Inexpensive, feature rich, w/ Dolby Digital Sound

Remote is very small

Wonderful product. Have rented/played over 30 DVDs, and only had a problem with one (GI JANE), and that was a rental from Hollywood video. Occasional pauses during layer changes, but that depends on the DVD. CD audio is wonderful, and I have not had any problems with the unit. Highly recommend for the budget concious person.

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None

Product has wonderful sound. Good features; plus, it is upgradable.

Lousy remote.

This DVD player is a strong entry level DVD. Video is quite good. Unlike the Toshiba 2109, the artifacts produced in anamorphic widescreen are very limited. I too had occasional skips on some DVDs when layer changes occurred. I decided to troubleshoot and found that skips were occurring with DVDs that had dirt or fingerprints on them. Once I cleaned the DVDs, the skipping stopped. A simple fix but one I surmise that most of the reviewers who have been attacking this player have not tried. It just seems that the Philips players must be a little more sensitive to dirt. The CD audio on this player is beyond compare. It is as good as many reference CD players. When you couple the fine audio performance and above average video performance with the player's upgradability, the DVD825 rates a great value..

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Toshiba 2109

Audio

Remote

So far so good I have had this player for about 4 months and I have had 0 problems, it may help that I clean all rental disc's before playing and I have never played a CD in the player. I have watched about 50 movies and I haven't had even the smalest problem. I just ordered one from Mercata for my brother for christmas. I live in Canada so I was able to take advantage of the deals being offered at Value America right now. BTW I bought mine at Onsale.com for $170 seems to be going for a lot more lately maybe the good word is getting out.

The dual discrete laser system (using two separate lasers, one for DVD, one for CD-R) allows you to play “home-rolled” audio CDs and VCDs. A great feature for those with CD-R burners, and an ability found of few DVD players. Also a great feature is the ability to upgrade the firmware via software.

Absence of component output

After using only a PC-based DVD player for the past two years, the Philips/Magnavox 825 is my first foray into standalone players. It is the "low-end" player in P/Ms current line, but as with most new electronics has features equaling those of the higher-end players of a year ago, such as the dual laser "readers". One improvement this player and all stand-alones could use is a memory buffer to eliminate the breif but noticible pause when switching layers on a DVD-9.

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PC-DVD Encore

High quality at a great price.

Remote

I picked this player over a Toshiba 2109 because I have always had good luck with Philips products. Picture and sound are top notch. I have owned this player since May and played 100+ movies with no problem. Noticeable layer change from time to time and small remote are the only weakness I see from this product. Great player for the money. Highly recommend!!

Low cost.

Freezes when playing. Construction is sub-par.

This is a recap on this player. I bought it 4 days ago for $119. The price was nice and I figured since Phillips invented the cd, that can build a good player for DVD's. I was wrong. This player froze on everything I played in it. Froze on the Matrix every time I played it. Froze on the first song of the first cd I played. Froze on the 4th song of a CDR I played. etc.. This is going back tomorrow. Buyer beware. Get a panasonic.

Low price, picture good for price, but have only played a couple of movies so far

Remote really sucks ! Did Philips hire the Simpsons to design this remote ? Non intuitive command structure. Incomplete Manual

I can't believe how poorly the remote is laid out and how poorly it works. Did the Simpson's or the 3 Stooges design this? Can't get to Setup unless you remove the disc. The stop button opens the disc tray when you hit it twice-a real pain. Since the unit responds slowly to commands from the remote-I often hit it twice instinctively. The command structure also doesn't seem to make sense & I constantly was referring to the Manual. But the manual wasn't much help ! The explanations were not very detailed and there are some on screen commands NOT EVEN MENTIONED IN THE MANUAL ! I guess they assume we have ESP ? Unit responds too slowly to commands from the remote for my taste. On/Off button must be touched manually-can't power off from the remote. Sometimes the unit doesn't respond to the remote unless I hit the button several times. Only paid $186 for this, but feel it's worth it to spend an extra $50 or so for easier to use unit. Will probably return this and get Pioneer's Dv-525. Picture & sound are mostly great, although when playing Star Trek's Insurrection on 16:9 mode, the picture looked taller & thinner than normal. It made Capt Picard's bald head look like Mr. Potatohead ! Also, some ghosting on Enemy of the State, but that may be the fault of a poor DVD transfer. Not a bad deal for the money, but think I can do better for a few extra bucks ! Putting up with this remote is just asking too much ! Philips could have made this a steal with a little more effort.

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Toshiba Rental unit

Great price ($217.00 @ Best Buy). Very nice audio player.

Remote is awful.

I've tried to reproduce many of the problems that I read about on this review page. I've been unsuccessful at reproducing a single problem. I have played at least thirty rented dvd's with no unsatisfactory incidents occurring. This unit plays audio cd's flawlessly. After reading both positive and negative reviews about this unit, I almost decided that it wasn't worth taking the chance. I'm glad that I did take the chance because the 825 is without a doubt **A KEEPER**. I think that most first time dvd buyers will be satified with the 825. I'm even thinking of selling my cd player because I don't need it anymore. The Phillips 825 is a great "first dvd", at a great price!

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Played with many in the store. This is the first that I purchased.

Cheap, covers all basic functions of movie box and audio unit

Obvious DVD layer change, sad remote

I think for the 199.00 I paid for the unit it probably can't be beat. My goal was to get a 2nd player for the bedroom and it does the job very well. I must say that I beieve the CD playback on the unit to be above average. I have compared it to my former $7000.00 Esoteric P2S transport and Meitner Bidat and found it to be very good indeed for about $7,800.00 less. I know that the ratio of money/sound quality is very tight. Two things I don't like is how long it takes to recognize a CD and the obvious quirky pause when switching layers on the DVD. I have not noticed this on more expensive boxes. I do, however, realize that this is an inexpensive box bought as a secondary player so I will forgive the shortcomings. I do like it more than the Pioneer 414 which I thought was terribly built and had more serious problems like peoples lips being out of synch with the dialog and just plain skipping. I give it 3 stars for its excellent quality of CD playback. Have a good new Year.

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Onkyo DVD 7B (

It plays DVDs. Sometimes. When it feels like it.

Boot. Boot - boot. Wait for it to boot.

Okay, who was the wiseguy that designed the system where if you have trouble reading a DVD (funny picture, as usual, with my machine, color messes up and freezes), and you power the puppy down, that you can't press "Open/ Close" and eject the DVD when the machine is turned off? :}

So, for the past hour, I have said a few prayers, quite a few curses, but every time I power the machine back on, it keeps on saying "Booting". That's it. "Booting". So I wait a good long time, power it down, then power it back up.

I watch rented DVDs, and always clean them (especially when I was watching "Dark City" and this happened before). Finally got that DVD to play, but now "Crash" has crashed. Drat!

-T