Panasonic DVD-RP62 DVD Player

Given only two reviews on this unit thusfar, I felt the need to chime in and provide my two cents on this awesome player. I recently moved into a new place and needed a DVD player for both upstairs in the bedroom and downstairs in the living room. I have enjoyed the performance I've received from my Sony NS300P that I purchased in 1998 when DVD players were just breaking into the market. What a bargain that was. I managed to get it for $300 along with 10 free DVD's and 24 rentals from Hollywood Video. I knew those days wouldn't last!

Well, now it came down to buy another player, and although I don't have a HDTV, but rather a Sony 36" Wega, I thought it might be a good idea to be proactive and purchase a progressive scan player. I'm glad I did, especially at the price of the Panasonic 62k!

Initial Impression

I was immediately attracted to the exterior design of the 62. It has a slim profile design and enough access buttons on the front panel that you can perform basic functions while at the player without the remote. I've had several people comment on what a great looking player it is. I would have to agree, and at this point, we're only talking about the external appearance!

I also found the "Made in Japan" sticker to be comforting, as I have always found the quality to be improved when this is the case. I've noticed most Japanese manufacturers initially build their products within the country when prices are still high, but as price points drop, production transitions to other locales, like Malayasia or China. This held true with both my Fuji and Olympus digital cameras as well as the Sony DVD player I mentioned earlier.

The unit felt light in weight, but every DVD player these days sports a light feel. I'm glad I was able to find this unit in black, hence the "62K", versus the "62S", which is silver. It matches the rest of my components this way.

Setup

Easy as can be. Plugged the toslink optical connector into the player and into my receiver, plugged the power cord in, and finally the component video outputs into my receiver and then out to the television.

Picture

I was skeptical about this unit given the low price and several complaints I read about lower end Panasonic units. I must admit, when I popped the first movie in, Gladiator, I was very impressed with what I saw. I immediately took note of certain details that my early Sony did not convey properly. The reds on this unit have far more detail than the Sony and the picture seems to have a sharper image, perhaps due to the Sage/Faroudja chipset lying under the hood. Whatever the case, this player looks great!

There are many different settings directly out of the player that you can fuss with aside from your television options, such as: contrast, brightness, color saturation, etc. I found that this helped me to tweak the picture favorably beyond what I could accomplish through the television settings alone. I'm glad they included this. There are actually a surprising number of onboard options with the 62. You also have dialog enhancement at your disposal along with sound enhancements if you're using the outputs on the back of the unit to directly drive your speakers. I opted for the standard DD 5.1 toslink connection.

Many of the problems I've heard people mention about DVD players are not visible here. Excellent color rendition, no "lip sync" problems, no artifacting, and quick response time to begin playing the picture.

Sound

Top notch, what can I say? I would expect no less from a modern day DVD player, but it was comforting to see that this was no exception to the rule. No real variance from my Sony player, which also had optical out. Great separation and ambience.

I can definitely use this section of the review to address the CD and MP3 playback, which has been completely trouble free. I have burnt a couple of CD's with about ten albums per CD broken down into MP3 and WMA formats, and they play flawlessly. The menu you receive on screen is great, as you can easily navigate through the various albums and songs. The quality will vary depending on the sampling rate of the music file, but I found that most all of my MP3 and WMA files sounded great. I was very happy to see that my MP3 Pro files played properly. CD's play perfectly as well, although I have a separate changer for this.

Remote Control

This is one aspect of this player that could use some help in terms of design and layout. The keys are somewhat poorly laid out and rather small. I personally did away with the remote and programmed the essential controls into my Sony LCD universal with touch screen. Best advice I can give to anyone is to do the same.

Conclusion

Overall, the Panasonic 62k is an excellent player that provides great value for the dollar. If you're looking for top quality picture and performance in a sleek and stylish cabinet, then I would definitely give this one a close look. I was also going to consider the new Sony 715, but I really couldn't have done any better than the Panasonic, particularly at this price.