Rating: 
Summary: A very good DVD player!
Review: The good?- Superb picture and sound
- Plays everything: DVD, CD, VCD, XVCD, MP3, CD-R, CD-RW
- Supports MP3 CBR and VBR
- Quick loading mechanism
- Front panel (display and controls) is fairly complete
- Supports black level expansion
- Brightness, contrast, and color adjustments
- S-Video, component, optical, and subwoofer connections
- Icon based menu system is very polished
The bad? - Feels cheap, especially the remote
- Cannot play SVCD or XSVCD
- No coax digital out
- Surround sound, dialogue and bass enhancers, and cinema mode are useless
- MP3 player has NO features
The MP3 player does not display filenames! Any directory structure that exists will get flattened. You'll get to know your songs by number... "1 of 122" or "24 of 122" etc. Programmed or random play would make things better, but unfortunately, those features are not supported during MP3 playback. The bottom line? If you watch DVDs most of the time and occasionally listen to MP3s, then the Panasonic RK31 is highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: If you're like me, you'll like this player...
Review: What I meant by being like me is:
* first time DVD owner
* don't have a home theater system
* planning to just plug into a TV and use its speakers
* like intuitive remote control buttons
* want to be able to play VCDs as well This is the perfect DVD player for you then. I found it especially easy to use. Right out of the box, just hook up the power and color coded video/audio cables to the back of your TV and it's ready to go. They even supply the batteries for the remote. I for one don't like to read manuals, but i really didn't have to. Power the player on, hit Open/Close, load your DVD disc, turn on your TV and it starts playing. If I want to access the menu, there's a clearly marked button called Menu and direction keys (Up/Down/Left/Right) and an Enter button at the center to make selections with. The price for this player makes it attractive as well. After canvassing around department store for basic DVD players and adding the tax to it, Amazon's selection and convenience just won me over.
Rating:
Summary: Good First DVD Player
Review: Original Review: August 2001 The DVD-RV31K is an excellent DVD/CD player. DVDs look great! The blacks are very deep and colors are vivid on my Toshiba television. There are a few options on the Panasonic to fine tune the picture that I have never seen on players at this price point .... They include separate brightness and color adjustments to get the picture to look good on almost any TV. The player is generally quiet during playback and music (MP3 and WAV files) sound excellent. Keep in mind that there is nothing fancy about the MP3 playback. No programming or other features are available with MP3s. The player has been able to play every CD-R I have and is programmable. Bass seems non-existant during DVD playback but fine with CDs. I had a Toshiba SD-2008 and Pioneer DV-333 player before picking up the Panasonic. They definitely have more bass (I used the coaxial digital outputs, which the Panasonic does not have on this model. Instead, I use the Toslink optical output.) Neither of the other models mentioned played MP3s and they were both very loud (you could clearly hear the disks spinning during playback.) In contrast, the DVD-RV31K is extremely quiet during playback. It should also be noted that Panasonic's Toslink output does an excellent job of keeping the stereo separation and high frequency detail. Unfortunately, the digital signal lacks low frequency response. This is also true of the analog outputs, but the analog still sounds good. I live in an apartment, so low frequency response is not a concern at this point. However, I definitely miss it when I want to hear a movie at theater sound levels. In summary, this is a great player for the price. Update: June 2003 No new issues with picture or sound to date. It still plays everything in my library: DVD, CD, CD-R, and CD-RW without any hesitation. I must say that I'm very impressed with the quality of the hardware. The ONLY reason I would replace this player would be to get more realistic bass or the use of a coaxial output.
Rating: 
Summary: exellent player
Review: im telling you i've watched over 200 dvds and have played each more than twice since i got my panasonic 6 months ago,i've never had so much as a skip even on vcd-cdr.the picture quality is exellent and the sound is supurb.the remote layout is pretty good,makes it easy in the dark.this is my third dvd player first i started with a top of the line jvc which was good for about a year though the picture and sound quality were not as good as the panasonic i have now.my second was a sony it lasted 3 hours simply becouse the picture quality wasnt even as good as my old jvc,i took it back for an exchange for the panasonic i have now. trust me get the panasonic rv31k,dont listen to the reviews about theirs freezing up every unit isnt going to be perfect,although most are i've got friends with this model and they've had no problem either.i will tell u this i know two people whos toshiba went bad after 2 months when they try to play a disc it reads"INSERT DISC" just stick to the panasonic and rember all major companys(panasonic,jvc,sony,toshiba)are gonna have a few bad apples come off the assembly line
Rating:
Summary: The best I have!
Review: I bought this player last year and enjoy it perfectly so far. It is better than the more expensive dvd players I had before: sony and samsung. I don't seem to have the H02 problem. Everything goes well so far!
Rating: 
Summary: Great while it lasted
Review: I guess I'll join the chorus. My RV31 worked great for almost two years but now it's just a paperweight. I too get the H02 error although sometimes it just stutters. I will never buy another Panasonic product again. Way to go Team Panasonic!
Rating: 
Summary: HO2 Error frustration and fix
Review: I followed the suggestion of tapping the disc holder and it worked! If you were like me and shook the crap out of the machine, this might fix your problem. When you take off the housing, you will see the DVD reader at the back center of the space. You will notice that the disc mounter that picks up the disc is not very sturdy. I gave it a few moves and tried it a couple of times before it picked it up and started reading the disc. Works fine with original DVD's, but got H07 with burnt DVD. Needless to say, I was going to throw it out before I read the thread about this suggestion from Amazon.com Customer. I hope this works for others out there that have not thrown the thing in the garbage. I was using a Daewoo DVD POS, it sucked so I went online to see if I could fix(?) the player myself. It's still going, I haven't put the screws back in though. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Yet another H02 error code
Review: I have played less than 10 DVDs on this unit, and yet I got the H02 error that everyone else seems to get. Please read all reviews to get a sense of the pervasiveness of this problem. Don't buy this product.
Rating:
Summary: Never Received the H02 Error
Review: I've owned this player for three years with no problems. There was a short period of time where the transport started to get loud and then it just got quiet again. Otherwise, it's been great for the little money I paid for it. Since it's three years old, I'll be looking for a replacement that has the Zoom feature and can read MP3 tracks with all the encoded track information. I have played several DVD+R's on the drive and they work flawlessly.
Rating:
Summary: H02 Error too
Review: Do not buy. I got the H02 error as well. Piece of junk. In the trash now, had to run out and buy a different brand.
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