Panasonic RP56 Progressive Scan DVD Player

[stjustorm83]

does anyone have this dvd player? I really want a dvd player and this one looks good from the reviews i have read on amazon. I have a really old tv though probably 10 years old about 27". since its so old and doesn't have hdtv capabilities is this still a good player to get?
thanks.

[whitak24]

that player has also gotten good reviews at www.audioreview.com, so i figure it's pretty decent.
on your current TV, i don't think you're going to see any difference between that and some of the cheaper, non-progressive scan players. however, a 10-year-old tv is pretty old and if you think you're going to be upgrading TVs before you upgrade DVD players, then it's probably worth the extra $$ to buy the RP56.
just my opinion.

[mkivman]

I actually bought 3 different progressive DVD players, returned two and kept the rp56 because of the quality of the component video output on my 53" HD monitor. Don't expect fancy features. This thing is just good for picture quality only. The MP3 playback has no random mode.

If you don't have component video and don't plan to buy an HD monitor, save your money and just get the cheapest s-video DVD player you can, because frankly, s-video looks pretty much the same across all brands. Even the $79 Apex looks great thru s-video.

Stay away from the Apex 800a progressive scan dvd player. The component video output is the worst, but the s-video output is fine. For $150 I feel sorry for the people buying it to use with their s-video tv hpoing to someday upgrade to progressive only to find out later that their DVD player stinks.

The Toshiba 5700 $299 at Goodguys (not goodguys.com) has pretty decent progressive output but for some reason the firmware on mine would crash after watching a movie to the end, so I'd have to "reboot" before watching the next DVD. Returned it.

BTW, ***NEVER*** buy anything from goodguys.com, the online store of GoodGuys. I bought a TV that was defective, returned it 1.5 mos ago and still haven't gotten my refund yet. Every week those bastards claim they are way behind because they are busy, but come on, why do they have so much free time to process new orders? The worst part is, stuff you buy online cannot be returned at the GoodGuys store. Customer service rates a 0 out of 10 in my book.

[mallowjr]

Comon, not even a 1 out of 10 for having a customer support Email?
HEHEHEHEHEHEH I can say it's funny cuz I've been jipped online before and just find it pathetic of the sellers to act like they do. I've lost $1700 online.

-ELmO

[smeakim]

I have it and it is great. It has the farjoudja (SP?) chip set meaning it does not have the chroma bug. It is the best DVD out there at that price range. True if not component input for your TV then wait. No reason to spend the money on a fancy s-video player.