them being authentic USA DVD's purchased from Borders or wherever. More than half the time you put a disc in the DVD player now, it just freezes with the screen saying "loading". It wont respond to anything so you just have to unplug it. This has even been the case with brand new DVDs so it isn't due to scratches. As of yesterday, the screen will go blank and then turn to a green flashing screen sometimes when in the middle of a movie or it will slow down to slow-motion and stop responding. This is the 2nd Philips DVD player I've owned, the first was the exact same model and crapped out in the exact same with within 6 months.

I would strongly suggest looking at other DVD players. This one is cheap, lightweight, thin and stylish, but it simply doesn't work. I will not buy Philips brand electronics again.