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The Philips DVP642 is truly superb at its price point. DVD playback is just as good as my older Onkyo DV-SP501 (at more than twice the price) and it can play DivX and XviD files (at almost DVD quality) as well as MP3's JPEG's and VCD's!

Unlike the experience of the reviewer from Erie, PA, my player does resume playing the DVD from the scene where you've pressed the stop button (of course if you press stop TWICE it will take you to the beginning of the DVD).

The unit is ultra thin (1.7" high) and stylish. Colors are vivid at its default setting but you have the option to tweak them if you deem necessary via a system menu, a feature that Philips calls SmartPicture. Video output is available for component video, SVideo or CVBS. For audio you have digital or analog output. You also have an option to set the video for your type of monitor 4:3 P/S, 4:3 Widescreen or 16:9. You may zoom in during playback on both DVD or DivX/XviD files. Resolution

The one weakness I can find is with the remote. It is a bit skimpy, for example, no dedicated open/close tray button, instead one must press the stop key for about 5 seconds which will either open or close the tray. Buttons are small and placed close together. If anyone knows of a universal remote that works with this unit please include it in your review.

Overall this player has far exceeded my expectations. Well done Philips!

I purchased this DVD player a few days ago and have been nothing but pleased by its performance. It is a great deal for what you get: a stylish and attractive design, complete audio/video outputs (s-video, digital/optical audio, analog, etc.), full DVD player capabilities, and most of all, the ability to play DivX/Xvid (MPEG-4).

I've tested all kinds of media with this player and have been thoroughly satisfied. I viewed some high quality DivX-compressed movies on CD-R's in outstanding clarity without a hitch, played mp3 cds (not many features but OK), and watched DVDs (if you're clever you can even make the player region-free).

There's already a firmware upgrade for the player which expands its capabilities to support subtitle files (srt, sub, smi) alongside media files. It was a quick and easy process to upgrade the firmware, and I tested many DivX movies with subtitles and they worked fine. Hopefully in a future firmware upgrade they'll upgrade the menu system, which I found a bit clumsy.

I have two issues concerning the playback MPEG-4 files: occasionally, a movie file encoded with less popular audio codec (like OGG or PCM) will be silent; also, you can only rewind/fast forward at 8x and you cannot skip to a specific time in the movie.

Overall, this player is extremely capable and is a GREAT deal for its price. I'd strongly recommend it.

I am an avid anime fan - it does it's job, and well. It processes the divx codecs better than my amd64 and intel systems. I have thrown ALOT at it sofar and takes it all without any hiccups. I have FMAlchemist (26 eps.) on 1 dvd-r and it plays them all. One reservation - it has a slightly clunky interface, but is still very functional.