Excellent picture quality; Very quiet; amazingly reliable

No zoom feature

This is one heck of a player. In fact, I'd say that unless you need a player with built in DD/DTS decoding, the Panasonic A120U is the best dvd player money can buy for under $1000. Strong words, but true. I auditioned dozens of players at stores, friends houses, etc. Some of these players cost $1000. The lowly $280 Panasonic matched all of them with picture quality, connection options, audio quality, ultra smooth fast forward/reverse, and great ease of use. I would unquestionably recommend this player to anyone.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer 525, Sony 330/530; Toshiba 2109/3109

Picture and sound quality

Having problems with picture stopping and can't continue. Need to restart dvd and when I do it has lost its place, will not start from where it left off. Unit will then run approx.15 - 20 then stop again. Only after unit has been left off for awhile will it play almost to the end of a movie.

With the exception of the problem I'm experiencing the unit is great. Has anyone else had this problem. Does it sound like a service call is needed or just a cleaning?

Similar Products Used:

None

Great sound from music/dvd's. Quick start. Great picture quality. Good menu.

Will not play CD-R's.

After trying a Philips player and not liking it, I went with the Panasonic and have been very pleased with it's performance. I had no idea that there was so much musical information that I had not been hearing from my Sony cd player until I played a cd on the Panasonic, amazing. It plays dvd's flawlessly and the VSS feature is useful if you
don't have any 3d processor in your system. I haven't been able to make the player choke or freeze up and I have tried everything. It played 'The Matrix' perfectly and this is a problematic dvd. The Panasonic should be placed on an isolation platform for best results. I have no complaints except that I wished it would play CD-R's. Otherwise, it is a very fine starter dvd player.

Similar Products Used:

None.

Finally my search for a good DVD player is over. I got this great piece of Panasonic for a very affordable price. I started using the player from day 1, primarily for VCDs, in which I get a lot of Indian language movies. But off late, I have started using DVDs as well to a great extent. Great picture quality. Very reliable. Remote control is very easy to use. VCD Compatible. Fantastic value for the money.

Occasionally, when using VCDs, picture looks like it is vertically elongated. Could have had flexible choices for the free DVD promo !!

Excellent product. Great value for money. I love it.

Similar Products Used:

None

Reasonable price, super quiet, on screen menus

Kinda cheap construction

This is my first foray into the DVD world. I am still wondering what the difference is between the Panasonic A120 and the Panasonic A120U?

Haven't used this model long, watched only "Big Daddy" so far.

Upon opening the package my fingers stopped on the bottom of the casing. There are three sort of "hinges" that hold the bottom of the casing to the rest of the player. Made it feel kinda of cheap. The facade of the player looks ok though, quite plain really.

Got this sucker up and running in no time flat -just hooked up the audio and video cables, power cable, turned the power on, put in the DVD, and pressed play. Took about 2 minutes.

First thing I was impressed by was the quality of the picture. It is very sharp and the contrast is very good. Blacks are very black and whites are very white. I can still see jaggies when there is motion on the screen. I have read that the new progressive scan DVD players eliminate the jaggies altogether, but that's a few months and a few more $$$ down the road.

The second thing I was impressed by was the features being offered. At the main menu I had the option of playing the movie, watching the Theatrical Trailers, reading the Talents and Bios of all the actors and actresses in the movie, and watching a couple of movie videos. I hate to make a big deal of this but I thought this was so cool! This is more a complement to the DVD format than the Panasonic A120U, but I felt I had to throw this in because there does exist people like me who have never seen DVD before and don't know why I should buy a DVD player.

Third, this unit is extremely quiet. I was actually shocked. My VCR is several decades old (seriously!), it is one of those 20 lb Panasonics that were one of first generation VCRs. It makes quite a bit of noise. This DVD player is so quiet you would not even know it was on unless you looked at the display window.

I plan to test the quality of the audio later when I get a chance to hook it up to my Nakamichi A/V Receiver. Until then, I'll give this the highest rating I can because I only paid $279 at Good Guys. I could have saved about $50 by buying it online, including s/h, but there have been too many complaints lodged on this forum about shoddy quality. It seems either people are extremely satisfied, or extremely disappointed.

I didn't want to wait 1 week to get this thing, find out it didn't work, and then shell out $20 to send it back, wait two more weeks for a replacement to arrive, and then try again. By buying from the local electronics store, I can take this thing back in a heartbeat and not worry about it being defective. For this convenience I'm willing to pay a little extra money.

Granted, the Panasonic A120U is considered a 4th generation DVD player, but if you look around at many of the top names in electronics like Sony or Toshiba, you will find that many glitches like Moire patterns, lip sync problems, and system crashes occur with incredible frequency.

The Sony DVD Model 330 is a player that is in the same price range as the A120U, perhaps a little more expensive. If you read the reviews on that forum you almost get the idea that it's a 50/50 chance you get a player that will actually play.

The Toshiba SD 2109 sounds like a very good player as well. It is a little bit cheaper than the A120U. People on the Sony forum were saying that the transport was noisy. I don't know if it was or not because I didn't get to try it out.

I went to Fry's electronics and was very close to buying the SD 2109. When I saw the stack of SD 2109's that had been returned, I saw this as a red flag.

I really am anxious to see how these two other DVD players stack up, but I'm not about to return this one just to experiment.

Similar Products Used:

none

1.)Fast Loading.
2.)Great Picture and Sound.
3.)Everyting to be found on a DVD Player
4.)Price for all of the above.

For 90% of us, none. Maybe the remote. (Buttons are small)

Best enter level player! Before I paid the cash, I read as much as I could about DVD players. (company Info, Crutchfiled, this site, ect.) It has all the features to be had,except DD decoding. I have played all of my freebees, The Matrix, and the 3 Star Trek Generation movies without any snafus. After lots of reading, this is the player to get.

Similar Products Used:

First Player

Picture quality, access times, price

Remote, extras

I used the 105 for over 18 months, and it served me very well - silent, reliable (no bugs), and only very few disks (like the infamous first release of "Dances with the Wolves") did show artifacts. But the 105 does not have component video outs, no black level (pluge) capability, and it also does not support DTS passt-hrough. So I picked an A120U up at the local Wiz who is slugging it out with 6th Avenue's $199 deal on this player. I got the player for less than $180, so that after the 5 included DVDs (offer ends 1/2/00) it will really have cost me less than $100.

For that, and even for it's list price of $ 349 this player is quite awesome. The quick-start is a nice feature described by a number of people already.

For the picture quality I compared the A120U to the A105U on a Sony KP53 XBR300 RPTV via S-Video inputs.

The picture is in general slightly more colorful and vivid. With the black level enhancement turned on, black backgrounds and night scenes do offer better contrast.

To my surprise use of the component video outputs did not improve the picture any further.

I think that the observations I am making are more relevant for RPTV owners than for direct view owners though, since RPTVs in general seem to be more revealing of deficiencies in the source material.

No real down sides on this player - definitely not at this price, though the remote is the same light crappy piece that came with the A105U, and there is no SVHS cable included with the player.

Anyhow - I thought that the A105U was pretty good, and for the A120U to improve the picture even further definitely is worth 5 stars. I'd give it 10 stars for value if I could

Gary

Similar Products Used:

A105U

Component video output, stunning picture quality, affordable.

The remote.

Spent many hours comparing players and this one seemed to do it all. I'm VERY impressed with this unit and wonder how much more one would need. Sure, the build quality is less than stellar and the remote leaves a lot to be desired, but the bottom line is that the thing delivers. It plays every disc I throw at it without problems, and the anamorphic down-conversion is quite good. Playback starts quickly, and chapter access is very fast. Connection-wise, the back of this player has every output jack you could ever possibly need. Overall, I would recommend this unit to anyone without hesitation. Can NOT be beat for the money!

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV525, Toshiba 2109

EXCELLENT PICTURE AND SOUND

FOUND INSTRUCTION MANUAL QUITE CONFUSING.
INFACT, I'M NOT SURE I'M MAXIMIZING THE UNITS FULL
POTENTIAL NOR MY FULL VIEWING AND LISTENING PLEASURE!!

EXCELLENT VALUE,EXCELLENT PICTURE

fast response time

small buttons on the remote and hard to use

I have had the unit for 6 months have had problems with
skipping on the menu of lethal weapon four. I like the unit
and the price of it. I give it four stars because of the
skipping.