Price Paid:  $700.00 from Sears

Summary:
My SC-DK1 began having problems somewhere around year 2. I began getting an error message when I inserted a DVD and would have to reinsert the disc upwards of 10 times to get the machine to accept it. This only happened once in a while at first and has progressed to happening every other time I put a disc in (I have had the machine since November 99). Strangely enough, it still plays CDs consistantly and well. I have called Panasonic many, many times with differing degrees of success, was referred to an authorized service center in my area who proceeded to rip me off, and in ultimately took it to another service center who told me the lazer assy was faulty, very expensive, might as well get a new machine. After doing a little research on the web, found that a lot of people have had the same problem, but Panasonic won't recognize this and refuses to acknowledge this as a chronic problem. While I have had 2 nice, competent phone servicers, the quality of the help I got from the rest of my calls has been unhelpful at best. Needless to say, no more Panasonic products for me.

Strengths:
When it works, it works well. Compact.

Weaknesses:
Is not reliable, takes a lot of time to change discs and does so loudly.

Similar Products Used:
RCA DRC 8005
Sony DVP NS325

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
After a long distance move, I was looking for a new home theater system. I wasn't ready to set up a huge system at the time since I didn't know how long I was going to be there, I didn't want a lot of stuff to move again right away. When I saw this unit at Best Buy, my first reaction was surprise at the high cost. I had just seen it's smally brother, the 2-speaker, 5-disc CD changer on the other side of the shelf, for $300, and wonder why the extra three speakers added $400 to the price of this one.

Until I saw the DVD logo!

I thought about it for a few days, and compared prices with separates, and ended up grabbing this unit. A full surround system/5-disc DVD changer for under $1000? Worked for me!

I got it home, and had it set up within an hour. In the three years since, I've watched a LOT of DVDS on it, and didn't encounter any significant problems. Sound was great, unit was easy to control, and all that I was missing was a wide screen TV to really take advantage of it.

A few months after getting it I did notice there was a fair amount of noise coming through the speakers from the Disc changer motors, especially when changing discs, where it would get fairly loud at times. Also, I could hear an ovious feedback from teh disc motor itself when a disc was simply spinning. Even when mute was on, this feedback was audible, and still controllable through the volume. It seems that the mute only affects audio before it gets to the volume on this unit, since I was able to adjust the valume of the noise while Mute was on. I suspect it's a loose connection inside near the speaker jacks that's the culprit, and will be taking it in for a checkup after I set up my new system, and the down-time won't cut into my viewing time.

The unit also has a small attraction for dust, and after a couple years, some discs would refuse to play. Cleaning discs would sometimes solve this, but usually blowing in behind the disc tray when it's open fixed the problem.

I have other Panasonic products, both industrial (MII edit deck, etc.) and consumer (L50 portable DVD player, etc..) and have had only one problem that needed any servicing before, so they do have a good track record in my eyes. In fact, if this was not a Panasonic unit, I would have thought twice about getting it.

Strengths:
Easy to set up, all cables are supplied (except S-video), and takes up very little space. Main speakers are surprisingly powerful, and actually house two independent speaker systems; a two-way main speaker and a separate woofer, in a pressboard cabinet.

Weaknesses:
Surround speakers sound a bit hollow at higher volumes. Would have preferred them with wooden cabinets insead of the plastic ones they have. Disc changing is a bit slow & clunky sounding, and you can't change any discs while one is playing.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic L50 portable DVD player, JVC 32" TV, JVC 300 CD changer

Price Paid:  $700.00

Summary:
Wow 400 watts, dvd digital decoder. great sound lots of dsp settings. 160watt per chanel when in stereo mode. But my remote blew up and I had to wait 4 months for it to get fixed. Got feed up and insted bought $3000 dollar AR system was worth every penny

Strengths:
Price, comes with all wiring needed exept s-video

Weaknesses:
front speaker boxs to thin, they resonate at high levels. Needs more av inputs and comp out. sub out only works with dvd's

Price Paid:  $90.00 from Sears Return Shelf

Summary:
Yes I know what the original price was, but it sat on the sears return shelf for months and didn't sell. One week they just marked tons of stuff down to clear the return shelves and I happened to be there. At $90 dollars I couldn't go wrong. I think I know why it didn't sell and that was because it have been set up on Demo mode and you could turn the unit off and it would automatically turn itself back on in about 10 seconds, very annoying. In the manual it described how to disable that feature, and once done it worked as it should. If you can't run it without reading the manual, it's not very user friendly and most people don't read the manual.

I can't find too much to complain about, it works well, and my wife enjoys listening to the radio and cds.

Strengths:
Price Price Price, good quality sound, ease of setup, features, good playback of cds and dvds

Weaknesses:
changer is pitifully slow, doesn't have rf output for us poor folks who an Composite AV or S Video input.

Similar Products Used:
have Toshiba 2008 and Sony 330 DVD And an AIWA

Price Paid:  $549.00

Summary:
I've been eyeing the Panasonic SC-DK1 for a year as my first try at a DVD system and home theater. I was not at all disappointed. All you need for an entry-level home theater is a TV and the SC-DK1

It didn't take long to set up, and I purchased an S-video output cable, rather than the supplied RCA one, to see how THE MATRIX would look on my 27-inch TV. It looked just fantastic, and the sound was wonderful (there are plenty of bells and whistles so you can play with sound output). I had the two surround speakers on top of the two front speakers and found that the virtual rear sound was quite good. In the other four trays I had two CDs (one was Hanson's Symphony No. 2, The Romantic), and two other DVDs (X-Men and North by Northwest). I was able to switch from CD to DVD without a hitch, and the sound of the CDs, particular the Howard Hanson piece, blew me away.

I live in a moderate-sized one bedroom apartment, and the power is more than adequate for my needs. You can add subwoofer if necessary.

If you want to get a home theater and don't have a thousand or more to spend, you just can't go wrong with this system. And with the $50 rebate I got when I purchased the system, I have a great home theater system for just $500! You can't beat that.

Strengths:
The 5 DVD/CD player and good power

Weaknesses:
The remote, and the instructions for using the equalizer, are confusing...it's taking me some time to figure it all out.