Panasonic DVD-F65 5-Disc DVD Changer with Progressive Scan, 2-Channel DVD-Audio and MP3
Written: Aug 13 '03 (Updated Jan 06 '04)
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Pros: Aspect ratio control and zoom, excellent performance and features, MP3 and JPEG
Cons: No 5.1 DVD-Audio playback
The Bottom Line: The F65 is a very good and easy to use DVD changer. It has progressive scan, MP3 playback and even 2-channel DVD-Audio playback ...
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| dkozin's Full Review: Panasonic DVD-F65 Multi-disc DVD Player |
The F65 is a 5-disc DVD changer with progressive scan and 2-channel DVD-Audio playback. It is available in two colors: black (F65K) and silver (F65S) and sells for below $120.
Picture Quality
The F65 is inexpensive and its low price is not only the consequence of the technological progress, but also a result of the use the Panasonic’s own progressive scan chip set. Previous Panasonic DVD players used highly acclaimed Sage/Faroudja chip set and produced outstanding progressive scan picture quality, which outperformed DVD players that cost several times more.
With the use of Panasonic’s own deinterlacer, the picture quality of the new models (F65 included) is somewhat worse that that of the previous DVD changers (CP67, CP72, etc.), but this is only visible if you sit close to the TV and pay close attention. Also, the slight decrease in the picture quality only applies to the progressive scan mode (if you have an HDTV or EDTV and can use it).
In the “standard” (interlaced) mode, the picture is crisp and noise-free with vivid colors and well-defined object edges. The detail level is high, even in dark areas.
In “standard” (interlaced) mode, in which, I am sure, the majority of owners will operate the player due to the lack of progressive-scan capable TVs, the changer excels. Plus, the F65 provides another benefit, which previous Sage/Faroudja-based models did not provide – the aspect ratio control (see below).
Progressive Scan
I have to point out that you can use the progressive scan feature only if your TV is a High-Definition (HDTV) or an EDTV. Only in that case will you be able to use progressive scan, if you connect the player to your TV using component video out.
The progressive scan mode must first be enabled in the setup menu and then engaged using the player’s onscreen menu/icons (change 480i to 480p). If your TV does not support 480p (progressive scan), you will see two distorted pictures instead of the one.
Progressive scan (480p) produces more stable picture with less flicker as the horizontal lines that form the picture are drawn in the succession, unlike the interlaced mode (480i), where the odd lines are drawn followed by the even lines.
For people who are into numbers: 480 is vertical resolution – the picture consists of 480 horizontal lines. The DVD players can produce more than 540 lines of horizontal resolution. In computer terminology, this would produce 540x480 resolution.
Inputs
The changer has an optical digital audio out, analog stereo audio out, S-Video out, component video out and a composite video out. There is no coaxial digital audio out, since Panasonic seems committed to optical digital audio connectivity. The component video out is switchable between progressive scan and “standard” (interlaced) mode.
Aspect Ratio Control and Zoom
Some HDTV monitors lock into full-screen mode when feed progressive scan signal. Some others are widescreen, but have no image scaling with zoom. This may represent a problem – say you have a widescreen TV, but the DVD is in standard aspect ratio. Then you either have to deal with horizontally stretched picture or black bars on either side of the picture.
Even worse scenario is a 16:9 TV and a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD. Either the picture is stretched horizontally or it is very small on the screen.
The F65’s aspect ratio control to the rescue... With the F65, it is very easy to get complete (and, more importantly, automatic) control over the zoom and aspect ratio.
What you do is choose 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3 in the changer’s Setup (accessed by pressing the “Setup” button on the remote, but also opens automatically when you first power the changer up), then select Auto aspect mode from the onscreen menu/icons while playing the DVD (the changer remembers it for future discs).
Your aspect ratio control process is complete. You can occasionally override the Auto setting if the changer makes a mistake, but that has yet to happen to me.
The Zoom button on the remote allows you to select several preset zoom levels to get rid of bars above and below the image (widescreen movie) or on the sides (non-widescreen movie while using a widescreen TV) or even magnify the image further. The “up” and “down” buttons on the remote also allow you to fine-tune the zoom to fill the screen exactly the way you want, in 0.01x steps (1x, 1.01x, 1.02x. etc.).
Unfortunately, the changer forgets the zoom you selected every time you stop the playback and you have to re-zoom once the playback is resumed.
The Changer
The changer is a 5-disc carousel-type one. The disc change and disc read times are on the slow side, especially when it comes to JPEG discs. The more sessions the disc has, the more time it takes for the changer to read it. The “Disc Exchange” button allows you replace the discs while one is playing.
By the way, so far I have tried about 10 DVD discs and one of them (the first disc of the Michael Moore’s “The Awful Truth” 4-disc set) would jump from the end of one chapter to the beginning of another, skipping a couple of chapters. I could only access the chapters it jumped through by going to the scene selection menu. I am not sure yet if it is the player’s fault or (more likely) the disc itself.
Ease of Use
The DVD players are getting easier to use with every generation and the F65 is no exception – it is easier to use than the previous Panasonic DVD changers. It shows the description of the onscreen menu icons – similar to Windows’ “tool tips”. Previously, even after using Panasonic DVD players for several years, I had difficulty remembering which icon does what. Now, the description of its function appears underneath the selected icon. The Position Memory remembers the position on the disc even after the disc is removed from the changer.
Playback Speeds
I recently compared the speed at which the 3-year old Panasonic DVD-RV31 responded to the commands to change the playback speed with that of the RV32 and this model. Both the RV32 and the F65 were noticeably slower than the old RV31 when changing speeds. Maybe it is one of the reasons the newer models are lighter and cheaper. Things are getting flimsier and flimsier. Not Cool.
The F65 is not flimsy though, it feels durable for its weight. Now back to our subject of playback speeds...
Not only you can use slow and fast (up to 200x speed) scan, but there are 2 slow and 2 fast speeds which allow you hear the soundtrack of the disc legibly. They are not accessible immediately, but by accessing the disc progress indicator and then using “left” and “right” remote buttons. These speeds are 0.8x, 0.9x, 1.2x and 1.4x. The difference in speed is not significant, but it is a nice feature regardless.
Formats
The F65 can play DVD-Video and Audio CD, MP3 and WMA compressed audio files as well as display JPEG images (somewhat slow) on your TV, play burned CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM (including DVD-RAM recorded on Panasonic DVD Video Recorders).
It also plays some DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs. Make sure you use quality media – the player may start freezing if using low quality CD-R discs..
It plays 2-channel DVD-Audio discs as well as VCD and XVCD.
JPEG
The CDs with JPEG files can also be played – the changer knows how to display the directory tree, the thumbnail view and pictures themselves (you can use zoom with them). But the disc load times are slow (it took a little more than one minute with one of my discs, but the disc had several sessions and the manual states that the more sessions the disc has the slower the load time) and the thumbnails appear slow as well.
MP3 and WMA
The F65 plays MP3 and WMA compressed audio files. I normally rip my CDs to MP3 at 225 kbps, which lets me fit more than 10 albums on one 700Mb CD-R. Even more albums fit on a CD-R using 128 or 160 kbps, although the sound is not as good as with 225 kbps.
The MP3 playback interface is easy to use and shows file names and directory tree structure. During the MP3 playback, you can see the entire filename.
Also, you can search by filename (useful when the CD contains many files).
CD-Text
The changer can read CD-Text and display it onscreen (song titles). In the manner, similar to MP3 file names, you can choose the song to be played by its name.
Connectivity
The player has component video out, S-Video out and component video out (can be switched between interlaced/progressive modes). Audio outs are represented by an analog stereo audio out as well as a digital optical audio out (PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS). As with previous generation of DVD players, there is no coaxial digital audio out – Panasonic goes optical.
Remote
The remote control, supplied with the F65 is better in some respects that the remotes supplied with the previous generation of Panasonic DVD changers – the “Eject” button is no longer close to the “FF” button, for one. It was easy to hit “Eject” instead of FF on the previous remote.
The button layout is good with larger Play, Pause, Stop, Skip, FF and Rew buttons. The buttons have better tactile response than those of the previous remotes. The playback control buttons are also bigger, which is a plus. The two AA batteries are supplied and are installed in the remote’s battery compartment, which has a conveniently-hinged door.
Features
There is an “Audio Only” button that shuts down the video circuits to reduce the interference-induced audio noise while playing an audio disc. The changer also features playback at multiple high and low speeds, variable zoom, angle select, soundtrack select and subtitle select, parental control, bookmarks, etc.
You can control things like Color, Contrast, Gamma, Brightness and Sharpness. The changer can play DVD-RAM discs recorded in Panasonic DVD recorders as well as DVD-R.
Bottom Line
The F65 is a very good and easy to use DVD changer. It has progressive scan, MP3 playback and even 2-channel DVD-Audio playback – all for less than $120.
Other Panasonic DVD Players
Below you can find the current lineup of Panasonic DVD players:
Panasonic DVD-F85
Panasonic DVD-F65
Panasonic DVD-S55
Panasonic DVD-S35
Panasonic DVD-S25
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 115
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dkozin
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Location: California
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I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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