Rating: 
Summary: Broke after 3 movies!!
Review: Easy to set up, but it the power doesn't come on -- and after playing just 3 movies. I purchased one in mid-December and am sending it back to Panasonic for repairs!!
Rating: 
Summary: Great Addition to Any Home Theater
Review: 12/21/03. I have had this DVD player for eight days. I added this DVD player to my newly purchased home theater system, and found setting up the DVD player for progressive scan to be cumbersome (perhaps I was overwhelmed with setting up three new items DVD, TV, and amp). I have this connected to a Yamaha amp and a Panasonic 50 inch LCD widescreen TV. In the end, I am happy with the results, but getting there was a difficult journey. The picture quality is excellent and detail imagery is apparent. I have found this DVD player remote is not as easy to use as my prior one (Not progressive scan and 2 years old), but perhaps that is because the Panasonic is more advanced and has more features. Panasonic was available for assistance with all my questions at 1 866-843-9788. My remarks will be associated with setting up with component cables out for progressive scan and a 16x9 widescreen TV, with digital audio/coax digital. During the initial set up make sure you have the correct settings -Progressive out, Component video out - Black Level Control - Darker, 16x9, etc. After reading through the manual again, I found that there are additional settings needed to enjoy progressive scan. To change the unit settings - Press the display button 3 times and switch 480i to 480p. Then the type of material viewed should be defaulted to Auto 2 (Movie era 1940 and up). Auto 1 is for older movies 1940 and beyond. Video is for burned DVD's from a camcorder video, etc. Under the audio tab if you use the digital coax, some of the functions may be automatic. Here are my settings. PCM down conversion - No. Dolby digital, DTS and MPEG are all Bitstream. NOTE: To enjoy 5.1 sound, you will need the coax digital cable. Otherwise 5.1 will not work and surround speakers will not be audible. For those using the analog (Left and Right speaker cables) all settings should be PCM - If not, PCM with analog cables (set to bitstream) may result in damaging noise output. The dynamic range compression is set to off - For us older audiophiles, this is a loudness switch. I have found the sound quality to be excellent, but I have this DVD player connected to a high end home theater system. The low bass/subwoofer shakes the room, and the midrange and tweeter sounds are excellent, for both movies and music DVDs. Watch the price on this one. I have seen it on sale for (cheap) Panasonic DVD S25K (Mine is black, not silver - only difference). Recommended Purchase!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great product. Reads several types of disks.
Review: I upgraded to this DVD player to get features such as MP3 playback and support for burnt CDs/DVDs. So far I'm very pleased and actually surprised with its performance: - Reads music CD-R and CD-RW disks with no issues. - Reads MP3 and WMA CD-R and CD-RW disks. I burnt some music folders on a CD-RW, put it in the DVD player and it had no issues playing either format. There is a very handy directory 'tree' that lets you find the song you're looking for. - Reads JPEG CD-R and CD-RW disks. Again, if a CD has JPEG files on it, this DVD player will find them and start showing a slide show. - I didn't have any DVD-R or DVD-RW disks on hand but instead I put in DVD+R and DVD+RW disks I had made and these played!! I don't believe this feature is advertised but it seems to work. - Also this DVD player handles Video CDs quiet well. Along with the above, the picture quality using the component out connections in superb. Also the menu/display system is well designed and very easy to learn. The remote is not backlit but is at least intuitive. The only two omissions I have noticed to date: 1. No S-Video output. So it's either composite or component.
2. No screen saver feature when you're playing music CDs. Overall this is a great buy. I hope these new price points for DVD players reflect the fact that this technology is getting cheaper vs. the advent of disposable devices. Only time will tell. Until then enjoy all the new features.
Rating: 
Summary: It is a good DVD player
Review: This DVD player is a good bargain. It works well and plays DVDs and CDs and also MP3 data as audio. It is so good. I like it so much.
Rating:
Summary: No optical digital output, but has coaxial digital output
Review: I bought this player as a gift, so I have looked at the unit first-hand. To the reviewer that stated it does not have an optical digital output - correct. However, the statement that you will have analog audio only and not digital - not correct!!! This unit has a COAXIAL digital output. Most DD recievers will have inputs for both (coaxial and optical) digital inputs. Many early DVD players had both outputs. My recent Toshiba has both. Many recent Panasonic models had optical only, but for some reason (my guess is cost) this Panasonic unit went the other way (coaxial). This is easy for newcomers to confuse and it's not helped by the fact that the Amazon description is wrong in stating that the unit has an optical digital output. Just to note: it can stop a DVD and resume where it left off. I've seen various comments recently about some DVD players (not necessarily this model) that were claimed to not have this feature. I have no idea if this was user error or what, but I tested this and it worked fine. This appears to be a good basic unit for the price. The progressive scan is a bonus for those that have the TV to take advantage of it.
Rating:
Summary: A fine player for the money
Review: This is a great player for the money with a passable remote.
One thing to watch out for when reading Amazon reviews: If someone has truely owned over $100,000 of different Pansonic products, why would they purchase numerous Panasonic DVD players when they consider them the most unreliable brand?
Rating:
Summary: Be Careful
Review: One thing to watch out for when purchasing a DVD player: Does it have the Optical output for the Audio to connect to your home theatre system. The Panasonic DVD-S25 does not. This means that if you use this unit, you will be using all analog for you audio, and you will not get true Dolby Digital Audio.
As a side comment, I have owned over $100,000 of different Pansonic products over the years, including numerous DVD players. I have also owned DVD players from other manufacturers. Panasonic DVD players are the most unreliable units of all electronic devices I have owned. They do not last very long, they skip pretty consistently. Do your homework and make sure you really want the Panasonic brand name on your list.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to use, good deal!
Review: Panasonic quality shines through in this unit. From the easy set up to the great picture quality, this is a winner! Be careful of those no-name brands, their quality does not match up to Brands like Panasonic.
Rating:
Summary: Works great for me
Review: I'm not a DVD expert, but this one has worked great for me. Easy hookup, easy to use, great performance.
Rating:
Summary: PANASONIC GEM
Review: GREAT UNIT FULL OF FEATURES. BUY IT AND YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DECIDED ON THIS ONE.
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