Panasonic DVD-A310 DVD Players
Panasonic DVD-A310 DVD Players
[Jan 01, 2001]
Roger
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Worked great - initially
Weakness:
Approx 12-16 months after purchase, started pixelating. About 16 months after purchase, noticed some problems with movies - always assumed it was the disks (since I didn't believe this "quality" machine could be messing up.) As of two weekends ago, 3 out of 4 DVD's rented had problems (one wouldn't even finish - had to exchange for a tape copy.) I finally searched online, and found numerous other owners with same issues. Just went out and purchased another DVD player (Toshiba SD-1600) for about 1/3 the price and the A310 has just become my most expensive paperweight in the house. Have always had great success with Panasonic in the past, but it's doubtful I'll purchase a Panasonic product again unless I can figure out a way to get some $ back for this lemon. |
[Dec 30, 2000]
Mike
Audio Enthusiast
I do not know where all of these complaints are coming from. I have had this unit since the first day it was availiable (very late 97) and I love it. I have not had one problem with this DVD player. I have never experienced the pixelization or freeze ups that everyone else is talking about. It plays movies like The Matrix, Saving Private Ryan (DTS), and Gladiator perfectly. In fact better than my Toshiba sd2200. I generally watch about 10-12 movies a month without a hitch. Sorry all u guys are having problems, but mine is a keeper. Similar Products Used: Toshiba sd2200 |
[Dec 30, 2000]
Greg
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
My first DVD player. Seemed to have excellent video and audio, certainly when compared to VHS.
Weakness:
The same things everyone else is noticing. Like many other unfortunate owners, I have had to add words like "pixelation" and "lock-up" to my vocabulary when trying to watch a movie. I have had this player for about three years, and it has seen fairly light use (about 2 movies a month). However, starting about two months ago, I experienced these problems, and in the last week, while trying to watch "Nashville" and "Gladiator," my wife and I had to stop watching after about an hour, after frequent pixelation and audio drop-out, when the machine finally locked up. My wife insisted on going to Blockbuster to rent the tape of Gladiator so we could finish the movie! Needless to say, I will replace this with something other than a Panasonic!! Similar Products Used: None yet. |
[Jan 01, 2001]
James Steven
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
No problems after repair, paid by ME.
Weakness:
Should not have broke down the first time after only 1 year I submitted my review over a year ago same crappy Similar Products Used: Toshiba and Highly recommended |
[May 26, 2000]
nedgo
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
worked for 18 months
Weakness:
died an ugly death; won't read discs -- period. The Panasonic A310 was my first DVD player and I purchased it early on in the DVD "revolution" based, primarily, on my success with a Panasonic LD player (that's still working fine after 6 years.) Similar Products Used: SONY 650 |
[Sep 29, 1999]
Lou
an Audio Enthusiast
Have to change my evaluation from 4 stars to 1. After 8 months, I've run into the same problem everyone else met. Discs skip, pixelate or freeze after playing for awhile. It's really disappointing to get to the climatic scene and not be able to finish watching the movie. I wasn't certain about buying a Panasonic because I've had run-ins with their VCRs. In this case, you don't even get what you pay for. From this point forward, I could never recommend a Panasonic product. |
[Apr 05, 2000]
Indra Laksono
Casual Listener
Strength:
Component Video Output.
Weakness:
DTS optical-out does not work; does not play CDR, does not play MP3 CDs, does not SVCD. Was expensive. I bought this in '98 because it was the first player I saw that had component video out, and I enjoyed the A300. I have not had any problems with it, and it has survived some marathon 24hr DVD playback sessions when some friends decided to sleepover during several long wkends and go through my collection of 400 DVDs. Similar Products Used: Panasonic A300, Apex AD600A |
[Jul 21, 2000]
Roberto Leao
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Not too expensive for me to justify smashing with a hammer!
Weakness:
Made me feel like a clown Shoot, guys, this piece of junk doesn't work! Similar Products Used: Glorious Pioneer 740 laser disc player |
[Jul 19, 2000]
Ben
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Cosmetics...Best looking of all DVD players...even today. Picture quality. Sound Quality.
Weakness:
Joystick on remote. I bought this player in November of 1998. Played Hundreds of hours of DVD's on this player without any problems. I find the picture quality to be excellent. I don't think there is another player out there that can surpass it. The sound quality on DVD's and CD's is also excellent. I must be one of the lucky ones. I also like the way the unit looks. I find the present panasonic models and models from toshiba and others to have no style at all. When I buy another DVD player to replace this unit, I wish that I can take the electronics out of that one and put it into the Panasonic 310 unit. It looks that good. |
[Mar 12, 2001]
Tom
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
When it did manage to play ok, it was an unremarkable $500 DVD player...
Weakness:
What can I say that hasn't been said? Piece of JUNK!!!!!!! Like most other people here, I had good experiences with other Panasonic products so I thought I was getting the best dvd player out there (A310). Of course what I got was screwed by Panasonic. Send this thing in to be repaired, which cost over $100 (it was still under parts warranty at least) and it seemed to work ok for a while, then went back to exhibiting the same problems. But recently it really flaked out. I took it to a local repair shop ($250 for Panasonic to 'fix' it again? No thanks...) who said it was a laser problem and they couldn't do anything. I was contemplating leaving it there to rust when I came upon this review site looking for a new DVD player. Thank you all for going to the trouble to pave the way for getting some satifisfaction from Panasonic for this fiasco.... If I can get a new player from them as you all have done, maybe I'll consider panasonic again in the future. |