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Rating: 
Summary: Still working fine after all this time
Review: For over five years I've owned and used this particular make & model of DVD player, and after all this time it's still runnin' like a champ. Although I've encountered a few problems with it, these little quirks are relatively insignificant, and have had an almost negligible impact on my DVD viewing enjoyment. One of the slight probs is the brief pause in the action of a fave two-layer disc as the player transfers to the second layer (I've heard this minor inconvenience has been all but eliminated in most of the newer models). I've also noticed that jail bars, lampposts, tall & thin skyscrapers, and similar vertically-inclined objects seem to 'bend' just before they hit the very top of the TV screen. I'm pretty certain this slight distortion is the fault of the player, as I've watched the same platters on different players and TVs without experiencing this 'bending' action. The final problem I have is not actually with the player itself, but with my digital cable box. There are times when I'm viewing a fave platter, and I can just barely perceive very slight noises that sound a bit like dialogue between a couple people emanating from somewhere. Well, it just so happens that those noises ARE indeed dialogue (no, they're not voices in my head you smart@$$es!), and the place they're coming from is the show that's playing on my digital cable box. For some reason, the cable sound is "bleeding through" slightly into the Video 2 display screen my DVD player is hooked up to. Fortunately, this particular problem is really easy to overcome: I just turn off the cable box and -vwah-lah!-no "bleed-through" noise! The remote control's pretty standard, with the usual Pause, Play, Stop, Slow-Mo, Menu, Fast Forward/Reverse, A-B Repeat, Subtitle/Audio Track Select, and Track Skip, and track-selector ten-key pad buttons that you'd expect from such a device. You know, the kinda stuff a DVDphile likes to fool around with just to see what each thing does. And of course this is done without consulting the owner's manual (where's the fun in THAT?!). The only problem I've had with the remote was when a friend I let borrow my player and remote one day, lost the cover to the battery housing. Now the batteries are held in place with a piece of index card and packing tape. Talk about redneck chic, hmm? Sadly, in spite of its long period of faithful service, I've been shopping around for a replacement (if anyone out there has a recommendation for a great single-disc DVD player in the one hundred-twenty to two-hundred dollar range, please e-mail me your rec!). Five-plus years of new advancements in digital video technology (such as superior sound and even finer picture clarity) have pretty much relegated this digital dinosaur to the status of something-to-palm-off-on-my-parents-so-they-can-sorta-catch-up-with-the-times. Which I find a little scary, 'cuz they're still tryin' to figure out the complexities of their VCR! And now that I think about it, they don't even own any DVDs! I might hafta do some actual Christmas shoppin' for 'em this year... Well, I think I've pretty much said all I can about this dependable (if not perfect) and close-to-obsolete bit of digital video technology. I guess I'll wind things up by giving you its features as laid out in the owner's manual. So ff you're in the market to buy a five-year-old DVD player that's at least two generations removed from its modern descendants (and you KNOW who you are!), here's the skinny... The Panasonic DVD-A115 player features: - 10 Bit video D/A converter for high picture quality (well, high picture quality for the time, anyway)
- 95kHz / 24-bit audio D/A converter and DTS digital output for superior (for the time-well, you know) sound quality.
- Advanced (for the-- ahh, forget it) Virtual Surround Sound (VSS) function
- On-Screen Menu Icons
- Dialogue Enhancer: boosts sound level of center channel of Dolby Digital/5.1-channel discs so dialogue can be heard over the background sounds and score.
- Multi-audio function: up to 8 audio tracks can be manually encoded and accessed.
- Multi-subtitle function: up to 32 different subtitle tracks can be encoded and accessed.
- Multi-angle function: allows you to choose different angles of the same scene (like duh, right?).
- Parental lock: a way to keep the kids from viewin' inappropriate material.
- Marker function: player "can store a maximum of 5 positions in memory, for convenient access, if desired", according to the manual. Not sure what this feature's all about, but I guess I could find out for myself one of these weeks...
- Discs that this player supports includes 3-inch/8cm and 5-inch/12cm DVDs, CDs, and video CDs that are Region 1 or All-Region encoded.
- This player cannot play the following discs: Non-Region 1/All-Region and PAL DVDs, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, CD-ROM, VSD, CDV, CD-G, CD-RW, DVD-RW, CVD, SVCD, Photo CDs (possible damage to data on disc if played), CD-R (possible damage to data on disc if played), and Divx. (Divx?! Now you REALLY have an idea of just how old this thing is...) 'Late
Rating:
Summary: Still working fine after all this time
Review: For over five years I've owned and used this particular make & model of DVD player, and after all this time it's still runnin' like a champ. Although I've encountered a few problems with it, these little quirks are relatively insignificant, and have had an almost negligible impact on my DVD viewing enjoyment. One of the slight probs is the brief pause in the action of a fave two-layer disc as the player transfers to the second layer (I've heard this minor inconvenience has been all but eliminated in most of the newer models). I've also noticed that jail bars, lampposts, tall & thin skyscrapers, and similar vertically-inclined objects seem to `bend' just before they hit the very top of the TV screen. I'm pretty certain this slight distortion is the fault of the player, as I've watched the same platters on different players and TVs without experiencing this `bending' action. The final problem I have is not actually with the player itself, but with my digital cable box. There are times when I'm viewing a fave platter, and I can just barely perceive very slight noises that sound a bit like dialogue between a couple people emanating from somewhere. Well, it just so happens that those noises ARE indeed dialogue (no, they're not voices in my head you smart@$$es!), and the place they're coming from is the show that's playing on my digital cable box. For some reason, the cable sound is "bleeding through" slightly into the Video 2 display screen my DVD player is hooked up to. Fortunately, this particular problem is really easy to overcome: I just turn off the cable box and -vwah-lah!-no "bleed-through" noise! The remote control's pretty standard, with the usual Pause, Play, Stop, Slow-Mo, Menu, Fast Forward/Reverse, A-B Repeat, Subtitle/Audio Track Select, and Track Skip, and track-selector ten-key pad buttons that you'd expect from such a device. You know, the kinda stuff a DVDphile likes to fool around with just to see what each thing does. And of course this is done without consulting the owner's manual (where's the fun in THAT?!). The only problem I've had with the remote was when a friend I let borrow my player and remote one day, lost the cover to the battery housing. Now the batteries are held in place with a piece of index card and packing tape. Talk about redneck chic, hmm? Sadly, in spite of its long period of faithful service, I've been shopping around for a replacement (if anyone out there has a recommendation for a great single-disc DVD player in the one hundred-twenty to two-hundred dollar range, please e-mail me your rec!). Five-plus years of new advancements in digital video technology (such as superior sound and even finer picture clarity) have pretty much relegated this digital dinosaur to the status of something-to-palm-off-on-my-parents-so-they-can-sorta-catch-up-with-the-times. Which I find a little scary, `cuz they're still tryin' to figure out the complexities of their VCR! And now that I think about it, they don't even own any DVDs! I might hafta do some actual Christmas shoppin' for `em this year... Well, I think I've pretty much said all I can about this dependable (if not perfect) and close-to-obsolete bit of digital video technology. I guess I'll wind things up by giving you its features as laid out in the owner's manual. So ff you're in the market to buy a five-year-old DVD player that's at least two generations removed from its modern descendants (and you KNOW who you are!), here's the skinny... The Panasonic DVD-A115 player features: - 10 Bit video D/A converter for high picture quality (well, high picture quality for the time, anyway)
- 95kHz / 24-bit audio D/A converter and DTS digital output for superior (for the time-well, you know) sound quality.
- Advanced (for the-- ahh, forget it) Virtual Surround Sound (VSS) function
- On-Screen Menu Icons
- Dialogue Enhancer: boosts sound level of center channel of Dolby Digital/5.1-channel discs so dialogue can be heard over the background sounds and score.
- Multi-audio function: up to 8 audio tracks can be manually encoded and accessed.
- Multi-subtitle function: up to 32 different subtitle tracks can be encoded and accessed.
- Multi-angle function: allows you to choose different angles of the same scene (like duh, right?).
- Parental lock: a way to keep the kids from viewin' inappropriate material.
- Marker function: player "can store a maximum of 5 positions in memory, for convenient access, if desired", according to the manual. Not sure what this feature's all about, but I guess I could find out for myself one of these weeks...
- Discs that this player supports includes 3-inch/8cm and 5-inch/12cm DVDs, CDs, and video CDs that are Region 1 or All-Region encoded.
- This player cannot play the following discs: Non-Region 1/All-Region and PAL DVDs, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, CD-ROM, VSD, CDV, CD-G, CD-RW, DVD-RW, CVD, SVCD, Photo CDs (possible damage to data on disc if played), CD-R (possible damage to data on disc if played), and Divx. (Divx?! Now you REALLY have an idea of just how old this thing is...) `Late
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