Summary:
$800 for one year of use it's not the way normal people spend money. Usually, something cost that much warrant a lifetime usability. From the complains of many owners on the net shows the product is just of poor design and quality. Can't trust Panasonic product anymore.

Strengths:
good picture quality

Weaknesses:
Short life timespan. Costly to buy, costly to fix.

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer DVD k525.

Price Paid:  $709.00

Summary:
bought on 2/04/1999. Did you know this is actually first generation DVD-K? Its model number was DVD-k500. It's similar in functionality to DVD-k510.

Anyway, now whatever disk I put in it, it says "no disc". And the service fee is $89.99 labor parts additional. Just like one reviewer mentioned about the DVD-k510, its failure is probably due to high heat in the unit.

I was thinking about taking it to service. After reading the reviews, I'd be better off getting a sony and a separate Karoake device.

Strengths:
Karoake

Weaknesses:
short life period

Price Paid:  $599.00

Summary:
After having the player about 18 months, the player recently developed a severe problem. When playing DVDs discs, the player will start out Ok, but as time goes on, the video and audio will degrade and become unusable in about 10-15 minutes. CD and VCD discs can be played without problem about 1.5-2.0 hours, but finally become unusable after heat builts up inside the player. Since the repair cost is almost the same to but a new Non-Karaoke model, I decide not to send it to service. I opened the case, found the several components on the swithing power PCB and the main DSP PCB run very hot, I suspect the lack of ventilation causes heat builds up, which damaged the Laser Pick Up Mechanism in long run, and developed into this final failure. By the way, I am not the only owner seeing this problem, I saw a web post saying it is a common problem among Panasonic's second generation DVD player, such as A110, A310, and K510.

I like the player when it was working, but $599 for 18 months playing is obviously not very good value.

Strengths:
Good Karaoke features.

Weaknesses:
Insufficient reliability due to bad engineering.

Summary:
I love this DVD player - the remote is good, the karoake function is good (I'm still trying to fiddle with all the settings). It was a little tricky to setup initially within the onscreen menu but the built in decoder means you can play 5.1 titles on a 2 channel analogue amp (which is what I am doing until I get a 5.1 digital amp). I like the look of it too - overall I found this to be the best buy on the market considering it plays all regions as well (I have tried zones 1,2 and 4 and they all work fine).

The only thing I haven't yet to determine is whether it supports DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) but from what one of the earlier reviews mentions it is possible - I was very impressed - VCDs worked flawlessly too - highly recommended.

Strengths:
Great sound, multi region, built in decoder, good menu setup, great visuals

Weaknesses:
onscreen setup a little daunting, not a great manual (doesn't do into too much detail) not much support on internet - but now that I know palsonic 2000 is panasonic player - it will be easier to find info on

Summary:
Great for Karaoke lovers -- one of the few machines out there. Have some artifact problems on some movie playback, tho.

Strengths:
Karaoke ability

Weaknesses:
hi price

Similar Products Used:
none