Picture/sound quality, effects, simulated surround modes and build quality(fast loading transport, quiet etc.)
**$50 rebate from Panasonic purchased through Jan. 31 2001**
http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/dvd/dvd_rebate.htm
Fantastic DVD player even at twice the price!

Not a consideration at this price, but does not support the more extreme formats (CD-R, DVD audio etc.)

I am running my Panasonic DVD RV30 through a Toshiba 32" (32A40)TV via component video connections (Monster Video 2 cable). The picture quility is nothing short of fantastic. While I have not purchased a surround decoder at this time I am still very pleased with the simulated surround effects in the DVD and the Tosh. television. The audio is being feed to a Harmon Kardon HK3700 stereo receiver driving Definitive Technology's Celsius DR's bookshelfs/satilites with a matching powered 15" Def. Tech. subwoofer.

My main reason for purchasing the DVD RV30 was "bang for your buck". With research and demo's into some of the best units available (Sony Wega XBR400 HDTV ready TV, Denon AVR 5800 and Onkyo 989 suround recievers, Denon 3300 DVD player etc.), I have decided to wait out the HDTV/ surround sound migration a little longer and and a third to half the price for the same units with more features in 1 to 2 years.

P.S. I was able to purchase the Toshiba 32A40 TV(recommended) for $468 (steal) locally due to a back order issue with a simular Panasonic 32" TV. The best prices on the WEB that I found were $100 higher and that did not include shipping. For comparitive price shopping on electronics try www.pricengine.com, I have had good luck finding the lowest prices there!

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 1600, 2200

Neat design and nice interface

poor picture quality esp. when have it hooked up through VCR.

I didn't like the samsung DVD player. Had it returned after using it for couple of days. Actually, I am looking for DVD player that not only supports CDs/VCDs but also has great picture quality even if you hook it up through your VCR. Could anybody please let me know. Some good tips or recommendation would really be appreciated.

mp3 playback, vcd support, cdr compatible, composite out, optical out, cheap.

Mp3 doesn't shuffel (this pretty much negates the usefullness of having an mp3 player on board). The big one however is you will see white hazy, flickering, horizontal lines scan down the screen slowly on several dvds. This is very noticable on the hunt for red october's first frame in chapter 12. Look to the right of the guy's face and you'll see what I'm talking about. These large faint white bars appear whenever the dvd laser moves, you can see it in the title sequences of most dvd's. Now this problem really only appears while using composite outputs on my sony wega tv. On other tv's, like the cheap one in the kitchen you can't really see it. I suspect the problem will only appear on mid/high end sets where picture quality can actually be seen. The last weekness this thing has is it's terrible at playing rented dvds. If there's a scratch the thing will lock up every time. This doesn't happen on my dvd rom or the new sony s400d I just bought.

I bought the rv31 about 5 months ago, it was the first dvd player I've ever owned aside from the one in side my computer. Initially I was quite impresses with this unit as it does have a nice compliment of features including mp3 playback, cdr compatibility, vcd ready.. If you don't have a high quality tv player and your just looking for a low end player then yes, this player is terrific. If on the other hand you've got a fairly good video setup, don't buy it. You'll end up selling it a few months later.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer dvd rom, Sony s400d

Quiet ,fast loading and easy set up and remote operation.

Buttons on remote are soft and need to be depressed hard to operate

Great entry level player for the money,I had bought a Samsung 6100 but found that while it had more features than the Panasonic, it skipped on new movies and had alot of static/snow.I took it back and bought the Panasonic because of the positive reviews and the name brand.

Similar Products Used:

samsung 6100

cdr/ cdrw playable mp3, sound is excellent in all listening formats Price

optical only digital output, perfer coaxial

For the money this unit, serves its purpose. I dropped $300 on the toshiba 3 years ago. The toshiba was a great unit, but would not play cdr media. At $150 dollars this units is a disposable.

I would recommend for all those needing the features and a unit to get by until the true progessive units come down in price.

Set Up
HK AVR75
Energy APS5+2
Energy AC300
Energy Pro 2.5
Monster HTS5000

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toshiba sd3109

Quiet, easy operation and smooth forward and reverse scanning. Great clarity. When it works.

I have really not found any except for the malfunctions.

For the first 7 months I was really happy with this unit. Then the problems started. While watching a brand new DVD the picture froze on the screen and stayed on the screen forever. After trying several buttons on the remote with no response at all from the player, I finally pushed the power button and it turned off. I tryed the DVD several more times and it froze at the same spot. I took the DVD back thinking that it may have been defective. After playing the new DVD it froze again. Since this time I can plan on the unit freezing after 45 minutes to one hour of play time on ANY DVD played. I don't know if it is having trouble switching layers or if it is just having trouble reading the DVD's. Now I'm just waiting to get it fixed and hopefully I won't have any more problems.

Similar to all well reviewed older panasonic models
Easy to use (so far), 5 speeds of FF & RW & slowmo

buttons on deck & not remote (at least 1)
remote not backlit or glow in dark

I just got this unit as a present and it works great so far. Haven't had any setup or any other problems yet. Has plenty of features that I'll use later when I get a real TV with component video inputs & a larger screen. Has lots of features that I won't use (sub output etc) but are nice for those not having a bad-ass stereo setup like mine (I like it at least). Ran Entrapment flawlessly, and plenty of slowmo speeds for the various Zeta-Jones scenes that warrant the usage. Dolby Digital worked great, can't wait to try DTS to see if there is a difference. Sounds great with music in analog or digital, and movies sound superb. Picture quality puts VHS to shame, but no other comparisons

Great price and flaws are minor thus far. Biggest complaint to date, can't see remote in dark (read, in use since I don't watch movies in bright light!) and said remote buttons are smallish. Print in on screen menus is really small (but on a normal size TV are probably fine). Gets dual 5's for price and expected reliability based on A120, A110 reputation, (hopefully no major mods since then)

System:
small cheap ~1995 TV (prefer to leave it at that!)
panasonic DVD RV30 (duh)
Denon 2800 receiver (nice by the way!)
AR 328 front (horns with 2 8" drivers & 5" mid)
AR 318 rear (horns with 8" driver & 5.5" mid)
AR 225 PS center
(no sub yet, has plenty of punch with 6 8" drivers!)

Similar Products Used:

panasonic a120

Picture quality, component video output, subwoofer output, smooth operation

No coax digital output, no zoom

An excellent DVD plyer for the price. With Best Buy's "Preferred Customer" 10% discount coupon, I paid $206.75 out the door, including 7.5% sales tax. And, with Panasonic's $50 rebate, the final price is $156.75. An tremendous deal for an excellent product . . .

Panasonic still manufacturers quite a bit of their products in Japan, and the build-quality shows. I also recently purchased a Panasonic Hi-Fi VCR for a bedroom system, and it too was built in Japan.

I'm one who has owned a Sony Laser Disc player since 1990, and was always impressed with laser disc's video output quality. However, the versatility and the smaller disc size of DVD technology certainly makes it an easier proposition, especially when it comes to disc storage! Frankly, it is a bit hard to differentiate the video quality between laser disc and DVD on a high quality system. But, Dolby Digital 5.1 as compared to standard Dolby Pro Logic (as used with the laser disc system) is a large audio improvement.

The Panasonic DVD-R30 is a winner! Except for minor carps of no coax digital output and no zoom, this is all the DVD player most people would ever need. Quiet and smooth operation, plus Panasonic video product's reliability makes this a tremendous bargain in the DVD marketplace.

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Onkyo DV-S535

Plays MP3, CD-R/RW, VCD, Crisp Picture, Color Adjustments, Clear Display, Controls on Face of Unit, Quiet, Fast Seek Time, Headphone Mini-Jack on Face, Component Outputs, DTS&DD Compatible

No Digital Coaxial Output, MP3 Decoder Does Not Recognise Directories, Remote Lacks Ergonomics and IR Receiver has Narrow Range, Display Does Not Show Remaining Time in all modes, No Picture Zoom, Bass....what bass?

This player is quiet, fast, and does not feel cheap. Color reproduction is excellent and the sound is very detailed. Color can be fine-tuned with three separate adjustments as can the sound. The audio outputs, including optical, seem to omit the very low frequencies. For the price, I can't really complain because the picture compensates for the lack of bass. No other player I have viewed matches the detail and depth at this price point (I tested S-Video and Composite outputs.) MP3 and CD-R/RW playback is a definite plus. The player has a, "Welcome to DVD World," message that is displayed when the unit is powered on. The transport is very quiet and matches the transports used by DVD Players costing double the price. This is an excellent player. If bass is important to you and you don't mind a noisy transport, consider the Pioneer DV-333. It is the same price, has a Digital Coaxial output, but doesn't play MP3s. The picture on the Pioneer is almost as good as the Panasonic.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD-2008, Pioneer DV-333

See previous review

See previous review

This is just an update to my previous review where I mentioned a strange effect I noticed while playing DVD's on the Panasonic player...

I am happy to report that the fault is NOT with the player, it is either with my composite cables or my TV set. How do I know this? I was one of the lucky few to be able to get a PlayStation 2 on the day of its release, and during my experimenting with the PS2, I found that the same effect was noticable in games and DVD's played on the PS2.

It's definitly something having to do with my cabling or the TV. I plan to upgrade my TV soon though, to a bigger model with at least S-Video (if not composite) jacks. The problem should then disappear.

Those Sony Wega TV's are sooooo nice compared with what I am using now, but they are also a bit out of my budget at this point so I think I'm going to have to go with a 31" or 35" Sanyo TV from Wal-Mart. I work there, and not only do our Sanyo's have a low return rate, I am also able to get a very nice discount on one. :)

P.S. Thanks to Ed for the e-mail in response to my original review.

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See previous review