Rating: 
Summary: A 12 bit video DAC for under $100!
Review: This puppy can oversample at a 4X rate -meaning it can read ahead of the data stream and anticipate/correct variances before you are even aware there was a problem. Add to everything else written here about its features. I just burn plain ole MPEGS and this baby has no issues. Nice internal volume and picture settings for special tweaking. All region hack capable. And LORDY they even include BOTH optical and coax audio out-a simple necessity which the Panasonic chowderheads apparently neglected in rushing to promote their soon to be outdated DVD-RAM format. As the long-time tech leader in Europe with its inherent multiple, incompatible formats, Philips has always demonstrated a technical flexibility with media - it plays DVD+R/RW also.WARNING! Do NOT use the Philips upgrade disc (found at their website)with their earlier models as this effectively froze my beautiful 724 player and I have read others also having this happen to theirs. On the bright side, Philips is exchanging this despite being almost a year old! I am impressed-so far.
Rating:
Summary: Great Unit!
Review: This unit plays EVERYTHING.. including VCD/SVCD/Raw MPEG/MP3/WMA files off of RECORDED DVD's and CD's. This is the best thing about this unit. I could not find any other player that would do this. Skipping from file to file and scanning thru files is a breeze, even with 100+ VCD files on a single DVD-R disc. The PAL->NTSC and back conversion on the fly is also flawless! Picture quality on DVD's is very very good.. much better than expected for a [the price] DVD player. Menu and remote are easy to use as well. Only complaint is the coaxial digital audio output has to be switched back and forth to get audio from DVD's or regular mpeg audio files.. but using the Optical output doesn't have this problem. This unit appears to be made from the same Chinese manufacturer that used to make the old Apex units (AD-600a), although I could be wrong on that. Either way, it's a great "Plays Everything" unit that doesn't seem to sacrifice video quality. Highly Recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: worked great... for 2 hours
Review: Got this player because it's supposed to be able to play many different format.. and it does. Played DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW without problem. Even played my MP3 DVD... 2 hours after I plugged this thing in, screen went blank and that was the end of it. Tray would not eject and I had to ship the player back with my MP3 DVD in it. Now I have to re-rip all of my CDs again! And since this player is discontinued, Amazon could not send me a replacement unit. All in all, it could've been a beautiful thing..
Rating:
Summary: This DVD Player Rocks
Review: Will play anything you throw at it. Has played all my DVDs - PAL and NTSC/Commercial and personal. Also, works great with VCD and SVCD although did run it some problems with a couple of VCDs I made using VCDEasy. I called Phillips and their answer was to try re-encoding with Nero.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't be scared off by sour high-enders
Review: If *I* had not inadvertently shut off the video signal by pressing a series of incorrect buttons on the remote, I would have zero days of complaint to report about this DVD player. (Thanks to the directions posted here by JH on 8/4/04, I was able to reactivate the video!) This is a great, basic, few-frills DVD player and a wonderful value for the price. It has standard and S-video outputs and stereo audio. The slim profile is also great for those who don't want another hulking A/V component to house. I have never bothered to explore the gadget-y feature buttons on the remote (zoom, A-B, etc.) because all I want is to play DVDs -- and I have gotten more than my money's worth of that out of this machine. And now that I reveresed the effects of my random remoting, I fully expect that this will continue.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks for the recovery...an audiophile's suggestion
Review: Recovery, yes!
Thanks a million. I bought this player a year ago ($69.00, free ship.!). I am mainly concerned with audio. It is an exceptional player regardless of price. Not strident in the least. You can improve the clarity and sweetness of it's sound by providing for vibrational control. My inexpensive but very effective solution was this: I cut some raquetballs in half, put 5 of those halves under the player. I lined one side of a nice piece of plywood of approximately same size as the 727 with felt and placed it on it, felt side down. Then I used a 5-7 lbs weight over the plywood. For me the improvement in
quietness that unmasked valuable ambience information and the overall "sweetnes" of the sound was very gratifying.
I am sure there are many methods. I understand there is a similar new unit that includes SACD, but I am not eager to trade up from this.
It's unfortunate that there are defective units out there. For me it has been quite reliable, still for the price/performance value I get if it only lasted one year I'd be content.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you Amazon
Review: I bought this dvd player for almost a year and today the picture died on me. I went on amazon to search for another dvd player to replace it and saw what JH from CA wrote, and recovered my picture.
Thank you so much JH, you just saved me $100!!
Rating:
Summary: Same as other reviewers-it lasted just a few months
Review: It's a shame. It worked unbelievably great for about four months then, see ya! It now, as other reviewers have experienced, now reads "no disc" when one is inserted. Great machine, great price, but you get what you pay for I guess. Too bad.
Rating:
Summary: I can't believe I recovered the video!
Review: We were about to replace this dvd player when I looked on Amazon! What a great forum for help! We were able to recover our video based on the advice we found here! A+ to amazon and all the people who take the time to write their helpful advice!
Rating:
Summary: Recover Lost Video-See review dated August 6, 2004
Review: First of all I want to thank reviewer JH from CA, USA (see review posted on August 6, 2004) for his detailed instructions on how to recover the video. It really worked!
I bought this player about eight months ago. I have been using it an average of 6 hours per week. Aside for having lost the video (which can be easily recovered) once so far, this player is ok. If you need a player that can handle PAL DVDs or if you need to switch region codes, this DVD player will do the job.
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