Steve McDonald
December 9th, 2005, 04:03 PM
I just bought a Philips portable DVD player, so I can have a self-contained way to show my videos at meetings and visits with friends. It's a PET 1000 with a 10.2-inch screen and was my best pick after a long examination of many models.
However, it has 1/8-inch minijacks for outputs and Philips supplied adapter cords with standard, large plugs on the other ends for everything but the coaxial digital audio output (SPDIF). Philips doesn't make or sell a coaxial cord that fits this connection requirement, that would have a two-way miniplug on one end and an RCA plug on the other. The dealer knows nothing about it. Radio Shack never heard
of such a thing.
You can't use standard cords with RCA plugs for digital audio. Could you splice a miniplug onto the end of a standard SPDIF cord or use an adapter plug, with a miniplug on one side and an RCA jack on the other, to successfully pass coaxial digital audio? If anyone knows of a source for such an odd adapter cord or adapter plug that would carry digital audio, please respond. I wonder how many other portable products have this configuration? Has Philips designed a proprietory output connection and failed to invent a cord to serve it?
This DVD player is excellent otherwise. It has great resolution, with an 800 X 480 pixel screen. It has component, S-Video and composite video outputs and a L/R analog audio output, which I've been using in lieu of a workable digital connection. It has an A/V input with composite video and L/R audio. Despite listing only DVD-video and DVD+R/RW in its playing specs, it does play my finalized DVD-R discs and other users say it does DVD-RW as well. It also will play most CD formats, MP3 and Divx/M-PEG4 DVDs. It does a better job of playing back DVDs than all my other equipment, including a standalone DVD recorder, a desktop player and a computer. The resolution and color it sends by component to my HDTV is superior to what those others will do. It also sends a full widescreen mode that the others won't do in a way that doesn't need to be expanded by the TV itself. Consequently, I can watch a widescreen movie that fills the full width of the HDTV screen, at a full 500 lines of resolution, instead of only about 400 lines of res on a picture that the TV has to expand. The PET 1000 has full controls on both the top panel and its remote controler and it's easy to change the language in the subtitles and dialogue, with any combination of the two. My other DVD units have these options buried in menus that are inconvenient to access.
This model doesn't have a progressive output, but it will be a great help to me in showing my videos in all sorts of places. I'll take it in my backpack when I'm out shooting and I'll carry some DVD-Rs with my recent highlights, to show to the people I'm always encountering, that want to see them. The Toshiba SD-P2700 was a close second in my evaluation of portable players, as it has a progressive output and a card slot for J-PEG still pictures/M-PEG movies. It has an 8.9-inch screen and 1024 X 600 pixels.
However, on the dozens of customer reviews I read, the Philips PET 1000 was highly favored by its users over all other models.
However, it has 1/8-inch minijacks for outputs and Philips supplied adapter cords with standard, large plugs on the other ends for everything but the coaxial digital audio output (SPDIF). Philips doesn't make or sell a coaxial cord that fits this connection requirement, that would have a two-way miniplug on one end and an RCA plug on the other. The dealer knows nothing about it. Radio Shack never heard
of such a thing.
You can't use standard cords with RCA plugs for digital audio. Could you splice a miniplug onto the end of a standard SPDIF cord or use an adapter plug, with a miniplug on one side and an RCA jack on the other, to successfully pass coaxial digital audio? If anyone knows of a source for such an odd adapter cord or adapter plug that would carry digital audio, please respond. I wonder how many other portable products have this configuration? Has Philips designed a proprietory output connection and failed to invent a cord to serve it?
This DVD player is excellent otherwise. It has great resolution, with an 800 X 480 pixel screen. It has component, S-Video and composite video outputs and a L/R analog audio output, which I've been using in lieu of a workable digital connection. It has an A/V input with composite video and L/R audio. Despite listing only DVD-video and DVD+R/RW in its playing specs, it does play my finalized DVD-R discs and other users say it does DVD-RW as well. It also will play most CD formats, MP3 and Divx/M-PEG4 DVDs. It does a better job of playing back DVDs than all my other equipment, including a standalone DVD recorder, a desktop player and a computer. The resolution and color it sends by component to my HDTV is superior to what those others will do. It also sends a full widescreen mode that the others won't do in a way that doesn't need to be expanded by the TV itself. Consequently, I can watch a widescreen movie that fills the full width of the HDTV screen, at a full 500 lines of resolution, instead of only about 400 lines of res on a picture that the TV has to expand. The PET 1000 has full controls on both the top panel and its remote controler and it's easy to change the language in the subtitles and dialogue, with any combination of the two. My other DVD units have these options buried in menus that are inconvenient to access.
This model doesn't have a progressive output, but it will be a great help to me in showing my videos in all sorts of places. I'll take it in my backpack when I'm out shooting and I'll carry some DVD-Rs with my recent highlights, to show to the people I'm always encountering, that want to see them. The Toshiba SD-P2700 was a close second in my evaluation of portable players, as it has a progressive output and a card slot for J-PEG still pictures/M-PEG movies. It has an 8.9-inch screen and 1024 X 600 pixels.
However, on the dozens of customer reviews I read, the Philips PET 1000 was highly favored by its users over all other models.