...
Enter the Philips DVP520. Comfortably filling all of the above criteria, I was pleased to find it in my local ASDA for the rather good price of £49.99. So, I hurriedly bought the player and headed home to play with my new toy.
Good Things
***************
As I said, it fitted my looks ... Read review
Advantages: Design, ease of use, multi format capabilities Disadvantages: No scart lead provided, small buttons on remote, display too bright.
.../>
Enter the Philips DVP520. Comfortably filling all of the above criteria, I was pleased to find it in my local ASDA for the rather good price of £49.99. So, I hurriedly bought the player and headed home to play with my new toy.
Good Things
***************
As I said, it fitted my looks requirement rather well. Measuring 360x43x285 and finished in silver with an integrated silver and black facia, it really is ... ...the quote on the box that it "fits everywhere, goes anywhere" however I doubt people will have much trouble fitting it into a standard entertainment unit.
Setting it up is simple as pie. All you really need to do is take it out of the box, plug a scart lead into it and the TV (or VCR if you prefer) then plug it into the power socket and voila, you are up and running. Due to the simplicity, I have actually only really flicked ... more
Up until recently, I managed to go without buying a DVD player as each flatmate I have had has always come with one of these gizmos. However, now that I don't have one (I don't smell, honest!), I started to look around for a DVD player to accommodate my 300+ collection.
So, after deciding my criteria and ruling out a DVD recorder, I set about looking. Basically, I was looking to pay up to about £60 and would prefer it to be a quality brand that was small, sleek and good looking and it would need to have the ability to play MP3 and jpeg CD's.
Enter the Philips DVP520. Comfortably filling all of the above criteria, I was pleased to find it in my local ASDA for the rather good price of £49.99. So, I hurriedly bought the player and headed home to play with my new toy.
Good Things *************** As I said, it fitted my looks requirement rather well. Measuring 360x43x285 and finished in silver with an integrated silver and black facia, it really is a smart looking machine. I wouldn't quite agree with the quote on the box that it "fits everywhere, goes anywhere" however I doubt people will have much trouble fitting it into a standard entertainment unit.
Setting it up is simple as pie. All you really need to do is take it out of the box, plug a scart lead into it and the TV (or VCR if you prefer) then plug it into the power socket and voila, you are up and running. Due to the simplicity, I have actually only really flicked through the intruction manual, however it seemed straightforward enough.
As I said, I needed it to play MP3 and jpeg CD's and it full fills this role admirably. The whole list of formats it can play are DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, VCD, SVCD, CD, MP3-CD, CD-R, CD-RW and JPEG-CD. Having looked around at other players, this is actually one of the most comprehensive lists you will find on any player in this price bracket and to be honest, I can't really think of any other type of format the average DVD player buyer would want. A handy feature that it utilises when playing other formats is that it uses Video Upsampling which I am lead to believe is some kind of technical wizardry that cuts out what is known as 'mosquito noise" and I have found that it playing things like MP3's to play with no problems and pretty good quality.
Playing DVD's themselves, the picture quality is excellent and the sound quality is generally top notch. However, I do have quite a good TV set and I would think that the quality aspect here may have a bearing on it.
Not so good things ******************** The first thing that bugged me about it was that it doesn't come with a scart cable. Now these things can cost as little at £2 (the one I bought in ASDA did anyway) so I really don't think that it's going to eat into their profits TOO much to include that. Personally I think that manufacturers should be forced to include this as why should someone have to buy something that essential to the running of the machine separately?
Due to the sleek design, you have no choice but to use the remote control for everything other than the power and eject function. This for me is rather annoying as sometimes I may be looking for a specific episode on a boxset of something and will be flicking though many different DVD's. I would rather be able to use the buttons on the player when doing this. Also, the remote doesn't actually have an eject button. Again, this is a minor annoyance but when I am looking to change a DVD I would prefer to be able to open the drawer so that it is ready and waiting for me getting from the couch to the player.
The remote otherwise is simple and effective although I do find that the buttons are maybe a bit small. They are also all the same size and shape so you really do have to look down at the remote each time you press so that you hit the right button.
The display on the player is a bit bright for me. While it is simple and effective, I can't help but notice it out of the corner of my eye when a film is playing. In my house it sits behind a frosted glass door but if I shut it I can still see it, though not as bad. I would have liked an option to adjust the brightness of it to be honest.
Other than that, I am very happy with it. It does all the standard DVD player tricks, i.e. skip, fast-forward/rewind, zoom etc and so far, has been a nice addition to my living room. It is to my mind, very good value for money and is simple and straightforward to use. In rating, I have decided to give it 4 stars out of 5 because of the little niggles that I have, however it deserves 4 as it is very good value.
Advantages: Small, streamline, easy to use, inexpensive, play everything - almost Disadvantages: No Scart Cable provided, doesn't record, not multi region.
...places.
It was a Philips (a good name) DVP520 DVD player, it was only 47.99 but most of all it looked really good, probably about the length and breadth of most dvd players, but it is less than 2 inches in height. You could post this thing through a long, narrow letterbox. It has a silver case with a black LCD facia.
What also sets this DVD player apart from others is that it will play almost any disc you put in it.
It Plays
DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, ... ...player comes with a remote (inc batteries - how thoughtful) and is very simple to use. It includes all the usual features, menu, up, down, left, right, select, stop, play, pause, skip scene, back, scene, fast forward, rewind, subtitles, angle, zoom, audio, repeat, preview, mute, title and number 0-9 buttons. Plus a power button. Notice there is a missing eject button from the remote, this is because those nice people at Philips, have noticed that ...
mrmessy2 01.05.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Philips DVP520
Advantages: LASTS LONG WITH BRIGHT PICTURES. Disadvantages: SOME TIMES DOES NOT READ DISK AND NOT ENOUGH FEATURES ON TECHIES.
The Philip DVD DVP520 has served quite long in my household and still showing more promise on serving again. I will actually say that the electronic giants PHILIP brought about the innovation of the compact disk because they were the first to put the use of the compact into reality and I still hail them for that. This is a DVD that has a lot of functions and really excites me as a user.
It has a sharp vision and a beautiful colour that makes the ... ...an easy to operate device and when you get it don't forget to read the manual very well because electronic products, is well understood when the manual is read very well and it also helps in some trouble shootings.
It also has numerous screen menus that enable you to pick the one of your choice that's nice for a DVD player I think.
KEY FEATURES.
It has numerous screen menus just like I wrote above and the examples are, it has a VCD, SVCD, MPEG, ...
apatra 20.02.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Philips DVP520
Advantages: Plays DVD, VCD, SVCD, MPEG, MP3 and JPEG Disadvantages: None so far
I recently purchased this DVD player (about 6 weeks ago) and I have to say that I have been exceedingly impressed. At the price I paid (£59.99) I would have expected nothing more than an average player which had little or no supplementary features.
Boy, was I wrong! After setting it up, which consisted of plugging in the scart cable and switching on, I discovered to my delight that this was slightly more than an 'average' player. It will play DVD ... ...at last I could bore family and friends alike by showing all my exceptionally interesting holiday snaps on the big screen.
Operating the player is simple, the on screen display and menu features are easily understandable and there are enough options for setup to satisfy even the most discerning techno-freak. The stylish remote control does everything it should and the slimline design of the player fits into any home system.
I would recommend this ...
soldierwhy 31.10.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Philips DVP520
Advantages: So simple to instal and use Disadvantages: Short on features for techies
This DVD player from Philips is a joy!
Starting with the performance I wanted, DVDs on my screen, it delivers the goods and with all the features you would expect from a DVD player, Play, Select scenes, fast and slow forward and reverse and access to special features.
Oh and did I mention Dolby Digital sound.
Now it's a bit limited when it comes to playing CDs but then I've got a CD player so I don't need that.
What I did need was the ease of ... ...the movie, how easy can that be, brilliant.
And my installation is not normal, the DVP520 is connected to a PC, Video Recorder, HiFi and Freeview box so admittedly I have a bit of a rats nest of wires behind it but still it was a no problem installation and it works great.
It does play CDs but thats about it no where near the features I have on my CD player but then I didn't want it to play CDs so I see that as a bonus.
The ON-Screen display is ...
yunken 26.09.2005
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Philips DVP520
