Philips DVP 5980 Player

Having bought a budget LCD tv I wanted a DVD player that would take advantage of the HDMI connection my new TV had.

This phillips DVD player fitted the bill, it was around £40, could be made multiregion and player DivX files too. The USB port on the front is a bonus too.

It takes a little longer than you'd expect to start up after switching it on, but unless you're hovering over it waiting to put a disc in it's hardly a problem.

The remote is basic and lacks useful things like opening the disc drawer but it works well enough.

For the money I think it's a good purchase. It doesn't pretend to offer the same as players costing 3 times the price, but it's a cut above the £25 ones you'll find in the supermarket.

This DVD player is still the best on the market. With it's support for DivX and Mp3 it can handle almost everything. the best thing about this player is the USB port, (just make sure that your memory stick or USB HDD is compatibe) i've hooked up an 40gb HDD to this port and transfered all my films etc over to the drive so you don't need to watch films anymore on the pc or burn them on a disk. the upscaling feature is perfect it's as close to HD as you can get and the picture is AMAZING even the missus could see the difference :)

The remote is a bit funny and after a few days i'm still pressing the wrong buttons, it's not what makes a lot of sense. other minus point is that it doesn't have a 5.1 receiver or something.


This is a top product to use as a 2nd dvd player to watch films from the internet, and hook it up with a large HDD. picture quality is perfect and supports HDMI (so you can finaly use that port) don't forget to get a HDMI cable!

An excellent DVD player equipped for the future. Plays HD Movies and also Downloaded Divx/ Xvid Movies (Can fit 4/5 movies on a single dvd). Has a USB port at the front for your USB Media like iPod, digital pictures, etc.It plays all regions (USA Films, Japan,etc). It looks nice and slim and has a nice small and very easy to use remote control. This is a must for anyone wanting to buy a DVD player which is excellent value for money and with a super technology built-in. I am very pleased.

although this looks a basic dvd player it is actually very good and excellent value for money.the remote control is so basic its unbelievable but the quality of the films it plays is superb specially in hd,the usb is a massive bonus and can play with a harddrive although some films i have downloaded by computer doesnt have the correct codec although it still plays 95% of my stuff.i will highly recommend buying this player for now but if i was philips i would like to something a bit more stylish and something which looks like they have put some effort in.

Bought second hand, pretty happy.

Pros
- HDMI
- Plays most formats
- looks good

Cons
- non so far
- box does not come with HDMI cable (even original box)

Product was recommened in Which? magazine. After searching shops and internet, I wrote to Which? to see exactly where they found one as I was having so much trouble finding one! They wrote back saying, at the time of writing to me, that they couldn't find one either! So I turned to Ebay. Doesn't ususally let me down and within a couple of days this appeared. I only wanted at DVD player, not a recorder. I wanted to attach it with a cable to my HD ready TV too. As I was replacing a very old and large DVD player the first shock was how beautifully slimline this player is! I also bought a cable from Ebay and putting it all together was a doddle. My only dislike is the on/off switch at the front of the player is tiny. I don't like to leave things on standby so it's on my knees to switch this product off!! Overall, very pleased though.

This is a fantastic DVD player, one of the best available for this price. I havn't had the opportunity to mess around with the HD upscaling yet, but it is crystal clear on a scart (basic video) so i presume that the HD upscaling will bring the pictures to life. The USB drive is also a great advantage on this player, recognises pen drives instantly and plays the .avi files back no problem. Same with the dvd drive, plays any content with ease.

Highly recommended!

Adam

Really great DVD player, couldn't be happier with it!
Plays absolutely anything, really nice looking piece of kit.
The picture quality is absolutely amazing, other than out and out blu ray its the best picture quality I have seen including HDTV!!
Compared to amount of money a blu ray player will set you back there is no option for me...go and get yourself one!!

A very happy Keith Forrester

This item is fantastic..i really love watching upscaled movies on this product.the picture is so better than normal dvd quality.

Got this Player to play movies of my USB and it did not dissapoint very good dvd player

Very good buy

I decided to buy this DVD player as it was a star buy in the Which? reviews of DVD players. I have a HD Set and wanted something that would upscale normal DVDs to HD quality, without having to invest in a BluRay player.

The Philips 5980 is easy to use, if a little slow to load initially. The picture quality is good ans so far I have no complaints. Advantages are that it remembers the point you got to on up to 5 different DVDs (Maybe a reason for the initial slow load up) which means if you stop mid-way through a movie or your favourite series to watch something else on DVD, you don't have to re-find the spot where you were before you changed disc.

For the quality of picture and the features available, I think that this is one of the best value for money. However I do fear that the line is discontinued as I had to buy an ex-display model.

I like the fact its not too thick fits the shelf tidy it look nice which I like.
the controls have a great layout all but remembering the "d" pad is at the top
and not the bottom like all the other controls we have, I keep holding them upside down.
the ability to plug in the external harddrive to watch saved films and photos off my computer, I dont have to wait for the computer to burn a disc and that saves me money not needing the disc, this is the reason I bought it.
searching for things using the fast forward and reverse is a little tricky and can take a little time to get right.
I would have prefered a recorder but this was good value.
the manual was a little confusing.

Great DVD player, I bought this dvd/divx player to play divx films downloaded from the internet, placed on a USB stick the divx films play from the stick and are upscaled, Great Item A++++++++++

Bought one of these players to play my DIVX files and to make use of the HDMI socket on my TV. This player plays mpg and avi files from USB (Fat or FAT32 only, not NTFS) Good upscaling feature, brings to life dvd's! Very good sound quality

pros......Looks nice in high gloss black finish .Picture nice


Cons ...Very slow to load takes ages to find disc , remote too is slow .I think philips could have sorted these problems out before releasing this model . firmware is upgraded by a cd ( so you must have a p.c and cd writer ) It has a front usb connection ( what for i dont know .. maybe to connect to p.c as you cant use it for firmware upgrades ).

All in all not a bad price .. but thats it

Now its been a while and have played a few dvds on the player . There is a noticable difference between upscaled dvd and blu ray .. To be honest the ps3 upscales better than this player and of course you have the built in blu ray player ..

The player still takes ages to find/play the discs and the remote is pretty crap , well you do get what you pay for . I wouldn't recommend this player unless you are desperate .. stick with blue ray or get eyes tested as this comes no where near blu ray quality...


Update .. player no longer works . Unfortunately i bought of E-bay and not an authorised dealer so warranty void ( purchased 24th december 2007 ) see my feedback dated that day for seller .. Basically seller told me tough luck and will not replace . The prices on ebay are cheap .. why? .. because you pay your money and no back up if machine goes wrong . I contacted Philips and they replied that they do not repair units and to take it back to where you purchased ... That being fine .. no ebayer seller is going to honour a new 3 month old player that is no longer fit for purpose any guarantee ..

Go down to your local electrical store and purchase there and dont be ripped off by sellers on e-bay . Better still dont buy Philips products . We i have kissed £55 good bye . I plan on buying locally where i have consumer rights .. Hell i will be doing a chargeback on my credit card . well perhaps sellers will honour listings .