After Warner's announcement (around 1/11 or so) that it would only support Blu-Ray, the death of HD-DVD was imminent. So, I returned the HD-A3 player to a local retailer for a refund. I also decided that I would not invest in Blu-Ray because of the expensive players and the unsettled versioning.

Had a lot of hopes when I bought that they would have improved on their earlier model, returning it for the following reasons: Cons: - 8 char DOS names: horrible & cryptic dos-like file/folder names, no case sensitivity, I had no clue what I was looking at, this was reason enough for me to reject it, as I mainly wanted it for its USB capabilites.

Even if your tv will receive a 1080p signal but can only display a lower resolution, the player will only upscale to the level your tv will display. If you connect with a HDMI cable, some DVD audio may not work. Simple fix (I learned this after I returned the first one and had the same problem on the second):

So I called Philips and see if they could help. Unfortunately, the customer service rep didn't have a clue and couldn't help with it. I think I will return this and try another brand.

Finally, the DVD tray does feel cheap and the tray does not eject all the way. I figured I would see a marked improvement buying a better brand name up-converting DVD player compared to my old player but my old player works just as fine (or actually better considering my DVD-R collection is useless with the new player).

I know that all the remotes look the same and maybe Philips wanted to be different, but what's with the white top and wedge-like feel? It looks as though it belongs with a different unit altogether. The buttons are a bit slower to respond than my DVP642, but not by much.

The reason I only gave it 4 stars is because it is so SLOOOOW in opening up the tray, why that is, I have no idea. But the quality of the movies on the TV screen are considerably better than a regular DVD player, I have others that I can compare them with. About 98% of all the DVD's I play in this machine is ones I have burned myself and so far have only had one that it will not play correctly.

The on-screen menu for 'setup' is huge, blocky and reminds me of old, old Windows programs. Plus, the color management option is completely useless since you cannot see the screen while you change the options becuase the menu blocks the whole screen. You have to make changes on your TV or keep going back and forth between the screen and menu.

- arrow buttons moves frame in zoom mode (which is ridiculous, as in the case where it renders some movies in small frame, for which we have to zoom, then we cannot ff or rw)..there should have been an option to bypass this, or tell the video to stretch instead of zoom - unintuitively designed keys, you need to keep looking at the remote everytime..even a chimp cud've produced a better remote.

Plus it always takes some time to get used to the remote and some idiosyncrasies of it. At this price-point, nothing is close. Please don't be a CONSUMER SUCKER and waste money on Blue-Ray and big name products.

The USB port is a nice feature but is rather slow with modern, large jpg files. It is probably faster with scaled down pictures that are not so large in size. I think I'd rather burn the pics to a DVD and view them that way instead of waiting for each to load via USB.

The remote is well designed, menu systems are logical. If you are not up on current technology, you may become confused with some of the settings, 780p, 1080p, HDMI, etc. I think the Toshiba HD-A3 player did a better job at upconverting basic DVD's, but this Philips machine does quite a decent job.

- have no confidence philips will ever fix any of this in an update in future, and their support website had nothing to fix the above, and the instructions for updating said nothing of using the usb, we must still burn a cd ?? wtf ?? - not as small as some commented, it is sleek no doubt, but still standardly wide.

this really hurts this system. but its $50. the worst part about this dvd player is the remote.

I give it 4 stars because it didnt work with my corsair flash drive, I went and bought a pny flash drive and it works great. Also it doesnt have good support for long filenames through USB, it just cuts the end off.

It would not work in this player. I also have a 512 Meg USB stick and it worked just fine. After talking with Sandisk I tried using the U3 software to delete its self.

The remote was engineered so both the front and back had the exact same shape. Kinda hard to do anything on a disc when you dont realize youre pointing the remote at yourself instead of the dvd player. the setup buttons are much more prevalent then the actual usable buttons.

The fact the USB drive connection seems to be limited to certain USB thumb drives is lame. I have two thumb drives and both could not attach to the dVD player.

Two things it would be nice to have that it didn't have (or claim to have) are more than 8 characters in the file name and the ability to play DivX HD. The player puts out a 1080p signal but only in upconvert. It refuses to play a DivX file with 1280x720 resolution.

Im not crazy about the remote. I dont yet see a function that will tell me how far into the movie I am, and how much is left. The remote is small and limited functionality, but if you dont like too much clutter on functions on a remote, it still does anything you need to do.

- arrow buttons moves frame in zoom mode (which is ridiculous, as in the case where it renders some movies in small frame, for which we have to zoom, then we cannot ff or rw)..there should have been an option to bypass this, or tell the video to stretch instead of zoom - unintuitively designed keys, you need to keep looking at the remote everytime..even a chimp cud've produced a better remote.

Plus it always takes some time to get used to the remote and some idiosyncrasies of it. At this price-point, nothing is close. Please don't be a CONSUMER SUCKER and waste money on Blue-Ray and big name products.

The remote is well designed, menu systems are logical. If you are not up on current technology, you may become confused with some of the settings, 780p, 1080p, HDMI, etc. I think the Toshiba HD-A3 player did a better job at upconverting basic DVD's, but this Philips machine does quite a decent job.

this really hurts this system. but its $50. the worst part about this dvd player is the remote.

The remote was engineered so both the front and back had the exact same shape. Kinda hard to do anything on a disc when you dont realize youre pointing the remote at yourself instead of the dvd player. the setup buttons are much more prevalent then the actual usable buttons.

Im not crazy about the remote. I dont yet see a function that will tell me how far into the movie I am, and how much is left. The remote is small and limited functionality, but if you dont like too much clutter on functions on a remote, it still does anything you need to do.

Other Points of Interest: The remote is small and must be pointed directly at the player in order for it function. The player tray does feel cheap, but then again this isn't a $1,000 player either.

- inability to browse after 4 (or 5) nested folders - agonizingly slow response to remote key press - agonizing to browse photos, no control over slideshow time limit, and (-->next) button takes forever

Upscale is like makeup: there is only so much you can do for an ugly date. If you have a Philips tv, the remote for your tv may or may not control the DVP5982 - mine doesn't.

- apart from all else, the other main reason I had bought this was for the upconversion, and for me, since I have all my data in external drives, it makes more sense to go the PC way, where upconversion has always been a standard function. Pros: Looks good, remote looks good

Even if your tv will receive a 1080p signal but can only display a lower resolution, the player will only upscale to the level your tv will display. If you connect with a hdmi cable, some DVD audio may not work. Simple fix (I learned this after I returned the first one and had the same problem on the second):

The remote is well designed, menu systems are logical. If you are not up on current technology, you may become confused with some of the settings, 780p, 1080p, hdmi, etc. I think the Toshiba HD-A3 player did a better job at upconverting basic DVD's, but this Philips machine does quite a decent job.

ok, i may not have an hdmi capable tv everytwhere.. I dont want to be stuck with composite quality

Together with a cheap hdmi cable from ebay the whole setup cost me less than 70 bucks - less than a price you'd pay for a 'loaded' DVD player from the likes of Sony and Toshiba. 2)USB connector -- Haven't tried it out yet, but I hear it's USB 2.0 speed, which means blazing fast file transfers.

I was a little worried that up-conversion would not work being that my TV does not have hdmi and that converting it to DVI would negate the conversion. Well, if it does, I don't notice.

2) Press your Right Arrow button one time until the Audio Setup Page appears 3) Press your Down Arrow until you highlight "Digital Audio Setup" 4) Press your Down Arrow until you get to the "hdmi Audio Setup"

Important Notes: The quality of the picture does not improve if you are not using a hdmi cable - that is standard regardless of the player you purchase.

My brother's player crapped out after 7 years and so I got one for his 46" Sony LCD Proj, and went ahead and nabbed one for myself and my 42" Sony LCD Proj. Setup was simple using hdmi, and menus are simple and intuitive.

The reason I only gave it 4 stars is because it is so SLOOOOW in opening up the tray, why that is, I have no idea. But the quality of the movies on the TV screen are considerably better than a regular DVD player, I have others that I can compare them with. About 98% of all the DVD's I play in this machine is ones I have burned myself and so far have only had one that it will not play correctly.

not bad, i guess my expectations were too high. I was expecting to see a huge noticeable difference. I was hoping for HDTV quality, I guess I need fork over a few hundred bucks for a true HD Player for that.

Bottom Line: It was the lowest price mainstream 1080p Upscaling DVD Player I found, and it has performed better than I expected for a player that costs less than $100. While its quality will not equal that of a Blu-Ray, it just might keep you happy until the Blu-Ray player prices go down and the bugs get worked out. Just in case you were wondering, I'm planning on purchasing a larger 1080p LCD and I will most probably purchase a second DVP5982 while I wait out the Blu-Ray/HD birthing.

ok, i may not have an HDMI capable tv everytwhere.. I dont want to be stuck with composite quality

Then I stuck in Transformers one afternoon and a little ways in decided to see what it was running at. Well I'm pretty sure it was 480p, because I had to hit the button on the face of the player 3 or 4 times to force it to 1080i (the highest my TV supports) and WOW what a world of difference. Its certainly not legitimate HD quality, but for a $60 upconvert DVD player, its pretty mind blowing.

The remote controller is weird and the buttons seems to be in the wrong position. But I have it controlled by my receiver remote, so it's not a big matter. The upscaling really brings a better image quality, but still far away from a standard HD channel or Blue-ray image.

The Philips DVP 5982 is really a stand DVD player without peer. For the $59 that Amazon is charging, nothing is close to having its features and quality. The playing of compressed Divx Video (it has the highest level of Divx licensing), look spectacular, especially when connected to a TV that allows for 1080p and wide screen.

Important Notes: The quality of the picture does not improve if you are not using a HDMI cable - that is standard regardless of the player you purchase.

Had a lot of hopes when I bought that they would have improved on their earlier model, returning it for the following reasons: Cons: - 8 char DOS names: horrible & cryptic dos-like file/folder names, no case sensitivity, I had no clue what I was looking at, this was reason enough for me to reject it, as I mainly wanted it for its usb capabilites.

The usb port is a nice feature but is rather slow with modern, large jpg files. It is probably faster with scaled down pictures that are not so large in size. I think I'd rather burn the pics to a DVD and view them that way instead of waiting for each to load via usb.

- have no confidence philips will ever fix any of this in an update in future, and their support website had nothing to fix the above, and the instructions for updating said nothing of using the usb, we must still burn a cd ?? wtf ?? - not as small as some commented, it is sleek no doubt, but still standardly wide.

I give it 4 stars because it didnt work with my corsair flash drive, I went and bought a pny flash drive and it works great. Also it doesnt have good support for long filenames through usb, it just cuts the end off.

It would not work in this player. I also have a 512 Meg usb stick and it worked just fine. After talking with Sandisk I tried using the U3 software to delete its self.

The fact the usb drive connection seems to be limited to certain usb thumb drives is lame. I have two thumb drives and both could not attach to the dVD player.

The usb functionality was a GREAT idea! I'm planning to get a big external usb hard drive and load it with movies. A second usb port in the back would be a good idea for long term attachments like external drives.

however, ntfs isnt supported, so you will need to format the harddrive in fat32. the only trade off made with the usb port, is the lack of optical out.

Together with a cheap HDMI cable from ebay the whole setup cost me less than 70 bucks - less than a price you'd pay for a 'loaded' DVD player from the likes of Sony and Toshiba. 2)usb connector -- Haven't tried it out yet, but I hear it's usb 2.0 speed, which means blazing fast file transfers.

Even if your tv will receive a 1080p signal but can only display a lower resolution, the player will only upscale to the level your tv will display. If you connect with a HDMI cable, some DVD audio may not work. Simple fix (I learned this after I returned the first one and had the same problem on the second):

2) Press your Right Arrow button one time until the audio Setup Page appears 3) Press your Down Arrow until you highlight "Digital audio Setup" 4) Press your Down Arrow until you get to the "HDMI audio Setup"

The Philips DVP 5982 is really a stand DVD player without peer. For the $59 that Amazon is charging, nothing is close to having its features and quality. The playing of compressed Divx Video (it has the highest level of Divx licensing), look spectacular, especially when connected to a TV that allows for 1080p and wide screen.

This will fit that temporary need very well until you take the plunge. The non-HD dvds are upconverted to look much better than on a regular TV or with a regular DVD player. The movie will not look as good as an HD TV channel or HD DVD movie but still far better than a regular DVD on a regular player.

- DVD tray seems to take a long time to pop out (not a really long time, but compared to my other DVD players, it seems long) - I also sometimes use my DVD players to play MP3 files on CDs, and this unit doesn't have a "shuffle option" for CDs (although it does for dvds).

Had it for a month and It Works and Looks Great. Did not have a problem of viewing regular dvds in a full 1080i resolution...

Im not crazy about the remote. I dont yet see a function that will tell me how far into the movie I am, and how much is left. The remote is small and limited functionality, but if you dont like too much clutter on functions on a remote, it still does anything you need to do.

This will fit that temporary need very well until you take the plunge. The non-HD DVDs are upconverted to look much better than on a regular TV or with a regular DVD player. The movie will not look as good as an HD TV channel or HD DVD movie but still far better than a regular DVD on a regular player.

This DVD player will not work with non-HDCP monitors. I connected the DVI cable to my 2006 Sceptre LCD monitor, the DVD plays a couple of frames and gets to the menu screen, then says 'non-HDCP compliant device' and goes to white snow/fuzz. [HDCP is the movie version of DRM - only stupider.

It also remembers where you left off from the last movie. I put in a disc, played it, took it out, played another and then put the first disc back in and it remembered where I left off. You also have the on-screen option (about 3 seconds) to start from the begining.

If I pause the movie, 1/2 hour, or 1/hour, I'm not sure the time, it goes to sleep. You then have to turn it on, restart the movie, and scroll sometimes a long way to where you were.

If you stop in the middle of the movie, the next time you turn the DVD on, it will start right at the place you left off last time (it will also give you an option to go back to the beginning).

The on-screen menu for 'setup' is huge, blocky and reminds me of old, old Windows programs. Plus, the color management option is completely useless since you cannot see the screen while you change the options becuase the menu blocks the whole screen. You have to make changes on your TV or keep going back and forth between the screen and menu.

The remote is well designed, menu systems are logical. If you are not up on current technology, you may become confused with some of the settings, 780p, 1080p, HDMI, etc. I think the Toshiba HD-A3 player did a better job at upconverting basic DVD's, but this Philips machine does quite a decent job.

This DVD player will not work with non-HDCP monitors. I connected the DVI cable to my 2006 Sceptre LCD monitor, the DVD plays a couple of frames and gets to the menu screen, then says 'non-HDCP compliant device' and goes to white snow/fuzz. [HDCP is the movie version of DRM - only stupider.

menu is ok but not as hard as most people are saying setup could be.

Cons: -Startup is really slow -Lags (slow operations-skipping chapters/root menu/fast forward