Rating: 
Summary: A Great Buy for a Low Budget
Review: I know how many opposing reviews there are and I know this is just another one to take in but, what I speak about the DVD-A120U is the truth. The PANASONIC DVD-A120U is a very respectable DVD player for the money it is worth. It has a lot of the features more high priced DVD players have (ex. Virtual Suround Sound, CD/VCD capability, S-Video/Component Video, DTS outputs, and Angle Selections) and it has no problem playing DVD's with superior visual effects, such as the "Matrix" and "The Rock". Unfortunately, I don't know how well the player plays DVD movies longer than 2.5 hours (I have just purchased "Salem's Lot" which is 3 hours long so, I will soon find out) but I will say that if you are planning to purchase your first DVD player, I would HIGHLY recomend this one! P.S. If you are also shopping for a TV with your DVD-player I would Highly Recomend NOT to get an RCA or a GE Brand due to faulty soldering in both brands' tuners which causes picture distortion and visual noise.
Rating:
Summary: Not a flashy performer - decent player
Review: This was my first DVD player (received as a gift in Dec '99) and is still working ok. I have never received any error messages when playing scratched DVD's (mostly rentals) - but it does show some pixellation when it encounters this - or skips to the next chapter, which can be aggrevating...Never had a problem with new DVD's. I was disappointed that I could not play CD-R, CD-RW, etc a year after I got it, but at the time, I was just elated to get a DVD player! The optical audio output has been nice (to my Harman/Kardan AVR85). The remote is pretty easy and comfortable. I have since purchased the Sony 725 (for it's flexibility - I am making more and more home movies of the kids and I want to watch my DVD creation on the big tv. All in all, in has been a faithful performer that has run its course - or is a good player to have in the kids room, bedroom, etc..
Rating: 
Summary: Sure, it's great, until optical unit dies...
Review: Like most here, I had no problems with my A-120 DVD player for the first 10 or 11 months of ownership. Then I started getting consistent "NO PLAY" messages at about the 1-year mark, with occasional errors in play plus minor pixellation or noticeable minor audio glitches. I thought at first it had to to with dust or disk errors (even though I am a light renter, and take great care of the ones I own). But the player soon had to be coaxed to play almost anything I owned -- only by repeatedly opening and shutting the front tray could I get it to sometimes play a disk in spite of this. Horribly frustrating, especially for an appliance that's in flawless condition, and seems way too new to me to simply conk out after light use. But it's dead. Now it won't play anything at all, and I'm definitely an unhappy camper. Panasonic reps were rude and basically told me to "buy another one." Um... no. Like I told Panasonic, I think I'll just try Sony next time instead... a really disappointing experience, from a company I used to trust. Stay away from Panasonic unless you can afford to replace what doesn't work the first time.
Rating:
Summary: It's a good player for the price.
Review: Hi I recently purchased the A120U Panasonic DVD Player. This is my second player for my bedroom, it's a good little unit with its little surprises like playing VideoCD (i have a few imports from HK) and it was that feature for the price that drew me in. I'm happy with it except as mentioned before it does seem to have some problems playing a couple of discs (Lodoss War & SFII). My only recomendation is if you're a movie fanatic (i.e.; you own a laserdisc, dvd, SVHS, dolby decoder etc like me! :)) stay away and opt for a more expensive model if this is your first player I dont see why you shouldn't pick up the A120. Dont forget to get some DVD movies as well! Amazon has a GREAT selection for newbies!
Rating:
Summary: Sure, it's great, until optical unit dies...
Review: Like most here, I had no problems with my A-120 DVD player for the first 10 or 11 months of ownership. Then I started getting consistent "NO PLAY" messages at about the 1-year mark, with occasional errors in play plus minor pixellation or noticeable minor audio glitches. I thought at first it had to to with dust or disk errors (even though I am a light renter, and take great care of the ones I own). But the player soon had to be coaxed to play almost anything I owned -- only by repeatedly opening and shutting the front tray could I get it to sometimes play a disk in spite of this. Horribly frustrating, especially for an appliance that's in flawless condition, and seems way too new to me to simply conk out after light use. But it's dead. Now it won't play anything at all, and I'm definitely an unhappy camper. Panasonic reps were rude and basically told me to "buy another one." Um... no. Like I told Panasonic, I think I'll just try Sony next time instead... a really disappointing experience, from a company I used to trust. Stay away from Panasonic unless you can afford to replace what doesn't work the first time.
Rating: 
Summary: Over 3 years and still working.
Review: I bought this player in early 1999. I use a disk every 100 or so hours of playtime to keep everything clean. I've never had a problem with it and it even plays superbit dvds for amazing sound and picture quality. :-D
Rating: 
Summary: NO PLAY Problems & Frustrating Solution (Won't Always Work)
Review: After about 2 years of use, my Panasonic DVD A-120 also started displaying "NO PLAY" on its front window, along with the message, "This Type of Disk Cannot Be Played. Please Insert A Different Disk" on my television. It started out only effecting a few rental movies, but now effects a majority of disks. I am going to buy a newer JVC or Panasonic DVD player to replace it. I have found many DVDs will play if I open and close the DVD tray several times. When this works, the DVDs play without any problems with all DVD functions available. For some disks, it takes an intolerable number of open and close cycles to get lucky. For others, it never works.
Rating:
Summary: Defect-ridden
Review: For shame Panasonic. It's quite obvious that there are serious flaws ridden in this DVD model. Just as with so many customers, my A120 went sour after barely a year. It refuses to play discs, even brand new ones, with the message "No Play". The ones that actually do play often have pixelation issues. Avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Defective, Panasonic says tough luck.
Review: I have a 27" Panasonic TV, I'd sooner give up my mother (j/k Mom!) than part with it. But this lead me to buy the DVD-A120 DVD player and after less than a year it started refusing to play DVDs that worked fine before. Do NOT buy this product, it IS defective.
Rating:
Summary: Piece of junk
Review: We've been very disappointed in the Panasonic DVD-A120. About 75% of the time, this DVD player is unable to read the DVDs we put into it, including brand new movies fresh out of the shrinkwrap (these DVDs work fine in our other DVD players). We've tried cleaning the laser, talking nicely to it, and giving it lots of love and praise, but in the end it consistently fails to perform. So we resorted to yelling at it, hitting it, and throwing it in the garbage. Money down the drain :-(
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