Oct 18, 2004 02:40 PM
6792 Views
(Updated Oct 18, 2004 02:40 PM)
Philips has been aggressively marketing this product in the lower segment players obviously since it's so lowly priced. They are aware of the fact that consumers in India aren't too aware of the dvd format. After vcd comes dvd. That's not the case. The Philips DVP 320 doesn't even qualify as a standard dvd player.
It doesn't have progresive scan. So if you ask the vendor about it's video DAC you might find him searching frantically through the manual. It does have a component output though. The picture that comes through the regular video out is plain ordinary quality. The component output (through the RGB cables) is better but not as sharp.
The progressive scan would've some difference here but this player doesn't have it. Therefore tv set you have and however you tweak the player it will just give you an average picture. What good is a dvd player if it loses points in it's picture quality section.
Looks-wise the DVP 320 is too compact for a dvd player and too bulky for a cd player. No tray here, the panel comes which exposes the lens and hence is susceptible to damage. The player only has eject, play and stop controls on it. Rest functions are on the remote control. The remote control is wafer thin though the keys are properly and evenly spaced.
It does play DVD, VCD, Audio cd, mp3, mpeg and jpeg formats though no DiVX. The picture quality on the jpegs is grainy and is not too friendly with the mpegs either. Recognizing a disk too takes a long time. The file menu for jpegs and mpegs only displays a few beginning letters of the filename.
There is an option in the setup too display contents of a cd in folder tree mode or one large single folder mode, where you can view all the files on the cd in a single listing rather than show the folders. The player is region encoded, though there is an hack available to make it region-free.
On the plus CD the DVP 320 with it's 24 bit Audio DAC has a good sound. It plays audio cds better than DVDs. It has 1 digital coaxial output and for the price it gives a good digital sound output while the analog out works fine too.
Anyone who wants to watch pirated/low-quality dvds without caring for quality may buy this one. I would suggest this player as an entry-level cd player rather than a dvd player.
