Panasonic DVD-F85 5-Disc DVD Audio/Video Changer with MP3
Written: Jan 06 '04 (Updated Aug 11 '04)
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Pros: Excellent value, solid performance and features, DVD-Audio, MP3 and WMA, aspect control
Cons: No coaxial audio out (an issue for some), slow disc change/load times
The Bottom Line: The F85 DVD Video/Audio changer is an excellent value and a solid performer. If you need a 5-disc DVD changer that can also play DVD-Audio ...
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| dkozin's Full Review: Panasonic DVD-F85 Multi-disc DVD Player |
The Panasonic DVD-F85 is a 5-disc DVD changer with progressive scan, MP3 playback and 5.1-channel DVD-Audio playback. It is quite inexpensive compared to what DVD players with DVD-Audio playback used to cost even a year ago.
Inputs
The F85 features an optical digital audio out, analog 5.1 audio out, a separate analog stereo audio out, S-Video out, component video out (progressive/interlaced) and a composite video out. There is no coaxial digital audio out however. Panasonic seems committed to optical digital audio connectivity, which is signified by the fact that all of their current DVD players, save for the inexpensive DVD-S25, have optical outputs and by the fact that their receivers have more optical inputs than coaxial ones.
The component video out can be switched between progressive scan and “standard” (interlaced) mode. The 5.1 analog audio out can be used for Dolby Digital, DTS and DVD-Audio output. Alternatively, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS can be passed to a receiver through the optical digital audio out and decoded there.
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 (e.g. AKAI CFT3090). This may represent a problem in case 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 (sometimes called “letterboxed DVD”). Either the picture is stretched horizontally or it is very small on the screen. Either way, the situation is ugly.
The changer has very good aspect ratio control and it is automatic, you just have to set the zoom level.
You choose 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3 in the F85’s Setup menu (accessed by pressing the Setup button on the remote (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).
After that, you use the Zoom button on the remote 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 increments (1x, 1.01x, 1.02x. etc.). I find that to fill the 16x9 widescreen TV with a standard 4:3 image, the zoom level should be about 1.16x, which is in between default 1x and the first available preset of 1.25x.
Unfortunately, the changer forgets the zoom you selected every time you power the changer off or change discs.
The Changer
The F85 is a 5-disc carousel-type changer. The “Disc Exchange” button allows you replace the discs while one is playing. The disc change and disc read times are on the slow side, especially when it comes to JPEG discs with large files. The more sessions the disc has, the more time it takes for the changer to read it.
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 nonetheless.
Playback Formats
The F85 can play DVD-Video and Audio CD (including the 5.1-channel DVD-Audio), 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. I had problems playing Memorex CD-R discs, which completely went away once I switched to Sony and Maxell.
The F85 plays 2- and 5.1-channel DVD-Audio discs as well as VCD (352x240 resolution), XVCD (up to 720x480) and SVCD (480x480).
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 painfully 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. The images have good quality.
MP3 and WMA
The changer plays MP3 and WMA compressed audio files. I normally rip my CDs to MP3 at at least 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 or 300 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). With its ability to have 5 discs loaded, you can have access to 50-100 albums of music in MP3 or WMA format at your fingertips.
CD-Text
The F85 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.
Picture Quality
The most important criterion for me has always been picture quality. The F85 is inexpensive uses the Panasonic’s own progressive scan chip set. Previous progressive 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 as much.
Now, with the use of Panasonic’s own deinterlacer, the picture quality of the F85 is somewhat worse that that of the previous DVD changers (CP67, CP72, etc.), but this is only visible if you are spoiled by better models 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 progressive scan).
In the interlaced (standard) mode (in which, I am sure, the majority of owners will operate the player due to the lack of progressive-scan capable TVs), the picture is crisp and noise-free with vivid colors and well-defined object edges. The detail level is high, even in dark areas.
Lets not forget another benefit, which previous Sage/Faroudja-based models did not provide - the zoom and aspect ratio control.
Ease of Use
The F85 is easier to use than the previous generation of Panasonic DVD players. This model shows the description of the onscreen menu icons underneath them. Previously, even after using Panasonic DVD players for several years, I had difficulty remembering which icon does what and, because of that, dreaded using them. They are also difficult to see if the TV screen is not large enough. 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, up to 5 discs can be memorized in this fashion.
Features
TheAudio Only button 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 as outlined above.
Remote
The remote control, supplied with the F85 is better in some respects that the remotes supplied with the previous generation of Panasonic DVD changers. The Eject button moved away from the FF& button, for example. Previously, it was easy to hit Eject instead of the FF.
The button layout is good with relatively large Play, Pause, Stop, Skip, FF and Rew buttons. The buttons have better tactile response than those of the previous remotes. The two AA batteries are supplied along with an A/V and power cords.
Bottom Line
The F85 DVD Video/Audio changer is an excellent value and a solid performer. If you need a 5-disc DVD changer that can also play DVD-Audio discs, I would highly recommend it.
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$): 160
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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Location: California
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About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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