jgennett

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $550.00 from electronic essential

Summary:
This was my first Marantz product, purchased along with an SR7200 receiver. Overall I am disappointed with the player. After a year, the player began freezing, skipping, etc. It was repaired under warranty. Now, a year later and out of warranty, the same problem has resurfaced. The picture and sound are great when it works, but now that it's been replaced by a $150 Denon I see where I did not get what I paid for. The features are the same, the Denon exhibits excellent sound and picture quality and is more intuitive in sensing signal type, audio output type, etc. Marantz is considering helping fix the busted player, but we'll see.

Strengths:
good sound and picture when it worked

Weaknesses:
Unable to auto-switch from DD to DTS, etc, unable to output component and s-video simultaneously, menu options hard to access, does not switch to correct 6.1 decoding automatically, doesnt work! d

Similar Products Used:
denon 1710

Price Paid:  $500.00 from A&B Sound

Summary:
Great sound and picture when it works. I have been very dissapointed in this particular DVD player. It constanly has problems with the signal out. The DVD's won't play the menu won't display etc. After reading the other reviews it would seem I am not alone when it comes to problems with this unit. This player is going back and I would recommend you not purchase this one, it clearly has problems for more than just a few people. I like Marantz gear but this is the second Marantz DVD player that I've had problems with. For now my wife and I have purchased a Panasonic base model at a third of the price and so far no problems. There sure seems to be a lot of bugs to be worked out with a lot of the DVD players on the market, I hope we see better gear available across the board in the near future. DVD's are wonderful to watch and it's a great technology but the players need work.

Strengths:
Great sound and picture for DVD's

Weaknesses:
Constantly malfunctioning. Poor quality sound for CD's

Price Paid:  $695.00 from San Francisco Stereo

Summary:
Warning!!! Do not but the VC5000, it is nothing but problems. Constant disc error message. Will not play CDR. Will not shuffle between disc. Do your homework so you do not make the same mistake I did.

Strengths:
I have not found any.

Weaknesses:
This is a real lemon.

Price Paid:  $350.00

Summary:
Amazing sound quality. Yes it is slow to change discs but it is accurate, the sound is full and a little soft (not too much). I found it to be better than the newer model, but this is probably a matter of taste. As a rough measure, If your system (decoder, amps - receiver, speakers, not including TV) is in the price range of 2000-4000 this component is perfect. Below that you can live with a $150 DVD from Kmart, above those prices I can't tell.

Strengths:
superb sound image and image image... quality does not degrade, rare for 5 disc mechanism

Weaknesses:
marantz documentation and support if you want to play low quality VCDs and music you can't. But why would you?

Price Paid:  $350.00

Summary:
Amazing sound quality. Yes it is slow to change discs but it is accurate, the sound is full and a little soft (not too much). I found it to be better than the newer model, but this is probably a matter of taste. As a rough measure, If your system (decoder, amps - receiver, speakers, not including TV) is in the price range of 2000-4000 this component is perfect. Below that you can live with a $150 DVD from Kmart, above those prices I can't tell.

Strengths:
superb sound image and image image... quality does not degrade, rare for 5 disc mechanism

Weaknesses:
marantz documentation and support if you want to play low quality VCDs and music you can't. But why would you?