It worked find until Matrix came out.

It doesn't play hybrid dvd movies.

This message is for all of the people that are having problems with their A310..... PLEASE e-mail PANASONIC CUSTOMER SERVICE...Tell them about the problems that you are having with the product.. I just got of the phone with them and they told me that it was news to them that so many customers are having problems with the A310. I was very surprised when I heard this.. IF WE WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WE MUST SPEAK LOUD, VERY LOUD.... You need to call them, complain, e-mail them, what ever it takes for them to fix the problems.. I told them about this site and their response was "I can't look at the site because is not sponcer by panasonic." I told her if Panasonic had a similar site that let customers post good and bad reviews about their product and offcourse she reply by saying NO, they don't...That's what I thought.. I don't think panasonic will ever admit that the A310 has a problem.. As I go down the list I see that the mayority of the reviews are negative. Is only a matter of time before things start to go wrong.... and if you never had a problem with it "You are a lucky one".
Dont' waste your time purchasing this player..

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Sony 500's

Great picture quality (superb anamorphic downconversion)

None

I have to say that my Panasonic A310 (my first and only DVD player) has performed flawlessly for exactly 2 years now. I've used it moderately (never more than 1 film at a sitting, around 2-3 films a week), so perhaps that's the key. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones. The picture quality is top-notch, and maintains picture sharpness when downconverting anamorphic material, unlike Sony machines, which soften the picture to minimize downconversion artifacts (which I've never found troublesome on the Panasonic).

Good picture and sound (for the first year)

Too expensive for me to justify smashing with a hammer, yet not reliable enough for me to sell. Skips, freezes, pixelates, audio drop-outs.

This was my first DVD player and the last Panasonic player I will own. It worked fine for the first year or so, except it occasionally skipped chapters on the first dual layered DVDs released. One night several weeks after the warranty expired, I was watching the third movie in a row in our "movie night" and the picture began to pixelate horribly. I assumed it was the disc, and returned it the next day. The problem resurfaced several days later, after watching two movies. After some time the player would start to screw up after less than an hour of use, prompting me, after being refused free repair, to replace the player with a Toshiba 3109, and move the A310 to the bedroom. It worked fine watching parts of movies before I went to bed for several months, until now it simply refuses to play reliably for any more than 15 minutes. I am too honest to try to sell this player to anyone, so when I buy a Progressive player for my living room, the A310 will be terminated.

I give this player a star only because it got my wife and I hooked on DVD. If your A310 works the more power to you, but judging from the reviews on this forum, I would advise you to start looking for bargains on new players.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD 3109,SD 2109 and SD 1200

Performs well when it works

Reliability

Since this unit was new, I had minor problems with specific DVD's. The problem is similar to many other reported problems - the screen pauses with pixelized blocks on the screen. The problem has been getting progressively worse! Currently, many DVD's that worked properly in the past are having the same problem. I would not recommend this or similar products to anyone!

I guess I'm one of the few lucky ones. Bought mine in April 1998 and not a problem yet. I watch a couple dvd's a week ,sometimes more. I bought a 3year warranty so I've got till 4/2001 in case.

Once fixed by Panasonic it works well.

Broke almost as soon as I got it in 1997. Wont play CDRW's very well.

I got this model in 1997 and it did not work very well from the start. I bought it almost the month DVD's hit the market so when it showed pixels on the screen or was tempermental, I assumed the technology was not perfected. I was wrong. These units have a lousy pick up and this thing should have been recalled. Once I sent it back and it was fixed it has worked well for 2 years straight but I think it is getting tempermental again. I sometimes see pixels again and I am looking for a new player. Other than all of the breakage, the quality of the audio and images seems fine, although I have never tried another player. Dont buy one of these used, you will regret it. My next player wont have digital decoding because all receivers and preamps now have it anyway, I wasted a lot of money on that feature.

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none

Worked for 2 years

Reliabililty

I purchased the A310 on May of 1997. The unit played flawlessly until Godzilla (Sony)came out. During the layer change, it would jump chapters and freeze. After that I didn't have any problems until June 2000. The player would just freeze up and lock the disc in the machine. I have had the laser pickup replaced, but with no success. The player is once again getting repaired. I thought a product made in Japan would be more reliable then this paper weight. No more Panasonic DVD players (including Yamaha and Denon)

I got this Dvd player as a gift, this is I think one of the best DVD players I have ever tested. It plays audio cd much better than those expensive cd players. I've heard that a lot of people are having problems with this dvd player but I havent had any problems so far. It has been 2 years problem free. I recommend this product to anyone who wants to play Dvd's as well as sudio cds.

Excellent sound and video while it functioned

Evident design or quality control flaws

I do not see any conflicts in the two extremes of reviews listed at this site. It does perform very well while it functions, but the model has a very poor reliability history. I have had my unit for 18 months of fairly light usage, after which it began the problem with DVD disc recognition. At this point it will not play DVD discs at all and displays the "no disc" error message. My thanks to all who contributed to this site as I will not have my unit repaired unless Panasonic does it for very little or no charge. It just doesn't seem to be worth the repair money given the still uncertain future performance.

Similar Products Used:

No other DVD players

Great picture, sound, dolby dts/5.1 built-in

I haven't had any problems with reliability as others have mentioned. This machine has functioned flawlessly since day 1.

I understand the problems people have been having with this machine. If I were in the market for another dvd player, I would avoid Panasonic all together. That being said - I have had no problems and have been 100% happy with the A310. But I am aware of the problems that could be right around the corner. 3 stars overall for Panasonic's poor response to the design flaws of the machine.

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none