Sage chip, high end styling, ultra sharp picture, new low price

Choppy fast forward, strange menu

I have been admiring this DVD player for some time. But at $499, it was too expensive for me so I settled for the Sony NS700P, which is a fine player also. I read reviews about the great picture on the Q50 but was worried about the random freezing problem. When I saw Circuit City had dropped the price to $299, I just had to try it. I downloaded the latest firmware from the internet, which is supposed to fix all the problems, and set about to test this bad boy. The picture is GORGEOUS!!! It definitely is sharper than the Sony and the colors are deep and saturated. And guess what, no freezing. The picture looks almost HD-like on my Pioneer RPTV.

Similar Products Used:

Sony NS700P

Progressive scan video playback. Quiet transport. Sage/Faroudja video processor.

Remote. No DVD-A or SACD, but it''s really not an issue for me.

I previously bought this unit in early Jan. of this year for $499 after reading some reviews on the ''net. I compared it side by side with the Pioneer Elite DV-37, and I thought the picture on the Q50 was sharper and had a more 3-D like effect. I than ran through some resolution tests on Avia and confirmed the Q50 produced more resolution. However, because of the price and the fact that it didn''t do either SACD or DVD-A, I took it back to wait on something else. I did not see any of the other issues that have been documented other than the picure was not centered correctly. Since I knew I was taking it back, I didn''t do a firmware upgrade. Then, 2 weeks ago, I happened to run into CC (which I hate!), and saw this unit on sale for $299! I couldn''t pass it up. For this price, there is NOT a better picture anywhere on the planet in progressive mode. I view it on a Mits 55" HDTV and the picture is AWESOME!!!! I then upgraded the firmware to 4.15i, which went fine, and now everything is even better! Calibrated with Avia and the picture is stunning. Much more 3-D like than my old unit (Pioneer Elite DV-C36). I''m not wild about the remote or a few of the features, but for pure progressive video playback, it is hard to beat at any price. I have not played many CD''s on it to test audio, but I don''t really care how good it is, since I use this system about 90% for HT. If you can find this unit at a good price, don''t walk...run to buy it!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite DV-C 36, Toshiba 3109, Toshiba 4700-POC!

Picture quality and price point!

Poor product support in the US through Philips. Firmware upgarde is available through website forums like AVS Forum.

My first DVD player was the Sony 7700, and my second was the 9000ES. Going progressive was a big step up. I''m using the Loewe Aconda 16x9 TV. At first I was skeptical, but Moore''s Law seems to prevail in the digital domain. This player is a fraction of the 9000ES, but the picture is superior. I recieved the unit with firmware 4.13f and was experiencing the freezing problems everyone mentions. I upgraded to the 4.15i firmware and those issues are gone. So I don''t get bombarded with email - I got the new firmware from the AVS Forum website - there''s a long thread on the Q50 firmware. Funny thing was, I spoke to Philips here in the US about a firmware upgrade and they know nothing about it. I sold my 9000ES and purchased the Q50 for less than half of the selling price of the 9000ES. I''m very happy with my "downgrade". As for listening to music, the Q50 has far better low level resolution - much more bass than the 9000ES. I was pretty shocked when I poped in an audio CD for the first time. Don''t get me wrong, the jitter levels are quite high compared to a good cd player, but I never knew how much bass was missing from my 9000ES until I got this unit.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 7700, Sony 9000ES

Picture, picture, picture.

No backlit or glow-in-the-dark buttons on the remote, though it is a nice size and easy-to-use. No capability to open the disc tray using the remote. The tray opens pretty fast, and sometimes the disc will slip and mis-load. No time display on the front of the player. The Resume feature tries to deal with this, but it’s not a good solution.

I was looking for a player to replace my Toshiba SD9100 that did not use the genesis chipset for progressive output. That meant players using the Sage/Faroudja chip (DCDi), the Silicon chip, or some other method. For price I wanted below $500. I use my HT only for viewing movies, so multiple discs, CD, SACD, HDCD, VCD, MP3, CD-R, DVD-A, etc., are of little interest to me. Nor anamorphic downconversion since I have a Sony Wega XBR with HD capability. My primary concerns were picture quality and quality of the sound from the digital out. This narrowed my list down to the Denon 2800 (though a bit pricey), the Sony NS700, and the Philips. The Panasonic RP56 was not an option since it does not have coax digital out. Simply put, with my TV and progressive output from the Philips, the picture is astounding. Clear and detailed without being etched or over-sharp; rich, deep colors without over-saturation or bleeding. It does blues and reds really well; the color of skies especially seems spot-on and very inviting. True depth to the picture. This is what I thought progressive DVD would be. Since I’ve gotten the player I’ve been pulling out each and every one of my 300+ DVDs just to see how good they look. Demo’d with my TV the Denon, seemed a little soft (and more expensive); the Sony could be a little too hard at the edges of things—it seemed to make edge enhancement worse. Soundwise (through digital out only), I first thought the Philips was harder/brighter sounding than the Toshiba. With continued listening and comparison, I think the Toshiba is too warm and overemphasizes the bass. The Philips seems more balanced and clearer overall. Other points: The Philips does not downsample the digital audio signal like most players, but outputs it at the full 96kHz, so you can use this as a 96k-capable transport. I have experienced no freezes—though some layer changes seem slower. The build date on my player is October 2001. The Secrets of Home Theater (www.hometheaterhifi.com) mentioned that this player has the chroma bug really bad in interlaced mode, and I can confirm that. Through the interlaced outputs, in chapter 47(?) of The Sound of Music a waving Nazi flag has edges that look like huge steps, with tremendous color bleed. Via progressive out the flag edges are perfectly smooth. This player was made after the chroma bug was supposed to have been fixed, so from o

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic A310, Toshiba SD9100, Denon 2800, Sony NS700.

Picture superb. Sound Superb. Looks and dimensions of unit. Remote controll a big improvement over older Philips remotes.

Freezing problem

I am really happy with the unit, the Dolby Digital and DTS decoding is fantastic, the unit is also good at playing back music CD''s which many DVD players don''t do very well. The video output is superb and the best I have seen so far, and the unit looks fantastic. I have experienced the random freezes others have mentioned but I am now in receipt of a new firmware that supposedly fixes is, 4.15i.

Similar Products Used:

Philips 701 DVD Player Philips 762 DVD Player

Picture quality (though I didn''t do side-to-side comparison)

Image freezes

Picture looks great on Mitsubishi Diamond 55, with progressive scan output. Once however, the DVD machine made loud noises from the unit. Image freezes randomly on Wild Wild West DVD at different points, definitely not at the times when the lasers are switching. I am returning the unit. 30-day return pokicy at Good Guys.

Picture and sound quality

Random freezes, no audio, fast forward and reverse from remote. Also no button on the remote to open the tray-it has to be done manually.

The picture / audio quality is very good and those were the two most important factors to me. I have only been using this model for a little over a month and I keep having problems with it. The random freezes began on the first day I hooked it up. I tolerated that, even though it happens at least once on every DVD. Just recently I am having additional problems. Sometimes there will be no audio when you turn it on, and it has to be shut off and turned on again several times to get it to work. I also have had it not respond to the fast forward or reverse buttons on the remote unless it was again shut off and turned back on. Since I bought this from a catalog I can no longer return to them after 30 days, so I will have to ship it back to Philips for an exchange for a new or reconditioned model. I am not happy thinking I might get a reconditioned model as a replacement which was someone elses problem that they think they have repaired. I compared this model to the Onkyo DVS550 when I made the purchase, and wish I now wish I had chosen that model now.

Similar Products Used:

First generation Sony

Outstanding image quality. There is no better player in this price range.

Menu layout/navigation could be a lot better. Player has some glitches and incompatibility problems that Philips needs to resolve.

I don''t want to waste a lot of time repeating what so many have said before me, so I will simply say that the quality of the image that this player produces is outstanding. However, I do want to mention some of the problems that have been mentioned already. I too have experience the random pauses during movies that this player has become known for. While they happen infrequently, they are still *very* annoying. One problem that that I am experiencing that I have not seen anyone else mention is the difficulty that this player has with processing dvd menu screens. I have only been using this player for a little over a week, and have thus only been able to try out a small fraction of my dvd collection, but I have managed to find two movies that this player has a problem with. They are "The Goonies," and "Leon: The Professional, Uncut International Version." With The Professional, choosing any option from the dvd menu screen (audio setup, chapter selection, ect..) other than start movie, results in the player stopping the disc and displaying the dvd video logo screen. The same thing happens with the Goonies disc when you try to select the option to watch the film with the commentary track recorded with the cast and director. Just before I began writing this I returned home from exchanging this player for another one. The new one that I just brought home has the same problems with The Professional. All that I can do now is call Philips and see what they have to say about it. I''m curious if anyone else has experienced the same type of menu related problems that I have. If so, please post them.

Similar Products Used:

Various interlaced and progressive scan toshiba players

Excellent audio reproduction.

Video image is not centered on screen.Some glitches when switching between c.d tracks.

Returned this player after two weeks. Will be an excellent unit if the problems can be fixed.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic a310, Denon 2800

Nice picture and sound and cool looking.

Need TV to show complete remote's function, Reliability may be an issue.

I bougt this one for two reasons: (1)it has all decoder outputs for my old receiver. (2)sound quality is well acceptable for a DVD player. (2)+1 it looks gorgeous. After taking it home, the video is better than I expected. Both video and sound is better than my old cheap toshiba. CD playback is very nice for a DVD player. Before I couldn't stand my toshiba playing CD, sounds harsh, compared to my separeated transport+DAC audio system. Now Q50 is totally accetable.

Bad part is that it can't play some of DVD or sometimes video will hang there for 0.2 second. I try the same DVD at rental store and their pioneer 434 can play it without problem. I was upset and returned it. But after looking around, I can't find others with same qualify of video/audio at the same price range. So, I try another new coming Q50. New one seems work better, at least it plays those DVD's and even sounds better on CD compared to previous one.

So I would think that quality control may not be comparable to those JPN brand, they are much more reproducible no matter good or bad. Sorry to admit that. So I buy the insurance and decide to keep this Q50, loving the video/audio but worrying about the hardware.
Another question, DVD/CD comes out "hot" compared to other machines, Is that a problem or normal? Other guys please reply!
I would give it five star if hardware is consistent.
The video and audio out of it is first rated among sub K machines. Only four stars for the trouble I get through.