Rating: 
Summary: A good DVD Player but a little outdated now
Review: I bought this DVD player just about a year ago. Never had a problem. Plays well.It plays DVDs, CD, CD-RW, and even MP3 encoded CDs. Which is really neat because the 5 CDs if all are MP3, they can hold a large amount of music (each MP3 cd holds as many as 150 songs). The player is compatible with DTS which is almost a basic requirement for any good DVD player. It is easy to use, except that I always have a little problem getting discs out of the player. One disc always starts playing while i am getting the rest out and I have to keep punching buttons to get it out. on the good side, you can change discs while one of them plays without disrupting the play. What I miss in this player is that it does not have progressive scan. When I bought the player I thought I would not need it as HDTVs were way too expensive. Well they are cheaper now, and I have one now.
Rating: 
Summary: I like it
Review: I have no complaints with this highly versatile machine. I find that it works well with my other Components, has a great picture and does more than most other DVD players do at a much better cost. There is currently nothing else like it for the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Incompatible
Review: I liked this DVD player when I first bought it -- sound and picture are good, but lately I've been having problems with format incompatibility. Even though the product description says it's compatible with CD-R I haven't been able to get it to recognize that format. I also have a lot of trouble with Video CDs -- my success rate getting them to play is about 50/50.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible CD-R CD-RW compatibility
Review: I make lot of home video in VCD format on CD-R & CD-RW discs, this unit has terrible compatiblity when reading these discs, it play the slow rated 8X or slower CD-R/RW OK, but virtually all the blank CD-R/RW disc are high speed rated like 32X to 40X, the player just won't read those disk at all half the time, those it reads but skipps a lot. So if you want just play commercial type DVD movie, it's a great player, but for home made CD-R/RW recordings, forget it. Get an APEX DVD player, it reads them all.
Rating:
Summary: Terrible quality
Review: I purchased one of these in November 2001. By May it had gone haywire, refusing to load any disc, giving me an error code that meant "contact service." I spent a great deal of money on shipping and repairs (it was past 90 days of course) and then by October, less than a year after purchased, the problem had occurred again. Panasonic support is terrible, non-responsive, promising callbacks, and then nothing happening.
Rating:
Summary: The complete solution (almost!)
Review: I recently decided to purchase a DVD player and wasted hours checking out what was available. Well i was definitely not going to pay more than $250 and needed to maximize on the basis of that. Of course all DVD players generally play DVD's well so that was not the issue What I wanted to see were the extras- other than my computer I have nothing that plays MP3's and neither do I have a Home theater receiver. Since the DVD player was going to be the first step in my home theater I wanted something that would add less to the "muddle" in the long run. SO I was looking at DVD players that could do all of the following a) Decode Dolby Digital and DTS (no point at this stage buying a DVD player that only does the former). b) Plays MP3 (which usually means it also plays CD-R) c) If its going to play music cd's it might as well have a changer. As of now there is nothing in the market that does all of the above (at least in my price range). So I was left between stuuff that does 2 out of the three (a number of combinations for that exist). Finally I decided to choose to go with this player because I felt that a home theater receiver would be something i would need to purchase later on what with all the TV broadcasts also begining to carry dolby digital signals. This one does a very good job of playing all your music cd's and of course DVD's. In both respects its flawless. The sound reproduction is great. There are a few things to note though: a) As the other reviewer suggested- it does not display the track names of MP3 songs and this was something I did not expect but I can live with it. I am the kind of person who usually slips in a cd into the tray and listen to all the songs. But note that "random" track selection ALSO DOES NOT WORK on MP3's. b) It does not have a coaxial sound output (why did panasonic decide to do that?????). It only has an optical sound output (I think Panasonic has made this technological choice for some inexplicable reason. Their Technics home theater receivers only accept optical inputs in most of last years models and no coaxial inputs!) Except for these two drawbacks, I think this is a very versatile system and should serve well. Come on MP3, Cd-Rw and a 5 disc changer where you can change your cd's even while you are watching a movie!!!! ps the remote- dont expect it do anything other than control the dvd player. PERIOD
Rating:
Summary: Good choice for the money...
Review: I'd like to echo another review that I read on here. Overall, I'm VERY pleased with this unit. Only complaints would be 1) that it takes a little bit to reach each disc (probably something you'd find with any player that plays so many different formats), 2) the features, controls, etc. aren't quite as intuitive as all the Sony systems that I've had in the past -- I'm sure they can all be figured out, but it's gonna take some reading and getting used to (not a big deal, really), and 3) well...no...wait....there's really not a three. No other complaints. I'm happy with the performance so far. And it beat most other prices.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but quite adequate machine
Review: I've generally been quite satisfied with the CV51 I purchased in 2001, though it occasionally fails to read a given disc, as others have noted here. When this happens, turning the player off and then on again clears up the problem, at least in my experience. My needs in a DVD player are partially defined by the fact that I don't really have a home theater set-up. With a Panasonic 20-inch TV with no component video input, and two JBL speakers hooked up to an inexpensive Denon DRA-275R receiver, I'm not in a position to have the absolute best that any DVD player can offer. All I really want right now is a machine that can reliably play my DVDs and CDs, and that's what I have in the CV51. I use the player for CDs as often as I do for DVDs (which is the main reason I wanted a multi-disc changer), and they sound just fine. I rarely play CD-Rs, but I've had no problems with the few I have. The CV51 lets you program 32 CD tracks, with an interface that is very easy to use. There are times when I find the machine to be a bit too noisy, but not often enough to strike me as major issue. DVDs played on the CV51 look great on my aforementioned 20-inch TV, but without a video component input, I'm not asking for very much from a player. While I'm satisfied enough with this machine to overlook what I consider to be its minor annoyances, I'm sure there are better purchases, at least at the $150 price point, than the Panasonic CV51 DVD Player. If you can get one used for $75 or so, and you're looking for a second DVD player for the bedroom or someplace else, I'd recommend it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that both my TV and the CV51 will eventually be relegated to my bedroom, once I get a 36' or larger TV for the living room.
Rating:
Summary: Nice features, difficult controls.
Review: I've had this DVD player for a month, picked it up while my Sony was in the shop for repairs. I love the fact that it can play MP3 CDs too. It works well with my mostly Sony components. I have found that the controls are confusing. Now I love electronic devices, audio/video, I've been working computers for years professionally. When I have a difficult time getting then hang of a piece of equipment, I couldn't imagine my parents trying to figure it out. Here's my pet peeves...
1. Since the disc's can be changed while the player is running (a feature I loved with CD changers), there's a button for Disk Exchange, and one for Open/Close. Each have they're own unique function and changing the disc that's in the currently "selected" spot can be difficult. It doesn't seem to want to cooperate and takes a little fussing. Another sitting with the manual should get me straightened out though.
2. The discs sometimes slide out of they're trays, once obviously after the changer received a little hit accidently, another time just out of the blue.
3 & 4. The disc tray doesn't like to open when discs are knocked loose on it. Perhaps because it seems like the tray won't open until a disc has been read once. Seems odd but you'll notice the lag when you turn the player on then hit eject.. it'll try to read a disc first before opening.
5. The display doesn't show which disc is playing in big enough numbers. It's difficult to tell which it is from far away. Haven't looked into the possibility of a on-screen display for this on the remote.. will have to check..
Overall, I do like the player. Much better than the sony 1 disc I was working with. Great price for the features.
Rating:
Summary: error no play, error H02....what?!?!!
Review: I've had this dvd player for almost 2 years...worked fine (except on MP3 CDs) until about a month ago. I was watching a dvd, got a phone call and put the dvd on "pause",and got up and walked away. Now the toshiba DVD player that I used to have, would switch into a screensaver if you left a movie on pause for too long, and would eventually shut itself off. This Panasonic DVD player isn't apparently designed to do any of that. I forgot about the DVD that I had left on pause and came back in a few hours and to my surprise the "paused" scene was still being displayed on the tv. I hit "play"...nothing. I hit "stop"...it stopped. I hit "play"... "reading", "reading", "error no play", "error H02". I tried unplugging it, plugging it back in, tried to play a different dvd....nothing...same error. (which according to the panasonic manual means that a panasonic "technician" needs to look at it). I tried the Panasonic online customer support, all they told me was to go to the nearest Panasonic technician. Forget it...Why should I pay a ton of money for them to fix it, when I can buy an new (non-Panasonic) dvd player for the same price.
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