Panasonic DVD-rp56 (1 Viewer)

[rodney wiley]

Through a few connections at My local CC I was able to pick one up for 129.00! It is a wonderful player! I previously owned an older RCA which was great I never experienced a chroma bug bot it had no DTS support. My purchase of the Panny was more so based upon the dts more so the progressive performance. While waiting for strings to be pulled at CC I ws able to play around with a few Hd rear projection units and have decided that will hopefully be my next large purchase. Two last words DTS...WOW!!!!!!

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I had the opposite experience. I think it's a terrible, grossly overrated player. The picture quality is the lowest by far of the six players I've owned, including a cheapass Apex 600A. The first one I had was defective with tons of vertical ribbing in the picture; the replacement had it to a much lesser degree but still tons of artifacts and pixelation, and highly unsatisfactory black levels. It looks ok on a small screen but on a 65" 16:9 it's just awful. Worse than awful. Hideous. Unwatchable.
When you add onto it that there's minimal time coding and inability to resume a disc where you stopped, on top of no screen saver (am I the only one who sometimes falls asleep watching a disc?), this one is junk. The icon-based menus are more confusing than even the notoriously Englese Malata N996--which is a MUCH better player all around. The Panny's going back for something else.

 

[Pamela]

I picked up an RP-56 a few weeks ago and I love it. The picture quality has been beautiful on my 43". It is a marked improvement over my Sony 560D.

 

[Bill Kane]

I just checked a DVD disc: STOP then PLAY resumes the program at the time left off.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

But can you stop it, shut it off, turn it on and resume it? My RP-56 can't do that. And it will resume in the same place only about half the time even if it's not shut off in between.

 

[Andrew P]

Mark:

The Panasonic RP-56 is a great dvd player especially at $199 and now even less. It sounds like yours is defective. I actually own 4 dvd players now and this is the cheapest of the 4, but produces a stunning progressive image when connected to my Front Projector.

Andy

 

[Andrew Pratt]

For all the panny's I've played with incl my old A320 all you hae to do to stop and resume is to hit power off while its playing, paused or stoped (but not at the menu). To resume simply press play and it will fire up at the place you left off. This also works with my Sony 7700.

 

[Ron-P]

I had a simular experience as Mark. The player had a terrible black level. That darker/lighter setting was a joke. How about an off setting? The only other grip was the 'flicker bug' problem. Which, is a lot worse than the 'chorma bug'. Felt very cheaply built also.
This player was great in interlaced mode, but the progressive is where it's down fall is. I calibrated with AVIA and it did not help much.
Peace Out~

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Andrew, neither of the RP56's I've tried will do what you say. Apparently the firmware was designed by David Lynch.... "You WILL watch the entire movie in one sitting."

 

[TimG]

I am wondering if the build quality of the 56 is any better than the 31 that died on me in 7 months. That has pretty much steered me away from Panasonic products.
Tim

 

[Tulli]

This player was great in interlaced mode, but the progressive is where it's down fall is. I calibrated with AVIA and it did not help much.

Strange ... I had to calibrate mine and now looks superb.

 

[Patrick Bennett]

I am wondering if the build quality of the 56 is any better than the 31 that died on me in 7 months. That has pretty much steered me away from Panasonic products.

I have to agree. My Panasonic 110 died 1 month after the warranty expired (for once, I had an extended warranty!).
My RV31K just died (mid-movie - I can't even eject the disc now!) about 3 weeks after the warranty expired.
If you look at the comments on Amazon.com for the RV31K, you'll see TONS of similar experiences from users.
It's been over a week and I still haven't heard from customer service on whether or not they'll cover the repair. Either way, the rep made it sound like the best they would be able to do would be cover the parts only. I would still be responsible for labor charges. No thanks...
It's looking like Panasonic has some seriously quality-control problems. I've been a big fan of Panasonic DVD players with my 110 and RV31 (great bang-for-the-buck), but both players dying so quickly is too much for me.
I won't be buying another Panasonic DVD player. :frowning:

 

[JesseR]

i got a panny rp56 a few weeks ago open box for 129... I dont have a huge tv. Just a panasonic 27 inch and I think the picture is very good especially for what i paid. I am gonna try out the progressive scan on my parents mits widescreen. I agree bout the build quality though. Its extremely light and seems pretty flimsy. I got an extended warranty just in case it breaks, since I have heard they tend to have some QC problems. ITs worked out so far though

 

[BobJ]

You have to press the "play mode" button to use the 56's resume feature. It will then remember that place on the disc.

 

[Kevin McCurdy]

I must be one of the lucky Panasonic owners. I currently have three (120, RV80 & RP91) that work great. I bought all of them new and have never had a problem with any of them.

I recently listened to the RP56 at a friends house and we compared it to a brand new Cambridge D500SE on redbook CD playback. We had both running through a SONY TA-P900ES using the players DACS and two of the same CD's playing in each. We flipped back and forth using the Sony's remote and we couldn't pick one over the other consistently with our eyes closed. I will say that the Cambridge only had approx. 30 hours on it and the manufacturer states that it needs at least 72 hours for break in, so it maybe a different story after the proper break in period.

 

[John Royster]

You have to press the "play mode" button to use the 56's resume feature. It will then remember that place on the disc.

yeah, its in the manual on how to resume after powering off or stopping.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I took the RP56 back but I can assure you I did read the "resume play" segment of the manual several times. I don't recall anything about "Play Mode". It did say that if the play triangle was flashing you could just hit play to resume. I did that with the play triangle flashing and it said "Hit Play to preview chapters" instead of resuming.

 

[JesseR]

i think when it says hit play to preview chapters...if you do nothing itll just resume. I think it did that last week for me once. I dont have a manual for it since it was open box but i definatly had it resume. It wasnt too hard to figure out

 

[BobJ]

If you stop the player with the power on and then press "play", it will resume. If you press "play" again with the chapter message up, it will preview the chapters.
From page 10 part B "resume function" of the manual:
"To start play from a memorized position after switching the unit to standby:
Press "PLAY MODE" during play. (The message "Position memorized" appears on the television.) Now when you press "PLAY" after switching the unit to standby and back on, play starts from the memorized position.
Even after you memorize a position by pressing "PLAY MODE", play will start from the point you stopped play if you press "PLAY" before switching the unit to standby."
It works, I use it all the time. Unfortunately, it doesn't automatically remember the position if you just turn the player off like my other players do. And it needs a better name-"PLAY MODE"--come on.
The ergonomics of the 56s menus and displays are very poor. The thing also needs a countdown/time remaining function (the RP-62 will apparently have one).
That said, I think it's a steal at its price and gives a great picture when calibrated. I an very happy with mine. However, as with anything YMMV.
JesseR,
You can download the manual for the 56 at the Panasonic site:
http://panasonic.com/support/index.html

 

[BobH]

I started a thread ("Any Robust DVD players?") because my RP56 was freezing up.

The rest of the story: Took it to BestBuy and of course, my warranty was just up. They still sent it to repair for an estimate. Came back after adjusting the laser to be in spec. and there was no charge. (sound effect of me falling over!)

Moral: I won't buy Panasonic again either. They are just too flimsy. This player's case vibrates (and sometimes rattles) during play and the disc loader is just too lightweight. I have had excellent picture results but I will buy a more solid model in the future, possibly Sony or Pioneer Elite. You get what you pay for and I now think one has to pay $500 or more to get a substantial player. One of my DVDs is scratched and won't play in any $300 player but plays fine in the big boys. A dirty CD plays fine in them also.

Play/Stop/Pause? I log in with those that have no trouble getting the Pany to resume a movie where I left off. User-friendly, no, but adequate.