DVD-Player Reviews

The XD-DV380 is probably a fine product, but I was never able to buy it from Final Call Auction, the lone seller offering a used XD-DV380 at this time. They disregarded my explicit instruction to ship my purchase via US Postal Service, and shipped UPS.

One problem: UPS can't complete delivery to my address, only the Post Office can -- I'm told that something like 2-1/2 million such adddresses exist. I complained to Final Call and was told (quite snottily) that they ship ONLY via UPS. When I asked why, I was told that "UPS is an American company."

True, UPS is an American company. But the Post Office is an American public institution. Vendors like Final Call undercut our public institutions and figuratively attack our nation when they adopt policies not to ship via the Post Office EVEN WHEN THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO GET PRODUCT TO THEIR CUSTOMERS.

What does Final Call Auctions have against America? Are they loyal to our country? If anyone reads this who works in homeland security, a DEEP investigation of these people is almost certainly in order.

I just finished connecting my Aiwa DV-380 to my analog stereo system and 27" TV and, so far, I am delighted. The picture is a nice upgrade over VHS, and music CD's sound as good as on my conventional CD player. What I really like about this product, however, is the fact that it can play mp.3 files burned to CD's. One could program several tracks from a single mp.3 CD containing hundreds of tracks, eliminating the need for the multi-disc carousel. The on-screen menu works in a manner similar to Windows for opening and programming files and folders (here referred to as tracks and albums). The only complaint I have about this product is that you do need to use the television for the more complex programming options. I have other Aiwa products that have very elaborate LCD displays on the unit itself, and I think they could have gone a little further to reduce the need for the TV screen as a function display. However, this is a very minor drawback in light of the overall versatility of this player. If you enjoy downloading music from the web and burning to CD, the DV 380 will fill a few needs with one affordably priced unit.

This DVD player is an excellent buy. It plays CDs, also MP3s on a CD-R. The only downside, which is applicable to all DVD players, is that you have to plug it directly into a television because of the Macrovision anti-piracy technology. I had it plugged into both the VCR and the AV Reciever that I have at separate times, and they both gave funky picture output (which is weird because the AV receiver should work fine to pass the image). Excellent Aiwa product. I would buy it again if I had the chance/need.

the aforementioned criticismis true. I could not get through ONE movie on a plane let slone two. It works excellently as a home player, though and when plugged in can go to a friend's house and hook up easily. very easy to use.

The screen is a little too small for adequate viewing. Due to it's panoramic size, viewing letterbox DVD's results in distortion of the image by lateral stretching. The unit has a large, heavy, cumbersome NiMH battery that doesn't last long enough to view two decent size movies. It may be worthwhile spending a little more to get a better unit.

I have been using this machine for about a year and am very pleased. Admittedly I have extra batteries so the duration of use problem does not exist for me. One good feature that few users have picked up on is that this machine outputs PAL as well as NTSC. I don't need this for output purposes since we don't use PAL TV's in this country, but the switches also affect the internal screen and allow a fullsize image to be seen without distortion. Thus for example if you use a DVD which is not set up for the 9x16 screen (most older movies aren't) and you try to watch it on the NTSC setting, used in this country, the image will not fully fill the screen. If you expand the image to fill the screen using the screen setting control, it will fill the screen but at a cost of some detail and a sort of screen door effect on the picture. Most players sold in this country have this problem. If you use the PAL and the setting switches on the AIWA, you can get a full width image with virtually no distortion. Thus you effectively get a bigger screen, since you get to use the full width of its 5.8 inches. I also appreciate the full size RCA audio outputs since they allow the use of better quality interconnects. Most other machines use a miniplug for this and there are few avaialble connectors and none of any quality.

This had all the dvd pouches and storage space needed for a players around 6" or less. But more than that, everything just wont fit (for me it was my headphones). Even for a small player, the case would still budge. My overall sugestion would to try to find a bigger case, or I heard that you could just try to get a breifcase.

This is a very nice looking case and has lots of pockets however it does not hold the Apex portable DVD player.

I bought this for my Toshiba SDP2000 Portable DVD Player. And it fits--but just barely. You won't be able to carry many DVD's, but you can fit the player, battery, IR remote, and all cords. I also managed to cram in a JENSEN audio-cassette adaptor to play through cassette deck (vehicle use).

It exactly fit my needs--and it looks nice, too! Good construction quality, as well.

I sure wish I had the fantastic experience other reviewers had with this unit.
I won't address the features or picture quality. They're fine.

The problem I've had is it breaks.

I got mine in 9/03. It is residing in my local Authorized Repair facility. For the third time. Here are the details:
1. Firewire input failure. Repaired.
2. Remaining inputs failed. Repaired.
3. It's 1/19/04 as I write this. The unit has been in the shop since late Dec. '03 with its latest hissy-fit. This time it refused to burn-most of the time-and when it did the disks came out hotter than fresh asphalt and wouldn't finalize. The repair guys tell me it is taking so long because they cannot get the necessary part(s) from Panasonic.

I've complained to Panasonic via their website. Twice. They reply with a canned (read meaningless) reply within a couple of weeks. They don't seem to be terribly interested.

My advice: consider another brand.

I purchased this DVD player back in November and it has done everything that I have needed it to except play JPEG disks. What really gets me is that is $70 players can do this but this expensive one does not. I know it has other ways to load pictures, but it would be simpler for my application if it could play JPEG disks.

Panasonic has been great at designing and applying aesthetic principles and creating user satisfaction over the past decade. When it comes to their DVD recorders, these qualities are not forgotten. From the DMR-E series recorders, we will be looking at the DMR-E60 model from Panasonic. The E60 is packed with features; it is an mp3 player, DVD-RAM player/recorder, and picture viewer plus a still capture device, and much more. Let's take a look at some of the features this product has to offer......in-depth review @ Bytesector.com

Over All, The DVD Player Is OK, But It has It's Faults. For example,
#1. It Doesnt Support MP3 CD's,
#2. It Doesn't Read CD-R's.
#3. It Doesnt Play Video Disc's.
It Says That It Supports Video CD's, Yeah Of Course It Plays DVD's but It Doesn't play video disc's burned to a CD-R. I Would Not reccommend this DVD player to anyone. It Doesn't Do much of anything.

bought this dvd player around christmas 2000, wanted something of good quality for a good price. ive been very pleased with it and have watched many dvd's since then with no problems at all.it was easy to hook up and remote is easy to figure out.over all am very happy with product and the service i recived from amazon.com

This has been a wonderful purchase. I've enjoyed watching many DVD movies with no problems. It is easy to hook up for those not so knowledgable about hooking up electronics. It provides a great picture. The remote is very easy to use. My only complaint is that in the store the display said the remote was backlit but it is not. Other than that, I highly recommend this player. You'll never watch a VHS tape again.

I hate to say this, because I was happy with my player until tonight, but my player died tonight with the dreaded H07 error. It's just under 2 years old, and now it's trash!<br /> <br />

For under $100 you cannot beat this player. It is superior to the models available at the store for the same price such as the S27 but it also has S video and optical inputs. I tested the S25 on my Panasonic LCD TV after viewing DVDs on my non progressive scan Sony player. I saw differences in all three. The S47 had the clearest picture. You must change the setting to 480P from the defaul 480I. Also you can set the DVD to cinema mode, adjust what type of TV (LCD widescreen for example) and I got a perfect picture. Check it out.

I have three different panasonic DVD players, most of them several years old, and all of them subject to abuse by three kids who have stuck dvd's into the players that are covered with crud.

I have never had one single error like the person below claims. The same person seems to have reviewed almost every panasonic player with the same claims. the diction and wording of the cliams is identical. they are trying to make their problem seem like a common problem, which it is not.

As far as made in china being perjorative, that is laughable. Every dvd player is made in china, japan or korea and almost every one, including "japanese made" like sony have their DVD readers and motor components made in china.

I had a sony protable DVD player which had a motor failed after six months. They would not repair it and sent me a "refurbished" with many screen pixels dead, a cover that didn't close right and a left speaker with a hiss. That was $300.

Whenever you see a particullarly strident condemnation of a product on Amazon reviews , check the company's other products and see if you see the same exact language and similar date. I mean did this person actually own the 12 panasonic dvd players and home theaters he reviewed and claimed failed him? I doubt it.

If yo go to videohelp dot com, which reviews all the players, you will see the panasonic has outstanding reviews in dvd format compatability, audio, all the needed outputs AND robustness.

i got this DVD player a couple of weeks back, to realise that the coaxil cable outlet dosent work. Latter i found that it does not have a Optical output.
And the philips service guys havent been able to fix the coaxil cable output duct for the past 10 days.
If your home theater supports optical input, dont buy this DVD!

Very nice player... and, the best thing: Has a hack to play all DVD's regions! Just turn it on, open the tray, press 9 9 9 9 0 and you will se "Region Code 0"... That's enough! You will be able to play dvd's from all regions!!!
The only bad thing is that it doesn't have optical output... if it's not necessary for you, buy this!

WOW!! What a great DVD player! I just bought this ... and hooked it up to my TV and stereo today. The picture is excellent and the sound is First-Class!
I own a JVC 3 disc DVD player that couldn't play my CD-R music and I needed a player that would. This DVD player plays ANYTHING I put in it! It even has a NTSC/PAL decoding capability so I can play European formats and don't have to be careful when buying some of the rare DVD's only available in other countries!
I love my JVC DVD player for it's video and sound reproduction, but I love this Philips player even more!!!
Anybody out there looking for a used JVC 3 disc player??

I bought this DVD player in April of 2001. I bought it mainly because at the time, I ordered a lot of movies from England. I hooked it up to my TV, had no problems. Well, then the batteries started going out quickly. But I have another remote that does this, too, so I started taking the batteries out when not in use. When I moved, I had to hook it up through the VCR. It worked fine until 2 weeks ago when the remote died. No battery changes bring it back. So I contacted SMC.

The man I spoke to said they'd discovered two years ago that the video protection inside the DVD player, which apparently is meant to prevent recording DVDs onto VHS, sends a signal back to the remote, and it makes the remote not work. If it is that way for too long, the remote dies. He said they stopped making them in 1999, and sold their quantities as is w/no warranties to larger companies who may or may not have opted to give a warranty.

When the remote worked, this was a great product. Just be careful. It will cost you ($$$) to get a new remote, if they happen to have any in stock. If the remote doesn't work, you cannot change regions or TV systems.

I bought this because it was cheap and I knew it had the "secret menus". This has worked pretty good, kind of noisy like the other DVD-ROM drive based players (has a PC DVD drive in it), but it will play anything, even my homemade VCDs I make on my Mac, that I burn on CDRs. Most brand name DVD players will read VCDs on CD-RW if at all. It has problems with layer changes, just a stutter on some discs.

BUT, I bought it in August and only use it 2-3 times a week and it just died. Now I get to figure out how to get warranty service on this thing, oh boy!

This is a very versatile multi-region DVD player that also plays VCD's and CD-R/RW's. It also plays back PAL system VCD's and DVD's on NTSC TV's. It has a full function remote control.

The only drawback is that there is a visible jitter while moving from one layer to another during the playback of playing multi-layered DVD's.

I purchased an Apex portable DVD player at CircuitCity that, after a couple of months, the battery was found to be defective. I spent weeks trying to contact them via their toll-free line. When I finally got a hold of a live body, he instructed me to return the battery for replacement. That sounded great, so I returned the battery. Approximately five weeks later, still no battery or any contact from Apex. I've contacted the Better Business Bureau regarding Apex's conduct and, hopefully, they can push them to rectify the situation. I'm very disappointed in their customer service and, when I needed to buy a DVD player for my basement, I decided to avoid future headaches and bought a Toshiba unit.

The DVD player itself works great. Nice picture for a portable unit and the price was right (had the battery not been a piece of junk).

I PURCHASED THIS PORTABLE DVD PLAYER FOR MYSELF BEACAUSE I AM ALWAYS ON THE MOVE. WHEN I SPOTTED IT I THOUGHT FOR THE MONEY IT WAS A GOOD DEAL. IT IS PACKED WITH FEATURES THAT THE MORE EXPENSIVE ONES HAVE AND YET IS AFFORDABLE. THE PICTURE QUALITY IS GREAT FOR A 6.5 INCH SCREEN.THE SOUND QUALITY THROUGH THE SPEAKERS COULD BE BETTER BUT AFTER TESTING MORE EXPENSIVE UNITS AND NOT GETTING THAT MUCH MORE OUT OF THEM I DECIDED IT'S WITHIN LIMITS. I ALSO LIKED THAT YOU CAN PLUG IT INTO YOUR HOME ENTERTAINMENT CENTER. IT HAS ALL THE PLUGS AND WIRES TO HOOK IT UP TO ANY SYSTEM. ANOTHER NICE FEATURE IS THE 3-WAY POWER SUPPLY: BATTERY, CAR ADAPTER, AC.ADAPTER,AND EARBUDS FOR PRIVATE LISTENING. IT ALSO HAS A FULL FUNCTION REMOTE. THE BATTERY ALSO GIVES YOU ABOUT 2+ HOURS OF USE.

I picked up this player last week from a local electronics store and i love it. It has a ton of features for the price. Many models in the same price range lack the features this player has. Also, it has a very nice 6.5 in screen. I was suprised how clear the picture was. It also comes with tons of accessories like a car adapter, power adapter, remote control, and a video cable so you can hook it to your TV. Try to find all that with another player in the same price range.

Bose is a fascinating case study of what the power of advertising can do for a product that is cheaply made and outperformed by nearly all of its competition. Based on audio theories from the 1960's and parts of lower quality than what can be bought at Radio Shack, Bose has built an incredible empire out of poorly designed products.

Consumers should do their research before shelling out money for Bose speakers. A google search will bring you to epinions or audioreview websites where you can find review after review from buyers of Bose products.

The commonly accepted wisdom in audio circles is that Bose makes low audio quality products and sells them at very high prices. In other words those Polk, JBL, Wharfedale or Infinity mid-fi products you can find at Amazon are usually higher quality at much better price points.

Compare the sound if you ever get a chance. Make sure you DO NOT depend on volume, in other words volume is a bad indicater of quality. Listen for the high and low notes and to the clarity of the music. Tough to do in a showroom at Circuit City or Best Buy, but even there the differences will show up. Bose attempts to prevent consumers from doing this by segregating their products away from the competition.

After this you might look at online audio magazines (do a google search), Audioreview (one word) and Audiogon. You'll find whole NEW world of audio products such as PSB, Paradigm, Vandersteen, Quad, Sonus Faber, ACI and many more who's products will put you on a much higher level of audio than you'd ever imagine. Usually these speakers are SEVERAL times more electronically sophisticated than Bose at the same price! Good luck and happy hunting!

It sounds good but understandably if you are looking for true surround sound it's not your answer. With this system you will get more of a high quality stereo effect. The trade off is it is easy to set-up. You will be enjoying your movies in about half an hour. This is easily accomplished because all the wires can be hidden behind the entertainment center.

this small package packs a huge punch. the sound is great, its easy to use and simple to put together. in my opinion, it is well worth the money.