Has a software upgrade available. Works well but will freeze in the middle of some movies and not play a few of them becasuse it will not recogonize the disk. Phillips said they are having problems with some of the new Disney Disks and the software format that is specific to these disks. Disney has been contacted and is working on the problem

Will freeze in the middle of some movies and not play a few others at all.

I run everything on tubes. But for CD''s I purchased the Philips DVD 940AT Feb 2000. It had some software problems but there is a DVD Upgrade Disk available. Contact their Customer Care Center 800-531-0039. They are sending it to my house. I do not have it as of this time but will have it in the next week.

Good sound in DD in channels that work, good sound on CD's that machine will play

Quality issues, lacks in features (even for price I paid), questionable fit and finish and cheap plastic look and feel

I purchased this player from Bid.com with a winning bid of only $200 total price. Upon arrival, the player looked OK and I thought I got a real bargain. A few days and a lot of frustration later, I realized I was mistaken.

No matter how hard I try and how many times I check my connection, I can not get the player to output sound for the center channel. There is just nothing there. I checked my associate equipment by hooking up a friends player and all was fine.

Secondly, I can not get the machine to play CD's. It will play 2-3 songs on some CD's and none at all one others. In addition, when it does play a track on a CD, it starts it at 20-40 seconds into the song. My observation is that there is something wrong with the player's switching between the laser for a DVD and the one for CD (this is one of only a few players that has seperate lasers for DVD and CD). It's as though it's getting stuck or something.

On a plus side, the video is decent and the sound that I do manage to get the machine to eek out is good. The CD audio is among the best I've heard from a DVD player.

The machine is going back to Bid.com. This is what I get for trying to get something for nothing. I'm getting the Toshiba 3109 for an extra $100 as that machine is a TRUE bargain.

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Toshiba 3109

WHAT AN AWESOME DVD...I don't know what the other fool named "upset" is talking about. Whatever fool!...Maybe you should read the Manual...Ive tried the Panasonic DVD-120, and the Philips is much better, sound, picture, dynamics is much more better.

just the fool named "upset"....too scared to post his name.

Overall an awesome DVD player. VCD quality is great, DVD even better. It reads CDRW's very well..AWESOME!

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Panasonic DVD-940, Pioneer 414.

very good picture and sound, plays cdr and cdrw

freezes on layer switch and no firmware upgrade is available to correct this.

I was very disappointed with this unit. Of the 10 movies that were played on this unit 3 of them froze. One of them was not even a dual layer DVD.

My favorite Martian - froze - single layer
Tarzan - two separate DVD's froze at the exact same location
The wall - froze on layer switch.

I contacted Philips about a firmware upgrade. They said to send it in (so much for the firmware upgrade via a disk). I checked to see what the newest firmware available. My unit was manufactured in August, I called in March and there was no now firmware available.

I got this unit at an online auction unit house and I returned it because it was defective. I asked if they have had many of these units sent back. They said, " Yes quite a few actually". Coincidentally these units are no longer on their site.

If this unit did not freeze, I would give it a five star rating. Given that it does and seems to be a very common problem, and Philips do not seem to want to fix it, I feel it deserves no higher than 1 star.

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Toshiba 2109

Great picture, great sound.

Pauses/freezes on Most DVD's (single and dual layered). Upgrade firmware is *NOT* customer upgradeable; must ship it to a service center for upgrade.

Overall this player is decent for the price (~$250). The trully annoying feature is the consistant Freezing on Most DVD movies (Single and Dual layer).

Their tech center denies any problems nor mentioned any upgrades; yet the news forums are filled with customer complaints. And there IS an upgrade available.

Firmware upgrade is performed by the Service Center, NOT the consumer. You need to ship it to them. You pay the shipping to them, they pay it ship it back. Why even advertise it's upgradable when you still need to ship it to the service center? Almost all DVD players can make that same claim. That just borders on false advertising, but gets away with it due to the 'consumer assumption' of self upgrading.

FYI- The firmware upgrade is available out there on the net (not by philips), but upgrading the player on your own VOIDS the warranty.

Final opinion:
Besides the freezes, poor customer support, and marketing scheme of "Upgradable!", its a good player. However, the above problems (though not acknowledged by Philips) take the enjoyment of using their product. Its my opinion that its a defective product, with advertising that plays on the casual consumers assumptions.
Until Philips does something about this Real problem, stay away from them.

FYI- I was told a 2 week turnaround if I shipped it to them. I'm returning mine to the store and purchasing another brand.

-Rod

Comparible picture to higher priced model from other brands. Very nice detail on audio CD's

The only weekness was the freeze, but once I got it fixed with the upgrade from Phillips it works perfect !

After the freeze situation was fixed I love this unit. Picture and audio quality are magnificent. I using a 32 inch Sony WEGA as my tv. I looks awesome !

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pioneer 414, sony 330

Excellent Picture

Terrible remote, freezes, and loss of audio synch

The short version is that I have had zero glitches with the Sony 530 and had constant trouble with the Philips 940. My favorite problem was that the receiver would lose audio whenever I paused or skiped FWD or REV.

Philips's support claimed it needed a firmware upgrade, but
couldn't tell me what version I had, what version they had, or what bugs would be fixed.

They couldn't even guarantee a turnaround time.

I returned it before the 30 day warantee from the seller expired.

Philips has not responded to my physical mail describing their (lack of) customer support.

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Sony 530

spectular sound (24bit bitstream DAC), excellent picture quality, plays CD-R, CD-RW, tasteful design

This seems to be the ultimate DVD player below $500. The sound is absolutely spectular! That's because of the terrific Philips bitstream technology. The drive itself is capable of playing CD-Rs and CD-RWs without any problems. The picture quality is very very good on my Philips TP-2781C. I also like the tasteful design of the player.

Firmware is not CD upgradable ?!?!?! Big lie.

Freeze on some DVD, and VCD !!!! Philips should recall all these bad DVD player !!!!

I got this player because it is upgradeable, but not !! It is a big lie !!!

This player freezes on some DVD and VCD. Philips told me to ship it to their factory and I have to pay for all shipping !! Suck !!! They said they could not just send me the firmware. If yours is not under warranty, you will need to pay for any upgrade plus all shipping !!!

The video and audio quality is good, but the on-screen control is very poor and difficult to read.

Did anyone tried CDRW on this unit ? I hope it is not another lie.

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I should get a Sony or Toshiba instead !!!

Great picture & Awesome sound. Upgradeable firmware via a cd. Remote is easy to use and well laid out.

No eject button on the Remote(If you consider that a weakness)

What a relief. After dealing with my "Won't work after a year Panasonic A110" this Philips player is a huge relief. For the 201 bucks I paid, I am extremely pleased with the performance of this unit. My only hope is that Philips stands behind there products unlike our friends at Panasonic. The best feature by far is the ability to upgrade the software of the unit via a cd. Just think of the possibilities and the saving in future manual labor for firmware upgrades if you run into problems. The unit is low profile and very sleek. If this unit stands up to the test, I will definately re-consider my decision to by a reference player later this year

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD - A110