Philips DVP 5960 > Reviews > Philips DVP5960

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Excellent
Sound Level	Good
Range of Features	Above Average
Durability	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	price, upscaling option, impressive playback features
Disadvantages:	remote a bit fiddly

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

With the increasing influence of High Definition and more and more products lining our shelves the demand is now catching up with the technology and budget DVD players with impressive HD upscaling are a cost effective option if you want to grab a piece of the action and enjoy an altogether better audio visual experience.

With an attractive price tag the Philips DVP 5960 boasts a range of features you would expect from a player twice the price. Once connected via a HDMI(High Definition Multimedia Interface) cable you have the option to select the picture resolution or use the automatic setting which will do the job for you, resulting pictures from standard DVD's are noticebaly sharper and colours more vibrant. You will need a HD ready TV to benefit and a large flat screen should do justice to the players impressive image enhancement.

The device is multi-region enabled and In addition to playing most DVD types(DVD+R/W DVD-R/W) you also have the option of playing back DIVX encoded movies which can be burnt to a recordable DVD or stored on a USB drive, which is useful if you have movies on your PC allowing them to be quickly transferred to the player. Photos in high definition JPEG format can be viewed via your TV if you need to and it has the option to play MP3's.

The unit itself looks stylish in sleek black/silver, build quality is good and the buttons on the front display are easy to use. The remote itself is a little fiddly for my taste and can be unresponsive at times, although this is a minor criticism and should be fine once you get used to it.

On the whole the unit offers excellent value for money from a reputable brand and offers some impressive features for the price.

Technnical specifications are as follows:

Aspect ratio: 4:3,16:9
D/A converter: 24 bit, 192 kHz
Playback Media: CD,CD-R/CD-RW,Video CD/SVCD,DVD,DivX,DVD+R/+RW,DVD-R/-RW
Playback Media: CD,MP3-DVD,CD-R/RW,WMA-CD,MP3-CD
Playback Media: CD-R/RW,Picture CD,Kodak Picture CD,DVD+R/+RW,DVD-R/-RW
Multimedia connections: USB memory class device
Rear Connections: Analogue audio Left/Right out,Composite video (CVBS) output,HDMI output,Digital coaxial out,ComponentVideo out Progressive,Scart
Child Protection: Parental Control,Child Lock
Included Accessories: 2 x AAA Batteries,Quick start guide,Remote Control,World Wide Warranty leaflet,User Manual
Set Width: 435
Power supply: 50Hz,240V
D/A converter: 12 bit, 108 MHz
Signal to noise ratio: 100
Compression formats: MPEG1,MPEG2,DivX 3.11,DivX 4.x,DivX 5.x,DivX 6.0,DivX Ultra
Compression format: Dolby Digital,MP3,PCM,WMA
Picture compression format: JPEG
Playback Formats: DivX,MP3,JPEG Still pictures
On-Screen Display languages: English
Set Height: 37
Power consumption: < 10
Picture enhancement: High Def (720p, 1080i),Progressive Scan,Smart Picture,Video upsampling,Video upscaling
Distortion and Noise (1kHz): 85
Video disc playback system: PAL,NTSC
MP3 bit rates: 32 - 256 kbps
Picture enhancement: High Definition Resolution,Flip photos,Rotate,Zoom,Slideshow with MP3 playback
Set Depth: 235
Standby power consumption: < 0.8 W
Crosstalk (1kHz): 100
Packaging Depth: 320
Dynamic Range (1kHz): 90
Packaging Height: 82
Sound System: Dolby Digital
Packaging Width: 490
Frequency response: 30-20000