Built in decoder and lots of extra circuitry to control audio and video parameters

manual remote could be a little better (seems like the norm for Japanese products). warranty should be longer

Stumbled onto this model for $273 new at a panasonic outlet. I hadn't had a chance to check into it but bought it because I needed the decoder for my Onkyo receiver which is digital ready without a built in decoder and the price seemed excellent (they only had 2 of them at that location). Before I opened up the unit I held onto it for a month as I was unsure as to how good it was based on the reviews I read here. Some better reviews showed up and I went ahead and opened it and used it. I have not had one glitch in the past month of using it. Performance has been excellent, I can find no reason to put it down. It also plays music CD's quite well. It is fast and quiet. I love having lots of paramaters to play with. This is NOT a basic unit with a decoder built-in, it is a deluxe unit with lots of control power over the picture. I have played with audio/video for over 20 years and I like this unit. I also have been told by an independent technician that Sony construction quality has been going downhill lately so Sony was out of the question which makes Pioneer the only alternative I would have considered and it doesn't have all the features of this unit.

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first DVD player

BUILT IN AC-3 AND DTS DECODERS, EASE OF USE.

NONE AS OF YET

GEE WIZ, SOME OF YOU GUYS ARE WHINERS!!!, OK I WILL ADMIT I BOUGHT THE A320, AND I HAD TO TAKE IT BACK THE SAME NIGHT BECAUSE OF "LOCK-UP", BUT THE KEY POINT HERE IS THAT IT WAS RE-CONDITIONED. I WAS GIVEN A DEMO A320, AND THUS FAR I HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS. BUT THIS COULD CHANGE?

MOVING RIGHT ALONG, I CONNECTED THE DVD PLAYER USING THE "5.1 OUTS", TO THE "INS" ON THE AV50, I FIRED IT ALL UP AND "WOW" IS ALL I COULD THINK!!, THE SOUND IS TREMENDOUS, ESPECIALLY DTS, THE BASS WAS THUNDEROUS EVEN WITHOUT A SUB (I LIVE IN A APARTMENT-SO NO SUB)SAVING PRIVATE RYAN SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!!, I THEN PUT IN THE ROCK, AND I WAS JUST AS IMPRESSED!!, THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH SOME OF THESE MACHINES, BUT IF THE OTHER "PROFFESIONAL REVIEWERS" HAD A LITTLE MORE PATIENCE THEY WOULD SEE THAT THIS PLAYER OFFERS A LOT OF BANG FOR THE BUCK. AND IF YOU HAVE PIXEL (ARTIFACT) PROBLEMS THEN USE A BETTER VIDEO CABLE, YOU CANT EXPECT CHEAPO CABLES TO MAKE EVERYTHING PERFECT. I AM USING 3 STRAIGHTWIRE SILVER VIDEO CABLES TO RUN TO THE COMPONENT IN ON MY TV, AND THOUGH IT DOESNT CLEAR ALL UP THE PIXELS ON THE FIRST OR EVEN SECOND GENERATION DVDS, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?, THE FORMAT IS NOT YET PERFECTED. HERES A TEST: IF YOU OWN TWISTER ON DVD WATCH IT ON ANY PLAYER YOU WANT AND I GUARANTEE YOU WILL SEE PIXELS, NOW BUY THE RE-RELEASE OF TWISTER ON DVD AND SEE IF YOU HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM, I DOUBT IT. REMEMBER BOYS AND GIRLS, SOMETIMES ITS THE SOURCE MATERIAL BEING USED.....PEACE!

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PANASONIC A110, SONY DVP 550
MY SYSTEM CONSISTS OF:ARCAM AV50 AMP.
ARCAM ALPHA 8P POWER AMP
PARADIGM MINI-MONITERS (FRONTS)
PARADIGM CC-350
PARADIGM ATOMS (REARS)
NO SUB
ARCAM ALPHA 8SE CD PLAYER
TWO PANASONIC SVHS DECKS

Looks nice, and packed with good features. Played well for just over a year.

I read another review about the laser pickup going bad at the year mark. Well, count mine as another. It went bad at the 12 and half month mark. $256 repair estimate. Needless to say, I'm going with another deck and staying away from Panasonic.

Stay away from Panasonic. Customer service was friendly but not helpful. By all means, purchase an extended warranty if you buy a Panasonic product.

Plays DVD Audio disks. NEVER refused to play ANY DVD (and I watch lots of them!)

None that I could think of

I've had this DVD for two years now. I use it EVERY DAY and I never had any trouble with it. I love listening to music on this unit, and especially DVD Audio DVDs with my 5.1 system. The movies also come to life with it, the sound and base are incredible. I like the on-screen display, and I use it a lot mainly to turn the center-channel dialog enhancer on and off. What I love most about this Panasonic player is the fact that it plays DVD Audio DVDs, they sound twice as good as regular music DVDs, and this is not even a DVD Audio player...

Excellent picture, Great features, Plays all discs

none

Great Unit plays every dvd I've put in it. Sound from built in decoder not as good as Harman Kardon reciever. Excellent picture quality.

Plays damaged discs that other players were unable to read. Fast DVD Load time. Nice Remote layout.

Some pixelation.

While it is true that on some movies you do see a bit of pixelation (especially in shading effects), it is hard to find fault with this player. For months I tried to play a few DVD that (apparently) were improperly copied at the manufacturer. Along comes this God-send at $300 CAN that plays every single movie I have. Most impressive at that price. I find it hard to believe that these people are having such a difficult time with this unit. (Admittedly, most of the reviews are great.) Must have made a bad batch and these guys got them. Would recommend to anyone who wants a good, reliable, inexpensive mid to low end system.

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Panasonic A100

Onboard DD/DTS decoders. Component video jacks, Optical and coax output plus 5.1 RCAs. Component video out. Excellent picture, audio. DTS/AC-3 decoder

No zoom, no backlit remote

I waited and research for approx. 6 months for the 'ultimate' DVD player, dollar for features. And after all the reasearch and reading all the review posted, the one that kept on getting excellent reviews was the Panasonic A320. I have friends and family memeber who have various different DVD players, so I have been exposed to plenty of different models. The one thing I can say is that in all the other DVD Players you might have 1 or 2 great features, and because the price is so cheap you might sacrafice the other feature you were looking for. With the Panasonic there are so many feature I will guarantee you willnot even use all of them, but at least you don't have to settle for something you might use in the future. I bought my DVD player with the intention that I will have it for at least 3-5 years. The true test came last night when I watched "The Matrix". There was absolutely no problem with this DVD. The video and DD sound was phenomenal and the layer switch was barely noticeable. In fact, layer switches are not as bothersome on the A320 as they were on the A100, and the A100 played all my 250 or so DVDs without any glitches. Bought my DVD player for $275 including shipping, great deal....

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Toshiba SD5109, Samsung 909, Sony DVP-S530, RCA 5500P

Built in Dolby and DTS decoders, great picture quality

Cannot display remaining time on a DVD

Well... this piece completed my Home theater. After a lot
of research, I got this Panasonic DVD player. It was well
within my budget (Paid $317 incl shipping). The A320 is
an excellent player and so far I havent had any problems.

The remote is pretty much ok... though I dont like the
sliding thing. But this is not a big deal since I am not
playing with my remote all the time.

The Dolby and DTS decoders work great. I have Technics
receiver and all Infinity speakers. The sound quality is
great. I personally think the dialog enhancer feature is
great.

For the price, I dont think you can any other player that
has all the features Panasonic A320 has to offer.

fails playing some DVDs

I one word don't buy. I am experiencing continuous problems with this A320 DVD player since the beginning. It just fails playing some DVDs even in perfect condition. Sounds like something is wrong with the firmware because some DVDs really crashes the unit like a computer. When this happens, I need to turn it off and wait several hours before I can use it again. I sent the unit back for maintenance couple months ago. It was ok at the beginning, but the malfuntioning resurfaced again... I want to get rid of it.

Everything, great picture, great features, great sound

Nothing that I can think of at the moment

This DVD player is wonderful. Because of this player I have become a big supporter of Panasonic. I think the remote is set up well and the main buttons are easy to find. The set-up menus on the DVD player are easy to navigate, it is easy to hook up and has component video out. I highly recomend this player to anyone and everyone who does not already have a DVD player.

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The Sony DVD players and the Pioneer DVD players