Very good picture reproduction, on-board dd/dts decoder

No headphone jack, no front jog shuttle, lacks zoom function

I was kinda reluctant to buy this machine due to gliching from past Panasonic players, but the 320 convinced me of its superiority and lack of erroneous actions that I am now totally satisfied with it. Apart from the lack of some non-essential features, the player has about everything I need.

The picture was excellent and reproduced deep blacks very well. Likewise with contrast, especially on old black-white movies (they can easily reveal poor transfers and moire), the 320 was absolutely outstanding, even managed to lend some depth on certain scenes of "The Longest Day". Color reproduction was quite good though not as eye-catching or vivid on some other players (Sony players in particular). There was little artifacting though I noticed it with foliage on "The General's Daughter". I encountered a severe case of pixelation on "Blair Witch", though I haven't noticed it since. Disc access time and layer switching was amazing on this player. Its stop to play - loading time is extremely fast and layer switches were ninety-nine percent of the time unnoticiceable (subjectively of course)

The sound was was excellent using an outboard decoder. It articulated action-heacy scenes well though the bass was a liitle too prominent. Using the onboard decoder was less comprehensive and lacks true speaker-setup capabilities though its work with dts encoded soundtracks really shines.

Haven't listen to my CDs yet on this machine, though I am curious as to its reproduction of 96/24 CDs (hope future reviewers will give some insight to its CD performance). All in all, this is one great player FOR THE MONEY. Build quality is what I expected from Panasonic/Technics and prefer it versus that of all Sony machines. Remote is well placed and easy in my hand though I find its sliding door a little cumbersome. A player that is 100 percent bang for the buck, it's just wonderful!

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD-A120, Sony DVP-S530

Picture and sound quality, features

manual and fold out part of the controller

First of all I must say that I absolutley love this DVD player. It's my favorite of the 3 players I've used, even though it doesn't have as many features as the APEX player it does have better picture and sound quality which I would much rather have. This player is easy to use and although I don't like the slideing part of the controller it's alot better than the original panasonic controllers. The digital cinema mode is a useless feature but still kind of neat. This player is alot quiter than the A105 and it loads movies quite a bit quicker as well. I paid $315.00 for this brand new on ebay, and it was well worth the money. I've read many complaints about this player on here but I must say I've found nothing wrong with it. It switches layers fast enough and it played The Matrix great. Have played 30 movies on this now and have not had one glitch. For those of you wondering how the built in decoders work, I haven't had the chance to use them since I have it hooked up through a Denon receiver which already had DTS and DD sound, so I'll be no help there. Overall I'm very happy with my purchase.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD A-105U, APEX Digital AD-600A

Price; DD/DTS decoders built in

The manual; the remote could use a little work

Upgrading from a 2 year old RCA, this player is a breath of freah air. I love the setup and settings menus - straightforward and intuitive. Picture reproduction is great. Sound is great (you can even specify speaker levels with a built-in speaker diagnostic). Fast forward speed can be controlled (and can have audio at 2x speed). Quite impressive.

The manual could have been a bit clearer on some issues. Most folks don't know the difference from PCM and bitstream. The remote didn't support my Sanyo TV except to turn it off and on. It won't support any dish systems. There's a sliding door to access "little used" features that I use a lot. And the keys are glow-in-the-dark, not backlit. Forgivable shortfalls.

I'm not into features I won't use, like zoom, etc., and I don't miss them from this player. If you just want to watch your movies and have the sound knock your socks off, this could be the DVD player for you.

Similar Products Used:

RCA 5500P

Onboard DD/DTS decoders. Component video jacks, Optical and coax output plus 5.1 RCAs.

Everything but zoom.

Very good picture and sound. Sound comparable to any outboard DD/DTS decoder under $1000. Very good CD sound. For just under $380 delivered you can't go wrong! (Sound City; Matt 800 888 5343 Ext 730)

Similar Products Used:

SD3109

Picture, Sound are fantastic. Loved the first war scene from Gladiator (The flaming arrows felt so real)

Remote, I wish it was truely universal. Although next to a Pronto is anything really universal?

I read alot of reviews prior to purchasing a player. All I can say is the reviews paid off. THis is a quaity player. I have had no trouble and the sound and picture are astounding. I don't use the built in decoders because my technics receiver has them. But they are nice features to have. So far I have not had any problems with my laser pickup. Hope I never do.

Built in decoders, video quality, sound quality, many options

No zoom, headphones, jog

Excellent machine. Read all titles (one title are scratched and equally read them). DVD manufactured by Sony Music (George Michael, Ladies and Gentlemen), are difficult to start read. May be a defect from music DVD.

Today DVD-A320 are replaced by RV-80. I expect with this model fix some failures from laser pickup (not my case, i hope not in the future).

This models are from Japan, better than other brands (Sony, Samsung, LG, etc.)

Similar Products Used:

Sony 550

Awesome player, whisper quiet, fast loading tray, ease of use, lots of features, great simple remote

This is my first player, Ive loved everything about it till the laser pickup failed to read my DVDs just 1 year after I purchased it. That seems to be the problem with Panasonics. Ive read they do cover the cost of replacement optical pickups in some cases, and not in others. I would highly recommend this player but purchase extended warranties of you can get one.

Sound, Picture Quality and the numerous Video and Sound options.

None.

What do you know, the DVD technology does work!
I had pretty much given up on finding a DVD Player that doesn't skip, Freeze or simply wouldn't play.
In the past year, I have gone through six DVD players, all of which had problems when playing.
However, this machine does it all and it does it well. This player provides great picture reproduction, nice sound and affordable quality. It has many features including fast DVD loading , a dialogue enhancer , DTS and 5.1 decoder and a nice remote that hides the more uncommonly used button under a panel. It has worked flawlessly for all DVD titles I've used and the video and audio quality are top notch.
I would definitely recommend this DVD player to anyone in the market for a quality player.

Built in DTS/DD. Fast tracking.

none so far

I have had no problems playing any DVD with this unit (this includes the Matrix, etc).

It tracks much faster than my A120 and has a great remote. The built in DD sounds better than my Rotel 975 decoder.

Got it for a decent price from 800.com - with $50 in free movies and 5 free movies via mail in offer.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic A120

Excellent picture, audio

AC-3, DTS decoder setup not intuitive

I bought this player recently. Played about 10 dvds (including the Matrix) with no problems. Excellent deal for DVD/decoder combo. As with most players at this price range, I wish that the build quality was better but that is a minor nit. The only complaint is that the AC-3 and DTS setup was not intuitive. It relies too much on the on-screen menus for the decoder setup. Overall, I am pretty happy with the unit.