Karaoke ability

hi price

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

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

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

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.

Karaoke lover's must, rock solid performer, play all the DVDs I throwed in.

Too pricey

I like it a lot. Picture and Sound quality are all top notch.

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Cheap at $AU699. The cheapest DVD on the AU market at the time.

Picture. Set-up

This version is called the PALSONIC 2000 in Australia, using the remote from the K520. Palsonic seems to be the Panasonic cheap line of products.

Do not buy it!

I demoed 2 units at home using s-VHS out. The picture was like looking through a flyscreen. Sound was great. Set-up menu was hard to use. Crap. Made in China. Got my money back.

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Karoake

short life period

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.

good picture quality

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

$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.

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Pioneer DVD k525.

This player is great. It has features that people are fond of like Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS outputs and easy playback control. This is a Karoake machine, so those who like singing along to music will appreciate this one. The sound is great, even on a mediocre sound system, the output is crisp, clear and distortion free. There are no problems that occur especially when playing back CDs and VCDs. There is a newer model similar to this with component video out and with a lower MSRP. The value was worth it at the time (new release) I purchased it and still gives no problems to this date. The video playback is outstanding as well. If you're into casual listening or like Karoake, this is one player that stands up to it's value.

Good Karaoke features.

Insufficient reliability due to bad engineering.

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.