Entered CNET Catalog: 05/19/2006
SKU: 0037988253357
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Manufacturer description
Panasonic's vision of the digital future is driven by the needs and aspirations of its business customers and millions of consumers around the world who use its products every day. The company shares their dream to live a fuller life by providing ways of working smarter and enjoying the rewards of technological advances.User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 3 user reviews
Super picture with near HD quality
Pros: Easy to set up, Great Picture Quality, low price
Cons: Remote functions are muddled at best.
Review: This is truly a great value in upconverting DVD players. It took me about 30 minutes to set my entire system up including about 10 minutes for this player. HDMI makes it easy. The unit is very compact and light (some may say flimsy). This has been a great purchase and is higly recommended to anyone wanting the features of a player like this one.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 3 user reviews
Way out front of the competition!
Pros: Outstanding upconverted picture. Lots of connection options. Plays DVD-RAM.
Cons: I'll get used to the missing open/close button on the remote. Setup could be simplified.
Review: I was pleasantly surprised when this unit delivered the picture quality I had hoped for. Nice looking, well-built unit with all the connection options you could want. Reasonably priced. Took me awhile to complete the setup and get the 720p output to my LCD panel via HDMI. Had to resort to reading the instructions...carefully. No real complaints with this product. Very pleased with it. If you're looking for an up-converting DVD player with HDMI output, this is the one.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 3 user reviews
Finally an upscaling DVD player that works!
Pros: Upscaling HDMI substantially improves picture quality
Cons: No open/close option on remote control
Review: I have been searching for a DVD player that has upscaling capability through using an HDMI connection for almost a year. Because I have an HDTV and pure HD technology through DirecTV I have really noticed the difference in picture quality when watching my DVD collection. After doing a lot of research I have finally found a DVD player that meets my expectations. I had tried the Sony NS75H and found the picture to show absolutely no difference when using the HDMI connection. In fact the Sony would have some lines at the bottom and top of the screen when watching movies that were not fairly new.
So after reading a bunch of excellent reviews on the Panasonic player I decided to give it a shot and all I can say is what a difference a good DVD player can make. The picture quality is outstanding. The sound is excellent. For those of you who have some trouble hearing dialogue it even has a dialogue enhancer that works well. Details are much more refined and clear. Colors are crips and bright. I actually played 5 or 6 movies on this player and immediately played the same parts of the movie on my old but very capable Panasonic DVD-S35 using the same TV with component video for the S35. It was not even close. My wife and I could immediately pick up on the difference.
A couple of important notes. It is very important to go into the video menu and set the system up to you preferences. If you do not, the picture may look fuzzy or too bright. The menu provides plenty of options including settings for animated movies. We threw in a couple on animated movies like Ice Age and Buggs Life and were blown away. I can honestly say they looked as good and watching them on HD DirecTV.
This is not to say that the quality is at the level of HD as it is slightly below but boy is it close.
I can't reccomend this player highly enough. The best part is the cost. I got mine at Circuit City for under $100.00. That's a lot less than the new HD players and you still can play all DVDs not just the limited inventory offered in HD format.
I am extremely picky about my video and audio choices as I have a high end Denon receiver and an excellent Sony HDTV and this DVD player fits right in with these units!
So after reading a bunch of excellent reviews on the Panasonic player I decided to give it a shot and all I can say is what a difference a good DVD player can make. The picture quality is outstanding. The sound is excellent. For those of you who have some trouble hearing dialogue it even has a dialogue enhancer that works well. Details are much more refined and clear. Colors are crips and bright. I actually played 5 or 6 movies on this player and immediately played the same parts of the movie on my old but very capable Panasonic DVD-S35 using the same TV with component video for the S35. It was not even close. My wife and I could immediately pick up on the difference.
A couple of important notes. It is very important to go into the video menu and set the system up to you preferences. If you do not, the picture may look fuzzy or too bright. The menu provides plenty of options including settings for animated movies. We threw in a couple on animated movies like Ice Age and Buggs Life and were blown away. I can honestly say they looked as good and watching them on HD DirecTV.
This is not to say that the quality is at the level of HD as it is slightly below but boy is it close.
I can't reccomend this player highly enough. The best part is the cost. I got mine at Circuit City for under $100.00. That's a lot less than the new HD players and you still can play all DVDs not just the limited inventory offered in HD format.
I am extremely picky about my video and audio choices as I have a high end Denon receiver and an excellent Sony HDTV and this DVD player fits right in with these units!
