Philips DVD-625

This Philips DVD625 as the very first DVD player I have ever used and I approached it with my traditional caution. I chose it primarily cos of its reported playability of various formats, together with price.

It certainly does play everything except RAM disks, including my PC disks containing jpg and mpg files without any fuss whatever.( not divx though). I have just got a multi format DVD recorder for my PC and wanted total compatabilty.

The first thing I noticed about this player was when I played a bonus DVD which came with the Simply Red CD 'Home'. Excellent video quality on my basic 28" tv, and feeding the sound to my HiFi showed a great clarity of tone which initially seemed impressive... but eventually got a bit wearing on the ears. By fiddling with the controls to tone it down it became bearable but I don't think this is an audio player.

But then we all have at least three CD players for audio don't we? so now I got a DVD player, CD player, VCR deck , Sat box and HiFi... all interconnected with the TV so that you can sit on the sofa with at least six remote controls.... and the dog.

What I also noticed was a tendency for it to freeze up while using the still frame advance. OK, so not necessarily a big problem ... but I decided to take it back.... and swap it for a Philips DVD R70 recorder.. so I could dump the VCR deck and save space.. right?

So read my review on that .... and the Philips DVD/VCR 755 combo which followed ... life gets ever more complicated!!

Funny thing.. I will probably end up with another 625, my old VCR deck.. and the R70.

At least I managed to dump my LP player some years ago.