Notes: I am actually reviewing the RV-27. The RV-27 and RV-31 are basically replacement models for the RV-30 that add MP3 support and cost the same. Panasonic's RV-27 appears to be identical to its popular RV-31 model. The only difference (apparent to me) between the RV-31 and the RV-27 is that I've only seen the RV-27 at Target stores. This review was previously published under the RV-30 product (the RV-31 product was not listed in Epinions previously), but I'm moving it to the RV-31 product now).

Here are some of the highlights from my experience with the RV-27:

MP3 capability

This player can play CD-R and CD-RW discs with MP3 audio files. I didn't get a chance to try this out unfortunately. I will point out, however, that this player will only show the number of the MP3 it is playing, whereas the Samsung DVD-M301 can show up to 8 characters of the file name.

No 5.1 decoders

Not a big deal to me since I don't have a surround receiver. If I do get one, I'd rather get the decoders in the receiver and use a single digital connection for audio (rather than separate analog connections for each channel). This player has the optical output that makes this possible, making it perfect for my needs.

Dialogue Enhancer

This feature raises the volume level of dialogue (center channel) without raising the volume of music and sound effects. Seems to work reasonably well.

Scanning

Several speeds are supported from 2X to 100X. The 2X speed is fairly smooth and offers the option of playing audio (somewhat garbled of course) while scanning. However, I found that the Samsung DVD-M301's 2X speed was just as smooth, if not smoother and it also offers the audio option.

Resume feature

A good idea with an incredibly frustrating implementation. This really annoyed me. The idea is that when you stop in the middle of a movie, the player remembers your position on the disc, even if you power off the player (but not if you eject the disc). The problem with this feature is that it only works if you remember to press the "Play Mode" button before pressing "Stop". Here I wondered why the button is called "Play Mode" -- how about "marker" or something like that. But then again, why do I have to press a button at all? What if I forget? Why not always remember the last place I stopped? When I bought the Samsung DVD-M301, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had the same feature, but they did it right. No need to press any button to tell the player to remember its position.

On-screen Menus

The on-screen menus on this model are reasonably easy to use, but I found the Samsung's menus to be simpler and easier to use. My main issue with the Panasonic menus is that they have horizontal "tabs" to navigate to different menus (which I tended to forget about), whereas the Samsung menus are purely vertical and straightforward to operate.

Problem with remote control

Maybe it was just bad luck, but my remote control didn't work. Actually, it did work at first, but it only lasted through one movie and one day of usage. After that, dead as a door nail. I tried every angle imaginable. I tried it an inch from the unit. I tried banging it and I tried replacing the batteries with ones from a working remote. No luck. And so I decided it was going back to the store. As I repacked the unit to take it back, I tried the remote one last time just for kicks and giggles. To my surprise, it now suddenly worked! But it was too late now - the damage had already been done. I now had doubts about this unit and by then was intrigued by the Samsung DVD-M301 (see my review at http://marcman.epinions.com/content_25581817476), which offered similar features (including the MP3 capability) for $30 less. Back to the store went the Panasonic and the Samsung was welcomed into my home, in which it still happily resides. It's worth noting that the Samsung remote has not given me any problems and is even better than the Panasonic remote, because it has a joystick and buttons to control a TV.

Conclusion

I liked the Panasonic player a lot, aside from the remote control problem and the resume feature. However, the Samsung offered the same features and a better remote at a lower price, so I couldn't pass it up.

URL for my review of Samsung DVD-M301

http://marcman.epinions.com/content_25581817476



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 199