Customer Reviews

Panasonic PV-D4745S DVD/VCR Dual Deck , Silver

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

 

 

First of all, after reading another review stating I wouldn't be able to watch home-made DVDs on this machine, I ran right out to the living room and played a few that my family made for me and I hadn't ever tried playing before. I was suddenly worried they wouldn't work. And while it's true that the home-movies I played were not in the same format as those listed by the previous reviewer (these were DVD-R), they played perfectly.

But since I don't watch many home-movies or self-burned stuff anyway, my review is based totally on one single aspect: Commercial DVD playback quality. I have literally gone through 5 different brands of DVD/VCR combo units over the last year, exchanging each one because of DVD playback problems; stuttering, freezing, skipping, pixelization. And this was always on normal DVD movies.

Recently however, a lot of my old favorite TV shows are being released on double-sided, dual-layer DVDs (DVD 18 technically) that many folks are complaining about having issues with when switching to the second layer on the same side of the disk. I had these problems too with my last unit, which had been doing just fine until I started playing TV series disks that were known for having problems with the layer-switch.

Exchanging the disks didn't help, since they all had the same problems. Finally, out of desperation, I exchanged my DVD/VCR combo unit one more time on the off-chance it would make a difference. Lo and behold, I'm suddenly one of the few people who can play "Space: Above and Beyond" and "American Gothic" with no problems whatsoever.

True, the disk manufacture is definitely the 'real' problem. But my Panasonic player somehow manages to work around it. I'm not a techie. All I know is this is the first of five brands I've tried that hasn't had a problem handling the layer-switch. I'm sure there are other good brands out there. All I'm saying is this one was reasonably priced and does exactly what I need it to do.

And strictly speaking from a layman's perspective, the image and sound quality seem excellent and crisp, as does the VCR image and quality. Again, I'm no expert, so your mileage may vary.

I recently had a Panasonic DVD/VCR player that went haywire, so upon tons of research on several different brands, styles, kinds of DVD/VCR combos, I have decided to purchase yet another Panasonic, as overall, I've had a good experience with their products. I think the old one konked out on my part, as I found out (when it was too late) that I wasn't closing the DVD door properly, as I did it manually, when I should've either pressed the button on the machine or on the remote.

I've had this new one for two months now, and it works great! At first, I was kinda iffy on the playback quality, but I really like it now. I love how the remote for this is the exact same as the one I had for my old machine, which is a major plus, as it has all the same functions and features that I loved.

I love the features of the time remaining, as I tape my soaps all the time, and I love knowing ahead of time if I'm going to have enough room on the tape. I also love the commercial skip, as the commercial break during my soaps is three minutes long, exactly the length of time I can skip the commercials. I love the ease of pressing a single button to turn on the subtitles when I'm watching a DVD.

Overall, it's a great product, and I totally love it!

I bought this combo deck when my Samsung combo deck died after 5 years of moderate use. (The Samsung TV I bought at the same time is starting to die as well....) I've had the new Panasonic deck for about a month and so far no problems. Like most combo DVD/VCRs, the DVD takes priority, meaning that if you have both a tape and a DVD in the machine, the machine will always try to play the DVD when you power up the machine. You can override this by punching the VCR button on the remote, which is large and easy to find.

Generally speaking, the controls are pretty standard and programming the VCR for later taping is about 5 on a 1-10 difficulty scale. I have not yet tried to copy a DVD to tape, although the manual seems to imply that it is easy. As is almost always the case nowadays, the manual is mainly warnings about not using the deck in the bathtub or connecting your antenna to a high-tension power line. There seem to be many instructions for all those lucky folks with "home theatres," etc., in case you need them.

The remote has a lot of small buttons that are marked in small type. Baby boomers may need cheaters to read the button labels. Rather than having a red, one touch record button like the Samsung, the Panasonic remote just has a small "rec" button residing with the rest of the confusing mess of remote control buttons. I plan to put a dot of white-out on the button to make it stand out.

The best thing about the new deck is that it seems to make good quality tapes off an antenna hookup. There may be a signal booster inside because the tapes often look better than the TV alone!

The worst thing is that the deck does not have an external clock. Like a lot of people, I came to depend on the VCR clock in the TV room. There is, of course, an internal clock that you can have display on the TV screen. But when the TV is off, you better have a watch!

Additional comment (October 2008) -- About 6 months ago, the DVD player died. Now only the VCR works. I doubt I'd buy another Panasonic.

This baby is awesome. It plays all my videos and CD. The image is very clear and no problems setting it up. Love the combo its great. If you what a good combo player this is the way to go.

We like this product very much. We bought one 6 months ago and wanted a second for the bedroom. We went back to circuit city where we purchased the first one, and they no longer stock it. We were hesitant to purchase online, but amazon had one in stock, so we took what we thought was a gamble. Flawless transaction with Amazon, hookup was two snaps...even for we who haven't the technical skills of a 10 year old. The product works perfectly, though we have no clue or need of many of the buttons on the remote.

Our only complaint is that the cat keeps hiding the remote.

Totally satisfied with product. Regular delivery came in two days. Who could ask for more?

This is a solid 4-Star media player, no doubt about it. The DVD player is easy to control and doesn't need to be connected to your TV by anything more complicated than a simple, common-as-dirt coaxial cable. This means that when you want to play a DVD or CD you needn't do anything more complicated than drop the disk in and press play. That's quite nice in this day where it's common to have to press a series of 3 or more buttons just to get the start menue of your DVD player. And as for the VCR, it's turning out to be quite the little work-horse. It did take a few tapings to get it broke in, but there after the play-back picture quality was pretty good on the EP setting. So functually speaking its a solid machine overall.

My complaints mainly focus on the little things, like for instance the VCR has no LP setting (which I prefer for taping for posterity). And unlike every VCR I've owned or used for the past 20 years, when rewinding you can't press to power button to set it to shut down when the tape is fully rewound, (meaning you can't set up to program a show, hit rewind & power, and run out the door; that takes more forethough with this machine). Also, though the picture is good for recordings on EP (after broken in) the picure quality isn't as good as it was on my last machine on the same setting, and that was a 14-year old Quasar, (I'm hoping it will get there as it's broken in more). Another minor gripe is that the DVD player doesn't come with and A-B Repeat function, and the zoom is a little primative as well.

Overall this is a very good machine that does all that I need it to do, but not everything I'd like it do to. It's the little details that keep it from greatness.

I saw it in the other reviews and thought it has everything else I'm looking for ... I can do without the clock. It's driving me NUTS ;o)

Other than that it's a great machine - the programing is a little goofy but it works great. I'm looking for a wall clock now though.

This was a good buy. Quality of sound and picture is very good. Easy to operate. We're enjoying it.

This was brought for one of our outline areas to meet their needs.

I have not had any feed back about product. Brand name is very well

known. I personnaly own this brand at home & have not had any problems.

It certainly would be recommended.

I bought a PV-D4744 about a year ago,

It worked for a while, now it won't read old disks and,

even with brand new disks, the chance of

it being able to read the disk are not good,

about 90% of the brand new disks I have tried

it won't read.

I will never buy another panasonic product again.