Customer Reviews

Panasonic DVD-CV51 5-Disc DVD Player

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

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

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.

Excellent picture quality for both DVD and VCD! I've hooked it up directly to my amp and TV so I can play MP3s and CDs and take advantage of the 5 disc carousel without having to turn on the TV. I do wish that when MP3 songs played, it would show the artist and song name too, atleast on the TV screen, but I didn't find that. Otherwise, this brand new player is flawless.

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.

My dissatisfaction with this DVD player began with the manual, which had no useful info on hooking up the player to a receiver rather than a TV (even though it also plays audio CDs). Then, several times during its lifetime it wouldn't "see" a DVD or CD that was clearly there in the tray, which could be remedied by moving that disc to a different slot in the tray. Finally, after 1 yr and 4 mos, it has died with a fatal H02 error that is not fixed by any of the suggestions in the manual.

Approximately four months ago I have purchased the Panasonic CV51 DVD/CD Changer and everything is top notch ao far with the new player. The player even plays back all of my burned music, and this is a big advantage because my first generation Toshiba 3006 DVD player could not perform such a task. However, even though I am satisfied with the 5 disc playback convienience, audio detail (analog stereo and Dolby Digital/DTS performance), video detail, and remote, I was expecting a time-remaining indicator for movie playback via either on screen or on the machine's display panel. I got acquainted with time-remaining with my second Toshiba player. This is possible only with CD playback. Also, with the advent of DVD-Audio I was having a difficult time trying to determine if I should have purchased this player when I did, or delayed the purchase until DVD-Audio becomes more widely accepted. Because let us face it folks; the player is on the cutting egde of perfect except for the fact that it lacks a feature as such. This is an expectation though, considering the price of the unit. My advice is to let those 5.1 channel analog audio inputs on the back of you receiver lay dormant until the war is over with DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD and witness the public's response. In the meantime, these two audio formats will co-exist together and increase in title selection. Perhaps when the time arrives when we are financially stable enough to aquire one of these multi-channel audio devices, the prices will have decreased sufficiently and we can have our 5-disc Panasonic CV51 back with a different model number, same price tag, and a new time-remain feature. Meanwhile, the player is a demonstration that Panasonic may make some of us audio and videophiles think we are schizophrenic. For my current home theater system set up, this player was made just for me. Was it for you?

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.

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.

Got it a month ago....... install, set up, playing is very easy. Plays DVD, home-made CD, and regular CD perfectly. Change rest while playing one. Excellent! Highly recommended.

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.