Philips DVD-736K Review

Overall Rating

Picture quality, loads of outputs, acts as a Jpeg viewer as a bonus.

Remote is "tacky"

I have tried several DVD units from various manufacturers in the sub $600 NZ category. I ended up returning all and concluding that I couldnt get a 'good quality cheapy', but then I tried the Philips DVD736K.
In common with some of the other reviewers, when I bought this unit, I could find absolutely nothing on the 'net about it. However, empirical evidence is what I rely on and the shop was happy for me to take it away for a good testing with a full refund guarantee.
I am pleased to say that the primary reason I bought the machine was for (surprise) DVD playback, and in this I can't fault the quality. It has played all Zone 1, 2 and 4 with no problems, and RCE encoded discs as well all on the multi zone setting. You can explicitly set the zone if you wish, so any problematic discs should be catered for. Video quality has good shadow separation, and clear sharp colours. You have the "smart picture" setting to play with which allows you to choose from 3 pre-defined video settings, or your own customised view. In practice, I have found little need to play with this as once I had set it up for my TV, that was it. I have noticed layer changes occur on some discs, but to put this in perspective, I would say around 20% of those played may exhibit this trait. When it does occur, it really is nothing more than the briefest of pauses (best guess about 1/10th of a second) and certainly doesnt ruin the enjoyment. On this basis, I am tempted to put this down to the DVD encoding itself.
Connectors? It has plenty. Onboard DTS and Dolby Digital decoding yields multiple outputs including 5:1 analog, Stereo Analog, coax digital, optical digital, S-video, composite, YCbCr - you name it. It doesnt have a SCART connector, but then that seems to have died a death here in NZ with most devices relying on S-Video or YCbCr RCA type connectors.
The downside of the hardware components has to be the handset, which is frankly pathetic. Yes it does the job, but this is where the money has obviously been saved. Its a membrane affair which is smallish and cramped, and frankly the person who designed it should be forced to run with the Bulls at Pamplona carrying one between the cheeks of their bottom. That said, it does function and gets the job done. I will get pragmatic at this point and say that if I got the video quality at the expense of the handset, then so be it.
The unit also plays MP3's, and it can handle all bitrates I have thrown at it including variable. I found the playback somewhat more dynamic than similarly priced units offering this capability (although this is subject to the vagaries of encoding, and being a lossy compression format). It does a fair job on CDs too, although I'll stick with my NAD for dedicated CD audio playback.
The icing on the cake for me, however, was that I was delighted to discover that the 736K can play back JPGs, individually or as a slide show, including the ability to manipulate zoom, orientation, and playback interval. As someone who has recently taken to scanning old photos to digital media to preserve them, this was a bonus (I wasnt aware of this function when I bought the unit).
Overall a good player for the money, and with 4 bonus DVD of your choice thrown in (here in NZ anyway), it was a bargain.
However, it does get points deducted for a rotten handset.

Members' Comments onColsta.'s Review

• rosey. on 10th Sep 2002

  I am not receiving the sound I want. When watching a DVD movie I have to put the volume up really loud to hear the film. I have been through the setup and still having the same problem. Any tips?

• Milos Kaljevic. on 22nd Oct 2002

  I agree that the worst part is the remote control. I can add the player is sometime slugish in responding to commands. Picture is good but recently I can see poor quality in dark scenes (as seen at PC running at lower resolution and not using full colour range). But it could be some wrong settings... Everything else is fine, unexpectedly for the price.