Philips DVD782CH 5-Disc DVD Player
By: Philips Average Rating: 1.0 Total Reviews: 31
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 On: 2006-08-12
We needed to know if this unit (Philips DVD 782C) was compatible with DVD+RW disks so I Googled it and found this Amazon listing.
We were totally amazed to find the reviews we found ... and wish we had done this years ago INSTEAD OF SPENDING ALL THIS TIME STRUGGLING WITH THIS POOR EXCUSE OF A DVD PLAYER. We have spent countless hours MR. Cleaning and SkipDring disks just to get them to play (and sometimes even that didnt work).
Just in case anyone else comes along, take the excellent advice given several times in this collection of reviews ... RUN THE OTHER DIRECTION WITHOUT QUESTION IF SOMEONE OFFERS YOU THIS DVD PLAYER.
Now, we do NOT believe this is a fundamental problem with Philips. We have, and have had, many fine products sold by Philips. We are guessing this particular DVD player was the result of some very poor product planning that went very badly before, during and after the fact. Hopefully the person(s) responsible has (have), per usual corporate practice, been promoted farther up the ladder where they can no longer inflict this kind of pain on Customers.
P.S. We tried to give this product "0" stars but Amazon requires at least "1" star. Probably a quid pro quo agreement of some sort we imagine.
On: 2006-06-16
It is very difficult to get the player to play many of my DVD titles that work just fine elsewhere. It also takes an abnormally long time for the unit to recognize and play a DVD. It responds sluggishly to commands and it frequently just freezes and will not respond to any commands. I would stay away from this thing.
by: videofile2100 On: 2006-01-13
I owned this this player.It could never play a dvd,without skipping...I exchanged,the unit 3x,with no luck.Finally,it only played cd discs...I sold this set for 5 bucks,at a flea market!!If you see this model,run the other way...Check out the feedback,from my fellow,reviewers...I hope this helped you..Thank you Stewart L.
On: 2004-10-03
This DVD player isnt worth the space it takes up in your entertainment system. Ive had exactly the same problem as everyone else - skipping really badly; didnt matter which position I selected in the carousel. I think I was able to watch 3 movies without disruptive skipping over the last 1-1/2 years. Though I did purchase another one once I realized this was a problem, I kept trying to see if I could figure out what was wrong with the Phillips. I initially thought the DVD was dirty or defective, only to find it played fine in my portable DVD player. I finally disconnected the Phillips and am ready to toss it. I wont even donate it to a thrift store for fear that some family may look forward to using it only to be at least as disappointed and frustrated as I was. Do NOT purchase this DVD player unless youre a glutton for punishment.
On: 2004-05-25
Unfortunately my wife and I purchased this "product" without reading the posted reviews here. ALL are entirely accurate! I cannot calculate how many hours I have spent trying to figure out what is wrong. No loading, skipping, freezing, not OPENING when it freezes, all down the line, combined with 100 trips to and from the video stores to exchange their "defective" DVDs. My wife was firmly of the belief the DVDs were just "dirty" but I finally decided (this agrees with one of the reviewers) there is a balance problem in the drawer. When there is a no-load, jiggling/adjusting the drawer sometimes (not always) fixes it, but only until the next time, and will not stop the freezing problems. If my wife had a dime for every time I said "this thing is a piece of @&*!" she would be a millionaire. This is very late but if this product is still on the market in ANY form stay many miles away. And Philips arrogant lack of response (as reported; I have no personal experience here) is virtually criminal in this day and age.
On: 2003-12-22
This was my first stand-alone DVD player and what a disappointment is has been. A horrendous amount of skipping occurs until the DVD stops playing altogether. Probably put together by slave laborers working for a few pennies a day in Red China and it certainly shows it.
On: 2003-10-29
Wow!! Pure Junk! Wasnt able to watch a movie without skipping and freezing. In each case, I was able to watch the same movies on a no-name cheepo player. This thing is really junk.
I tried using it for a couple of months and threw it in the trash even though it was still under warranty. After I saw the other reviews I decided to replace it rather than frustrate myself.
How did this thing ever get to market???
by: Anonymous On: 2003-03-06
I got this DVD for christmas and the thing has never played a whole movie all the way through. Im on my third unit in 14 months, and Philips wont refund or give me a different, or even a new model, just sombody elses problem (reconditioned). Customer support is among the worst that I have ever come across.
If you want a good DVD stay the hell away from this model, and probably anything Philips
On: 2003-01-19
Like many reviewers Ive had the same problems. Skipping, stuttering, freezing, all-out refusal to play and restarting. cant get past the FBI warning on Disney DVDs. This is the second unit I have purchased in the last month. The first I returned to the store thinking I had one defective one. The second one does the same thing. FRUSTRATING!!!! Had a JVC player for two years that was fantastic till the laser burnt out.
by: Anonymous On: 2003-01-08
I also bought this machine, and had the exact same problem. The stuttering and stalling would begin about 45 minutes or an hour into a movie, and would continue for about an hour more. This didnt happen on every movie, but it did on most. (I should point out that Ive had no problems with audio CDs on this player. Of course, most audio CDs dont run for more than an hour, so they dont run long enough to encounter the same problems that DVDs do.) Thinking the problem was with my machine, I took it back to Radio Shack and exchanged it. I asked the sales person if there were any problems with this particular model, and he said it was the first time hed heard a complaint like this. So, I got the same machine, figuring there was a problem with this one player. Well, the new player has the same problem. Clearly Phillips should have issued a recall long ago. But they havent. The best tactic is NOT to complain to Phillips, as many reviewers here have suggested, since Phillips doesnt feel the problem is severe enough for a drastic action. Theyll continue to manufacture and ship these players as long as there are retailers willing to keep the faulty machines in stock. The best tactic is to complain to the store you bought your player from. If theres a problem with these machines, and the retailers know about this problem, theyll put the pressure on Phillips to issue a recall. Phillips is more likely to listen to a major retailer than a handful of individuals. Its worth noting that I have never had a problem with a Phillips product before. In fact, I still have a Phillips CD player that I purchased in 1986. Its never needed servicing -- not even cleaning -- and has worked beautifully for nearly 17 years.
On: 2002-12-15
We purchased a 5-Disc changer from Media Play-Phillips Brand. We did not pay the extra $ for the extended warranty and Im glad because we would have only wasted more than the [money] already paid. I have never watched a DVD without having to spend 10 minutes trying to get it to work again. Now I cant even play CDs without opening and closing the tray at least 15 times-When it does finally load-It needs to load again and again... Please, take my advice and buy ANY OTHER brand. What a headache and [money]dollars down the drain.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-11-07
I bought this DVD player back in April, and until reading these reviews I thought that the skipping problem was only mine. This player starts skipping about an hour or so into a DVD and sometimes will even lock up entirely. I have to switch over to my PS2 to watch the rest of a DVD, its incredibly annoying. I called Phillips customer service. Even though I had registered my product, I was told that my only option was to replace this unit with the same model AND it would cost me a bunch to do so. No thanks, Im going with another brand.
On: 2002-10-14
I dont know about her but this phillips DVD player has been very disappointing. I have the same problems it runs fine for about a hour but then skips and freezes up. Explain this to 3 little kids trying to watch a movie....As my 5 year old said " Daddy the movie did not skip at the movie theater, Why is it skipping now?" My answer is that I bought a piece of Junk Phillips DVD player.
 On: 2002-10-05
Well, unfortunately, Ive just had to return my phillips 5 disc changer to the Good Guys store because a cd got stuck in it. The door will open, all of the other discs will come out, the disc itself will play, but whatever mechanism lifts the disc out of the tray, will not set it back down again. Its a bit odd, since I havent done anything out of the ordinary to the unit, it has just been sitting there peacefully. That being said, other than that, Ive had few problems with this unit, and have few complaints. CDRs with MP3s or ones that have been burned as Audio CDs work just fine with this unit. It has also reliably played several different VCDs. Every DVD has worked just fine (except bubble boy) and I have watched at least 200 dvds on this thing. I have experienced several skips on rented DVDs, but the new ones that I have, have had few problems. The remote is configured well, I believe the interface is fairly straitforward, and the sound and video quality is excellent. I havent really noticed slow response from the unit, or in issuing commands, seems comparable to other units by samsung, and mintek. The 5 disc tray seems to change cds a little slowly, but not anything out of the ordinary. I have often used the 5 disc shuffle operation and have been very satisfied. My player has REALLY been put through the ringer, and until tonights problem, I have been extremely happy with the unit. My only complaint until today is that when the unit wakes up from its standby mode, it takes several seconds, maybe 5 to10. At first I wasnt expecting this, so it seemed that the tray wouldnt open all the way, because I had pressed the button several times, or it would turn off right after it turned on. That was only because of my error (granted it does seem silly that it should take so long to start) but I got used to it, and have only had good experiences. I would have given it 4 stars, but for tonights problem. Perhaps in the future, I will have to revise this rating lower if problems continue. I think the features are great, but the reliability issues might make you consider a different comparably priced brand... there are tons of others to choose from.
On: 2002-10-05
SAME AS BELOW. FREEZES UNPREDICTABLY. STOPS ALTOGETHER. I HAVE A THEORY THAT ITS A BALANCE PROBLEM BETWEEN THE TRAY AND SPINDLE WHICH PHILIPS WONT OWN UP TO--UNLESS THE REVIEWS KEEP COMING. IM GOING TO WRITE A LETTER TO PHILIPS--WISH ME LUCK.
On: 2002-08-03
I whole-heartedly agree with the below reviews. This is a total piece of trash, I would not even give a product like this away for free. When I first purchased this model, I went home, plugged it in, and the tray would not open! I then took it back to the store and got another one. This time, I am encountering the problems that everyone else has listed--skipping and freezing--even for new discs. My success rate with being able to play a disc from start to finish without problem is less than 50%, which is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.Even worse, I wrote Phillips a scathing letter with no acknowledgement from them whatsoever. I was going to send it back to them to get it repaired, but after reading the reviews below, I wont bother. Ill just pitch this in the trash, so thanks to everyone for saving me the postage. I wish I had seen these reviews before I purchased this piece of garbage.
On: 2002-08-03
I have to agree with everyone here. Skipping, freezing, slow loading, and no load-up at all. We purchased our Philips DVD player as part of the home theater package. We love the receiver portion of the theater package but hate the DVD player. I think Best Buy wishes I didnt purchase the 4 year extended warranty package because it is going back for the second time in five months and I have every intention of taking it back every time until they know me by name. My procrastination and the long lines at Best Buy have stopped me from taking it in months ago. If you own one of these, dont think that it is the DVD disk that is bad because every time I thought it may have been a bad rental, we ended up plugging in our portable DVD player and finished watching the movie, with no troubles. So, if you are looking at buying a DVD player, take the advise from many others and look somewhere else.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-07-30
I bought one of these a year ago, it was complete junk, long in the trash can in exchange for a [different brand]. What is awful about this product and this company is that over several conversations with there ridiculous support they freely acknowledged there is a problem with the unit but will only offer to exchange it for another defective dvd? They offer all kinds of tips their engineering department has tried to get this thing to work and then explain they have not had any success!? The killer is that Philips is still selling this piece of junk and after your store warranty runs out 30 days or so all you can do is exchange!...
by: Anonymous On: 2002-06-07
I got this DVD player as part of a Philips home theater system. I returned the first one because it did not play many DVDs, locked up, wouldnt load some DVDs and CDs. It also made a load sound at times when it was loading and couldnt figure out what to do. I sent it back to Philips and they sent me another that was even worse!!... I finally gave up and bought a Samsung DVD player that hasnt had any problems. That shows that it was not my DVDs or CDs but the poor Philips product. I would NEVER buy another Philips product there Customer Support was also terrible!!...
by: Anonymous On: 2002-05-11
Ive read a number of reviews where they discussed the time between issuing a command and having it executed/completed and how that can be a "bit" or "somewhat" annoying. If youre trying to save money you may think that such a flaw is ok. Well, IT IS NOT. It is painful. I have 3 kids jumping around, and, from time to time, it is used to pacify or reward them. Such a wait complicates that process. (The preceding example is not intended to make this a "Daddy" review) Stay away from any DVD player where a reviewer mentions the slow response time. Its not worth it. Go get a second job if you have to but spend a couple hundred more.
by: Anonymous On: 2002-04-17
This DVD player is a complete piece of junk. If I could give it a zero or negative star rating, I would. I concur with all of the other similar reviews. And when I called their customer service center about exchanging it for another product, they first lost my request and then when I called back they were rude and incompetent. This is the last Philips product I will ever buy.
On: 2002-03-15
I have had the same problems as the other reviewers. DVDs that wont play (for example, did you know that it wont play ANY Disney DVD? Its true), skipping, freezes, wont play CD-Rs, VCDs, or CD-RW.
On: 2002-03-07
Everyone is right about this DVD player. It will not play 1/2 of the DVDs no CD-R or CD-RWs it skips, it will not go to the next cd, and my extended service plan from Circuit City does me no good. They are just as lame as this DVD player. They just keep sending this junk back saying they can not get it to produce the same problem. If you are considering purchasing this product read all of these comments and rest assured that it will not live up to your expectations.
On: 2002-01-29
I bought one of these for Christmas, after a week it started skipping. fortunately Amazon extended their return policy and I returned it. Unfortunately, I bought another.... AND IT"S DOING THE SAME @*
On: 2002-01-27
I thought a manufacturer like Philips would be roughly equivalent to other major brands. The 782C is pure junk. I couldnt play 75% of DVDs I tried. Commands took a looong time to execute. And when you entered another command while it is thinking about the current command, it could lock up. The CD mode played all the CDs I tried, but compared to my CD-only Sony changer, it was like going back to the early 80s in technology.On the otherhand, my JVC DVD worked excellently and played all the DVDs I couldnt watch on the Philips 782C.
On: 2002-01-17
Ive bought some junk electronics before in my time but this is as close to the bottom of the barrel as you can scrape. Out of the box it wouldnt play ANYTHING, whether it was a regular DVD or any of the two dozen types the manual says it wont support (CD-R, DVD-ROM, et cetera et cetera). I immediately returned it and got a five-disc Toshiba changer that was the exact same price, and it worked perfectly from the moment I turned the power on. Philips used to make good smeg, but their motto was wrong about this one: its NOT getting better all the time.
On: 2002-01-01
I have not been able to watch half of the DVDs Ive rented. The other comments on this page are absolutely true. Poor performance. Skips all the time. I wish I had read these comments before I bought it!!
On: 2001-12-02
I have had an identical experience to Doug Ratcliff who also reviewed this product. Incredibly slow response to commands not to mention the skipping, resetting, and locking up altogether. I wish I had read his review before I bought my unit. Since Im 11 days past the 90 days, its going to cost about 1/2 what I paid for the unit (plus shipping) to get another one which is guaranteed not to be a NEW unit, just one that has been "remanufacutured" which I think means "repaired." Maybe Ill get one of Dougs returned units that has been repaired.
On: 2001-11-27
Unfortunately, this is an example of deceptive advertising on the part of Philips.It is billed as a 5-disc DVD changer. However, it is a ***manual*** changer. You have to physically press a button on the unit itself or the remote control to get the unit to play the next disc in the sequence. It will not automatically go to the next disc. Further, the units internal programming is poorly done. It can take over 60 seconds for the unit to respond to a command, such as: open the disc drawer to insert/remove a CD or DVD, or to simply load a CD or DVD to play. This is a very poorly designed unit, with very poor performance in terms of its user interface. I certainly would not recommend this unit to anyone wishing to purchase a multi-disc DVD/CD changer, regardless of the price offered.
 On: 2001-11-16
Im on my second 782C in four months. Im sure glad I got the service plan, because it looks like Im going to have to take this one back too. After it runs for about a half-hour, I have trouble with stuttering that eventually leads to a complete lock up. Granted, this is an improvement over the first one, which wouldnt get past the FBI warning on my Suspiria DVD.To be fair, most DVDs I dont have a problem with except for a little stuttering here and there, and I can get rid of it by starting over the DVD and skipping to where I left off, but I have at least two that Ive had trouble getting past the first hour of. The afore mentioned Susperia and another Anchor Bay title called Phenomina. I had a friend test both these DVDs on his player and they played through for him with no problem. Perhaps the whole DVD thing is just a bill of good they sold us, two of my friends also have problem DVDs they cant play on their players. Nothing destroys a scary movie like stuttering, freezing, and starting over. And nothing turns me into a ludite faster then unreliable technology. Get your act together Philips, et al!
by: Anonymous On: 2001-09-11
I really got my moneys worth with this DVD Player. It has all the connections to hook up to the new digital televisions and it really performs. The Perfect Storm was really awesome on this player. I highly recommend the Philips DVD player for value and performance.
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