Panasonic DVD-S52 DVD Player

Panasonic DVD-S52S DVD Player (HDMI)Upconverting DVD Player (Silver)

Strengths: Excellent quality and superb value. Magnificent job upconverting standard definition DVD's to 1080i or 720p.

Weaknesses: Menu system (on-board) - too many layers Remote - small and not well thought out

Summary: 2007-03-16 16:35:53 I bought this Panasonic DVD player around Christmas'06 to go with my new Panasonic 42" Plasma TV. Works great, but you have to set it up properly. First of all, to get the upconverting feature, you need to connect with an HDMI cable. Any other type of connection will render this DVD player pointless when compared to non-HDMI DVD players. So if you're going to spend the money to buy this DVD player, make sure to get a HDMI cable.

When I first set this DVD player up, I thought the quality was horrible and like my old DVD player connected via S-Video better. I really thought I bought a piece of junk. However, I couldn't believe the quality was so bad given how well received this DVD player was, and I soon realized the first thing I needed to do was adjust the picture quality on my TV. By default, the Panasonic Plasma TV's come with the VIVID picture setting. It is horrible. I changed my HDMI input source (where I connected this DVD player) to be CINEMA, as my old DVD player, and the picture was back to being great again. Also, you need to adjust the DVD player to output the HDMI format you want. I think by default it is 480i. You have to press the FUNCTION button, then go to PICTURE settings and then another menu interface to choose which format you want, such as 1080i or 720p. For such an important function, you would think it would be more intuitive or easier to get to. Also, the remote is pretty small and ugly. Other than that, this is a great DVD upconverting player. Personally, it is my opinion that upconverting DVD players are the ones to get if you have an HDTV because it really makes your standard definition DVD's much better. Furthermore, unless you like to pay to be on the cutting edge of technology, it is not worth the money to buy a BlueRay or HD-DVD player until the format wars play out and the corresponding media is wide available at a reasonable price.

Another thing I love is that I have not had any problems playing Dual Layer DVD+R's I've burned. I usually use DVDShrink to backup DVD's, uncompressed, onto a Dual Layer disc, and this one plays them flawlessly, just like the original. My older DVD player cannot play that type of media.

Panasonic has a high quality upconverting technology, so I can definitely recommend this one.

100% of People (1/1) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Amazing number of features offered for a cheap price...

Strengths: Great user menu, lots of features, decent picture quality, audio sync delay feature, fast loading player

Weaknesses: Not the best picture quality in this price range, no eject button on remote

Summary: This DVD player offers a LOT for your money. I was truly impressed at the very nice, easy to use, on-screen menus. They are some of the best I have seen. There are a lot of picture and audio adjustments available, and the remote has useful buttons like a quick replay button to rewind a few seconds, and a one-minute skip ahead button. The main key feature that made me keep this DVD player is the audio sync delay function. This lets you delay your audio in 20 ms increments anywhere from 0-100 ms. This is useful because with my Samsung DLP, the video is delayed slightly, such that I notice lip sync issues when running the audio straight to the receiver over digital coax.

With the delay set to 60 or 80 ms, I don't notice any lip sync issues. I don't believe any other DVD player under $200 offers this feature. The Sony NS-75H claims to have audio sync delay, but it only works on the analog audio outputs, which are useless if you have a home theater and want to run DD or DTS to your receiver. This audio sync delay feature along with the nice user menu made me keep this DVD player. Prior to trying this model, I tried the Samsung HD-860, but wasn't impressed with the user menus...the remote also didn't always work (when trying to fast forward or rewind). The picture quality was okay, and seemed comparable to the Panasonic S52.

From what I've read, if you want the best picture quality in this price range, go for the Sony NS-75H (about $30 more). However, the lack of a true digital audio sync delay kept me from even trying the Sony. If audio sync delay doesn't matter to you, I'd suggest the Sony. However, one bad thing I've heard is the Sony's take longer to load discs. One thing that really impressed me with the Panasonic is the super fast load speed. It literally takes only a few seconds before the newly inserted DVD starts playing.

As far as upscaling, I have to say that I notice a very very slight difference in outputting 720p as opposed to 480p. It's not big enough of a difference that you would notice it unless you compared back to back. But if you're in the market for a new DVD player and don't want to spend too much, this is a great deal (especially if you need the audio sync delay feature). I'd recommend buying it locally and trying it out if you think you might like it. Stores like Circuit City give you 30 days to return it if you're not satisfied, so I'd recommend trying this player out.

96% of People (25/26) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Panasonic DVD-S52 - great stopgap until HD-DVD/Blueray settles out

Strengths: quite a bit sharper than a standard progressive scan dvd player. has both optical and coaxial digital outputs for more flexible hookup.

Weaknesses: small front panel display makes it hard to read (on screen displays are more than adequate, but then why have a display if you can't read it?). no HDMI cable in the box (most dvd players don't).

Summary: Just got a new HD plasma and thought that the addition of an upconverting dvd player with HDMI output would make my picture a bit better. Truthfully though, my JVC progressive scan dvd player had a very good picture on my 42" plasma so I wasn't in a big hurry to get a new one.

But a deal came around for this Panasonic, and couldn't resist. Glad I did. I've found that the details are just a bit clearer and sharper, and this little improvement helps to give the picture more depth or 3-dimensional look. Also found that details in the dark or shadow areas of a film had a bit more detail.

For the relatively low cost of this unit, the improvement in picture quality is well worth it.

83% of People (5/6) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Big Picture- Small Price

Strengths: More settings to adujust Video & Audio Quality tPlayse every type of disk, including DVD RAM

Weaknesses: unit too small, for LCD readout so big no eject button on remote

Summary: I went to J&R computer world and tested several brands of DVD players. I found this Panasonic the best quality and offering the most features of any player in this price range. I needed a unit that could play any brand of DVD-RAM discs, since I have Panasonic DMR-ES 10 DVD recorder.

I really wanted a player that wouldn't skip or frezze during play. One of many the features I like is this units ability to play WMA files discs. I ripped many of my CDs into WMA files and put 100 songs (128kbps) onto a single CD-R. The on-screen song navigation takes getting used to, but is much better than not having one at all.

This unit plays back all the following formats. DVD+R DL, CD-R, DVD-R DL, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-Audio, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R.

The music on DVDs is always much times louder than the dialog. So it's difficult to maintain a suitable volume to hear the voices without getting blown away when the soundtrack kicks in. This player features a volume leveler that reduces the volume of loud music, while increasing the volume of dialog This feature is excellent for those people who constantly change the TV volume , or for watching movies when you need to keep the TV sound low.

This feature, combined with many other audio and video features, can be turned on with a single button on the remote (AV Enhancer), or you can fine tune everything separately in the advanced settings.

Another nice feature is the auto-zoom, which will crop the video so that the black bars on the top and bottom of widescreen movies are removed. Unlike other methods, the auto-zoom finds the edges of the video so that it only zooms enough to exactly fill the screen. This can be great for people without widescreen TVs, if you really hate those black bars.

It also has progressive scan, with component and S video outs, as well as the RCA outs, and a coaxial digital audio out, but lacks an optical audio out. It does not have HD upconversion, you'll need to pay more for that feature.

There are so many more unique features on this model,

to really know what a bargain this is, you can read about them on the Panasonic website. If you're looking for a high quality, low price DVD player with some excellent features that can play perfectly anything you put in it, then I highly recommend the Panasonic DVD-S52.

73% of People (8/11) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Decent dvd player

Strengths: Relatively cheap, nice interface

Weaknesses: Couldn't tell difference between upconversion & regular video resolutions.

Summary: Picked up this dvd player because i heard nice stuff about it & that it is relatively cheap for an upconversion dvd player. The interface is nice lookin, easy to set up, w/lots of options that aren't available in other players & it'll play practically any format.

Problem is, the upconversion (720p & 1080i) looked just about the same as regular 480 progressive resolution. However, adding an HDMI cable still makes the picture look much better than component cables. So if your old dvd player only has component, this player w/an HDMI will be an improvement despite upconversion "not working".

Recommended by if you have an old dvd player & need a new one for your HDTV. Otherwise, if you want a good upconverting dvd player, go get the more expensive ones - even then, i'd rather spend the money on an HD-DVD player or blu-ray player to get true hd video.

67% of People (4/6) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Great Player for the Price! I LOVE IT!

Strengths: Incredible bang for the buck, Fast and Responsive, Great Price, Future Proof due to upconverting and HDMI output, Tons of Options to Fine Tune A/V

Weaknesses: Thin flimsy disc tray

Summary: Amazing bang for the buck! This DVD player was super cheap yet has every type of output currently available. It's got it all, HDMI, Component, S-video, composite video, digital coax, digital optical, etc. It's also a very fast responsive player. I bought two of these to replace two Sony DVD players that I bought about a year and a half ago that had died. I can't believe how fast this thing spools up and plays a disc. My crappy Sony took like 30 seconds before anything came on the screen which was extremely annoying. This thing is playing the disc in seconds. So far I'm very happy. It's also got tons of options you can tweak. This player can upconvert DVDs to 720 or 1080 to look better on a HDTV. I really like the look of the user interface when setting up the options too. The player does however have a very thin and fragile disc tray though. I also like the remote. I am using the players with a large projection standard def TV and a small 20" standard def tube TV. I consider myself an A/V enthusiast.

67% of People (2/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Very Inexpensive Upconverting HDMI DVD Player

Strengths: Cheap, Upconverting; Reliable and lots of features

Weaknesses: No screen saver to save my Panasonic Plasma TV; single disc only

Summary: This is my first upconverting DVD player. I bought it only for $45. This DVD player comes with progressive scannning feature. Delivers good quality videos to HDMI compatible TVs, like mine. Very slim player. Plays pretty much everything except DIVX.

For an inexpensive player it comes with lots of features. I can definetly live with small problems such as no eject button in remote for a better picture quallity.

I strongly recommend this upconverting player.

67% of People (2/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Nice for the Price

Strengths: Has read every DVD-R and +R I have thrown at it DTS decoding out the stereo jacks

Weaknesses: Flimsy tray

Summary: I didn't buy this as a high-end system so my review is appropriately adjusted.

Unfortunately my primary DVD player Zenith DVB318 does not like some DVD-R's so I looked for a new player to fill the gap until blue-ray comes down in price.

It has read everything I have tried on it this far. This DVD player is primarily used to feed a whole-house signal (modulated and pumped back into antenna feed so all TV's can tune it in) so I am only using the composite output for that. (Not very challenging.) When I run into a DVD that my Zenith player does not like, however, I use this one through S-Video into my projector. I would use the component but my AV system is maxed out on component inputs that it can switch to the projector and it's not worth the hassle to plug/unplug for as infrequent as I use this on the projector.

The S-Video looks fine but not quite as good as component. I haven't done much testing with the component but it was almost as good as my DVB318.

Beyond the compatibility, the thing I like the best about this player is that it does DTS decoding out the stereo (RCA) jacks which I feed into the modulator. My primary DVD player decoded DTS but only output it digitally so I could not view DTS-only movies throughout the house. This capability is rather rare and I'm sure many people would not even notice it, but I love it.

Overall, a nice player for the price.

57% of People (4/7) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Panasonic DVD-S52 DVD Player (HDMI - MPN: DVDS52S)

Strengths: Good price for the picture quality, friendly user menu

Weaknesses: Does not play my old CDs well

Summary: Picture quality improves a lot with HDMI, everything else just works fine. It doesn't read my old CD well, but they have some scratches anyway. Overall I am satisfied with what I bought.

50% of People (2/4) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Nice dvd player at a good price

Strengths: HDMI Connection, Quite

Weaknesses: No key to change setting back to factory default. Didn't notice any difference when using up converter. No USB port to connect a usb drive.

Summary: I had this dvd player for 5 weeks. It plays all my original and backup dvd-r disc with no problem. The player is very quite. I am very please with the quality and build of the unit.

Things that needs improvement

1. Reset button to change setting back to factory default. If I set my output to hdmi and I stop using that cable, there is no way for me to change it back to Component or SVideo because I cannot see the menu.

2. A usb port would be nice to play divx file off a usb drive without burning to disc first.

50% of People (1/2) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

DVD-S52 DVD Player (HDMI)

Strengths: a good, reliable unit, solid performer, budget priced

Weaknesses: no eject button on the remote.

Summary: I am happy with this upconverting DVD player. It plays DVDs and MP3 CDs. The only gripes I had was the flimsy tray and no eject button on the remote.

50% of People (1/2) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Great upconverting DVD player

Strengths: Upconverting does work, play almost all fromats, good price

Weaknesses: No USB, No remote eject

Summary: A great DVD player. The up-converting really improves the picture quality. The price is also good. I used a Zenith up-converting DVD player before. The Zenith doesn't work well. I am happy that I bought the Panasonic one.

50% of People (1/2) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

Really a high value multi-format player

Strengths: Plays almost all media you throw at it, hdmi capability, clear/good quality upconversion

Weaknesses: No built in dtd/dolby decoder (but unrealistic to expect at this price). It does do dolby and DTS pass through and hence should be okay if your receiver(amplifier) has the decoding capability

Summary: I was amazed to find this DVD player at such a price and still complatible with so many media types:

DVD-Video, DVD-R & DVD-RW, DVD+R & DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM, compatible with dual-layer DVD-R and DVD+R discs, DVD-Audio, CDs, CD-Rs & CD-RWs, and MP3 & WMA CDs! Having owned a panasonic plasma, I know that panasonic is one of the better companies in HD technology. And it came as no surprise when I hooked this DVD player with HDMI cpability. The picture is very sharp, and the set has abundant features and connectionsa (optical and coaxial digital outputs for Dolby® Digital/DTS®/PCM and 1 set of A/V outputs (composite video, S-video, and 480i/480p component video)

I recommend it .. unless you would like to wait for 1080p HD DVD players or Blue Ray players.

50% of People (1/2) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

This product is great!

Strengths: Very Compact and easy to use.

Weaknesses: NA

Summary: I didn't do anything fancy about it like put MP3 or other types of Cd in there. But this DVD player almost reads everthing. And the pictures and sounds are reliable. It serves my purpose as a daily DVD player.

40% of People (2/5) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are no comments for this review. Post a comment.

COULD BE A LOT BETTER FOR A FEW EXTRA DOLLARS

Strengths: Low Price, Works with DVD+R/RW

Weaknesses: No screensaver could be found. Small buttons on remote, large unit, won't play SD cards like some competitors, Minimal instruction book. "Chinasonic", not "Ja-Panasonic", and all that implies.

Summary: I can't find a screensaver (for use with pause). Since Panasonic is the largest maker of Plasma TV's, this seems strange. I bought this unit primarily because it reads + and - R/RW and it's price is fairly attractive (I paid $84), and it upconverts, although I don't yet have an HDTV.

I have debated on whether to give this three or four stars, and have decided that for weaknesses mentioned above Panasonic can do better.

33% of People (1/3) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?

  Report this as inappropriate.

 There are 1 comment for this review. Read all comments. Post a comment.