I own a Philips DVD950 and I upgrade firmware to 7.12 then I changed P-code to 55 with the remote and now it reads SVCD !
Sounds that it works with all Philips players and should read CVCD, XVCD and DVD-R as well (quite everything in fact).
I put the process and all useful links at:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/lelab/video/philips_en.htm
Hope this helps, can email me directly at bal.noel[at]rf.oodanaw to help me maintaining this Philips page.
Leon