Price Paid:  $299.00 from accessories4less

Summary:
Great player, very good with music as well, I purchased a refurbed unit for 299 well worth every penny.

Strengths:
everything

Weaknesses:
slow like all changers

Similar Products Used:
toshiba sd-5700

Price Paid:  $600.00 from Harveys Electronic

Summary:
Real nice easy to setup. Great picture and audio quality. Video outputs progressive scan it fantastic. Very Slow loading almost makes having a five disk useless, I may bring it back for a better single disk CD/DVD.

Strengths:
CD-RW is cool but common place, well priced for the quality and functionality

Weaknesses:
So slow I may go back to a single disk, its quicker to get off the couch and reload

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Audio Centre Ottawa

Summary:
At the time I was shopping, the VC-5200 was one of the few changers with Progressive Scan, MP3 support and 3:2 pulldown. Let's face it, this unit basically has all the bells and whistles you could get in 2001. Although picture was fine, the first unit I got was freezing 12-15 times per movie. Needless to say, it went back to the store. Caught the Marantz rep who was visiting the store at the time and he exchanged it for a new one on the spot (of course, he had never seen that problem even though the VC5000 had similar problems reported). The second unit I got dropped a DVD while changing discs and had to return to the store for repair. Came back two weeks later apparently with the problem fixed. It has not dropped discs yet but player now freezes on tracks it did not before. In addition, it freezes occasionally when watching movies (much like a layer change but not always at the same place). So, second unit is going back to the store as well, they are exchanging the VC5200 for a Yamaha DVD-C920 (at an additional cost). I hope I will have better luck with the Yamaha. VC5200 would not be a bad player if it worked properly. However, prices have gone down and many features can now be found on much less expensive units.

Strengths:
Lots of features: VCDs on CD-RWs work fine, most MP3 songs on CD-RWs work fine

Weaknesses:
Poor reliability, slow

Price Paid:  $700.00 from A & B Sound

Summary:
I chose this unit after searching for a "musical" DVD player. I find, although all DVD players will play 2 channel audio CD''s, they often come out sounding a bit thin. Probably a result of too much emphasis being put on the video and DSP multi-channel aspects of a DVD player. However, the Marantz VC-5200 seems to be able to play 2 channel audio CD''s with a fair amount of depth and richness missing in alot of other DVD players. As far as watching and listening to movies, It''s quite good. Great theatre sound, high resolution picture. My only complaints are that the tiny remote is not backlit, there is no true "random" feature for audio CD''s (again, emphasis on movies) and the fact that the reponse time between the remote and the the unit is VERY slow. I will say that if you are in the market for a good DVD player to go with a good home theatre setup, this unit will do fine. If you primarily listen to 2 channel audio CD''s, like me, you''ll likely want to buy a separate "CD only" player with the emphasis on music.

Strengths:
High resolution video image. Great theatre sound. Decodes DVD Audio, CD-R''s and RW''s. Music CD''s sound not bad for a DVD player.

Weaknesses:
Slow response between remote and unit. No backlit remote. No true random feature for music CD''s.

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba, Yamaha