edwardre Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 DVD player #2 is dead after a mere 4 months. First one fell victim to the Panasonic A310 debaucle. The idiot ED, despite common sense, went and replaced with yet another Panny because the cheap ^*%$&% wanted to try DVD-A, and the Pan was the cheapest 'name brand' out there. Well, you get what you pay for. I will NEVER, EVER, in a million years, purchase another pan-anything. Not even an alkiline battery. Do not want to try and have it fixed. Do not want to deal with the idiots in the CS dept. Do not feel I should have to. Damage has been done. Putting it all behind and moving forward. With that in mind, I'm eyeing a Pioneer Elite DV45A. Both DVD-A and SACD capable. Progressive everything. 2 YEAR PARTS AND LABOR WARRANTY!!!!! Anyone have any experience with this or like Pioneer Elite players?? All the reviews I see online have nothing but the highest praise. Input please...... Thanks much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 I think I read in the forum recently that it has the chroma bug... DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pierceb Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 I will NEVER buy another Panasonic product again either! Their products are a fecking joke! Their customer service is even worse! I won't even get into all the problems I have had (and still have). Needless to say, I am stuck with a 32" GAOO "POS" and DVD player that I can't wait to replace. -PB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 I played with the Pioneer Elite DVD-45A myself. From my initial impressions, I was impressed. Has a really nice picture and sounded great. I am considering it myself to replace my JVC player. About Panasonic, the only thing I have ever bought that was made by Panasonic was my 3D0 player (Panasonic FZ-1). I bought that damn thing back when they were still somethihng like $500. It was pretty cool for the time and it did have some cool games, but I am not going to spend that much for what is essentially a game console again, not to mention that I ended up hardly using it. I still have it and it still works. Other than that, it is most likely that I won't be buying much anything Panasonic. I have been hearing about problems with alot of thier stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speed3 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Jeez, I have had good luck with Panasonic products. When I was a kid, my parents bought a Panny Hi-Fi VCR when they were first becoming popular and that thing ran without a hitch until it was replaced a couple of years ago, and it was used quite a bit for about 15 years. I have a Panny DVD player that is used almost evvery day for the past 14 months and I haven't had a problem yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I've had ups and down with Panasonic. I've owned three boom-boxes that have had very durable lives along with one of the first 900MHz phones. The downside would be my current 2.4GHz phone that had such bad static in it the other end couldn't understand anything I said. (Of course) after the warranty ran out I took Panasonic up on an exhange program for a reconditioned unit. That unit had a similar problem right from the start and they replaced that one for free (minus shipping). Since then I wonder. Now I did have a quite a few Technics, still Matsu****a (NOT MASHOOSTA!!), pieces for my first system in the early 80's and they all ran not too terribly bad for the price. So does this mean all Matsu****a is on the sh*t list or just Panasonic? (Would you believe that!? The filters won't even let Panasonic's parent company's name to be printed in it's correct spelling!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 No problems here with my CP72. Ed, what went wrong with yours? fini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 ---------------- On 1/20/2003 3:26:54 PM edwardre wrote: With that in mind, I'm eyeing a Pioneer Elite DV45A. Both DVD-A and SACD capable. Progressive everything. 2 YEAR PARTS AND LABOR WARRANTY!!!!! Anyone have any experience with this or like Pioneer Elite players?? All the reviews I see online have nothing but the highest praise. Input please...... Thanks much ---------------- Anyone else hear anything about a new model by Pioneer that is DVD-A/SACD capable, but with a MSRP of $289? I heard a blurb about it showing up at CES, but can't find anything else about it... DD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tikiman7 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I fell victim to Panasonic, though not in the bad quality realm. I fell for DVD-Audio, which I love, but my Technics player is first generation. Plays DVD-Audio and DVD's just fine, but it won't play CD-R's. Now I need a dedicated CD player to play all the stuff I've burned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Hmm. I have invited Panasonic into my house; should be here early next week: The highly-touted DVD-RP82 single disc DVD player... I never thought I would introduce a Panasonic unit to my slowly-grading-up system, but this thing has received such raves for its picture quality, I thought I would try it out. If the Panny does not come up to my Toshiba, I can always sell it on ebay; one sold recently for about $400, twice as much as I am paying for mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardre Posted January 21, 2003 Author Share Posted January 21, 2003 Fini - The first Panasonic.....a DVD-A310 died about 3 days past the warranty expiration. Picture freeze. Locked the unit up tighter than a crab's arse underwater. Checking online, I found that there weere over 200 consumer reviews on Audioreview with individuals experiencing the same issue. This newest one was fine for the first 4 months up until last Friday evening. We were expecting family over who were eager to check out the HT. I cued up episode 1 of Band of Brothers (heard it was good) and paused it at the start. Then turned off the projector and commenced to wait for them. When they arrived, I ran and fired up the projector figuring to warm it up for a half hour or so prior to viewing. Upon powerup, I noticed that the image (HBO Presents) was 'flickering'. Not as noticeable looking straight on, but very evident out of the corner of the eye. Figured it was the projector needing warmup. Returned 10 minutes later and it was worse. Now thoroughly puckered, I frantically tossed in another disc hoping the problem was a 'cheap one'. Nope. I then fired up the S-VHS player and the flickering was gone. Relief followed as I realized that it was NOT the projector. Turning my attention back to the suspect DVD player, I tried to power it on. Lit up, said 'reading'. Now is normally the time a series of 4 '0's sequentially go across the display. No '0'. Cocking my head, I heard the laser frantically zipping to and fro, but no motor noise. Figuring that something got inside impeding the spin, I popped the top. Hmmm.....nothing obvious. Wonder what would happen if I try and spin it by hand. I did. It started. Ran for about 3 minutes (flickering) then slowed down to a pityful spin (flickering getting more pronounced as it slowed) then stopped. Attempts to recessitate via manual spinning were unsuccessful. Mr Drake (or anyone with an opinion!) - WRT the 'chroma' bug, exactly what is your take on this? I too thought I read about the bug so I researched last evening. Evidently it is not a true 'bug', but a situation whereby the alogrithm used for upconverting the something-or-rather is 'less than 100% accurate', or at least that was my interpretation of the technical jargon. To make a complicated scenario really simple, there are basically two different formulas used (in the codecs?) for upconversion. Some mfg's use one, others use the other, neither are perfect. The solution appears to be: use one for progressive and the other for interlaced. To the point, EVERY Pioneer unit has the 'chroma bug' which manifests itself in exaggerated 'lines' or 'smears' on certain diagonal-ish images. No Panasonic unit has this, evidently they use both alogrithms. Sony is about 50-50, Toshiba is also pegged as 100% of the units are 'chroma challenged'. There seems to be a general consensus that you cannot see this anomoly on a 'regular' to large sized rear projection TV/monitor. The trouble comes in when you have a VERY large screen. Generally front projectors because of sheer image size display this artifact, or the artifact(s) are easier to spot. So my question is: of those of you who have Pioneer or Toshiba DVD players in tandem with a large screen area, can you see any problems with the image? Pioneer and Toshiba have been in the DVD business fron the very git-go. I would think that if there was a problem that was glaring, more people would complain. Generally speaking, I hear nothing but positives about the video quality of both manufacturers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruinsrme Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Having the DV 47ai I have noticed that in animated movies the red is not crisp and clear. If I didn't know aboutit I probably would have discounted it. On regular movies I have not noticed a thing not have my movie addict friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 ---------------- On 1/21/2003 9:24:13 AM tblasing wrote: The downside would be my current 2.4GHz phone that had such bad static in it the other end couldn't understand anything I said. ---------------- Oh yeah, I forgot about my Panasonic 2.4ghz cordless phone - the only other thing I can think of that I owned that is Panasonic. I probably got one of the first ones (hard to believe I paid $300 for that thing!). I bought it when my last cordless phone gavith up the ghost, and I wanted to get something that would last me for many many years. Fortunatly, I had not had a single problem with the thing and this is going on for about 3 years now. No static, calls are easy to understand and so forth. It turned out to be a very nice unit! I guess like any large electronics corporation, there will always be those units that cause nothing but problems along with those that will probably still work to the day the sun blows up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 So my question is: of those of you who have Pioneer or Toshiba DVD players in tandem with a large screen area, can you see any problems with the image? Pioneer and Toshiba have been in the DVD business fron the very git-go. I would think that if there was a problem that was glaring, more people would complain. Generally speaking, I hear nothing but positives about the video quality of both manufacturers. ---------------- It took me a while to notice it, but yes, the chroma bug is evident on my Toshiba; most notable when watching scenes with a lot of saturated colors (mainly reds). If I hadn't read about it, I quite possibly would have never noticed it, but now that I know what to look for, I suppose I'm sensitive to it. Otherwise, I am happy with the PQ and the build quality of my Toshiba; I will most likely hang on to it, and run it through my second TV... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofy Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 I just bought a Panasonic DVD-RP82 in December. No problems yet. The build quality does seem a bit cheap, but most things do these days. My father has had a Panasonic DVD32 for close to a year now with out problems as has a friend with the same unit. I also had 2 Panasonic stereo VCRs I bought in 1986. I traded one away in 1991 so I dont know how long it lasted after that, but the one I kept lasted until 1997. 11 years and ALOT of tapes played/recorded. I replaced it with a JVC that has worked without error to this day. Would I buy another Panasonic? You bet. Even the best manufacturers do produce some bad stuff once in a while. Looks like you got the once in a while DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardre Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 Agreed. The once in awhile twice in a row. Now I'm in a quandry. Research says that the Panasonic is the best buy both visually and audibly for the money. Their DVD units routinely stack up well against multi-thousand dollar units. My top 2 priorities are video quality (front projector w/12' diag image) as well as DVD-A quality. I had thought to check out SACD as well but now I'm shying away from the Pioneer due to the chroma upsampling issue. Also, product reliability and more importantly, a company's willingness to back their product for some reason has propelled to the top of my priority list. What to do.....what to do..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofy Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Ed, I dont blame you for being gunshy. Your bad luck was with the A310? If you want to give the RP82 a try go to a dealer that will let you demo in home or has a no hassles no questions asked 15-30 day return. If it isnt what you want keep looking. If it is, buy it from a good local dealer who willing to back it. Also look into an extended warranty. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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