Philips DVP642

Pros: cost, plays most formats, plays MP3s and JPGs, etc.

Cons: remote a little user-unfriendly, minimal on-screen display information

Summary: This really is a great all-around video player. I don't know why so many people say it dies, etc. I got mine in June of 2004 and it has performed flawlessly since then. There was at the time one firmware update available from Philips, which involved burning a file available from their website onto a CD and running that CD in the player. Not sure if that update is available anymore, but it probably doesn't matter as all new units are probably shipped with the latest update anyways. It plays all the popular formats of media, including CD-R, CD+R, DVD-R, and DVD+R. What makes this player unique is the ability to play video files that are of the DivX and XviD formats. This is great for those who know how to download TV Shows and movies (not advocating any illegal downloading, but it comes in handy when you miss a show--DVRs aren't perfect!). In the summer of 2004 there were some XviD files that wouldn't play but that seems to be less of a problem these days. It also plays DVDs and CDs that are burned with MP3s (great for having huge numbers of songs play nonstop for hours), as well as photo CDs and DVDs loaded with JPGs. My only gripes are that the remote is small and somewhat confusing (but what remotes aren't, these days), and that the on-screen information is minimal, e.g. the last DVD player I had would show you how many minutes remaining, etc. All in all it's a great buy. These was at one time the cream of the crop of DivX players, but probably now lies somewhere in the middle (there are definitely cheaper players out there made by nobody companies like Norcent, etc.).