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"Wonderful DVD Upconverter imagery and DVD features" on by MR CNET
Pros: Great picture and ability to isiolate vidio and or audo on the HDMI out
Cons: Darkened My image at 720P and no disk eject /open on remote
Summary: Wonderful unconverted image... For what it is worth.. from a 480P image .. Compared with Toshiba unit 5980 it is an improvement in the jag ergs end ...only 2 beef’s
___ I found using 720P darkened my image some what ?? . This On a NEW Panasonic Plasma which can take 720P or 1080i.. I did not experience the same using the Toshiba .. At 720P
on the same Panasonic Plasma ..
___ NO disk eject / Open on the remote
Has wonderful features and adjustment in the menus .. adj all aspect of the video and audio .. including black level , gamma and allow isolating the out put of the video and or audio using HDMI.. allowing you to feed audio to a digital input of a receiver .. Rather than the Plasma set.
Until receivers start to show more with the HDMI interface ,, this is a great feature .
Attractive design and well built for today’s standers
Can set one user option on the DVD player in regards to video and audio besides the pre programmed that come on board
And allows for 3 user adjustments in regards to picture and audio combination grouped of these preprogrammed ..
Still best to Work and tweak your picture using a DVD disk like Joe Kane’s Digital Video Essentials and by pass the DVD adj .. but it is great to have both options and this DVD allows for it . -
"sure looked good, but ...." on by laserguy
Pros: great picture, features WHEN IT WORKED
Cons: stalls during DVD play, cannot get it to move on, even with brand new, clean DVDs
Summary: This player looked very good in technical reviews, but my experience is that it is a piece of junk. After just 5 weeks, it began to stall during DVD playback. After several occurrances, I contacted Panasonic. They told me how to reinitiate the player, which I did several times. The problem kept happening. When I called back after another month, they told me to buy a cleaning disk, which I did, but to no avail. Finally I really got fed up and called them for warranty repair. Unfortunately, I had just exceeded the warranty period by a few days. I explained that I had reported the problem several times within the warranty, and that I was delayed by following their ineffectual advice. I thought since the problem had obviously occurred during the warranty period that they would honor the warranty. No such luck. So now I am stuck with an expensive player with great specs and reviews that cannot play a DVD all the way through without stalling. All I can do with it now is trash it.
I am very unhappy with the player, and with Panasonic for being so uncooperative on honoring their warranty on problems that clearly occurred during the warranty period. Don't buy Panasonic! -
"Amazing Upscaling HD DVD" on by deusnyc
Pros: Tons of features, value, easy use, bookmarks, great audio and video, great reviews
Cons: Remote not back lit, No eject on remote buttun, Crappy HDMI cable supplied, no elapsed time on front panel
Summary: I finally upgraded my outdated panasonic r32 interlaced dvd for this amazing unit. I am very pleased with the unit thus far. I used an upgraded HDMI cable to connected to my Pioneer PDP 4350 plasma. The supplied cable looked pretty flimsy so I got a mid level HDMI cable with gold tips and shielding. I am not sure it is worth the extra 100$ but I didn't want to risk it with the cheap looking cable supplied with the unit. I am using a toslink optical cable to connect with my Denon AVR 3805 which connect to Bowers and Wilkins inwalls, satelite and round sub. I am very pleased with the DVD unit and it's integration with my current system. It is easy to use, even though I have not delved into the manual yet to explore the features.
Most of my ProntoPro remote settings from my old panasonic work for the current machine. To my surprise, the open tray command on my Prontopro from my old panasonic works this new unit. This is a surprize since this button does not exist on the supplied remote. I like the open tray remote function alot since I never can find the right buttons on the face of any unit I have and I rely on my pronto to do everything.
This is my first HDMI application. HDMI is amazing. Since I have moved my Xbox 360 component inputs to the back of my Pioneer receiver I have some input issues which are solved with a remote menu. I have to enable the HDMI to use the DVD and disable the HDMI to use the components for the xbox 360 since these share the same input. This is just growing pains and it is tolerable until I write a macro to do all this on my ProntoPro. Regardless this is not an issue with the near flawless Panasonic S97.
This is a great unit at a great price. I was considering spending 1000 - 2000$ on a Denon or Pioneer elite DVD. I also considered a budget Pioneer DV 588a. The S97 is a great buy and has the same features and similar performance as the more expensive units. I am happy with my choice with the S97 which has all the features I need. I researched this unit using the sites below.
1. Cnet
2. http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0
3. http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/PanasonicDVDS97p1.php -
"Fantastic "Pre-HD" DVD player" on by schroedk
Pros: Picture quality, ability to manipulate settings
Cons: Pointless manual, possibly flimsy tray
Summary: I received my Panasonic DVD-S97s today, replacing a 1 year old Toshiba D-VR3. The Toshiba is okay, as it does A LOT of things, but none of them really well. Seeing as the poor remote response of the Toshiba made me want to hurl the remote AT the player, and subtitles popping up randomly in the middle of a movie was just a little bit annoying, I felt a change was in order. Since I'm still going to use the Toshiba in another room to record to DVDs, I wanted to go with pure, yet affordable, video and audio quality. The Panasonic is highly recommended by many owners in AV forums around the internet, so I snagged one. The picture quality at 480p is superior to the Toshiba 480p picture, likely due to the Faroudja chip and better video decoding. Upscaling to 720p or 1080i to my Toshiba 52hm84 DLP projection TV revealed huge improvements ON SOME DVDs (The Living Sea (IMAX), animated movies, and newer movies like The 40-year-old Virgin), only marginal improvement on some DVDs (The Matrix), and blocking and other picture degradation on other DVDs (The Man Who Knew Too Little). However, on the last DVD and others like it, playing at 480p was fantastic, much better than on my previous players. This is probably due to the 480p running through HDMI rather than component cables, but just my guess. FYI, it does have both optical and coaxial audio outs, so you don't NEED to use the HDMI for audio, which I never do since all my audio goes through my receiver, and I don't like to do video switching through my receiver. I would highly recommend this player to those consumers who have HDTVs and other equipment that allow us to fully appreciate the video and audio that can come from a superior DVD player. And my wife is relieved that I won't feel the need to jump early into the stupid HD-DVD/Blu-Ray wars, since I'm completely satisfied with the picture quality with the Panasonic. Not QUITE HD levels (nor does it claim to be), lacking the vibrancy of a true HD feed, but pretty darn close.
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"It just works!" on by seehunt
Pros: HDMI Hookup, excellent picture, no compatibility issues.
Cons: None at all.
Summary: THis is my first Upscaling progressive scan DVD player.
I purchased it because I had heard of problems with other manufacturer's machines, particularly with signal compatibility. I had aslready ordered a Panasonic video projector and did not want any compatibility issues to ruin my picture. Result? My home theatre is everything I had hoped for and more. Image quality knocks guests out!
Zero problems and or complaints. Used for 9 months.
Panasonic DVD-S97S user reviews
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