Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One awesome and smart DVD player .... PERIOD!, September 1, 2005
Ok. I never write reviews on products even if I like them after trying them ... but this DVD player is the best dvd player I've ever had.... Why? you ask....
The DVD player is the first that I've EVER had that actually played (upconverted to glorious 1080i, mind you) trailers, menus, anamorphic content, 4:3 content, letterboxed content all in perfect aspect ration without having to adjust a thing. I've NEVER, I repeat, NEVER had a DVD player that actually analyzed the video information as much as this player does. This part alone inspired me to write this glowing review... now there's more ... much more.
Next, the picture. The picture this thing puts out both via component and HDMI video is nothing short of astonishing. I've had mid-level Sony, Toshiba, Samsung (to name a few) DVD players that were progressive and/or upconverting models and NONE of them ever produced the almost HD quality image that this player puts out.
Next, the speed. The procesing speed is excellent. It reads the disc quickly and starts playing immediately... when you hit menu button or up/down/left/right it responds immediately and plays without even seemingly reading the disc for a/v information... it's very impressive.
Lastly, the hardware unit itself is impressive. It looks sleek and sweet and has a large thin horizontal blue bar that glows nicely when in use. Also the disc tray slides out with command and shows that the tray is clear plastic. Discs fly smoothly back into the unit. The remote control is not half bad either with perhaps too many buttons.
The configurability of this player is phenominal. there are many more options to customize which is great for us pro's but may confuse others.
The manual has a lot to be desired but is certainly not the worst I've seen by far.
Overall, this player ROCKS!!!!
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Up-Converting DVD Player - Poor Manual, June 30, 2005
I have had my Panasonic DVD-S77S unit for about 3 weeks now. I researched upconverting DVD players for a month before deciding to purchase this unit. Originally, I had my heart set on buying a Toshiba unit, but after reading all of the horrible experiences so many people had with the Toshiba SD-59xx units (from several sources), I settled on the Panasonic. As previous reviewers have stated, the manual is TERRIBLE. The default settings for the player is 480p (progressive) and trying to find where to change it to 720p or 1080i (interlaced) was quite a challenge. (Read the May 19, 2005 review listed here for details.)
I have a 32" Sony HDTV and the jury is still out on whether I get a better picture with 720p or 1080i. Regardless, both are excellent. I also agree with a previous reviewer in that the blue light bar on the front of the unit is VERY bright and annoying.
This unit comes with a 6.5 foot HDMI cable and a 3-connector RCA-type cable (Left, Right, Video). I did not know this unit came with an HDMI cable, so I had purchased one from another source. My suggestion is NOT to buy another HDMI cable until you try out the one that comes with the player. I doubt that you will notice any difference in quality between the original and an overpriced Monster cable ($50-$80).
I gave the Panasonic DVD-S77S only 4 stars because longevity is an important factor for me and I won't know that for another 2-3 years (hopefully).
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Up-Converting DVD Player, September 2, 2005
After looking and reading a lot about up converting dvd players, I decided to go with this unit. Since the price was right and I heard nothing but good things about it. I'm using it thru its HDMI output directly into my HDTV and the colors and picture quality are incredible.
I had try other progressive players, but none of them gave me this quality. There was no artifacts or video distortion visible. Just be sure you use HDMI to HDMI instead of the component output. This will give you the best picture, since you can't up convert using the component output.
The menu system is a little hard to follow, so read the manual.
If you're looking in how to change the up converting resolution from 480p to 720p or 1080i, is under the display menu and not under setup where I was expecting it. Also there you will find how to turn off the "very bright" blue light that shines from the top of the disk tray. I think that most people will decide to turn it off. But I leave that to you.
I recommend this player, to anyone that want the best picture available to this date. Of course you can wait till the real
HD-DVD players come out, but that might take a while.
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