5 comments about Philips DVP5960 DVD Player with HDMI, 1080i Upscaling, DivX Ultra, USB direct.

1. I was influenced by the USB connection in buying this player, thinking I could connect my USB hard-disk with downloaded divx video files.
   
   Unfortunately, this player does not support the NTFS file system, only FAT16 and FaT32. Also, it only plays wma, mp3, and jpeg files and not mpeg. In short, the USB thing is just a gimmick.



2. I had been looking for a player that would play my AVI files. I found this, and not only will it play the AVI videos I've burned to DVD but it will also play them from a USB stick. I love this!
   
   My only caveat is you have to use short file names to be able to read the files. Which means I either don't know the order of the video's I'm watching or I have to re-burn everything to short file names. I'm willing to put up with this, cuz hey I CAN watch them.
   
   The only other thing I wasn't ecstatic about is the remote, very small button. It could have been designed better.



3. This unit generally works fine but the slower USB 1.0 support sometimes produces jerky movement. DVP5990 is a better choice. It is an updated version with better menus and USB 2.0 support. The faster USB avoids the occasional jerky movement



4. I am extremely pleased with this product because of the size, and price. The functions it carries out is awesome. This is not a waste of money, and very little money at that! I do have one question though, is there any player out there that can carry out the same functions as DVD ROM...meaning, playing any video file possible. It's amazing the punch that this little device packs and I recommend to anyone who doesn't wanna have to spend hours burning an .AVI file to DVD just to play in your DVD player. On average I was able to to burn 6 high quality (.AVI/DivX) movies on one standard, single layer DVD for playback on this device. For times you may be in a hurry and don't have the time to burn a file to disc, you can just transfer to a flash drive, plug it right in, and play! This thing is awesome!



5. I have used the Philips DVP5960 DVD Player for the past month and I am very happy with the product so far. The 1080i upscaling really does improve the picture quality. I have heard that this video quality is comparable to Blue-ray. The USB port is a great feature and is easy to use. I agree with all of the positive comments that previous reviewers have provided. The price is fair and worth the money. My previous DVD player was a cheaper Sylvania model and it only lasted a couple years. I would recommend this Philips DVD player to a friend.

5 comments about Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK 1080p Upconverting VHS DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner.

1. I purchased this mainly to transfer home movies. Unfortunately, Panasonic has decided that it knows better than you do. They have programmed the machine to divide recordings whenever a break in the video occurs. This means that your two-hour home video is going to be automatically divided into about 16 parts and there is no option to disable it. Each division causes a loss in the beginning of the next part.
   
   You will have to plug a separate VCR into the unit to be certain of uninterrupted recording. Of course, you might as well buy any DVD recorder if you are going to do that and pay much less. The DVD recording quality is good - as good as just about any other recorder.
   
   Too bad: Panasonic built a good concept, but they forgot to give the consumer the freedom to decide how to record.



2. I bought the DRM-EZ48V about 14 months ago and the DVD recording bit the dust, 2 months after the manufacturer warranty expired. On the average, I used it everyday for about 1 hr. of recording and 1 hr. of playback. I continued to do the recording using the VHS for about 3 months and the HDMI interface failed yesterday. I am totally disappointed about the reliability of this product. If you are thinking about buying this DVD/VHS recorder, I advise you to seriously consider purchasing the extended warranty, either from Panasonic or from the store, inorder to have a piece of mind.



3. I got this unit as one of the replacement possibilities in the saga that was trying to replace the lemon that was the Samsung DVD-VR357 (see my review for that for the full story), but returned it promptly for one simple reason.
   
   I used to do a lot of recording of TV shows onto DVD-RWs because I could edit the commercials out of the final product easily and permanently.
   
   In order to do that, they must be recorded in DVD-VR format. This unit will only record DVD-RWs in DVD-V format, where this sort of editing is not possible...so what's the point?



4. A "fully loaded with features" piece of electronic equipment, I found the Panasonic VHS/DVD/Digital Tuner combo still easy to setup and program. I'm definately not a techno-wizard-buff so easy setup was important.
   
   I bought the Panasonic DMR-EZ48V Recorder unit for several reasons.
   
   First, it seemed like a good value for the price and I have had good luck with the reliability of Panasonic electronics. I have only had it a couple of months but look forward to a long history with it.
   
   Second, an older VCR had crashed so I needed a way to play the tapes. I like the way this handles the older tapes and that I can easily transfer them over to a recordable DVD. I have dozen of family tapes, recorded TV programs, and older movie tapes that are being transferred to recordable DVD.
   
   Third, I like the fact that the Panasonic talks nicely to my Sony Bravia XBR LCD HDTV when playing both tapes and DVD's.
   
   Lastly, if my Comcast's digital signal ever goes on vacation (would that ever happen? Heheh!) I can easily switch over to the antenna and receive a digital signal.
   
   I'm sure there are other VHS/DVD Recorder/Digital Receive combo units from other manufacturers that are as good or maybe even better than this one. But, it does everything I wanted it to do.



5. Pansonic introduced this DVD recorder a year after its predecessor, the EZ47VK. The EZ47VK had almost the same feature set, but suffered from overheating problems. So Panasnic added a cooling fan with the EZ48VK.
   
   I bought this recorder to transfer VHS tapes to DVD and to record programs off cable TV. In both these respects this player works just perfect, with one flaw which I will touch on below.
   
   The auto-tune feature tuned all the standard (non-pay and non-premium) channels from my cable company and even set the clock time based on the local PBS station. The ATSC tuner picks up over-the-air HDTV and DTV programs. I am using this player with an Antennas Direct DB2 Multi Directional HDTV Antenna. It picked up local HD channels and some from as far as 40 miles away. A minor annoyance is that when you switch between antenna and cable (I use an external A/B switch) you need to auto tune the channels all over again.
   
   Transferring VHS to DVD is a cinch. The resulting DVD is often better than the source VHS tape due to the noise reduction. I've also had excellent results recording my favorite TV programs (particularly movies from AMC and TCM). In the two months I've had this player, I've recorded just over 40 movies for personal use.
   
   As others have suggested, DVD-RAM disks are a must-have for this player, particularly for recording TV programs you want to later delete. DVD-RAM disks give you a Tivo-like experience, and you can pause and rewind the program while the rest of the program is being recorded. And DVD-RAM disks allow you record over and over thousands of times.
   
   Caution about dual-layer DVD+R disks:
   The only problem I had with this player is with dual-layer DVD+R disks. When recording multiple programs in sequence, the player can get "confused" with the layer change in the dual layer disk. It corrupted two disks, making them unreadable. And it required me to power off and power on in order to eject the corrupted disks.
   
   Anyway, I found that that recording dual layer DVD+R disks works perfectly when I recorded a single long program that spans both layers.
   
   Overall, I have high praise for this player!

5 comments about Sony DVP-FX820/L 8-Inch Portable DVD Player, Blue.

1. We use this for plane trips with our three year old, and it just works. Simple to use, excellent battery life, bright screen. I was using my laptop for the purpose, but this is smaller and better.



2. I bought this for a gift for my sister's birthday. She has not had it very long, but is so pleased with it. It is easy to set up, light to carry and gives a great picture. A wonderful gift to give or own for yourself.



3. I have had this player for a couple of months now and am completely satisfied. I was thinking about getting a tablet form dvd player, but then I saw this one. It turns into a tablet and the hinge is built so well. Many of the other "swivel" moniter dvd players have cheaply made hinges and break quickly. Sony has really built this player to last.
   
   The sound quality is great. Even on an airplane with just the speakers on I could hear it clearly.
   
   The picture quality is better than any other player I have seen. The LCD setup gives you so much control of how the picture looks. The battery life is extremely long, which I really like for long trips. To make the battery last as long as possible its best to have the backlight on min. Although at low it is harder to see, if it is bright where you are. On a late-night flight that I had, it worked great.
   
   The player itself seems to be constructed very well. Although it is quite heavy for such a small player. Especially with the battery in.
   
   The reason for the 4 star is that it comes with the bare minimum of accessaries. It comes with the player, battery, remote, car adapter, and AC adapter. The other players that I have purchased in the past also came with a case and headphones, sometimes two pair. But this player is still worth it.
   
   Overall this is an exellent quality portable dvd player for under $200. I would recomend it to anyone.



4. This is just about the ideal size for a portable. I had looked at 10 inch versions but they tended to be a bit big. Other than Sony quality and a well laid out control arangement the real bonus with this model is the screen resolution. It is certainly the best picture on a portable that I have seen. Battery longevity seems to be accurate, just be aware that duration is given with the backlight turned way down.



5. I have been extremely pleased with this product. For such a small unit, the sound is clear and sufficiently loud to be heard easily amidst moderate levels of ambient noise (e.g. Chevy Suburban hum at 65 mph) The picture is excellent, the mechanical feel of the unit sound, and the swivel screen is very convenient. We've had no trouble reading old DVDs that my computer stutters over. Our last portable DVD player cost $90 less, but the extra money spent was worth it.

5 comments about PHILIPS DVP3140 - ALL REGION CODEFREE MULTI SYSTEM DVD PLAYER WITH DivX. PLAYS PAL/NTSC DVDS FROM ANY COUNTRY ON NTSC TV. REMOTE INCLUDED..

1. I could hardly believe that my new DVD player actually plays all regions until I hooked it up to my letterbox TV after coming back home from my European vacation. It appears that it actually came around the first week I was gone, just when I though it would come before I left. What a relief!! Believe it or not, it works really well on my American, German and Chinese DVDs. In fact, I was able to watch the DVD I had bought almost 3 months ago and I love it. I give the Philips staff all the best and have faith they can make their next line of equipment even better.



2. I have this DVD player and I love it. Now I watch all my movies and TV shows on it. It's a shame it doesn't play HD-DVD or Blu-ray Disc formats, I really want to enjoy the new technology.
   I have over 3,000 DVDs now including movies, a Britney Spears concert in Las Vegas and some TV series like, for example, Alias, Lost, Heroes, Desperate Housewives, 24, etc.
   As I said before, it's a shame it doesn't play HD-DVD or Blu-ray Disc formats, I really want to enjoy the new technology.
   Well, that's it for my review of the DVP-3120 from Phlips. There ya go!



3. I was really impressed with this DVD player. It does work with all the region, Also has great picture is great on the TV.. I live in the usa and it works perectly. )The only think that I found out is that I couldnt find the button if it has one on the remote to open the dvd play but other then that is very awsome).. If you want to play DVD from different region get this one anyone. Like the first review you have to open the try on the dvd player and hit the numbers from the remote 9879 then enter 0 that will play all region. A box dont come up that you see at all an you might think it didnt work but it does it will say somthing about set to all region then just pop in the dvd from the different region and it will play no problem you might have to adjust the pic to full screen then it will cover the whole screen. But it does work and great picture on it.. IF i need another I will buy this one.. I got my for 39.00 at Circuit City they sell then thats the only retail store that I found that found them around me an they also on there web site too. So if you need a multi DVD play get this one you wont be disappointed at all. I wasnt at all



4. I think everyone should have a Multi-Region DVD Player, Because some movies that aren't avaialble here in the USA but are in Great Britain. When I got mine I didn't have to put in any codes for it to play different regions, I just put in my Pal copy of "I, Monster" starring Christopher Lee and it played as if it was region 1, I was thrilled
   the picture was "PERFECT" I would recommend this model. Also I ordered it on the 24th and it arrived today, talk about fast shipping. Yippee



5. We bought this player for a 13" TV/VHS unit. Because we have several European region DVD's with cartoons, the region-free capability was important to us. Appears to work fine with US and European DVD's. This is a very good choice for a region free player and also works well as the "everyday" player for your movie watching as well.

No comments about Philips DVP3980/37 1080p HDMI Upconversion DVD Player.

5 comments about Toshiba DR560 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder with Built In Tuner.

1. This DVD Recorder is all that it claims to be. Simple to set up and use and the quality is sufficient for my use- a basic user. The only low light, as has been mentioned in other reviews, is the remote. The remote works fine and it's layout is okay but the lettering is in a gray color and hard to read under low light conditions, like at night with lights on in the room. The lettering should be white. Still pretty useable tho so I still gave a 5 star rating, probably should be 4.5



2. I my opinion it is a good DVD Tuner/Recorder.
   It does what is supposed to do. I bought it more for the tuner because my TV does not have the ATSC and QAM search. I have basic TV service, and I was not lucky to get more channels except some public ones. It records, easy to set up, my TV does not have the HDMI plug, so I do not have very high quality picture, of the air is perfect, but I get less channels then the basic. I did watch some of the European Football Championship in 1080p from the air though.



3. The Toshiba DR560 has a great DTV tuner and easily records onto DVD-R/-RW! The DTV tuner it has is better than my TV's Digital Tuner. Plays & Records on several different formats. Very nice machine compared to the Panasonic DVD Recorder with Tuner, which is a piece of trash. Overall very impressed with the Toshiba DR560 DVD Recorder.
   
   
   I've had the Toshiba DR560 for more than a week now. This unit, I believe, is the BEST Single Disc DVD Recorder with digital tuner out there, at least at this time. It works perfectly.



4. this product very difficult to program and control. I have had a computer expert install and try to teach me how to use it. I should have just continued with my vcr.



5. More than I expected. Easy to use, works as easily as any VCR. This is the DVD recorder we have been waitng to arrive. High recommendation from me and family.

5 comments about JVC DRMV100B 1080p Upconverting DVD Recorder VCR Combo with Built In Tuner.

1. The device is good quality and works well however, I bought this item to archive all my VHS movies (that I bought in the good old days when VHS was the way to go) to DVD, it worked for some of them but not all, anything that has copy write protection it would not copy/dub from tape to DVD. I will have to find something else for my remaining 75 plus tapes that I want to put on DVD before the tape wears out and I cannot play them anymore.



2. This JVC vhs dvd recorder is great and very easty to use. I have tried several other brands, in fact one brand I had to send back 3 times for repair because it would not work properly.



3. This is an excellent machine and it gives you a crystal clear picture when viewing DVDs and VCR Tapes and has a lot of cool features. However, when you first buy this product the manufacturer only gives you one set of audio/video cables and does not tell you that if you have cable you need a another set of audio/video cables to put in your cable box. The directions don't say anything other than showing you a diagram which is very confusing and doesn't even tell you what station to put it on to view the machine with cable. I had to have a family member play around with the tv to get it to work. So if you purchase this product be prepared to have another set of cables and the directions can be very deceiving.



4. Have had this unit for for about 2 weeks not enough time to rate it properly.. seems to be fine product works the way it should... has some cofusion on wording in instructions.. you have to get used to what words they use to describe functions... and on screen operations does not show when it is recording... but I need to use it for some time to be comfortable with it.. uses some other seperation to disply digital stations not dot.on dot 2 dot 3 etc.. hard to find the diff. between digital and analog they seem to be displayed in seperate files.. but soon we won't have to be concerned about analog, since all will be digital..I am sure things will be easier once get used to word confusions.. since sony wide screen tv and jvc recorder are some what different.



5. Product is excellent, but cables delivered with unit had to be replaced before unit would work. Made connecting very frustrating, and time consuming.

5 comments about Philips PET1030 10.2-Inch Portable DVD Player with Car Mount Kit.

1. I was very pleased with this product. The picture quality is great and it is very easy to use. It's also easy to put in and out of the car. I don't love the mounting bracket but found it is most likely the way it fits in my car. My 2 yr old son threw a tantrum in the car and ended up kicking the DVD Player. We have a Jeep and the mounting bracket does not allow the DVD Player to sit flush against the head rest.



2. I bought this DVD player PET 1030/37 and watched one movie than it had no sound, I tried other DVDS and no luck. So I called Philips and they sent me a new one free of charge if you send the original back with prepaid shipping . When I received the replacement the DVD unit was missing from shipping or other?, they didn't TAPE it shut or factory seal it and the box showed what was in it. So I called again they sent another one shipped the same way. But it was there this time. But I used it the first time and the DVDs screen now had a green and white spot in the middle of the screen but i did have sound this time. So I called Philips again and they sent ANOTHER one again Shipped again with no tape in the same BOX showing what was in it!?!? I did get this one and so far so good it is a good unit when the sound and the screen are not messed up!! The only problem is No POWER on the Remote button. I do have concerns on Quality but Philips took care of all and any problems in a timely manner. But their shipping of replacements is really poor you may or may not get your replacement. They must not believe in taping or sealing the boxes shut from Philips Replacement Support. I would love to give this DVD five stars but after 3 replacements of this DVD player it get only 2 STARS.



3. After doing an extensive search for the best player according to my budget, I finally realized the Philips PET1030 player was the best choice. I have lots of DIVX videos with subtitles and it played them by the first time without problem. Subtitles are rendered over a blue transparent rectangle wich make them very visible. Battery lasts more than 2 hours using USB Flash memory as the video source. Included speakers sound very good and loud, even when traveling by car with road noise around.
   
   Despite the fact that I'm prretty happy with my player, I would suggest some improvements:
   - After 40 minutes playing a movie, it gets warm on the back.
   - Screen panel buttons could be iluminated for when operating the device at night. Screen ligth flashes your eyes and cannot see what button you are pushing.
   - I didnt find power button on the remote control.
   - A "subtitles font size" entry would be great In the Options menu for enlarging subtitles.
   
   Regards.



4. We received the dvd player and were happy with quality, picture, and controls. But the car mount is very cheap and broke within the first week.



5. I haven't had this device for long, but so far I think I agree with most of the positive reviews here. One thing I have not seen mentioned, however, is that there seems to be no way to have the player adjust the image of anamorphic DVD sources such that the picture fills the screen as much as possible.
   
   If you've got a 16:9 TV, then you're familiar with the various "stretch" viewing modes, and how with many sources the image must be "stretched" in the vertical direction in order for it to fill the screen and (more importantly) for the image to be rendered at the right aspect ratio. In other words, if the movie has a shot of a basketball, the basketball should look like a basketball, not a blunt football.
   
   With this player, the only means I've found to get the aspect ratio right for anamorphic disks is to tell it to use the 4:3 TV setting. That corrects the aspect ratio problem, but it leaves about half the screen unused - that half-screen is more-or-less what I wanted when I paid extra for this thing!
   
   Anamorphic DVDs are not rare, by any means! As I was picking DVDs from my shelf to test the player, I found that the first 5 I picked were anamorphic. It's something I generally don't think about at all, because all my other playback mechanisms are capable of dealing with that format. Apparently, the Philips people decided it wasn't really important for this device. That's really a shame.

5 comments about Dazzle DVD Recorder.

1. The 1-Click DVD feature makes DVDs that appear to work, but have unpredictable defects. I have wasted upward of 48 hours of time trying to get the movie that this product created to work, with no avail. Don't buy--it is a shrink-wrapped piece of junk that was clearly not thoroughly tested.



2. do not buy this. Neither the pinnacle software or the direct to dvd software could actually record to a DVD without crashing. I am sending this back. To be fair, I was able to connect the video capture device to the computer with favorable video quality.



3. The box clearly says "Works with Windows Vista" and then gives you a URL to download the drivers for Vista. What it DOESNT say is that it only supports 32 bit versions of Windows Vista. THIS DOES NOT WORK WITH 64 BIT VERSIONS OF VISTA. don't waste your time and money like i just did.



4. Bought it, spend HOURS on the phone with tech support and still can't get it to work. Waste of money



5. The Dazzle DVD Recorder hardware does a good job of converting analog video into a digital format. My wife leaves unrecorded sections of tape in between shots and these can make it difficult for a unit to frame properly. The Dazzle unit was able to synchronize quickly on the next section of recording although a few frames had to be removed. A previous unit was unable to resynchronize under these circumstances placing the top part of a scene on the bottom.
   
   The bargain is in the software that comes with the unit. You get Pinnacle Studio 10.5 which provides a good set of video editing functions. There is a newer release of this software on the market but this version will help to give you a good finished video that can be placed on DVD. The software and drivers are designed for Windows XP. Before doing anything I recommend you go to their web site and download the latest driver for the Dazzle DVD Recorder and the Studio updates. You get version 10.5 of the software. You will need to download version 10.7, version 10.8, and Pixie5Updater. Version 10.8 gives you Vista compatability according to Pinnacle but I have not tried it.
   
   Before installing Studio you should download a patch called Pixie5Updater. This solves a compatability problem with Internet Explorer 7. On some PCs Studio will halt installation midway if this patch is not installed first.
   
   I have been using Pinnacle Studio 10 before buying the Dazzle unit and paid more for that software than for the Dazzle unit. That is why I consider it a bargain even though there is a newer version.

5 comments about Coby TF-DVD8501 8.5-Inch Slim Portable DVD Player with Swivel Screen.

1. I saw this portable dvd player on sale at a large electronics store and bought it before really doing any research on it-what a mistake.I agree
   with other reviewers as to it's being very poorly designed and made with
   no technical help at all from Coby.It really is a shoddy product that
   fails in all respects.The sound is so poor that you have to sit right
   on top of the unit to hear anything and thats at full volume.If you use
   the headphones the sound is distorted with a terrible constant buzz in
   the background.The player stops in the middle of a movie for no reason
   and constantly freezes or skips on over half of the discs I have tried
   to play.The player keeps giving the error "INVALID DISC" on brand new
   dvd's which play perfectly on my two regular Sony dvd players.As for
   the battery the most time I have been able to get out of a full charge
   is 100 minutes.Which is not even enough for a two hour movie.Whatever
   the price for this unit may be it"s not worth it-STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE.



2. I think this is a wonderful product!! We took the player on the trip Up North which is a 5 1/2 hour drive. Our first big trip for our 10 month old. I wanted to get one as a last resort in the car on the long ride if all else failed and we needed to find a way to entertain him. So we toted along the DVD player and some Baby Einstein DVD's. My son loved it! I was especially impressed with the free headrest mount that came with it for the vehicle seat. The picture is perfect and the sounds is awesome! I would recommend this product to anyone! I love the 8.5" screen. For the price I couldn't have found anything even close to being better!



3. Ownership: 9 months.
   
   8.5" fold & swivel widescreen
   
   Pros:
   -Lightweight
   -Good picture, good resolution
   -Plays almost everything
   -It comes with many accessories you need. Cassette adapter, earphones, car cigarette adapter, etc.
   -Swivel screen is pretty convenient. You can fold it flat on itself to only show the screen
   -Comes with a rechargeable battery. It is flat and sits at the bottom of the unit.
   -My unit comes with a power adapter that is small & light. Input is 100-240V which works in many countries.
   -Has A/V inputs to hook up your video games on the road
   
   Cons:
   -The rechargeable battery can easily get loose and detached while in use
   -Noticeable whirring noise while playing DVDs
   -Battery is good for a couple of hours
   
   We have dropped it from a sofa (15 in) to hard floor while playing and still working good.



4. Great product. I have purchased 4 portable DVD players over several years and the Coby brand has always been the best!!!! We really like the swivel screen and the picture quality if great. This DVD player has a long lasting battery and the player hasn't skipped once since we bought it. I would highly recommend this product.



5. This was a gift for my 70 year old brother who has vision problems and he thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread!