Price Paid:  $300.00 from P.C RICHARD

Summary:
Very frustrating DVD/CD player. Within the first year skipping,pixalating. Brought it back under warranty, they replaced the optical unit. Worked sporadically after that, same problems. Since then I have started putting PC's together so I Figured I would take the hood off and see what I could see. The optical unit, which includes a motor to turn the cd and another motor to run the eye across the cd don't seem to work in concert. Something is amiss, after reading some reviews and the prices paid I wonder if the optics were replaced. Panasonic wants 92$ for a new one. I feel like tossing it overboard, I feel as if I've been taken.

Strengths:
5 CD Carosel

Weaknesses:
Couldn't curl a knitting needle with a ball of yarn at each end. My kids can't watch Shrek.

Similar Products Used:
First cd I bought was a JVC in 1988 still works fine, replaced it with this thing of joy.

Price Paid:  $275.00 from ebay

Summary:
Terrible!! This is the worst piece of junk I''ve had the frustration of dealing with. My first dvd player - what a joke. It''s left a bad taste in my mouth about dvds. It worked fine for the first 5 movies or so - no problems. Now it won''t read discs, the picture breaks up, it freezes, screen goes black, sound goes out, etc - during EVERY movie! Every single one! If it will even play it. Sometimes I can get a movie to play if I sit for 15 minutes and fiddle with changing discs, opening and closing the player, turning it on and off - eventually it all of a sudden "sees" the disc it''s been telling me it won''t play for the past 15 minutes. I''ve read other reviews about this product that have the same complaints. Panasonic is less than helpful in resolving the issue - I guess they figure I should just throw it away and buy another. Never can I watch one movie all the way through. It''s impossible. I usually end up stopping and restarting the movie so I can get 30 seconds more (IF lucky) play before it buggers up again - turning it all the way off and back on don''t help either. Awful! Awful! AWFUL!! Don''t waste your money. I''d give this a big ZERO if it were an option.

Strengths:
ummmm....??? Nice looking dust catcher?

Weaknesses:
quality workmanship customer service picture ability to perform can''t play movies expensive dust collector

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Fingerhut

Summary:
As with others in this review section, I had the same problems with this DVD player. It often does not recognize valid DVD disks, it freezes at the end of most DVDs after 1 year. When I took it to be repaired the repair shop said that most of the Panasonics had these problems. I would **NOT** recommend and Panasonic DVD players, especially this one.

Strengths:
5 disk changer

Weaknesses:
Slow read times, does not work well.

Price Paid:  $170.00 from Duke and slims

Summary:
The system shows great quality in cabinetry, easy to use and read buttons, and great features for the ($170.00)money. The unit is listed for $399.00, yet can be found alot less, for the price I paid, it is a great DVD player, for the first time buyer as well as an up grade unit. Although the technology is moving fast and leaning towards firewire, an upgrade is without doudt a future move for me. For now this is a great buy, a great DVD, and lots of quality to boot. I have always had great success with panasonic products and they seem to last for ever, while all my Sony products I have purchased seemed to be of quality yet they never held up over a period of time. This unit has a great picture and with out doudt a 5 star product for the couch potato to the stock holder.

Strengths:
The system shows great quality in cabinetry, easy to use and read buttons, and great features for the money. The unit is listed for $399.00, yet can be found alot less for the price I paid it is a great DVD player for the first time buyer to an up grade unit. Although the technology is moving fast and leaning towards firewire, an upgrade is without doudt a future move for me. For now this is a great buy a great DVD and lots of quality to boot. I have always had great success with panasonic products and they seem to last for ever, while all my Sony products I have purchased seemed to be quality they never help up over time.

Weaknesses:
So far none found. Thank God!

Similar Products Used:
Sony

Price Paid:  $380.00

Summary:
The unit is an ok unit but I wonder if there isn't better out there. From day one, the unit had problems playing DVDs. Usually, the picture would start to break up during playback and the picture would freeze. Eventually, I'd have to turn the player off and back on to reset it. Also, the player will routinely have problems detecting a DVD andy eventually say the disk is unreadable. I've tried cleaning it with CD/DVD cleaners, etc. with no luck. I have several friends who have other brands of players and none of them have had problems as numerous as I've had with this player. Probably 30% of my DVDs had problems playing. The CD side was fine, although the was an extended pause while the unit was "Reading 00---" the disk each time a new CD was played. I no longer have the unit and am looking for a new one (NOT PANASONIC)

Strengths:
CD Performance, Nice looking unit.

Weaknesses:
Not ready for prime time, in my opinion. Too many problem playing DVDs.