Philips DVD865: Not Your Average DVD Player
Written: Nov 30 '01 (Updated Dec 01 '01)
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Pros: Incredible picture quality and clarity, combined with sensational features even a novice can appreciate!
Cons: Absolutely None.
The Bottom Line: In summary, I can highly recommend the Philips DVD865 to anyone in the market for a reliable, easy to learn and moderately priced unit.
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| ExBrave's Full Review: Philips DVD865AT Player |
Philips Magnavox DVD865 (DVD Player)
It has been more than one year since I decided to take a break from Epinions.Com. I was tired and burned out, not from writing, but rather from reading so much and not being able to write as much as I would have liked to have been doing. This combined with a multitude of other issues were the deciding factors in my absence. Now, I’m back, I hope! I say this with much trepidation, because I have been reading so many upsetting comments from authors I had once enjoyed reading about their consumer and general reviews. So many have gone, too. I would say the consensus is concerning the issue of “Income Sharing.” This upsets me. I hope I can write some quality reviews and share experiences that will inform and educate.
I had just finished putting together a Home Theater System. This must have been about a year and one half ago. I knew I needed a DVD Player, but I was hesitant when it came to purchasing one because I knew once I did purchase one, the high prices would eventually drop. This has been consistent with all of the new electronic purchases that I have made in the past. Again, this did not deter me from searching out a good DVD player to complete my well balanced Home Theater System.
We live in a town where our choices to buy electronic products are very limited. Ithaca, New York is a large college town, where Cornell University and Ithaca College are located. So, the main objective of the local business owners is to rip off the college students, who normally don’t care how much they will pay for a product or service. The majority of these students don’t buy with cash and most will use their parent’s credit cards. I'm not faulting college students because at one time I was guilty of those same qualities. This fact alone keeps the prices on most products much higher than in more competitive markets. Another major complaint of most consumers is the absence of competitive large discount stores. This may be the single most reason that townspeople go out of town to make major purchases. The powers to be have created this situation and in the long run have become extremely narrow minded. Ithacans lose a considerable amount of tax revenues to cities like Syracuse, Binghamton and Elmira/Corning. These cities have expanded their retail base in all facets of the retailing market.
So, getting back to my purchase of a DVD player, I decided to make a trip to Sam’s Club in Elmira/Corning where I have seen DVD players at reasonable prices. My actual shopping did take me to a few more retailers like Sears, Rex and Circuit City. All of their pricing on DVD players were about the same, depending upon individual features and brand names. At Sam’s Club I only had only a few choices, as compared to these other stores I mentioned. The one I kept coming back to was the Philips Magnavox DVD865. This model was not the least expensive, but, it was much more compatible with my Technics Stereo Pro Logic receiver. This was the main reason that I decided upon a Philips Magnavox model DVD865.
Immediately when I returned home, I began the task of connecting the DVD player to my Home Theater System. I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of making the necessary connections to make my new DVD player operational.
The next step was to rent a DVD movie and hope that my new purchase was as good as most people who already had a DVD player proclaimed them to be. I must say I was not disappointed. The clarity and sound qualities were better than my own expectations. I rented “For The Love of The Game,” with Kevin Costner and Kelly Preston. Even though this movie was not an action thriller with many explosions and high impact sounds, the difference between VHS and DVD was so evident that I knew I would never be satisfied with watching another VHS movie.
After experiencing the crisp and clear picture on my Hitachi Ultravision Projection Big Screen TV, I immediately made a trip to our local movie rental retailer and rented a handful of DVD movies. Movies like the, “Storm Troopers," “The Fifth Element” and “The Rock.” Once I began watching all of these action films with this new DVD player all of the past VHS sound capabilities were exceeded with an unbelievable theater quality.
The Philips DVD865 is capable of making connections to an amplifier equipped with a Dolby Digital Decoder, 5.1 channel Audio input, Dolby Pro Logic Surround, DTS Decoder, MPEG2 Audio Decoder and Digital Audio Input. Each optional equipment connection has a diagram for assembly within the instruction booklet that accompanied the DVD865.
Functional features included with the DVD865 can be operated through a remote control unit, which was also included with this unit. I am able to play a DVD, CD or Video CD. In addition, extended operational features include; Playing at different speeds like, X2, X8, X30 and normal speed, Playing by Frame, Playing in Slow Motion, Resuming Playback from the Same Location, Playing in Favorite Order, Playing in Random Order, Zooming a Picture/Selecting 3-D (N-2-2) Sound Enhancement, Selecting a Certain Camera Angle, Selecting a Language, Selecting Subtitles, Using an On-Screen Display and for the highly technically inclined, you may even Customize the Settings.
For those of you who might want to know the specifications and who can understand what all of this technical jargon means, I’ve listed the following:
Power Supply................120V AC, 60 Hz
Power consumption...........19W
Mass........................3.0 kg
External dimensions.........430 x 81 x 300mm(W/H/D)
Signal System...............Standard NTSC
Laser.......................Semiconductor laser:
wavelength 650nm
Frequency Range.............DVD linear sound:
48 kHz sampling 4Hz to
22 kHz
96 kHz sampling 4 Hz to
44 kHz
Signal to noise ratio.......More than 112 dB
Audio dynamic range.........More than 106 dB
Harmonic distortion.........Less than 0.001%
Wow and flutter.............Below measurable level
(less than + or - 0.001%
(W.Peak))
Now, what did all of that mean? I haven’t a clue, except for the Power and Dimensions.
When I began using this new addition to my Home Theater, I was amazed at all of the perks and additional operations that can be performed when viewing a DVD Movie. One feature I became instantly overjoyed with was the playback from your last location. No longer do you have to rewind a tape to find out where you stopped the movie to make dinner or get side-tracked by a long distance phone call. You can access a chapter and immediately resume the movie at the point you stopped or you can put it on “Pause,” which will eventually turn on a “Screen Saver” for your TV. No more rewinding a tape when you are finished, either. Another bonus with a DVD is adding the “Trailers” included on the disc. In some cases you can watch the way a certain action movie was filmed, interviews with actors, interviews with the director, edited scenes from the movie and many other little bonuses that make your movie watching even more enjoyable. Another somewhat minor quality which can be altered to your individual satisfaction is being able to view the movie in a “Wide Screen” or a normal “Full Screen” format.
I mainly use the basic features to watch a DVD movie, and if the need arises I know with the trusty instruction booklet in hand I can expand my viewing pleasures even more. Combined, all of these features have dramatically improved my movie watching pleasure. I believe the DVD865 has become an integral part of my Home Theater System and has exceeded all of my expectations.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $349.00
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ExBrave
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