Well I got this DVD player at a local thrift store, paid $15. I didn't know it at the time but it was a major score. I knew that Marantz is a realy good brand but didn't know to much about the DVD players. I bought it because I realy needed a good DVD player and just happened upon this Marantz. Great DVD player, I have it hooked up to my Denon home theatre receiver and they work great together. Great picture quality and picks up a lot of detail in the sound quality. There is a few things I don't realy like about it. Its realy slow as pointed out, and I realy don't like the configuration of the remote. Can't complain for what I bought it for though.

everything

slow like all changers

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

Similar Products Used:

toshiba sd-5700

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

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

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.

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

Poor reliability, slow

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.

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.

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

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.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba, Yamaha