Aug 19, 2004 12:25 PM
10109 Views
(Updated Sep 16, 2005 08:01 PM)
Review for Philips DVD 727K
It was time for me to upgrade from my sensitive Philips 570M DVD Player. Sensitive as in this player just can?t handle discs even with a minor scratch. The player just hangs and sometimes just throws out the disc if it cannot read.
I was on a budget and there was no DVD player in the market apart from Philips DVD727K that would give me Dolby Digital, Digital Theatre Systems or DTS 5.1 Channel Decoding, Progressive Scan, Multi Disc/File Format capability and a host of other not so important features.
This player is probably a little over an inch high which makes it very slim. Dimensions are typical of any standard size dvd player.
Bundled in the package is a full function remote control, user manual, Audio/Video cables and off course the dvd player.
On the Audio connectivity front you have Left/Right Stereo outputs, 5.1 analog Outputs (This is independent of the stereo outputs). For Digital Audio you have both Optical and Coaxial outputs.
On the Video connectivity you have Composite (Most common connection used and accepted by any television), Component Video and S Video.
This is the best player if you?d like to build a Home Theatre System on a budget cause it comes with both Dolby Digital and DTS Decoding for Audio and you get S Video on the video front which most Top End Flat or Full and Flat square television brands give you as a better option for improved picture quality.
You will need to invest in 5.1 channel capable speakers manufactured for PCs from brands such as Logitech, Altec Lansing, Labtec, Creative and Cambridge Sound Works to make use of Dolby Digital and DTS Decoding from the DVD player. These speakers start with prices from Rs. 5000 and can go all the way upto around Rs. 20000. Even a speaker package from Creative that costs Rs. 5000 (Inspire 5.1 5200) does a fantastic job of the sound while watching movies and is powerful enough for small room.
This player can read MP3, JPEG, AVI and maybe a few more PC file formats.
Setting up this player is very easy but sometimes when you see the Graphical User Interface of the Setup menu it does remind you of the many Chinese made DVD players available in the market today. The only reassuring fact being that the player is made by Philips and you have good service backup with you. Even when accessing MP3 files in the menu it all looks so similar to how everything looks even on a Daewoo DVD player. This dvd players menu allows you to make setting of various kinds on the video front as well as audio front.
Since this player is capable of delivering progressive scan output (Needs a high end TV) you can only switch this option within the Setup Menu and not directly via the remote. Color settings can be done on the dvd player as well but its not useful at all cause you can?t do this while watching a movie and whats the point anyway when you can do picture/color correction on the tv itself. There are even sound preset modes but again its not useful cause you need to access the setup menu each and every time you need to change from one preset to another and by then you probably would not be able to notice the difference in how the sound changes/improves or deteriorates.The Display in front of the player has 3 contrast levels you can set and an option is available to even switch it off if you don?t want any distraction.
The purpose of the display is nothing much; shows you the running time of the movie and chapter. Controls on the player are just Power, Play, Stop, Open/Close and a spring loaded volume control for the Karaoke function to be activated; so this player is useless without its remote control.
The remote is well layed and is built with a quality feel to it. Most used functions are spaced in a group.Though there is no eject button holding down the STOP button ejects the disc tray.
Picture Quality is excellent for a player at this price point and a better video interconnect cable improves picture quality a bit more. I tried this and it helped a bit.
Sound is also very good but I have tried only the analog audio outputs. Sound will improve further when using Digital coaxial outputs.Dialogues are clear and everything can be heard.
The software for this player is not fast responding as Pioneer DVD players. Every function has a very slight delay (Eg:when you want to eject a disc in the tray when you have just switched on the player; it takes a while for the EJECT command to execute) in responding but no hassles as such.
This player can handle even the worst of discs. It does hang on discs that are totally unreadable but when comparing how life used to be with my old Philips 570M dvd player; the 727K comes as a big relief. My dvd collection is fake stuff and there are many titles that would just not play well on my old DVD player.
At this price point there are few DVD players that give so many useful features and benefits and according to me a good safe buy would be the Philips 727K.
