wonderful movie experience

CD players sound is weak, and it won't play CDR's

First off I do want to say that movies look and sound amazing on this thing. I have it hooked up to a Sony STE DE 835, with average old Realistic speakers, and it sounds great! Audio is exceptional. Picture really made my jaw drop -'that's my TV!', I thought. It's a very solid product and I would recomend it.
However, I originaly bought this because my CD player was getting worn out -the tray broke after years of service. I got to thinking about it, and I figured I would just get a DVD player and kill two birds with one stone. Wrong. I'm no audiophile, but I did expect decent sound. My old Magnavox 2000 blows this thing out of the water. I know, it's a DVD player, not a CD player, and I shouldn't complain, but I don't want anyone else to harbor the same misconception I did.
If you want to watch movies on it, it's great (Consumer Reports rates it number one for a reason), but don't expect it to replace even an average CD player.

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Easy to use; like the VSS feature & quick start feature

None, as of yet

I recently purchased the Panasonic A-120U after using laser disc format for about 10 years, although the video & audio with the DVD format is not too much different from laser disc format, I really have nothing negative to say about playback qualities. I am a stickler for quality audio/video playback, hence the reason for the laser disc/dvd format.
I bought the Panasonic model over other models because of the quick start feature & the VSS (Virtual Surround SOund) feature. I have not yet set up my Sony XBR to my A/V receiver, I am using the existing satellite tv speakers. There is a noticable difference when using the VSS feature & listening to movies. No audio/video synch problem, although I have only watched about 5 movies, so far.Did notice a possible glitch while watching a particular scene from "THe Deep Blue Sea", scene pauses for a few seconds before next scene. Other than that, I like this player.
When I upgrade my A/V receiver to included Dolby Digital & DTS decoders, I'll connect the DVD player to the new receiver. I am satisfy with audio quality, only when my wife leaves the room so I "pump up the volume" on my tv which is connect to 2 sub-woofers. This model would be a good entry model for a first timer DVD or Laser Disc fan. I waited until the price dropped to $250 @a local Good Guys. Price includes 18 free rentals from NetFlix.com.

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Pioneer Laser Disc

pitcure

none

I first got the dvd 310 and was not happy with it after short time of use it stoped reading the disc. I sent it back and got the dvd 120u and i have had on trouble with it. pitcure and sound are very good.

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panasonic 310

Great price ($232 UBID) and it has logical on-screen menus, layout. Plays the 3/4 discs we have used w/o a hitch. Start-up is fast and smooth. Hook-up to my Kenwood 209 receiver and JVC 36" took 2 minutes.

Some of the remote controls/labels are atypical.

Great unit at a great value.

Overall good quality ... and plays CD-RW

Funky remote

For some strange reason my A-120U actually plays CD-Rw with no problem at all (even though the manual says that it will not) I have had no problems playing DVDs AudioCds VCDs or CD-RWs. The Virtual Surround Sound is kinda iffy and at times the audio can be bogged down with VSS on. It is actually better than a friends new $500 Sony DVD player...

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low cost, relatively easy to use

poor manual

I purchased this unit just after Christmas, my choice aided by these reviews. I am using it in conjunction with a 10 year old NEC TV/monitor through the s-video output, and with an early Pioneer pro-logic surround amplifier/receiver through the standard audio outputs. I did have to purchase a separate manual switch (Sony) so it could share the one s-video input on the TV with my VCR.

It has flawlessly played the 9 DVDs I have tried so far. The unit is quiet - I am not able to hear the disk spinning unless I put my ear right up next to it. The image rendition is good, even during dark scenes and those with fog - I have not been aware of any visual artifacts. So far I haven't tried any disks which exercise the audio very much, so other than saying that it does work with my pro-logic surround system, I can't really comment on the audio. I do note that I consistently have to run the volume a bit higher on the amplifier than I normally would with either the VCR, CD player, or turntable (dialog enhancement may fix this, I haven't played with that feature yet).

Although I have noticed a number of complaints in these reviews about the remote, I do not find it any worse (or better) than my other remotes - and my hands/fingers are not small. It is a dedicated remote, but I actually prefer that, and don't use the universal remote I do own. I do have one concern with the remote - it has the tray open/close button right next to the play button. For that reason I did not enclose the unit behind a glass door as I had originally intended.

The manual leaves much to be desired - too many pictures and not enough text. I found the organization of the material made it hard to find the information I wanted.

Some of the initial setup sections in the manual were so brief that a novice would have a hard time determining what settings to use (at least this novice did). However, I would guess most will want to use the factory default settings - so this may not be much of a problem for most people.

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I bought this unit to replace a sony dvp s530d that was displaying the dreaded lip sync problem! the toshibas have horrible downconversion/artifacting, and i had heard rave reviews about the pana so i decided to check it out. first of all, the picture and sound are superb, better than the sony. the picture is sharper and the colours richer and more defined. the sound is much fuller, especially with DD/DTS. go check it out for yourself, i was very impressed. dont let its ugly brown looks scare you off (it looks like a 3DO if anyone remembers). it is not as aesthetically pleasing as the sony, nor does it have all the bells and whistles. however, having a dvd player where the lips match up with the voices is MUCH more important! also, the remote is a bit dodgy, but for 250-299 i really cant complain. you will be hard pressed to find as good picture/sound (which really matters most) for such a sweet price!highly recommended!

This is an improved version of the last year's best seller A-110. This player is fantastic. The picture quality is awesome. The Dolby Digital sound (passed from this player to the receiver) is second to none. This has component video output which gives yet a little more improvement in video. I have not tried DTS surround sound yet but I do not care about that for now. I also love the Advanced Virtual Surround Sound modes which simulate surround sound from only two speakers. These modes make the soundstage more like double in size. I am sure this A-120 will be again the best seller this year.

Ease of use, quiet cd/dvd playing mechanism, well designed remote, reported power consumption is less than most dvd players out there, dialogue enhancer(only with Dolby Digital)

Shows consistent and annoying audio/video glitches when playing dual-layered discs(DVD movies that are more than 2 1/2 hours long, ex. Titanic, Heat), shows occasional glitches with single-layered discs also, this player is simply not one of the good ones I've seen.

I wouldn't recommend this player. I've only used it for less than a month and it didn't meet my expectations, unfortunately. This player seem to be having difficulty reading dual-layer discs properly. It loses track of some digital information due to some laser-engineering-design problem. I haven't contacted panasonic about this, it was very difficult to. Unless they start correcting this problem, I wouldn't recommend this player to anyone. However, it plays single-layer discs pretty well - but any cheap dvd players out there can do that so it's nothing special. In summary, this is not a very special dvd player out in the market today.

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I have used Oritron200 in the past. Although this plays dual-layered discs well, it doesn't play vcd's.

My $6900 Forsell transport broke so I bought this yesterday to use as a transport. Surprisingly good. Differences between this and something that retails for around $6600 more: less resolution, not as deep or solid bass (bass is a little soft), small soundstage and less depth. But, very listenable. Sounds like transports that used to retail for $1500. For those interested, I'm using a Meridian 518 anti-jitter device, Timbre DAC, Purist Proteus digital cables; ESP Concert Grand speakers; Aragon 4004 MKII for the woofers, Music Reference RM9 MKII for the mids and highs; Joule Electra LA100 MKIII peramp.