Ever since my previous Hyundai DVD Player was’serviced’ by its service center, I couldn’t play my old CDs/DVDs. I learned my lesson and vowed to avoid local/Chinese brands due to bad service! I needed a new DVD player with following features:
1) Player must be made by a reputed brand,
2) USB connectivity for JPEG, XviD and DivX files’ playability,
I decided to go for a SONY Player because SONY and Philips invented the DVD in 1996. I dropped LG, Samsung, M.Baer and Onida cos SONY’s always d best. As I browsed the internet about Sony DVD players’ reviews, I came across a page on Tech2 website.
( https://tech2.in.com/india/topstuff/home/the-divx-player-shootout/87012/0)
where different players were compared and rated based on performance. Surprisingly, Philips DVP3336 scored more than SONY and other players(visit the link to know how Philips actually works better). But I was hesitant cos though Philips is a good brand, I always hated their products cos they lack’punch’( My friend’s Philips audio system had v.poor sound). I wanted to try my luck with Philips for the first time. I located a dealer who quoted Rs. 2600/- for this piece. I tested some DivX & XviD Movies that i’d downloaded from d internet( it played them all!) and bought it finally. Philips 3336 comes with a 6 month warranty.
Features:
FM, In-built speaker, Multiple Picture settings and Sound modes, CD ripping(ability to convert CDs to MP3 files and store them in a thumb drive), Language select, Parental Control, Progressive Scan and 5.1 channel audio. Visit Philips India’s website https://india.philips.com for more features.
Looks: The player has a black outline with dark-metallic color in the middle. Being attractive enough to be the centerpiece of a good AV setup or Home Theater system, I feel it’s the best looking player out in d market. The button layout on the player’s front panel is simple - it has a power button, a tray eject button and a Play/Pause button. Plus a USB 2.0 port .It has a Volume knob on the right side.
Connections and ports: The player comes with a USB port that can read .JPG photos, DivX and Xvid encoded .avi videos, WMA and MP3 songs etc. It has a Component video out in addition to Composite video out(the yellow port). The Component video out provides 33% more video clarity than Composite connection, since it allows the player to transfer the’color’ part of the picture & the’brightness’ part of the picture separately to TV. It comes with a 5.1 channel analog and coaxial out. The player comes with an built-in speaker that can be used to hear songs from FM, CDs, DVDs and the USB drive.
Picture Clarity: After making the player region free, I tested my DVDs, my DivX, XviD, MPG, JPG files on this unit. It played everything faithfully, giving very clear and razor sharp pictures on my SONY Trinitron TV. I’m quite satisfied. But it doesn’t play .MKV and .WMV files.
Sound: The sound is also crystal clear with good bass & treble. I’m sure it has damn good Digital-to-Analog convertor(DACs) chips. Good job, Philips!
Drawbacks:
=> Remote’s bottom has more keys than the top! Some keys are a little hard 2 press.
=> Extremely scratched discs not played smoothly.
( Yet I feel its advantages overcome the player’s minuses easily!)
Conclusion: Philips DVP3336 not just looks good, but performs as well! Truly a great DVD Player to own.