Wish I had enough time before the unit failed completely to tell you.

In the shop permanently.

It sounds like this model has some definite problems. I don't know much about law but I believe those of us have experienced the defective units can sue Panasonic under a class action lawsuit. Send me some email if you want to pursue this.


My story is as follows: After purchasing the unit in November of '98 for Christmas present for the family. Opened the box Christmas day and started playing discs. I used it for about three months before it began to fail. The particular failure occurred when accessing the special features section on a disc and then switching back to the menu or film. The unit would simply go into a loop and never come out. It was as if there was a tracking problem it couldn't overcome.

Of course Panasonic never responded to a single email I sent. I had purchased an extended warranty through the reseller and had to send the unit to one of their repair shops. The repair shop had the unit for two months and never could fix the problem. In fact they made the unit worse as the player no longer even recognized a disc had been inserted.

In frustration I spent $90 to have the Panasonic factory authorized center evaluate and fix the unit. It came back a month later and went right back in because of random pauses in the middle of playback of any DVD. It is still in the shop and the one year warranty has now expired.

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Replaced with a JVC DVD. No problems so far.

I have had this player for three month and have found it to be an excellent unit.Only minor problem I have noticed is a slight delay on layer change (ex. Movie Contact when the message is coming out of fax ) but I have had no chapter skips. I think this is a better looking unit than the new A120. I love the remote only wish it could control TV volume. Picture quality is great, I use the s-video out and sound pumped to the home stereo is excellent. Five speed search is great. Only major complaint is price in Canada.
Bought mine at Christmas for C$630.00. Had seen the unit going for under US$350.00 but decided to go for Canadian Warranty.

Good buy for the money.

Purchased in Nov 1998 had to have unit repaired in May of 1999 due to severe pixilation on ANY movie at a cost TO ME of 140.00 because Panasonic would not stand behind thier product and said to me that they had no other reports of defects of this kind on this unit. As of today I am starting once agian to get severe pixilation on this unit and will probably end up purchasing another brand due to Panasonics LACK OF CUSTOMER CARE

Spelled out in weaknesses. DO NOT FALL FOR THE LOW PRICE THIS UNIT WILL FAIL ON YOU!!

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Rca, Sony

Good video and audio

Audio drop out when switching layers

I had this player for over a year (paid $350 at Cambridge Soundworks). If you'd asked me about a month ago how I like it, I would've said it's great except for the audio drop out when the DVD layer changes (my H/K DD Receiver shows a "No Signal" for a second or two before it kicks back in decoding). This is slightly annoying because of the sudden drop of the ambient sound most movies have.

About a month ago, however, I became one of Panasonic's firmware failure victims. One day the player had no problems. The next night I'm trying to stick in a rented DVD and all the player says is "Locked". It wouldn't even let me turn it off. It wouldn't open, it wouldn't do anything besides tell me that I'm "Locked" out of my own player. I called Panasonic, tried the reset sequences (they gave me two to try) - nothing happened. Take it in for repairs they said.

I've pondered dropping it in favor of getting a brand new player (are Sony's still OK?) because I've been following this thread on Panasonic low quality. I've decided to take it in though and try my luck at the "repair roulette".

If it comes back working like it did before, hopefully longer than it did before, I'd be a happy customer (minus the minimum $90 it'll take to fix it). Otherwise I'd drop the rating to 0 - products shouldn't fail at a year and a month.

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None yet.

Good quality video, excellent audio, nice design

Doesn't do PLUGE, remote has poor layout

My A-110 is about 1 1/2 years old now. I have enjoyed it and felt it to be a good unit. I've experienced none of the failures mentioned by others (yet), but reading the reviews and what some report on Panasonic's attitude does make me nervous.

The layer switch pause is a normal part of DVD technology (it takes the laser time to switch layers and refocus.) It is not a fault of a A110 or any other DVD player. The problems with the Matrix (which also occurs on my A110) are due to the DVD-ROM material placed on some of the early Matrix DVDs. Some DVD players can not play this disk at all. At least the A110 can with minimal disruption (at least this is true of my unit.) Altough its now been discontinued (replaced by the A115 I think), I still am pleased my purchase of the unit.

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None

Good DVD playback.

Recently started using unit as audio output device to record from CD to CDR on a Pioneer PDR555RW. I've experienced loss of signal (thus ruining the CDR) with the digital coaxial connection, and occasional popping noises with both coaxial and optical cables. Haven't had problems with recording from other sources, so the Panasonic is the likely culprit.

I've had the unit for about 14 months and it's been fine for DVD playback...but from what I've been reading in the other postings, mine is due to die any day now.

If anyone has had similar problems using the unit as an audio source for CDR recording, please let me know - especially if you have a solution!

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none

Excellent video, great sound. DISCOVERED HOW TO FIX RELIABILITY ISSUES!!!

Reliability, reliability, reliability!!! Panasonic should be ashamed!
After one year pixelation and audio decoding problems 30 hour to 1 hour into disc playback. Also occasional no disc detected problems.

Below is the procedure I used to fix my unit (failed after 14 months/not under warranty). This procedure has worked to fix several other units. Do not attempt to do this if you are not mechanically inclined!!! I am not responsible if you ruin your unit or hurt yourself!!! (My wife watched me fix our unit and rated the job a 3 out of 5 for dificulty)


The problem is that the laser lens assembly slides on two rails. The player comes from the factory with plenty of lubrication on the rails (white lithium grease?), however, after a year of use the laser assembly collars (around each rail) push all of the lubrication out of the way. As a result the laser pickup stutters (ever so slightly) as it glides along the rails causing the pixelation/audio and no disc problems.

HOW TO FIX:

Tools: Philips screw driver(s), jar of vaseline (or white lithium grease), q-tip, toothpick.

1) With unit plugged in press the eject button. Power the unit off so that the tray is left outside the unit. Unplug the unit. Move it carefully to a good clean work surface (office desk).

2) Make sure the unit is not plugged in again!

3) Carefully remove the unit cover after removing two screws on each side (phillips) and three screws on the back of the unit (philips).

4) With the DISC tray still outside the unit carefully remove the cover on the optical assembly (metal cover with laser warning sticker, roughly 8 x 4 inches) after removing the four philips screws that hold it down.

5) The laser pickup should be readilly visible. Avoid touching it!!!!!! Check to see if one or both of the rails on each side of the pickup are not lubricated. (The rails are hard to find at first according to my wife).

6)Clean both rails with the q-tip (light cleaning avoid leaving cotton lint behind). Avoid touching the laser pickup!!! Lubricate both rails fully with a light coating of vaseline using the toothpick.

7) Replace optical cover assembly.

8) Replace outer cover.

9) Plug in unit and retract the tray.

10) Your unit is ready for playback. Your problems should be gone.

I hope this helps many of you from having to replace your units. Good Luck!

Clear picture,easy to use, and great sound...while it lasted

It only lasted a year and a half!

When the unit was new it worked flawlessly. Great picture and sound. With my Denon 3200 receiver running the show it was almost like being in a theater.
Then it began. A skip here a skip there. No big deal. Then we graduated to picture break-up. Shortly after we hit lock-up, with the distorted, pixilated image created by this machine frozen on the screen. The last gasp was the imfamous "no disc" message on the t.v. screen. Within a few weeks my 18 month old A110 was dead. I thought it's best years were still ahead. I was wrong.
What I find truly amazing is how Panasonic is dismissing this as an isolated occurence. When I contacted Panasonic I was told the best they would do is pay for half the cost of a new laser assembly. When I told them that based on the number of problems that they are having with this unit that they obviously have a manufacturing defect on their hands and that I wanted full compensation for the repairs, they told me that the failure rate on this unit is more than acceptable in their eyes.
So, do yourself a favor. Don't become another member of the "acceptable failure rate" club. Don't buy this product!!

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First time DVD owner

good picture and sound resolution

playback problems

I've had some of the same pixilation and freeze ups that others have had, but not bad enough to take it in for repair. So far I've gotten the No Disc message only once, on Enemy of the State. Oddly, that disc played on my Samsung until the layer switch and then froze. I took the disc back to the rental store and got another. That disc also froze on the Samsung, so I tried it in the Panasonic again and this one played. Who knows. A rented copy of Joan of Arc would not play on the Panasonic (i.e., pixeled to a halt early on.) But it played just fine ont he Samsung in my bedroom. Most discs where I've had trouble have been at the layer switch. When the Panasonic A110 works, it is an excellent machine. But I'm guessing from the occasional problems I've had and the major problems others here have had that Panasonic rushed this unit into production to get DVD sales in the mass market.

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Samsung DVD907

5X Fast-foward, remote, good picture

Like everyone else, the machine pixelated and locked-up on discs after 14 months!

I thought I might have been one of the lucky ones, but tonight all the discs I rented started pixelating and locking-up in the machine. My machine was built in August 1998 and, like the others from that time, it was a time-bomb waiting to explode.

Believe it or not, I was just about to sell it to a friend in 3 days for $100! There goes that deal. (Of course, like everyone else, I would NEVER purchase another Panasonic machine.)

I tried the q-tip and vaseline idea that was offered earlier -- it seemed to help for an hour and then the pixelation started. He was right about the lubrication coming off the laser-rails though -- they were bone dry. Perhaps it would work with something other than Vaseline, or perhaps I need to put more on the rails.

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Toshiba 2109