Features:
- Silver in Color
- DVD/VCR Combo
- 4-Head HI-FI VCR
- Progressive Scan
- Advanced Illuminated Remote Control
Description:
Combining videophile picture quality with compact simplicity, Panasonic's PV-D4752 plays both DVDs and VHS tapes, and it's a whiz at decoding MP3 CDs, suiting it well to movies, television, and music. Its component-video outputs even perform progressive scanning, a feature designed for use with high-definition and HD-ready TVs. Progressive scanning displays all 480 video lines in one pass, rendering horizontal image lines sequentially rather than interlacing the even lines with the odd. The result is high vertical resolution and flicker-free, high-density images--reason enough to make the HDTV leap. The unit's S-video and composite-video outputs work fine with most older TVs. If you'll be using the interlaced output from the DVD player, one RCA composite-video connection (supplied) handles both DVD and VCR outputs. But if you plan to watch DVDs through the component-video or S-video outputs, know that the VCR signal still requires a separate composite-video connection. The PV-D4752 plays CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, standard DVD-Video discs, and most DVD-Rs (recordable DVDs), from which you can easily make VHS copies of wedding footage, birthdays, and other special events. Copy-protected commercial DVDs cannot be recorded. We were duly impressed with the PV-D4752's MP3 playback abilities. Each player handles discs differently, but this model read our most difficult test discs, offering fast track skips, scanning within MP3 files, and repeat functions for tracks, folders, and discs. The player does not support ID3 tags, however, and it limits the display of file and folder names to 11 characters. The two biggest drawbacks are the unit's reliance on the onscreen display (the front-panel display shows no elapsed time during DVD or VHS playback) and its habit of interrupting whichever format you're watching when loading another. For connections, you get one each composite-video, S-video, and component-video output, as well as two sets of composite-video inputs (one on the front and one at the rear) and one RF (cable-type) input and output for the VCR. An optical digital-audio output feeds a surround-sound signal to your Dolby Digital- or DTS-decoding audio-video receiver. It sports two sets of stereo RCA analog audio outputs and two sets of inputs (one each on the front and back). --Michael Mikesell Pros:
- Easy setup and above-average user's manual
- Convenient two-in-one design
- Fast track access
- Above-average read abilities for MP3 discs
- Good MP3 disc navigation
- Folder, disc, and track repeat function for MP3 files
Cons:
- No front-panel display for disc or tape elapsed time
- Loading a tape while watching a disc (or vice versa) interrupts playback
- Can't search for other MP3 tracks or folders while disc is playing
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