Digital omnivore, will take anything you feed it.
My 3 year old daughter force closed the tray, so I had to screw the top off and could easily fix the tray belt, i.o.w. it passed the durability test.

No USB input.

Digital outputs failed on mine.

No HDMI.

This is a relabeled Philips player (which in itself is neither bad or good, just a fact).

It's quite capable for the price, it will play most file formats.

Mine has a problem with the digital audio out, both coaxial S/PDIFand toslink. Seems like it won't provide adequate data to my DAC (I've tested against my cheap Samsung 171 which does this flawlessly through its coaxial out). It works with audio CDs (with a split second interruption every two minutes or so) but movies I can't play with my external DAC.

I replaced it with a Cambridge Audio DVD99 which is a huge step up. My first preference was a Denon upmarket model after I'd seen what those are capable of, but basically I was looking for a player that accepts USB keys. And lo and behold, the CA was the Denon's equal at half the price plus offers a USB in! It's double the price of the Yamaha, but I feel the difference is worth it as you find yourself in a different league. People buy fancy plasmas and then hook up a Best Buy cheapskate player - which is totally backward.

Similar Products Used:

Samsung DVD-P171

PLAYS EVERYTHING! Great menus SoundPicture quality

Remote is terrible

This is the best DVD player I have used period. It does not play SACD or DVD audio but what do you expect at the price. This unit shines in a few key areas. It plays every format you can imagine, including computer formats like DivX, mpeg, avi, even .asf! I have yet to put any type of media file into this unit and not have it play. Picture quality is great, due to the 12 bit 108 Mhz video DAC. The onscreen menus are adequate and are visually pleasing. I also had the opportunity to audition the DVD-S1500 as well, but I was not as impressed with that unit, as the menus are not as smooth, and it does not play many computer formats. As a CD player the S1500 sound better through the analouge outputs, the only real strength.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha DVDS1500 Toshiba SD3860 Sony DVNS575P