Philips DVD-634 Review

Overall Rating

Outstanding all round player and great value for money.

Surround sound is a pointless function - it makes everything sound like it was recorded in a tiled bathroom.

I bought this DVD player as an alternative from watching movies on my PS2. I didn't think that a player this cheap (£110) would be much better but I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know much about top-end expensive players so I'm gonna compare this one with the PS2's DVD capability. If you have a PS2 and are thinking that you may want a seperate DVD player then maybe this review will be useful to you. The most striking thing is the sound difference - its much punchier, better bass and overall throws the stereo out very nicely. Picture-wise it is very sharp indeed, no problems with bleeding or anything else I have seen in review of cheapish players. The black on screen is very black - none of the greyness that I used to get on my PS2. You can skip around chapters in an instant (no slight pause). The fast forward and freeze frame works perfectly well. I tailored the output (widescreen, 4:3, PAL etc), sound and general options quickly and easily. The 4 or 5 disc memory facility is pretty useful if you like watching a bit of one film, then flit to another and want to swap back (like I do) I have given the mp3 player a go as well and this worked great without any problems. My only gripe with this is the absurdly small amount of track name text that it displays on the main screen. Most people would be hard pushed to even hear the fan on this box working during a film (my PS2 was always too noisy and one of the main reasons to upgrade). The remote is simple, not too good looking but does the job. Overall, I am really pleased with this purchase. Mainly because I didn't think that I would get this sort of quality for just over £100. Its a great all rounder and I can't imagine that you would see much difference in quality until you thought about spending up to £200 instead.