Customer Reviews

Panasonic SC-DP1 Progressive Scan DVD Home Theater System

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

 

 

I purchased this unit as a CD player and FM tuner only. I have not yet used the DVD facilities.
This is an attractive system. The unit is mostly metal-cased and solidly built. The front fascia features brushed stainless steel (or at least a very good facsimile of it), a display that looks like opaque chromed perspex when switched off, and a chromed volume control with a quality, 'weighted' feel to it. The build and finish are excellent.
On CD, the sound quality on 'normal' setting is perhaps a little more mellow than you would expect from a jap system at this price, though it is always smooth and well detailed. Switching to 'advanced surround' processing really puts a punch into a normal CD. Vocals can suffer slightly at this setting compared to the original, but listeners tend to say 'wow, that's pretty good!' when you hit the 'surround' button. I expect a properly encoded dolby DVD would sound even better than a CD.
The FM tuner picked up stations easily, and sound quality is very good. The tuner tends to sound quite a bit louder than a CD at the same volume setting.
The volume level for CDs was easily adequate for my room (20ft x 17ft), but if you like your music very loud or have a larger room than this, you may find yourself turning it all the way up on occasions.
Bass is slightly lacking for my taste (though there is an output for a powered subwoofer, which I might well add at some point...). There is little choice but to stick with the supplied speakers, as this is a bi-wired speaker amp, requiring 4 seperate wires to each speaker. The supplied speakers come with only about 5ft of cable each.
The speakers don't ooze the same quality finish as the main system unit. The main problem is the cheap fake wood 'cherry' finish, though they're well constructed. They're a strange stretched octagonal shape (better than it sounds, actually), and look much better with the silvery fabric cover removed. I think they will grow on me, but I haven't seen fake wood that colour since the seventies. Compared to the look of any other speakers I've seen from units around this price, they'll do.
At this price, I haven't heard any mini-system that matches the overall sound quality (apart from a couple that look like scrap left over from a mad max movie.... what are manufacturers thinking?), or build quality.
If you're into burning your own CDs (or DVDs), this system can play or display lots of formats, including MP3s, windows media files (WMA), and even JPEGs (as well as all the usual DVD formats).
Overall; built well, looks good, sounds great, well worth the money. I love it.

I admittedly was only looking for a small-ish, psuedo-surround system for a secondary TV in my house, and what I got was not only a great DVD player (progressive scan is the only way to go!) but also great sounding - and small - speakers and a party management system! I love that this thing plays MP3's and displays a full menu of all the songs recorded on the TV. I recently made a CD for a party with almost 200 songs on it and a number of people asked about the system I was using.

For the price range, you really can't beat this deal, and Panasonic has always made solid A/V equipment (in my experience). If you want something simple that takes 5 minutes to hook up, this is the product you're looking for!

I agree with the other positive reviews on this site. I have to add that I'm coming at it from a slightly different angle. I have been looking for a nice bookshelf system that will also play MP3 and WMA files. I have a nice portable CD player that does this and it's so nice to have 10 CD's all on one disk. I tried out an MP3 disk at the store and was happy to see that it not only plays files that are all in the root folder (flat files) but also files that are organized in folder structures (by artist and album title). I like to organize my music that way. The big bonus was when I got it home and connected it to an old TV monitor (I really wasn't planning to use it for DVD's). I love the navigation and on-screen display of my music - even regular CD's with the track info stored display properly (FINALLY!). I've only had it for a few hours, but I've played CD's, MP3's and some DVD music videos. So far, I love it! My only caveat (as with most electronics, these days) is that if you lose the remote control, you lose a lot of functionality. I'll just have to keep it away from the kids.

I purchased this unit for my sister. She has a small boombox for radio and CD listening, and she had a cheap DVD player for her TV. I bought this unit to upgrade her DVD into something better and also so she could enjoy listening to her CDs with something better than her small weak boombox speakers. Saving precious dresser top space was a bonus also.

I am going to say ditto to the "bro" reviewer. Their experiences mirrored my own. I would like to add that setup was a breeze. My sister is not very technically inclined and she had no issues setting everything up, including the radio antennas and speaker system. I checked things over and everything looked well.

I was impressed with the ease and quickness of the DVD player. Her old player was slow and had all sorts of menu problems. This unit was fast, equal to most quality DVD players out there, and very quiet. The default menu was very intuitive and loaded the DVD menus very quickly. Sound quality was much better than her TV speakers and the speakers were easy to mount onto her TV stand.

This unit is a very elegant system and I am very impressed with it. I would definately purchase it again and recommend that others do the same. I rated this item four stars, I believe it would have to be an outstanding product at a value price to rate that, however all things considered, including price, this is a strong four.

What a great value! I have been searching for just what this unit offers; a compact DVD player with the capacity for CD, MP3, plus AM&FM, including speakers, all for an attractive price. I did not want all of the speakers and wires associated with "home theater in a box", but essentially wanted all of the features they offer in a small stereo package without the expense of a true component system. This is a great main system for those of us who are not true audiophiles, and may even be a good bedroom system for them as well. My only complaint is that I cannot get the volume sufficiently high, but that is because I am using it in a large living room, a task for which it is not designed. Good job Panasonic!

This is overall a very nice compact audio system. It is stylish with metal finishing on the front and the speakers have better finishing than Panasonic's SC-19(?) 5 cd changers at WalMart. It also plays DVD discs and the speakers are magnetic-shielded, which is another advantage when you connect it with a laptop to play mp3's. The price of $150 (I don't know why it went up like $200 after I purchased it) is pretty nice considering all these features.

However, there are some minor things you need to consider before buying this unit. I usually listen to Jazz and classics and the bass is rather strong. The overall sound is not very clear like other hi-fi units, but you may not expect it from a $150 unit...

Also, you cannot random-play mp3 files. However, this problem is the same for other Panasonic compact systems. This is rather silly. I hope Panasonic can improve it for their next models.

Although this unit can read DVD-R discs, it does not support mp3 playbacks on a DVD-R disc.

Overall, this is a fine unit. I wish it could play clear sounds as well as my cheap $50 Sennheiser PX100 headphone, but it is also true that I cannot get a stereo unit like this with DVD support for $150. I was thinking about JVC and Phillips units as well, but they were falling behind in overall features.

Pros:
0. good sound .. though i must confess here that i'm no audiophile nor am i musically inclined .. but the sound is nice and fairly crisp .. bass .. not that great but at that price you can afford to add a subwoofer later. the speakers took some time to burn in though .. i was initially disappointed but then it seemed to improve later.
1. dvd video.
2. mp3 support .. the mp3 browsing is rather good too .. not ungainly as is seen in some of the dvd players on the market.
3. radio sounds good too.
4. compact size

Cons:
1. weird shaped speakers .. stretched octagon?!
2. the decibel level doesnt go all that high .. so if you want to blast music maybe this isnt for you.
3. 4 wires to connect per speaker!
4. dont, dont lose the remote.

actually, all said and done i like this system .. and for 150 bucks i dont think i could get a better one. i cannot comment on service though .. havent needed it yet. but then its just a couple of weeks old.

It seems sad that I would pine over a 2 speaker DVD/CD system but truth be told the Panasonic SC-DP1 did it all right in one small little package that only cost me $200 bucks back in the day.

I loved that little thing. It had decent sound and it played DVD's and music and it had a radio. I was so happy with it, but then I had to give it up to my ex, it was either that or I lose my Bose 3-2-1 and that wasn't going to happen.

If you can ever find one of these, buy it. It's a steal if its under $200. You will be pleased. More so because it has Component connections and because you can hook an active subwooder up to this baby and you have an instant pseudo-surround sound home theater system with an easy to use remote and great crisp sound for small rooms.

One day, I will be re-united with another Panasonic SC-DP1. I hope one day soon as I am missing it dearly.

I BOUGHT THIS ON SALE FOR $150 AND IT WAS A GREAT VALUE!
AT 100 WATTS, IT WON'T BLOW AWAY THE NEIGHBORS, BUT DELIVERS EXCELLENT SOUND, ESPECIALLY WHEN PLAYING DVD'S WITH THX OR DTS SOUND. PICTURE QUALITY IS EXCELLENT - ESPECIALLY WITH FLAT SCREEN TV. I HAVEN'T ADDED A WOOFER YET, BUT WILL SOON. I DIDN'T WANT ALL THE SPEAKERS THAT COME WITH A CONVENTIONAL SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM, SO THIS WAS PERFECT.

CD'S DON'T SOUND QUITE AS GOOD - NOT ENOUGH DEPTH TO THE SOUND, BUT HOPEFULLY THAT WILL CHANGE WITH THE ADDITION OF THE WOOFER.