Panasonic CQ-DF783U Car CD / MP3 Player

I wanted to like this CD player when I got it. I really did. I've used it since May 2003, and have come to co-exist with its flaws.

The Good:

First of all, this player will grab your attention. The gray color and layout with bright blue display is very nice looking. Panasonic got that right. Everyone that rides in my car comments that it looks cool (usually compared to a factory deck).

I've had a few aftermarket CD players, but I never buy top of the line. I was a bit surprised at how universal this player is. It can play regular Audio CDs, MP3 CDs, WMA CDs, Sirius Satellite radio (with optional antenna and decoder), and after all that, there is still an auxiliary input! It also has plenty of outputs. Front pre-outs, Rear pre-outs and a Subwoofer pre-out are all present.

Because of the fairly powerful built in MOSFET 50W(x4) power I use it for my 6 speakers (even though it says to only use four). I also use the subwoofer out for two 10" woofers with an external amp. After adding Polk speakers, I am very pleased with the sound... and of course there is plenty of bass for when it is desired. There are three sound modes: None (unchanged), Tight and Boom. I normally use Tight as it not only adds a little bit of bass, but it accentuates the other tones as well giving an overall pleasing sound. If a song with lots of bass is on and I'm in the mood, I'll switch it over to Boom and let the subs rumble. Also in Boom mode, the rest of the tones sound nice.

Within the menu accessed by clicking in the volume knob are a half-dozen of quickly desired settings. Things like Bass, Treble, Fade, Balance, one I can't remember and Subwoofer volume.

Also, it's very nice to have a player that will play my MP3 cd's and also listen to the Sirius Radio... the reasons I purchased this unit.

There are tons of features for the unit which I will not go into here. Instead, here is a link to Panasonic's website:

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11251&catalogId=11005&itemId=62913&catGroupId=11085&modelNo=CQ-DF783U&surfModel=CQ-DF783U

Just copy and paste it into your browser window if interested.

The Bad:

DID ANYONE AT PANASONIC ACTUALLY TRY USING THIS BEFORE SHIPPING IT?

So lets say I'm listening to the Sirius satellite radio (90% of my time using this player), and I want to switch from a dance station to a hip-hop station. I have four options:
1) Set the unit to "category" mode and go from the Dance category (channel numbers in the 60's) to the Hip-Hop category (channel numbers in the 40's). When you do this it always defaults to the first channel in that category... not the last channel you were on. And the freakin categories aren't in numerical order... cat. 40 sorts after cat. 70! It makes no sense.
2)Set the unit to "channel" mode in which I would hit channel up or channel down buttons 20 or 30 times to get to the right channel.
3)Use the remote to type in the direct channel number
4)Use the remote to hit a preset for a favorite station.
Notice I did not say you use the player itself for favorites because you CAN'T.

Oh, and get this: There are three "sets" of channels that you can flip through.. much like with an FM receiver... so you can program 18 favorite stations instead of just 6 ? OK, well, if you flip to set #2 which was left on, say, channel 40, it actually starts playing channel 40. BUT, if you hit the channel up button, guess what? It goes to the lowest channel in the category that you were on BEFORE you flipped to set #2. I know it probably doesn't make any sense reading here... IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE WHILE USING IT!

Next, while playing MP3 or WMA CDs, it takes a few seconds to load each folder's information, so you cannot rapidly scroll through them. Perhaps using the remote would make it easier, but I haven't tried it and I see no reason to use a remote for a car CD player while driving!

The display light, even on low, is so bright it lights up the whole car and makes highway driving nearly impossible. There is no wire connection for the player to tell when the vehicle's lights are on. However, there is a mode which I find useful is to turn the display off, then when you are searching for a track or folder or station, then it lights up for a few seconds. It is still very bright though.

Also, It made my factory speakers sound like the junk that they were. This may sound like a no-brainer, but my speakers seemed to sound just fine using my factory deck which happened to have a 7 band graphic equalizer.

Update:
I talked with a Panasonic Technical Support Representative (name withheld to protect the guilty) and asked if there was any kind of firmware update to fix the broken stuff and enhance the wonky stuff. Alas, there is no firmware update and after a bit of describing the problems he was adamant that the player works as designed. He asked if I am using a Panasonic Sirius tuner, I am (SRT-100), and he double checked that Panasonic's name was on the player, it is. I'm guessing he was looking for a scapegoat.

Anyways, he said to use the remote to navigate through the channels or, get this... if you want to keep your eyes on the road, use the channel up and down buttons. So, if you want to go from channel 50 to channel 120, you get to hit channel up about 30-40 times (not all slots are channels). HOW IS THAT KEEPING EYES ON THE ROAD ???

So, finally, I have a fairly bad taste in my mouth, not from the fact that there is no update, but from the fact that the tone from the call was one of "if the unit doesn't work the way you want it to, then too bad!"

Nice.

Update #2:

So a week or so after talking with this Panasonic rep, what happens? One day the channels started sorting correctly! WTF? Maybe it was an issue with Sirius radio or with the Panasonic tuner... somehow they fixed it (maybe automatically updated firmware?) without me doing anything. Cool... now if they could just fix how the CD player changes stations between styles of music, then this CD player would be rockin.