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Up conversion sucks compared to Toshiba HD-DVD, but then again there is not a upconverter that's better than Toshiba HD-DVD.

USB port is worth the 40 bucks if you play from USB devices a lot.

Just received this last week from same deal. Used to be $60+.

So far happy with it, don't have a external USB drive yet but plan on it soon. Agree w/ #1, USB feature is reason I bought it.

And it came packed in tons of the big 1" bubble rap! Worth $40 right there!

Toshiba HD-DVD upconverter better than Oppo?

You could region free this sucker so I think it is quite a good deal. Check videohelp's website for more info on how to do it.

i use this player with an external 500gb usb drive to play divx.. works great

sucks that it only reads fat32 though. limited to 8 character names..
and dont name files with a . anywhere in the name, or it wont recognize

"Up conversion sucks compared to Toshiba HD-DVD" really, #1? I have them both, and I saw nothing different on my Samsung TV LNT4671F. Give proof.

Use my refurb everyday for the past 6 months.. OWrks like a champ.. 320GB connected.. Formatted the drive with Swisknife software.

Take your meds #6.

Upconversion of the Toshiba HD-DVD is marginally better, however, the 45 second boot time and occasional lock-ups outweigh the benefit.

I'm confused... will this upconvert my HD-DVDs to Blue-Ray? Thanks in advance!

You kidding #10? Ask you kids.

Who's going to bite?

#10, this player will not play your HD-DVD... it plays regular DVD and upconvert the contents to 1080p

#13 - So what you're saying is that this is for nerds only, and chicks don't care about it?

Thanks for the tip on the "." #5!

There are some firmware updates/hacks that will allow you to display more characters.

If using an external hard drive, make sure it's formatted appropriately as #5 mentioned and that it has a dedicated power source.

I was standing in line next to some guy the other day at Frys that was about to purchase one of these. Apparently he had no clue about the USB functionality or the fact that it plays just about anything ..bacon led me to think, "why else would anyone buy this thing?"

Any idea on whether or not the remote on this model is any better than its predecessors?

Remote is the same as the 1080i model -- same as in barely adequate.

USB is 1.1, not 0 DivX avi's play better from a DVD than from the USB port.

I recently formatted a 160 GB drive as FAT32 and have the same USB bottleneck as with a flash drive.

i flashed with the latest firmware and can only do 8 character names

if anyone knows of a firmware that allows long file names.. let me know.. that really is the only thing that annoys me with this player.. i can work around it, but it would be nicer not to have to.

got this device from Amazon for $60 (non-refurb)... works well.... this is my second philips dvd player so i am happy with it... i noticed that the video color on this thing is a bit dark.... not sure why... i tried to adjust it, but no luck.... yeah, i hate the 8 character names, too... let us know where we can the new firmware that can do longer file names. thanks.

It's still $60 in-store (Best Buy) and no, the remote hasn't gotten better than its predecessors. It is slow, it has a crappy looking file system, but it works, it has a USB port, and for $40, it's a good deal. We like ours.