Panasonic CV51 5 Disk Interlaced Changer (DVD,Vdisk,CD-R/CD-RW,MP3) Short Review (1 Viewer)

[Brett DiMichele]

Okay Folks!
I just came home from work (midnight) as I am typing this
so bear with me if it turns out like jumble this is only
because my brain is fried!
I was sick and tired of my Sony DVP S-360 not supporting MP3
nor holding enough disks. I made the desicision to pawn it
off to a co-worker and search for a non Progressive Scan 5
Disk Changer that would support MP3's and keep it under $300
or so dollars.
This wasn't a hard choice seeing as how there aren't many
DVD Changers in this price range that can support all of
the afformentioned formats. The CV51 which recently hit the
market (replacing the CV50) retails for $250-$300.00 at many
retail stores and Crutchfield. I purchased my CV51 from a
web electronics company located in New York called E-Tronics
http://www.etronics.com
Brett DiMichele
My Home Theater Site!
[email protected]

 

[Denward]

Nice review. I thought about getting one but decided to stick with the DVD-RV31 since this was going in the basement exercise room and I didn't really need the carousel.
BTW, I'm pretty sure the low end Pannys DO NOT have coax out. Other than this annoying omission, I think these Pannys have a nice feature set at this price point with a good reputation to boot.

 

[Evan H]

Nice review Brett... sounds like Panasonic took all that was good about the CV-50 and just made it even better.

 

[Chris PC]

(NO Coax Digital on the Panny that I can see.)
I also bought the CV51. I bought it for these reasons:
Have a CD and/or a DVD in the player at the same time. Have both DVD's (or 3,4 or 5?) in the player at the same time. Watch the movie already? Ok, lets check out the extra disc too MP3 playback. Nice and handy. Interlaced playback looks above average in my books.
Problems. Takes WAY WAY WAY too long to do anything after turning it on. It takes almost i don't know how long because I haven't timed it, but like 30 40 50 seconds? before I can OPEN the player or PLAY a CD or DVD? Pain in the butt. DTS dropouts on blank spots on CD's when playing audio using the TOSLINK. Not sure if thats my receivers fault.
Other than those probs, the player works and performs great.
[Edited last by Chris PC on November 01, 2001 at 07:35 PM]

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Yep no digital coax I rechecked it this morning.. Everything
else is there..
Chris,
Yeah it does take a few seconds to switch over and read the
next CD/DVD but what do ya want? I mean honestly we as
humans are getting FAR too impatient of everything in this
far too fast paced world. Remember the days when you had to
rewind to listen to music over again.
I don't beleive the time it takes to rotate and read a new
disk is "too long" it's less than 60 seconds. I will have to
time it and report back to ya.
Nope it's not your receiver there are some dropouts on some
digital sound but as you said only when there is no source
material to process. I can live with that.
The interlaced play is more than enough for me. The user
adjustable brightness/contrast/color feature is nice too.
This way you can set your TV and if you need to just tweak
the DVD without ever messing up your TV's settings!
And wow this thing plays MP3's effortlessly. I have yet to
find an MP3 it won't play. I have 200+ songs on most CD's
and I have no problems playing any of them so far.
------------------

Brett DiMichele
My Home Theater Site!
[email protected]

 

[Chris PC]

I excuse its performance with audio CD's and MP3's as per time because its a DVD player and the fact that I can play MP3's is a huge bonus, but it took almost 30 seconds before I could play the CD. I just listened to over 2 hours of MP3's and it was great. I get pissed off, because I press play to turn it on and the player turns on, but it doesn't play, and I have to press play again. If I press open to turn it on, because of course I want to open it, it has to check all the discs first. Whats up with that. I'm used to my 12 year old Sony 5 disc. That thing changed disc in like 4 to 5 seconds and could play a disc within 10 seconds of turning it on.
Like I said, its not the end of the world. The combination of 5 disc DVD carousel and MP3 playback etc makes it a great unit. I like it alot. I haven't watched loads of DVD's yet, but each one seems ok. I need to do the "anamorphic squeeze" with my TV though, in order to avoid the lame "downconversion". I have to admit though, that the panny's downconversion is not bad compared to some.
[Edited last by Chris PC on November 01, 2001 at 10:38 PM]

 

[Gary Thomas]

Does it do "true" random play? In other words, most dvd changers, when loaded with cd's will only random shuffle within 1 cd. Will the Panasonic random play through 5 cd's?
------------------
HT Pic's

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Gary,
I have not yet read all the manuals information but from
what it looks like it should indeed shuffle through all 5
disks or repeat or add tracks from each disk to a play list.
Don't hold me to it though
------------------

Brett DiMichele
My Home Theater Site!
[email protected]

 

[Jim Zanbehr]

It does indeed seem to play randomly between the 5 CD disks, but there is likely some formula/pattern to it. I haven't bothered to try to figure it out though. But playing randomly between CD's is where the noise & slowness of the changer and the length of time reading the CD becomes most obvious and annoying. This is my first DVD player (or CD changer) and overall I'm still vary happy with the quality of the sound and image.