Price Paid:  $225.00 from circuit city

Summary:
I have had my jvc xv-523 for about two or three years now and have not had any significant problems with it. The only plroblem I have had is that sometimes when I insert a dvd and it reads it, it would begin to make a countinous loud noise like it's the motor. I took it in to be looked at and they said that there was nothing wrong with it, but it still happens sometimes. It does load especially dvd's slow. Sometimes it will not read a dvd then have to restart it and try again. Audio cuts out when transferring from layer one to layer two format on dvd. But it does have good sound and picture. I have had no skips and no freezes.

Strengths:
Good sound and picture. Dolby digital and dts.

Weaknesses:
operates poorly.

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba, mitsibushi

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
First DVD player I ever owned. I'll be brief here. I think I made an OK decision; this by no means is/was the best player, nor was it the worst. Truthfully, I liked the look of it (aesthetics, I'm such a sucker for it). Since this model is outdated and they have newer versions available, no one will read this.

Strengths:
Solid performance. Reads all CD-RW and CD-Rs I've thrown at it. Plays normal CDs flawlessly. DVDs look fine, though there is some blur effect in busy scenes; could be my TV.

Weaknesses:
Slow CD reading time. Biggest complaint is the audio dropping out when switching layers on a disc or switching between chapters. Also audio dropped when navigating DVD menus.

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $199.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I never had problems with this unit at the start. Once I started renting dvd's I noticed a lot of skips and pauses. I learned quickly that I needed to run the rental dvd's thru a cleaner before using. I havn't had any problems since. This is a high quality unit and I wouldn't trade it for any of the cheap models out there. Lots of great features. Actualy more than I will ever use.

Strengths:
High Quality. Every Input and Output you could ever need. Great dvd player.

Weaknesses:
None. Bought it before MP3 players were popular. Doesn't support them.

Price Paid:  $170.00 from ebay

Summary:
After almost 2 years of continuous service, I am still extremely pleased with this player! Had some initial skipping problems with DTS DVDs but after relocating the player to a "cooler" spot and "recalibrating" it (hidden service menu), I haven't had a problem since.

Strengths:
Plays all CD-R/RW media and every resolution of XVCD I can come up with, with video bitrates of up to ~2400kbps. Although it does not support SVCD, it will play the SVCD MPEG-2 file if you remux it as a VCD and burn it using a VCD template - amazing! The compulink feature is nice, automatically turning on and selecting the correct A/V source on my JVC DTS 5.1 receiver.

Weaknesses:
No SVCD support and no backlighting on remote.

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba SD3109, Toshiba SD5109, Apex AD1500.

Price Paid:  $699.00 from Seng Heng

Summary:
Worked fine in the beginning but now skips and stalls especially on DVD9 discs.Called tech and they said it's common complaint for this model and can't do anything about it :(

Strengths:
Err.. looks nice?

Weaknesses:
Skips and hangs when I play the DVD9's I bought which was previously ok!!