Combined AV Devices > Philips Combined AV Devices

Advantages: Easy to use, mounting options, twin scart output, good picture
Disadvantages: Very erratic, misses recordings, unable to update to new channels

Like everything electronic I have ever bought, or tried to buy by Philips, the performance of this digital freeview box has been very poor compared to other comparable brands, although this is the only thing that has not gone completely wrong. This box gives a good picture through two scarts and has the option to save electricity with a low-power standby (< 1watt) option. It is fine if all you want to do is watch some extra channels, and don't mind ...
...It is a bit bulky compared to some makes but can be mounted upright to save space. The menus are easy to navigate and it is generally user-friendy with no functions hidden in strange places. Response time is usuallly ok for text pages, though teletext and BBCi can be a bit slow at times. There is a digital audio output (coaxial) for best quality sound. However, there are serious problems when I try to record. First of all, neither the remote ... Read review

Advantages: Stylish design, Good interface, Quicker changing channels
Disadvantages: Expensive, Very bad quality, Hardware fault, Extremly bad service

...my friend warned me that Philips is going down now, I didnt listen and now I paid enough for my lesson! After ONE month of light usage(honestly rarely used, because June was my final exams!!) And when all exams are over, I sat back and relax and click the remote with coffee by side to enjoy my life, when exactly nightmare began! It simply wont open, no respond and no LED. It's dead! I wrote to Philips support service. Their reply was 3 weeks after ...
...more, they replied with only " It is seems to be a hardware fault" Gosh even my 7 yr old cousin knows that, without looking at it for 3 weeks but 3 seconds! During that 3 weeks I happenedly found a forums with post that describing same problem. An electronic expert replied that he has fixed SEVERAL of this model.,This digital box has a designing fault on power supply unit. Some bits of components could get burnt by chances! You can spent only 1 ... Read review

Advantages: Low cost
Disadvantages: Dodgy menus, very disk fussy, lousy DVD burner that will fail.

...eventually replaced the DVD burner in mine with a Liteon 20X unit for about £16. This solved the problem, and for the moment, it's been working perfectly. Fitting a replacement burner is straightforward enough, though getting it to neatly fit into the existing front fascia is a bit more challenging. ... Read review

Advantages: Looks, sound, originality
Disadvantages: battery life, loudness of speakers

The Samsung YP K5 mp3 player is immediately striking. Its sleek design and black finish would seamlessly fit into Batman's arsenal of gadgets. When I first bought the product it was immediately noticed by friends and strangers and as an aid to 'street rep' it works wonders. I was at first dubious of the sound of the speakers - I bought it over the internet and so had no way of trying out the player to check the sound capacity. However, my worries ... Read review

Advantages: The media center interface, decent codec support, HD movies stream really well.
Disadvantages: The DVD player is terrible.

Okay, the big pull of this DVD player is the built in Media Center Extender software, which once set up runs really well. You need to have vista installed on a PC (which needs to be on for it to work) and you also need a good network connection between the two. I have tried both a 200mbps powerline ethernet network and a wireless N network and for me the wireless network performed better for HD movies, but this will differ for most people so just ...
...wifi connection. The built in DVD play is poor to say the least, it doesn't scale DVD's out to widescreen it simply takes the DVD's basic resolution and outputs it to the middle of the screen. I tried watching an old cracker and had to stop as it was displayed as a 640x480 picture in the middle of my 720p HDTV, believe me this looks terrible. Its worth it for the media center as it works seemlessly and is a lot easier to access than the XBOX 360 ... Read review