Philips DVP 3020

...that there is a model Philips do which does include DivX playback, with the same sleek design just a slightly larger spec at maybe £30 or so more than this model, so that would probably be worth looking into).

This DVD player offers progressive scan, which gives it better picture quality compared to the old bog standard DVD players, it however does not upscale to HDMI (near HD picture quality). Having said that, I use my DVD player ...
...picture quality is pretty impressive, I've no complaints about it at all. There's no problems with lines or pixellations or anything like that and I haven't had any problems with DVDs being noisy or pausing alot, it seems to work pretty quietly and efficiently.

The sound quality is also very good, it supports Dolby Digital, my TV is capable of playing surround sound and the sound quality from pre-recorded DVDs played on this unit ... more

This DVD player might not have all the features and playback compatibility of some units but it certainly has a good look and feel to it. You can pick it up very cheaply too. It might not support DivX or Xvid playback but for me thats not a problem, however if you like to download movies and play them back using this kind of technology then this won't fit the bill for you (although I believe that there is a model Philips do which does include DivX playback, with the same sleek design just a slightly larger spec at maybe £30 or so more than this model, so that would probably be worth looking into).

This DVD player offers progressive scan, which gives it better picture quality compared to the old bog standard DVD players, it however does not upscale to HDMI (near HD picture quality). Having said that, I use my DVD player with my Philips black line 21" CRT TV and the picture quality is pretty impressive, I've no complaints about it at all. There's no problems with lines or pixellations or anything like that and I haven't had any problems with DVDs being noisy or pausing alot, it seems to work pretty quietly and efficiently.

The sound quality is also very good, it supports Dolby Digital, my TV is capable of playing surround sound and the sound quality from pre-recorded DVDs played on this unit is very good. It can play MP3 and WMA encoded discs and as well as playing factory pre-recorded DVDs (ie DVDs of films bought in the shops), it also supports the following types of discs:- CD-R , CD-RW , DVD , DVD+R , DVD+RW , DVD-R and DVD-RW. Not bad, eh? considering it retailed at under £40 when I got mine for my birthday back in February (2007).

I can't say that I've personally tried and tested all of the above mentioned media formats on this unit, however I have tried a DVD disc that my parents recorded on their DVD Recorder and that played with no problems whatsoever, so it certainly seems to play back home recorded discs fine.

I also found that installing and setting it up was very easy, I managed to do it pretty quickly by attaching the scart lead and mains adapter. That was a relief since I'm not too technically minded as far as those sort of things go. It ifts quite well between my cable TV box and my 2nd VCR on my TV trolley. Thats not a problem ventilation wise as there isn't a fan vent on the top of the player unit.

The remote control is quite important with this player, as there are extremely few buttons on the unit itself. The unit only has a standby/on button, the eject button and play/pause and stop buttons. Everything else you have to do through the remote, so be sure to top up its batteries frequently if you don't want to get caught out. The remote itself is pretty compact, like the unit itself, its quite small and is quite a good size in that it fits in the palm of my hand pretty neatly, the buttons aren't too small (with the exception of the number, zoom, repeat & audio buttons but most aren't too small) but there's decent spacing between the smaller buttons, so it shouldn't be too easy to accidentally press multiple buttons at once or anything like that. One quirky thing I've realised is that if you want to eject the disc drawer, instead of there being an eject button on the remote, you have to press and hold down the stop button and after 10 seconds or so, it'll eject the disc drawer. I spent a fair while wondering how to do that before I read it in the manual, its certainly something ive not seen before so I figured its worth mentioning here, im sure most people must spend a while before finding out thats how its done.

I think given the cheap price and the overall compact size and stylishness of this unit, its not bad. Certainly I've no issues with the picture or audio playback and the supported media formats are good, not entirely extensive and sure there are other DVD players that do more but if your like me and mainly use your DVD player to play back shop bought films and the occasional recorded at home DVD disc, then this is fine for that. It looks less than cheap with a nice silver colour and is compact at only 36cm wide and 2kg in weight.

Also its maybe worth mentioning that this unit only supports region 2 encoded discs, which is what I always presume unless the unit name includes 'multi region' in the title, so you'll need to buy a seperate/different one for American or other foreign imported DVDs.

Another point to make is that it also plays VCD and SVCD discs, popular in Asia.

Now to a warning:- Be careful with this model, I would't buy one second hand and would buy it from a shop close by if you want to give it a go and if at all possible... why? well, I had problems with the first unit I got back in February. After using it for a month or so, I noticed after the first few films I watched that it started to pause and the picture would break up. It kept interupting the movies and I had to try to fast forward through the problem area(s) but really it ruined the films for me, I would have to fast forward through quite a long sequence and as time went on, it got worse and instead of doing it once or maybe twice per movie/DVD, it did it more and more. I looked online to see if others had this problem but couldn't find anything so asked about it and people on a DVD forum thought it was a faulty lens and said that it can happen to anyone, recommending I take the player back and get an exchange or refund. We decided to try an exchange incase it was just that particular unit and because we got it from an Argos literally less than 5 minutes drive away, so it would be easy enough to return for a refund if necessary.

Since getting the exchanged unit, its worked absolutely fine and I've had it longer than the other one, I've had it for over 3 months now and there hasn't been any signs of it acting up like the last one. I believe that it was just bad luck and that the first unit had a glitch but of course I can't be entirely sure, there might have been a bad batch or something, so just be aware of that. As long as you keep your receipt from the shop you buy it from, you have the right to a refund or exchange if you buy one and it doesn't work or acts up badly within one year, bare that in mind. You might not think that its worth risking it, since I had a bad experience with that, but with the unit I have now, its not had any problems and I still think that its good value for money and I'm still pretty impressed by the picture and audio it gives, so it hasn't entirely put me off the machine.

I would recommend this to anyone wanting a nice, compact, stylish but semi basic DVD player made by a decent brand at a good price. I'd say do keep the receipt from the shop if you do buy one but don't let my experience entirely put you off because it may only be one unit in every 1000 or so that has that problem, I really don't know so I can't say for sure... but definately keep the receipt to be on the safe side. 

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