 Philips PET1030 10.2" Portable DVD Player with Car Mount Kit |
| Review Date: November 3, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Steve, Chicago, IL United States |
When I first bought this DVD player, I loved it. Yes there are more expensive ones but I couldn't find better a better player, really. After watching a movie, I noticed that every time the chapter changed, it had a little marker in the upper left corner. At first I wasn't bothered with it and after a few weeks, I didn't want to watch a movie on it because it was so bothersome.
I like to write reviews for people and not for myself. So, I do a FAQ.
How's the picture quality?
It's great. Very clear; very bright. It's a standard LCD screen. (Push the screen and you get puddle). The only thing I don't like it that dust and particles always get on the screen. Nothing a little blow on the screen won't fix.
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How's the sound?
Actually, it's the loudest potable DVD player I've heard. What I like is that you can change the volume with the remote. It has the option of volume numbers 1-16. I usually keep it on 12 because it's actually too loud. The bass on it is your normal small speaker quality. It's so so. But nothing to worry about, the sound is still excellent.
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How the quality?
It's good. The CD cover is a little flimsy but nothing that will break too easily. Turning it on is a little tricky. Sometimes it takes a minute to turn it on and off. One time I pushed the power button and it wouldn't turn on. I thought maybe it died after 2 days but it turned on. This is normal. It takes time to boot up.
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How's the screen?
Great size. 10.2. It's the largest you can find for now. I actually watched seasons 1-6 of The Sopranos and The Lord Of The Rings on it and the screen size wasn't bothersome at all. You can actually watch a movie and not worry that maybe the screen is too small.
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How are the accessories?
Nice. It has a controller, cigarette lighter adapter, TV adapter, an option where you can attach the DVD player to the back of a car seat. Great for kids and long trips. The attachment is actually very sturdy. I wouldn't worry about it falling off. I don't like the remote. It's kind of cheap. It's the size of a calculator but a little thinner. The bad thing is that the remote is kind of needed but not necessary. You can do the same functions with the buttons on the DVD player but the remote is a lot easier.
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How's the battery life?
Pretty good. It's about 4 hours. I always have mine plugged in so I can't say if it's 4 hours exactly. The DVD player manual says it's approximately 4 hours.
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What are the options?
It has a lot to set up so you get the picture and sound the way you want. It has the option where if you turn the DVD Player off, it will stat back up at the same place.
General: Language, PBD Setting, Power Save, DIVX VOD, Parental, Set Password, Factory setting.
Video: TV Display, TV Standard, MPEG-4 Subtitles, Brightness, Contrast, Color, Turn off LCD, Battery.
Audio: Dolby, Digital (SPDIF).
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What's on the controller?
Menu/Disk, Set up, Direction arrows, OK button, Display, Options, Vol Up and Down, Play/Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind, Stop, Mute, Number Button 0-9, Subtitles, Audio, Return, A-B, Zoom.
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How's the size?
Very nice. It's the size of a hard cover book. It's not as heavy compared to other DVD players but it's a little heavy. Like I said before, the screen size is great. If you where to take it along with you, pack it as you would a hard cover book.
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What are the features of the DVD player?
Here's the great part.
It has a swivel screen meaning you can turn it half way around. I like this because when I watch a movie, I just see a screen and not the player. For the connections, it has a Headphone jack, AV In/Out, USB connection (the best part) SC/MMC Card. (The memory card slot won't work with a SanDisk. It's too large. You can get an adapter though.) S Video, COAXIAL, The Power Adapter hole. Now for the USB option. You can connect, your iPod and charge the iPod, PSP, Camera anything that has the option of a USB connection. When you connect the USB, you can actually use it as a player for your MP3 player. A picture viewer form your Camera and PSP. It will show all your files that are on your device. Great feature. On the bottom on the DVD player it has the rubber feet so it won't slide around.
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How's the look of it?
Very sleek. It's White and Gray. When opened, it's Black. I like that because it's not distracting.
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So, after all the good stuff, what bad about it?
As before, the remote isn't too good. Dust gets on the screen very easily, sometimes it takes awhile to turn on and of course, the infamous chapter marker which you can get rid of.
It's really the best Portable DVD Player I've ever seen. If you're going to get one, get this.
Here's how to get rid of the marker.
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Go into Google and type in "Philips Portable DVD players".
Click the first link that says "consumer.philips".
Before anything, select your country in the upper right.
Click the link that says Contact & Support on the upper right hand corner.
Next it will say "Find Product".
Copy and Paste " PET1030 " in the Model number or keyword search bar. When the search is found, click the first link that pops up. "1 PET1030/37 Portable DVD Player".
On the left hand side it says "Software & drivers" Click that.
SOFTWARE
+ Firmware Upgrade Readme File
Posted Date: 10/17/2007 Size = 14 KB
+ Firmware Upgrade Software
Posted Date: 10/17/2007 Version = 070911
Now take it from there.
Make sure you read the Readme file before doing anything. You have to follow exactly what it says or it won't work.
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The Readme file.
Software / driver information
Software version v070911 for PET1030/37
Benefits.
Fixing the problem of chapter mark constantly stay on the display when playing back some of the DVD disc
Do I need to upgrade the software.
Software version number smaller than 070911 need to proceed software upgrade
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How to check the software version of your DVD portable
1. Press the SETUP key to enter the setup menu
2. Press RETURN and then press 1->2->3 by remote control
3. The display will show the software version e.g. 070303
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How to download the software to your PC
Click below link to download and save the zip file on your PC
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How to upload the software to your device
1. Unzip the file and then burn this "PHILIPS.BIN" file into CD-ROM using the following setting"
- File System CD-ROM ISO Level 2
- Mode 1/2/XA
- Character set ISO 9660
- Finalized, single session
- Write speed slow (e.g. 2x, 4x)
2. CD-ROM disc name must be "PHILIPS" (otherwise it will not be recognized as a disc for upgrade)
3. Power on the portable DVD player with AC/DC adaptor. (Warning: Do not use the battery alone!)
4. Keep the OSD language setting at "English" (Warning: It's important!!)
5. Play the CD-ROM for upgrade. They player will automatically upgrade after pressing "OK" by remote control
(Warning: Do not unplug the AC/DC adaptor during SW upgrade to prevent flash corrupt of the player!)
6. Once upgrade is completed, the player will restart automatically and you will observe PHILIPS LOGO on the screen
7. Then it is safe to remove the disc from the player
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Need more info or help? Just leave a comment and I will help you out. |
Absolutely in love this this
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| Review Date: February 17, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Robert Moore, Chicago, IL USA |
OK, first, I did the firmware update immediately upon opening the box my player arrived in and have not had any of the problems some users seem to have had.
Second, this has a stunning picture and when using earphones (I use Klipsch earphones) the sound is very nice.
I've shown this to several friends who have their own personal DVD players and in every instance they were shocked at how good this one was in comparison. I hesitated a bit before paying a bit more for this player rather than some cheaper ones, but I'm really glad I went with the nicer player. The only way right now you could really do better than this would be to use a laptop instead, and frankly I just find a laptop too heavy and hot (I usually have my player in my lap or on my stomach as I watch) for completely comfort.
As I've gotten to know the player better I've come to feel very easy with the controls. Except for the fact that it isn't easy to determine precisely how much time there is left on a particular video I like just about everything in the control array.
I especially like the fact that the player will play just about any kind of video format, including .avi files in DIVX format. I've been able to play files off my camcorder as well as shows I've recorded on TV using my DVD recorder. I've yet to find a disc that I couldn't play on it. And I've used the S video cord to play things on my TV that my normal DVD player is not able to. Finally, I like the fact that you can flip the screen over so that the player will fold up to the size of a hardback book. I'm able to adapt the display screen to just about any situation I'm in.
So, all in all I'm delighted with this player. The battery is great. I've taken the player to coffee shops and played a long string of TV episodes without any difficulty. I give this about as high a recommendation as is possible. Just make sure that you do the firmware update. If you do you'll find this to be pretty much a perfect player. |
Great DVD Player
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| Review Date: October 26, 2007 |
| Reviewer: K. Idle, Salt Lake City, Ut |
| I bought this DVD player about 2 months ago and it's been working great. I was deployed to South East Asia with the military so I wanted a DVD player to keep me entertained while I was away. It's really dirty and dusty over here so I was a little worried about the thing dieing, but so far I have no indications of trouble. The screen looks great. It was the best I could find, and I looked everywhere. I just wasn't satisfied with any other players because of the poor quality in the screen. The swivel feature is neat but I haven't really used it yet since I don't have a car to use it in. The DVD player does make some noise when you first put the DVD in the bay but after a few seconds its dead silent. The little chapter numbers in the top right of the screen is a little distracting but I really don't notice it anymore. The audio is sufficient and clear coming out of the little speakers even in noisy environments. The environment I'm in is very noisy with lots of generators and A/C's running in the background, but I can still hear the dialog just fine. It's even better with headphones on, which I prefer. It doesn't have 2 headphone jacks but it does have a line out jack which is loud enough to listen to through headphones even with another set of headphones hooked up to the phone jack. Battery life is fine. It lasts for about 1 1/2 to 2 DVD's depending on the length of the movie of course. Using the USB is a snap and will increase the battery life by quite a bit. I think I watched about the whole first season of Weeds off my USB drive before the battery died. The biggest grief I have about it is it's hard to find a nice case for it. Most of the 10 in.+ cases for portable DVD players are bulky. I don't want the bulk that most of them have because my space is very limited to store personal things. With the hard to find cases and the chapter numbers being displayed on the screen I give it 4.7 stars. I don't think that the few short comings deserve it to lose a whole star over it. This is a great DVD player and I would highly recommend it, even to my Mom. |
Love it
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| Review Date: December 28, 2007 |
| Reviewer: David M. Ingebretsen, |
I purchased this for my daughter for Christmas after reading Steve "Medical"'s review (thanks for all the information!). I also downloaded the firmware update from Philips to eliminate the chapter pop-up but for now, my daughter likes the pop-up. She and my wife like to know what chapter they're in so if they stop the movie to finish it later, they know exactly what chapter to play. Go figure. The picutre quality is great, sound is fine, very portable, reasonably quick charging and good battery life. It also feels well made.
If it has a fault it's that the battery pack is built in and should be changed by a service center when it finally no longer holds a charge. The older models (we own two others by Philips and packed them all over Europe last summer and LOVED them) have an "external" battery pack which I think is more user friendly, if bulkier.
I should also say the only complaint by my daughter is that it's awkward to open.
In all, I give this player 5 stars especially since Philips has the option to get rid of the chapter pop-up. |
Picture quality is a winner
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| Review Date: February 10, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Twilight's Pool, |
After reading reviews of portable dvd players for all brands, I was getting ready to accept the fact that portable dvd player picture quality was just about the same for all brands and that quality had a long way to go. Compared to picture quality of a pc/laptop, that might be true, but for a portable, Philips quality is hands down the best on the market. I bought a Panasonic and the colors and sharpness were unimpressive...text looked horrible, so I sent it back. Then I went to a store to demo Sony, Toshiba, etc. and they were about the same quality as Panasonic. Then I purchased a Philips on ebay since I ended up getting a good price on it as it was used, an older 10" version of the PET1030, and the difference was like night and day. But the battery clipped onto the rear of the unit, making it to deep and unwieldy...plus the plastic battery pack clip mechanism looked to fragile, like it would eventually break. So I opted to return it and purchase this one, as the battery is internal. Yes, I will need to have it serviced in order to change the battery eventually, but I don't mind as a unit with smaller dimensions was more important to me. This unit is very stylish and look fantastic. Plus it comes with a remote that the kids can use while in the car. The unit has pretty good sound for a portable, and is loud enough for adequate level of hearing amongst road noise while in travel. The chapter marker icon issue that other reviews have mentioned indeed is true, but the firmware update available on the Philips website solves the problem. You'll just need to be able to burn a CD with the correct format (see Philips website for instructions) and follow their directions and the chapter icons issue is solved. I purchased the Philips travel/car mount case that is supposed to hold the 10" size, and although it fits, it is a tight fit. The case that comes with unit is fine for transporting the unit and does mount to the headrest of a front car seat, but it doesn't mount between seats, which is what I require as I have two kids. It took a bit of work to finally land the best unit, so save yourself the time and go with this unit, you'll be glad you did. The picture quality and color is the best you'll find as of Feb. 9, 2008.
*Update Nov. 13, 2009 - after over a year and a half of use, it continues to work flawlessly.* |
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