themblues

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $130.00 from ebay

Summary:
Well I stupidly returned a Pioneer 656a for this pile for one reason, the play and enter buttons are one and the same function on this unit, and not so on many other units. just a stupid mistake on my part. I know the Pio is a better unit because in still mode it would activate my auto power off on my TV (so it had an actual "still" still picture as opposed to the panny that stayed on one frame all night one time, [fortunatly, it didn't burn my screen]). Overall, the sound and picture weren't bad, but I just broke the thing smacking the tray closed. This is the third and last Panny DVD that is going in my house. My setup: Sony STR-DE945 crappy Panny VCR Mitsu 55" WS-55411 Gold series Bose AM-5 II sub Bose 101 sats Klipsh SB-3 rears BIC DV62CLR-S center

Strengths:
Easy to work, decent enough pic and sound

Weaknesses:
Build quality

Similar Products Used:
Pio DVD-656a JVC POS

ktk3438

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $94.00 from Amazon.com

Summary:
I just love my Panasonic S55S! It has features that I did not think I would get in this price range. The newer design is great, since it is very slim and attractive. It fits where my old unit would not, and that was a big plus for me. Things I like: The unit comes with a lot of features, but one of the nicest things was the flexibility it has when it comes to playing multimedia. Not only does it play DVD's & CD's that were burned copies, but it also plays a few Windows standard media files. I've put in MPEG video, it plays, no problem. JPEG, & AVI files also play just fine. I like to compile hundreds of photos, burn them onto a CD, and let the S55 give us all a nice slide show, all from the comfort of my living room, and not all standing around a PC. It also plays Video CD's in VCD format, MP3's, and WMA's. The S55 also has a great was of adjusting picture size. With one Button, you can zoom in or out to several different sizes. I like that because my older TV makes Wide-screen movies hard to watch. I can zoom it in once, and it makes all the difference. And it does all right from the remote. Or there is a dial on the front that performs the same function. My older G.E DVD player was much different. You had to stop your movie, go into the menu for the player, adjust it from one of 2 preset screen sizes, save it, and return to your movie. That was such a hassle, and it was not worth the time. So you can see why I appreciate the Panasonic's extremely easy to use zoom function. The menu for the unit is just about fool proof. It has a lot in there, but it is very easy to navigate. All functions from the menu can be changed from the remote, and it is very smooth. I even changed some options for the subtitles, so they appear elsewhere, I thought that was pretty cool. The remote is comfortable when in your hand, and is not so huge that it becomes difficult to use. The size is right for the average person to be happy with it. It is lightweight, and actually has a nice look to it, unlike others I've seen. The connections in the back are pretty good too. For a slim unit, the back seems to be loaded with most of what you need for great digital audio, and progressive scan video. It has the component video output, S-video, digital and analog audio outputs, and my favorite, the optical audio output. I use the optical output myself, and I believe it delivers the best sound I've heard yet. Especially when it comes to DTS. If you have a movie with DTS 5.1 or greater, and the receiver to play it, then set that movie for DTS with an optical cable, and you won't believe the sound. So clean & clear, that when you ever go back to analog, you'll be very disappointed. It also has some parental controls, which I so far have not had to use, but I'm sure when the kids are a little older, I'm going to be right on it. I'm satisfied with the picture quality. I have noticed that it is slightly better than my G.E. unit, but you'd have to use a magnifying glass to see the difference in the two. I'm not sure if there is better out there, but I think it might be hard to beat. Panasonic DVD players have a patented laser eye, which seems to be a great improvement over my old G.E. unit. DVD's that are slighty dirty, or scratched, would always skip in my old unit. And it would also skip it I had the thunderous Surround System set at my liking, with pounding bass. The Panasonic S55 seems to be immune to this so far. The same discs that skip in my old player, have no problem playing in the S55, whether the skipping is caused from surface dirt/scratches, or the vibrations of my home theater shaking the house. Believe me, it is nice, to be able to listen to my system the way I like, without having to adjust it, or backing up the movie several times trying to find what I missed from the skipping. One other thing I noticed that is a big improvement form my last DVD player, was the incremental scan speeds. First of all, it has more, and second, it's a lot faster! I put it in top speed and the next thing I knew, it was at the ending credits! So be careful using the highest setting! Things I do not like: First, when I'm watching a movie, and I have to stop it to run to the store, it does not pick up where I left off in the movie, unless you make sure to press the button on the remote to store the current position. Sometimes I forget to do that, and I have try to figure out where I left off, and that can be a pain. Second, it does not seem to have a screen saving function built in. When you pause it, it stays like that until you tell it otherwise. Which can be a problem if you are leaving, and you are gone longer than originally anticipated, you run the risk of burning that image into the screen. You have to remember to stop, or even better, turn off the unit. Even my old first generation G.E not only had a screen saver built in, but if it was left in pause too long, it would even power down the player.

Strengths:
Options, ease of use, slim design, flexibility of media

Weaknesses:
No screen saver

Price Paid:  $139.00

Summary:
Great picture and great sound. The image is one of the best I have seen from a DVD player. But it only worked 7 months and died. I have heard of other having the same problem with them.

Strengths:
Picture and sound is flawless. Plays anything.

Weaknesses:
Died after 7 months.

Similar Products Used:
Sony and Sharp

Price Paid:  $229.00 from Future Shop

Summary:
I had this unit for a week and really enjoyed the outstanding picture quality when running a DVD. I really bought this unit more for playing music. It played CD's and Mp3's fine but not a home computer burnt CD-R?. This is ridiculous.This is an ordinary CD-R music compilation which I burnt using Windows Media Player. The sound glitch I experienced was sort of a static and popping sound that seems to follow close to the vocal frequencies. Very similiar to FM Radio noise that you get from a weak signal. Also the "noise" doesnot repeat itself in the same spot of the recording (Scary). Its really noticeable on quieter passages.It was really noticeable on Janis Joplan's "Mercedes Benz" song. The songs have all been "Ripped" at 128kbps or better. The same CD- R played in my daughter's $50 Ghettoblaster & in my truck with absolutely no problems.Too eliminate faulty cords or connections, I hooked up my old Sony CD player via the same RCA connectors and the CD-R played flawlessly. The CD-R I burnt contains a wide variety of old songs,70's rock and some new pop stuff. All the songs when played back have the "noise" in it when played with the Panasonic S55. The newer recordings seemed to mask it better than the old ones.I called Panasonic and they were helpful, But couldn't explain it. I changed some of the settings and connections around per the Panasonic Customer Service person but too no avail. A Technical expert from Panasonic was suppose too call me back but so far they haven't. So, I decided to return it. At first the sales people didn't take me too seriously, it was like "pick another one the same or a different brand", "Its just your CD-R". I was willing to take another Panasonic S55 if it would play my CD- R. Maybe my unit was just faulty?, But the salesman connected their display unit and it did exactly the same playback noises as mine. The salesman was very surprised and not impressed and became much more interested in my problem. So He put my CD-R in a couple of their other brand name DVD players and It played perfectly without the "S55" noise. Sorry Panasonic I can't own a DVD player with a basic flaw like this. I exchanged mine for a Pioneer DV563AS and it so far has played everything I can throw at it. PS.I would still like to hear from Panasonic. Without the above stated problem this would clearly be one of the best all medias player for under $700 cdn.

Strengths:
Great picture and sound from DVD Play back. Played "Red book" cd's and Mp3's very well. Really liked the Re-mastering feature. It provided a very smooth analog type sound.

Weaknesses:
This DVD player has so much to offer the audio enthusiast Like DVD-A,HIGH-MAT,WMA, Re-Mastering, Etc. Its seems such a shame it falls on its face while playing back a Cd-R. A basic flaw like this should never have made it thru their "R&D" Department. The static and popping noises during CD-R playback are clearly unacceptable for a DVD player targeting the audio enthusiast market.

Similar Products Used:
Had a refurbished Koss. Picture was OK. Played CD's, CD-R's, Mp3 and Jpeg's was good.

Price Paid:  $199.00 from DuMoulin

Summary:
I bought this relatively cheap product 'caus our family wanted to see a DVD movie. So there I went to the closest electronics store and bought it given the salesman's recommendation. It played the DVD's/CD's quite well but not in the range of the Denon players.. to be expected. However, 2 months later there goes the power supply. I returned it and obviously i was over the 30 days replacement warranty so they had to send it out for repair. Here I am sitting in my couch 5 weeks later an still no DVD player. If Panasonic would have a decent QC lab, that won't even happen. It's the very last Panasonic porduct making it's way into my home. What a joke. I had similar experience with a Panasonic electric razor.

Strengths:
Easy to plug.. but after that nothing works as it should.

Weaknesses:
El cheapo power supply. Sound from audio CD's was bad. The unit weight says it all...

Similar Products Used:
Sony, JVC