Picture, sound

Cannot read CD-R

I bought the Panasonic to replace my Sharp 750U which have
a nice picture and sound but have a horrible problem with skipping and is unable to read my VCDs. The Panasonic
appeals to me for its compactness and picture quality.
The sales man asked me to tried out the JVC 521BK which
can read CD-R. While this is true, the picture contains
visible crossmarks which I find confusing to watch. The
Panasonic gaves a superb picture and sound. It also can read all the VCDs that I have and play all my DVDs
flawlessly, most of which I almost throw away because of
the skipping problem on the Sharp 750U thinking it was my
DVD dics that have a problem. The Panasonic also barely warmed after hours of playing unlike the Sharp and given
its size, it's amazing.

Similar Products Used:

Sharp 750U, JVC 521BK

Excellent quality, will play and store bought DVD no problem, everything is fantastic except the following:

No CD-R support!!!!!!!! WTF!!!! I'm not talking about 89cent-buy-them-by-the-spindle-crud either, I'm talking about high quality CD-Rs here, it can't even read them, and the manual talks about damaging your CD-R's if it does manage to read one(which I havent found one yet it will play) In the manual the list is HUGE of formats it won't play..that totally sucks! No Zoom, lack of co-ax digital output, remote has no backlight.

By the way, thats in Can$ how much I paid for it....Well I have to say I'm really disappointed about the number of formats this thing will play...I really wish I could have played my audio CD-Rs on it... this would be a 5/5 if it weren't for that, everything else is superb - you can read the other reviews for the strengths of this thing, thats why I bought it. I guess I'm going to have to invest in a separate CD player that will support CD-R, CD-RW, etc. Panasonic should have put another laser in there that could pick up the other formats...oh well ..Although I'd still say compared to the other DVD players on the market right now this thing still ranks pretty high, I just thought I should warn any other potential buyers about this little problem.

Similar Products Used:

DVD on my PC with co-ax DTS/DD output

When I first purchased this model my impression was that the picture and sound was OK but it left me uninspired. Remote is pretty good, but would be better backlit. The picture seemed to be "too clear" , with lack of fine details, however, if this makes sense. I then purchased a Sony DVP 7700, and it was certainly better, but in the end cost vs value was not justifiable. The Sony also had a sort of "cold and sterile" quality to the picture. After some research in different HIFI mags, I settled on the Pioneer DV 626D. Picture has more realism and depth to it than either of the other players and because it is discontinued you can get it at a good price if you can find one. The Pioneer also has many of the features that the Sony does including a jog shuttle on the remote and sounds ALOT better than either of the other players to boot. It seems that you don't always get what you pay for in this medium...a sure sign to stick to the lower cost players until the industry figures out what the hell it's doing.

stopped working.

Purchased this product two weeks ago after reading the rave reviews. Watched Mission to Mars as our first DVD video. Was very impressed. A week later went out to rent another DVD video and the player wouldn't play it or the second one we got. Waited one week and just rented the Cell and again the player wouldn't work. The counter would go to 3 and we would get some weird sounds through the speakers and the counter wouldn't go past 3 (0003) Nothing changed in my configuration between the first and last video. Going to return and look into another model.

good picture, price is right, many features

will be explained in review

This is my first DVD player. When shopping around I compared Sony, Toshiba and Pioneer models. In terms of picture quality I couldn't really tell any significant differences between the models I was looking at. Audio capabilities weren't regarded since I was planning on running a fibre optic feed into my receiver.

The Sony was the first one eliminated because it lacked features and was $150 more than the rest. The Tosh and Pioneer models also had good features and were of admirable quality, and it really was a toss up between the three. I ended up choosing the Panasonic becuase it came with more features and was the least expensive unit.

Brought it home and set it up. Following the manual for the set up process was pretty easy. Tried out the features for the first couple of weeks but then found that I really don't need them to make the experience enjoyable. Although, they may be quite useful to any other owner.

All in all, a good product and I have not had any problems with it for 9 months.

Similar Products Used:

first DVD player

MP3 playback, looks, price, sound

Constant contrast flickering while the disk is spinning

Well first of all I got this one (RV-31) really cheap off Ubid (155 including shipping). After having read the reviews on this site I was SO sure this was the DVD-player I wanted. Put on top of that some excellent professional reviews as well, I was sure I couldn't go wrong. Well, I most definitely was wrong! Very wrong.
Immediately after having hooked up the unit to my Sony WEGA KV27FS12 I noticed that the screen would flicker as soon as I put a disk in. It was very evident during dark scenes, and using S-video or component connections would only made matters worse (as in more evident). First I thought I had a faulty unit, or that the problem was only in the RV31's in silver, but after testing a black one at Sears (which behaved even worse than mine) I came to the conclusion that there is something fundamentally wrong with this DVD-player.
After calling Panasonic who had never heard of such a problem before (and they is supposedly still working on the case) I tried it out on a friend's TV (cheap Sanyo 25"). The result was a great picture, without any hints of flicker. I ended up selling the player to him as it worked out very nicely on his system.
Conclusion: if you have a nice TV stay away from this player (my DVD-rom gives far better picture using a Realmagic decoder card). On the other hand, if your TV is not all that great, this DVD player will work out just fine. The Panasonic RV-31 would have been perfect for me if it just wasn't for that *&^%#@ flickering...
I'll give 4 stars for value, but only 2 overall because...well it should be pretty obvious that you would like to get a flicker-free picture.

Similar Products Used:

Sony DVD-ROM through Sigmadesigns Realmagic +

Everything.

None.

Great machine...Video hooked up to a Sony Wega and sound flows through my Yamaha receiver.
I never had any problems with DVD, CD-R, or CD-RW.
Recommended for anyone.

On Screen Setup, Sub-out, Quiet, Compatibilty

Picture quality, No screen saver

Not a bad unit overall. I was surprised after reading all the reviews that the picture quality was so poor. While color was good, there was a lot of flutter and anti-aliasing problems. Lots of jaggies. Unit was attached using Component video onto a Sony 43" TV. I liked the way the unit worked and responded, but the jaggies were really a problem. Sound was good using fiber optics onto a 5240 Yamaha DTS reciever. The Dialog enhancer did nothing as far as I could tell. Remote was also quite slow to respond and aim was important. Overall a minor dissapointment.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 550D, Pioneer 434, Toshiba 1600, Toshiba 2300

On Screen Setup, Sub-out, Quiet, Compatibilty

Picture quality, No screen saver

Not a bad unit overall. I was surprised after reading all the reviews that the picture quality was so poor. While color was good, there was a lot of flutter and anti-aliasing problems. Lots of jaggies. Unit was attached using Component video onto a Sony 43" TV. I liked the way the unit worked and responded, but the jaggies were really a problem. Sound was good using fiber optics onto a 5240 Yamaha DTS reciever. The Dialog enhancer did nothing as far as I could tell. Remote was also quite slow to respond and aim was important. Overall a minor dissapointment.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 550D, Pioneer 434, Toshiba 1600, Toshiba 2300

Good Sound, Good Picture, Cinema Mode, Neat Design and
Simple Remote.

Nead Coax Ouput

Offers Biggest Bang For The Buck. For $175 ($225 - $50 Rebate), I can watch and enjoy DVD Quality Movies again and again. A 5-Star Selection for the value and the quality.

Similar Products Used:

SONY 360, KENWOOD, SONY 560, SAMSUNG 711, TOSHIBA 2200