Philips DVP5140 Multiformat DVD Player with DivX, MP3, Windows Media Support

This product worked as advertised for about 18 months. I was able to easily convert the unit to a multizone with a very easy sequence of numbers on the remote; and was then able to play European discs. Also, this unit plays Divx movies beautifully, very practical when downloading movies (commercial, copyright free or amateur movies available on the web in Divx or Xvid formats).

However after 18 months, I have to report that the unit has become very capricious and rejects most of my home copied DVD (I back up commercial movies - such as the Disney Treasure series - because I do not want the kids ruining the expensive original ones). At first I thought that I was making mistakes in my back-up routines, and/or that I had bought bad media. So I threw out good discs, one after the other; I also spent (more than the value of the DVD player itself!) in the search for the elusive perfect blank DVD (hint: try Verbatim discs, they still are the best).

However on a whim, I decided to test my back-up discs elsewhere and they played beautifully on cheapo units.

So after 18 months, basically the multiformat, "plays anything you can throw at it" claim that Philips makes in their marketing for this line of DVD players, has become moot at best. Searching the web has confirmed to me that I am not the only one to experience these malfunctions.

The only redeeming three features are that (1) downloaded movies still play when burned on decent quality discs (my problems are related to backed-up discs that keep all MPEG2 contents and menus of the original DVDs, not downloaded movies in MPEG4 formats); that (2) progressive scan gives beautiful results and (3) purchase price is very low, making the problems less heartbreaking.

I bought the DVP5140 to play UK (format2) disks, since it specifies multiformat. BUT, when bought here in the US, it will only play US (format1), and Philips tech. support won't help. They say it cannot be changed- any attempt would void the warranty, etc. They want to sell you a "Multi-region Code Free DVD player" that plays all formats, for twice the price. The review by H. A. Emet (Amazon, 7/27/08) explains that DVP5140's are the same worldwide, and all happily play all formats. Changing is easy, using the remote.

The machine is great, and it now does what I need.
J.R. Parkes

I purchased this dvd player as an emergency replacement, and so far have not regretted it! It was easy to set up, and is easy to use. I had it playing my region 2 disks in a matter of moments. The drawer is a little slow in opening, but that alone is no reason to send it back. Just wait the 30 seconds and it'll open!

My only complaint was in the shipping. I ordered it from Target through Amazon (as they had the better price). I received it ahead of schedule, but was dismayed when I saw the packaging. Or should I say lack of packaging? All they did was slap the shipping information on the dvd box itself and sent it along it's way. I would have preferred it to arrive within another box, masking what the product was. They way it was shipped just screams "Steal Me!"

But, as that's my only complaint, and not necessarily Amazon's fault, I give it four stars!

This is a good DVD player. Once you program it to play all regions, it works quite well. An earlier reviewer has posted the instructions on how to program it. I have only played Region 1 and Region 2 on this DVD player so I don't know how it works with other regions. The only real downside to the DVD player is that the remote doesn't have an eject/open button or volume control. Overall though, it is a quality DVD player that plays DVDs from multiple regions.

I bought this multiformat DVD player as a gift for my husband since our DVD player recently died. He loved that it was so easy to set up and it also plays audio CDs and MP3s. Great value!