Philips DVD727 Progressive-Scan DVD Player

Rating:
Summary: Phillips... GREAT for 6 MONTHS!! Then Kaboom! :(
Review: So I absolutely loved this player.
It played everything I tried to put into it.
It played PAL and other region disks beautifully with the 999,0 code.
It even played mpeg files, and mp3s on cdr!!
FOR 6 MONTHS that is.....
Suddenly it started displaying chinese on the led screen!!!
Next it started just stopping movies randomly after 10 seconds.
Now it works about 25 pecent of the time...
Mostly it locks up and I have to unplug it, and try again.
(...)
And with the warentee only good for 90 days, its just a dust collector now.What is worst, is its very common for this to happen so I've gathered on dvd forums.
(...)

Rating:
Summary: Recover the lost video
Review: I bought this DVD player in January and died (video disappered) 6 months later. It's a known issue that vidoe will disapper if some random keys are entered through the remote control. Luckly, I can recover the video by resetting to factory default. Here's how to make that work.

Here's the sequence to reset to the default-

press Stop tiwce (to make sure it's not playing any disc)
press System Menu
Press "Right Arrow" key 3 tiems
Press "Ok"
Press "Down Arrow" key 4 times
Press "Right Arrow" key once
Press "Ok"

Good Luck -


Rating:
Summary: Unreliable -- be careful!
Review: I originally bought this player for the ability to play both NTSC/PAL and the fact that it can be made "region free" through a simple hack. The sound quality and picture, I admit is great for the price point.

But here is what happened...I accidentally hit a random button on my remote and lost my video (the audio is fine.) I Googled and found that this is a "known" problem with this unit. See: http://www.regionfreedvd.net/player/philips.html and search for Philips 727.

Apparently there is no way to fix this problem (I even checked with Philips customer service). Since my unit is out of warranty Philips wants me to pay $30 plus shipping both ways to fix the problem. I might as well buy a new one for that price!

The bigger issue is that I have seen this unreliability and "random" failures with other Philips units. This includes their HIGH-END SACD 1000 (which originally retailed for $2,000). My friend's SACD 1000 player randomly broke down and cost hundreds of dollars to fix. I am thinking this is the LAST Philips product I will buy. Pretty bad for a company that is otherwise pioneering new technology -- SACD, DVD Recorders, Flat Panel TV's....

Other folks have similar experiences like this?


Rating:
Summary: The Honeymoon Doesn't Last Long
Review: Bought the unit at Amazon in Oct. 2003 for $70 (the asking price today is ridiculous). By early July 2004, it would not play--it stuck on "Root" on display panel. Called Phillips phone support three times and got three different suggestions--from Phillipines "tech experts"--on how to correct the problem. None worked, so paid the $29.99, plus $8 UPS shipping. I wasn't happy paying $38 for an exchange unit just eight months after purchase. Philips--perhaps to its credit--sent a model 624 instead of a 727. I gather the 624 is newer and may have been de-bugged of the 727's faults. We'll see.