NONE many anymore

Bit the dust *after* the warranty wore out. Only plays single sided 'silver' DVDs. Pixellation. NO way will it play Gold RSDL discs anymore

This is an update to my previous post.
Contacted Panasonic by phone today, and the gentleman must
have been trained 'well'. I specifically called about the defects this machine shares with the A110 and 310, but he asked what can he do for me ?
I stated this had the defect the aforementioned units had and asked why Pan is swapping out the A110 and 310s but not the A120s even though they had the same defects. BAD servo mechanisms, NO DISC error after a relatively short usage period. (say less than 100 hrs since bought)
He said they were NEVER DESIGNED to play RSDL discs anyway.
SO it shouldnt have worked to begin with, when playing, say T2:UE. Nice eh ? $350 and all it can play (just about) is CDs ???
After jousting around for 1/2 hour or so I got another
female rep, who would not swap it out, but agreed to waive the inspection fee for my shipment to the Langhorne PA
service center.

God knows what they will do, beyond that, but having this unit go conveniently weeks after the warranty, has this device as suspect. Maybe they have some Firestone staff advising them ???

OH. And dont worry about sending the registration cards in.
That is 'just for surveying the public'. No wonder I never heard a thing after I sent in 'the important document which was supposed to offer me updates, special deals' etc.

AND the reason they are swapping out the A110 and 310 units have nothing to do with a class action suit either.

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Fast start up, picture and sound

Didn't last

I have the Panasonic 120Au for about 18 months and was extremely satisfied with it. Recently, it became erratic reading discs so I sent to Circuit City service to have it checked. The total damage was over $200. I am off to buy another, but it may not be a Panasonic this time.

I thought this player is simple to use, my son was able to figure out how to use the remote without reading the instructions.

None, so far.

SInce, I have collected/viewed hundreds of laser discs, I was not too overly excited about DVD, since audio & video quality are nearly the same, maybe slight edge to DVD.
The movies that I have watched on this player, "The Matrix", "Aliens", and "Bug's Life" have not produced any technical glitches or lip sync problems.
One annoying problem is the audio segment. I have to turn up the volume to hear the dialog because the background noise, such as music or explosions (as in "Armageddon") are too loud & I cannot hear the dialog part of movie scenes. My player is connected only to my SONY XBR TV which has no center mounted speaker. How can I correct this apparent flaw? The VSS feature does not help. Other than that, I like this player and would recommend it to any first time DVD fanatic.

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Pioneer Laser Disc player

If you are going to use the component outs, do not buy this play. It worked great for everything except the component outputs had terrible horizontal streaks. I even tested 2 units... they both had the same problem. I ended up buying a Toshiba which does not have the problem.

Purchased this player at Best Buys in Pasadena on sale for $228. Great picture and easy to set up. Past reviews have panned the remote for small buttons but I didn't have any problems with it.
Played several dvds so far (the matrix, prince of egypt, tomorrow never dies, enemy of the state, jumanji, antz, titanic, the replacement killers, dangerous liasons, and the hunt for red october) So far only two probs. both dangerous liasons and the hunt for red october had pixelation problems. returned the 1st player we bought and the second did the same.

will be returning the second set as well. soooo

great price, great picture but the hunt for red october is one of my favorite movies so I guess for us it's 3 speakers.

I have had the A-120U for 2 days now. This is my first DVD player. I paid $229 at the Good Guys. The price included 5 free DVD's, 13 free rentals at BlockBuster, and 18 free rentals at NetFlix. Best Buy and Fry's were also selling the A-120U for $229, but w/o the NetFlix rentals. Overall, I am very satisified with this unit. The unit has almost all the features anyone could want including built in Digital Sound and DTS. However, it does NOT have any zoom features. The picture quality is much better than VHS even though I am using the composite video connections on a 6 year old Toshiba 26" tv. I have not experienced any lip sync problems or pixelation problems. Overall the unit is well built, including the remote control. However, the remote control has extremely tiny buttons. I prefer the RCA system remotes. My only complaints about this unit are: No zoom features and tiny buttons on the remote. The features I like include: Extremely fast load time of DVD's, VSS sound feature, plays video CD's, includes built in DTS and Digital Sound. You can't go wrong by purchasing this player as your first one.

Ease of use, and dependability.

I got this as a gift last year, and have been very satisfied with the quality. We use the player 2-3 times per week and have not had any problems. The ff and rew features are also very nice. Some of the interface on the on screen features are a bit cryptic, but I guess some people actually read manuals. All in all, a very solid dvd player.

DTS, DD5.1, Optical out;S-video, RCA, component out

Reliability, construction

Initially I was very happy with this product. Even played the Matrix w/o any problems. However, less than 6 months after purchasing, it had to be sent in for repair - the optical pickup needed to be replaced. I suspect that a DVD that we rented, which had a large sticker on it, caused the problem, because after we watched it, the unit failed to read ANY dual-layered discs (including the one we had just viewed), and most others. Cost $80 to repair!

Occasionally, especially during dark scenes, compression artifacts are noticeable. Whether this is a general DVD/MPEG problem or particular to this player, I can't say. But it is a noticeable by-product of the digital medium. This is something you never see on Laserdisc, but then again, you get better sound at a lower price, and you don't have to flip discs (usually) w/ DVD. Even the best both side play LD has ~8 sec flip time - as compared to <0.5 sec pause in poorly done dual-layer DVDs.

On the upside, T2:Ultimate edition has shown NO problems whatsoever, and after repair, haven't seen any problems during movie playback on any discs.

The unit is awfully light - I prefer a bit more mass in my components. But, it is quiet and has an elegant panel. It integrates well with my Technics SA-AX6 and SH-500D setup.

Though I'm happy with how it's working now (after repair), it is a bit light on special features, and the need to repair after such a short time is concerning. That's why it's only getting three stars overall.

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Picture Quality, Sound Digital Output

It won't play audio CD's that I burn. Remote buttons are small, and I find myself having to hit them multiple times since you have to learn how to press buttons right on the remote.

I picked this up for free at that Best Buy & MSN giveaway, but even if I had paid $250, I'd be completely satisfied. It's perfect with my DD receiver, and all my DVD's play perfectly. I'm glad I didn't go for anything higher up because it has everything I wanted in a DVD player.

multiple outputs- Toslink and digital coax as well as component out for video

remote control

Great DVD player for the money (got mine for $198 delivered thru Mercata) Easy to set up and use also a great selection of outputs as noted above. The dialogue enhancer is a great feature allowing you to easier understand the center channel voices without having to re-adjust sound levels. The remote control buttons are a little small and the fast forward and rewind functions take a little while to get use to. Compared this to a Pioneer DV525 @ $299.00 and also a Toshiba SD2109 @ $275.oo retail and the Panasonic is by far a better player and a better value.

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