My philips dvp642 dvd player has a blinking red

To add to the previous solution (which I followed myself), specifically steps 3 and 5...

The C316 may not be leaking brown fluid nor the bulging at the top might not be noticeable as was the case with mine. It might have you second guessing. Nevertheless, my unit had the same symptoms of the problem as described above and I went on with the "operation." (Don't mistaken the rubbery cream colored stuff at RB301 for brown leakage. I believe its there to protect/insulate.)

The exact capacitor I used from Radio Shack - 1000uF 35v, Part # 272-1032 It's actually quite a bit bigger than the original but fits and works fine. A picture of this newly installed capacitor is here (it's the baby blue one).

Here is the solution. This is a common problem with this player.

Common DVP 642 problem (only problem with a great player): They die,
and you have a blinking red power button.

This is actually surprisingly easy to fix. It's really easier than I
make it look, but I'm just being really clear in case anyone reading
this has never seen a soldering iron before. Here are the steps I did
(and note that, if you're still under warranty, this will void your
warranty). The decision to try this is up to your own discretion
and may be a last ditch effort before throwing the player away.

Short version: Check the board to see if capacitor C316 is bulging. If
so, get a 1000u capacitor >=16V and replace it.

Long version:

1. Unplug everything
2. Unscrew the side and rear screws to remove the top cover.
3. On the board where the power cable goes in, look for a capacitor
(looks like a little drum with a '+' on the
top) that is bulging upward either a little or a lot. It may be
leaking some brown fluid as well.
4. I'm betting that the writing on the board at this location says
'C316'. If you google 'dvp642' and 'c316', you'll get hundreds of hits...
5. If that's the case, you'll need to find a capacitor and a soldering
iron. Visit radio shack or similar electronics
place and buy an elecrolytic capacitor that says 1000u (the 'u' is
actually a lower case greek 'mu') with a
voltage greater than or equal to 16v (this is not calculated: it's
simply what others have reported success with.
I couldn't find one and used a 35V one instead). You should be able to
find one that looks somewhat similar to
the damaged one (it might be a little bigger or smaller, but you'll
want the same basic shape). This should cost less than $2.
6. Borrow or buy a cheap soldering iron and some solder. I borrowed
one from a friend at work...this is NOT
my area of expertise, so don't worry about the difficulty!
7. Now the tricky part: back on your DVD player, you need to get that
board out. Unplug the two cables
connecting to the board we're working on, unscrew the screws holding
it down, and, using some pliers, hold
down the wings of the little plastic piece that is still holding the
board down and slide the board up. I flipped
this around to get at the bottom while leaving the power cord in
place.
8. Heat up the soldering iron. Locate the spot on the bottom of the
board where the C316 capacitor is attached.
Remove your new capacitor from the package. There should be one
shorter leg which is the negative side. It
will likely be marked this way as well.
9. One side of the capacitor should have a ' -' on it. Note which side
this is. You may not be able to see it until it
is removed, so be aware of needing to know this as you remove it.
10. After it is warm enough to melt solder, lay the soldering iron
across the joints you identified as belonging to
C316. Tug gently on C316 as you do this and it should soon come free.
This is a little tricky to hold the iron,
the board, and the capacitor all at once, so please don't burn
yourself! Again, note which side is negative and
which hole it came from. This is the negative hole, and the other is
positive. There will likely be some solder
left over around each hole. Just try not to let it run between the two
holes or you will short out the connection.
11. Grab your new capacitor and line up the longer leg with the
positive hole. Lay the soldering iron against
that hole on the other side and push the leg through. Line up the
negative leg/hole and repeat. Lay the iron
across both to heat up enough to push the capacitor legs through and
the capacitor down to the board.
12. Check the connections for each leg. There should be a small *****
of solder joining each leg to the metal
of the board, but not running to any other point of the board. If it's
run to some other points, you'll need to do
some searching to see how to clean up it up a little bit as I'm not an
expert at this. If you need a little more
solder, lay the iron across the joint for a few seconds, then feed
your solder into the hot spot until a small
amount flows over the joint. Remove the iron, wait a moment, then
remove the solder. Look at the other
solder joints on the board for a rough idea of how it should look.
13. Use some wire cutters to trim the legs down to the solder.
14. Pop the board back over the plastic piece and reconnect the cables.
15. At this point, you're on your own. Personally, I made sure I
wasn't touching any metal and plugged it in.
Since I didn't blow any fuses and the player seemed to work, I
unplugged it, reassembled it, and went to watch a movie.