Great picture on large screen TV

The new Philips DVP5140 NTSC/PAL dvd player may be a worthwhile upgrade to the popular Philips DVP642. The Philips DVP5140 produces a better picture than the DVP642. The DVP5140 is "DivX Ultra" certified. The DVP5140 is an excellent example of Philips "plays it all" DVD players.

The DVP5140 uses a 12 bit/108 MHz video system instead of the 10 bit/54 MHz system used in the DVP642. The 12 bit/108 MHz video system produces visibly sharper images and natural colors. The quality of the picture on my 42 inch Plasma HDTV is very impressive.

One major complaint with DVD players concerns their inability to play damaged discs. The DVP5140 has successfully played imperfect discs that other players couldn't handle.

Using the "display" button on the remote, you can view the bit rate and other interesting information about the disc being played.

If the selected soundtrack on the disc you are playing is DTS (Digital Theater Sound), the analog audio output will be muted; consequently, you may need to use the "audio" button on the remote control to select a different soundtrack. DTS soundtracks are not very common in DVDs.

The DVP5140 shows a noticeable pause at the layer change point when playing dual layer DVDs; however, this is not unusual for DVD players.

The DVP5140 does not have an optical digital audio out or S-Video out connector.

The DVP5140 chipset is MediaTek MT1389. The DVP642 chipset is ESS Vibratto II (ES6698F).

The DVP5140 is similar to the new HDMI compliant Philips DVP5960. HDMI is about DRM (Digital Rights Management), a euphemism for copy protection. HDMI = DVI + HDCP. HDCP is the copy protection component of the HDMI standard. The other component of HDMI is the digital interface. Although manufacturers claim otherwise, many experts say there's very little difference in image quality using a digital interface as opposed to an analog connection.

The DVP5140 produces a brilliant picture, can play almost any disc, is housed in an attractive ultra-slim package and is inexpensive. Now, you've got to ask yourself a question: What do I want in a DVD player? The DVP5140 may be an offer you can't refuse!

*** Addendum

DTS (Digital Theater Sound) soundtracks are most often found in Superbit DVDs. Superbit and DTS technologies are especially beneficial with high end audio equipment and large screen high definition displays.

The availability of DTS encoded DVD movies is limited. DTS encoded DVDs often cost more than their Dolby Digital (AC-3) counterpart. Discernible differences in audio quality between DTS and Dolby Digital (AC-3) are highly dependent on the encoding technique and equipment as well as your decoding equipment.

The soundtrack for a DVD movie can contain Dolby Digital (AC-3), DTS, MP2, or PCM audio data. NTSC DVD players must support Dolby Digital (AC-3) and PCM soundtracks; consequently, all 525/60 (NTSC) discs must contain, at a minimum, Dolby Digital (AC-3) or PCM audio data. All other formats are optional.

A DTS soundtrack is almost 4 times as large as a comparable Dolby Digital (AC-3) soundtrack. This is because DTS audio is not compressed to the same degree as Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio. Both DTS and PCM together don't usually leave enough room for quality video encoding of a full length movie. Consequently, a disc with a DTS soundtrack will usually carry a Dolby Digital (AC-3) soundtrack. This means that all DTS discs will work in all DVD players, but a DTS compatible player and a DTS decoder are required to play the DTS soundtrack.

Most DVDs are encoded to optimize space for the feature plus added value and audio streams. Superbit utilizes the physical space devoted to added value to produce a disc with a higher bit rate video and both DTS and Dolby Digital (AC-3) soundtracks. Superbit titles have a Dolby Digital (AC-3) soundtrack (at the highest rate of 448 Kbps) and a DTS soundtrack (at the half rate of 768 Kbps). Superbit titles are recorded on dual layer discs (8.5GB storage capacity). There is usually a noticeable pause during the layer change as the player's laser adjusts to read the second layer. The length of the pause varies from disc to disc and player to player.