Panasonic DVD-S55 DVD Player

I just love my Panasonic S55S! It has features that I did not think I would get in this price range. The newer design is great, since it is very slim and attractive. It fits where my old unit would not, and that was a big plus for me.

Things I like:

The unit comes with a lot of features, but one of the nicest things was the flexibility it has when it comes to playing multimedia. Not only does it play DVD's & CD's that were burned copies, but it also plays a few Windows standard media files. I've put in MPEG video, it plays, no problem. JPEG, & AVI files also play just fine. I like to compile hundreds of photos, burn them onto a CD, and let the S55 give us all a nice slide show, all from the comfort of my living room, and not all standing around a PC. It also plays Video CD's in VCD format, MP3's, and WMA's.

The S55 also has a great was of adjusting picture size. With one Button, you can zoom in or out to several different sizes. I like that because my older TV makes Wide-screen movies hard to watch. I can zoom it in once, and it makes all the difference. And it does all right from the remote. Or there is a dial on the front that performs the same function. My older G.E DVD player was much different. You had to stop your movie, go into the menu for the player, adjust it from one of 2 preset screen sizes, save it, and return to your movie. That was such a hassle, and it was not worth the time. So you can see why I appreciate the Panasonic's extremely easy to use zoom function.

The menu for the unit is just about fool proof. It has a lot in there, but it is very easy to navigate. All functions from the menu can be changed from the remote, and it is very smooth. I even changed some options for the subtitles, so they appear elsewhere, I thought that was pretty cool.

The remote is comfortable when in your hand, and is not so huge that it becomes difficult to use. The size is right for the average person to be happy with it. It is lightweight, and actually has a nice look to it, unlike others I've seen.

The connections in the back are pretty good too. For a slim unit, the back seems to be loaded with most of what you need for great digital audio, and progressive scan video. It has the component video output, S-video, digital and analog audio outputs, and my favorite, the optical audio output. I use the optical output myself, and I believe it delivers the best sound I've heard yet. Especially when it comes to DTS. If you have a movie with DTS 5.1 or greater, and the receiver to play it, then set that movie for DTS with an optical cable, and you won't believe the sound. So clean & clear, that when you ever go back to analog, you'll be very disappointed.

It also has some parental controls, which I so far have not had to use, but I'm sure when the kids are a little older, I'm going to be right on it.

I'm satisfied with the picture quality. I have noticed that it is slightly better than my G.E. unit, but you'd have to use a magnifying glass to see the difference in the two. I'm not sure if there is better out there, but I think it might be hard to beat.

Panasonic DVD players have a patented laser eye, which seems to be a great improvement over my old G.E. unit. DVD's that are slighty dirty, or scratched, would always skip in my old unit. And it would also skip it I had the thunderous Surround System set at my liking, with pounding bass. The Panasonic S55 seems to be immune to this so far. The same discs that skip in my old player, have no problem playing in the S55, whether the skipping is caused from surface dirt/scratches, or the vibrations of my home theater shaking the house. Believe me, it is nice, to be able to listen to my system the way I like, without having to adjust it, or backing up the movie several times trying to find what I missed from the skipping.

One other thing I noticed that is a big improvement form my last DVD player, was the incremental scan speeds. First of all, it has more, and second, it's a lot faster! I put it in top speed and the next thing I knew, it was at the ending credits! So be careful using the highest setting!

Things I do not like:

First, when I'm watching a movie, and I have to stop it to run to the store, it does not pick up where I left off in the movie, unless you make sure to press the button on the remote to store the current position. Sometimes I forget to do that, and I have try to figure out where I left off, and that can be a pain.

Second, it does not seem to have a screen saving function built in. When you pause it, it stays like that until you tell it otherwise. Which can be a problem if you are leaving, and you are gone longer than originally anticipated, you run the risk of burning that image into the screen. You have to remember to stop, or even better, turn off the unit. Even my old first generation G.E not only had a screen saver built in, but if it was left in pause too long, it would even power down the player. At first I thought maybe I did not know how to use all the S55 functions early on, since I could not make it go into screen/power saving mode. But after a call to Panasonic, they said it was not capable, and they never heard of a player that does that!! I might be wrong, but I'm sure other units have this feature.

Third, when I did call Panasonic about the question I had pertaining to the screen saving mode, they sure could have been nicer. At first he acted as if I was a complete moron to even ask that question, but after I explained that I already had an older player that performed that way, he then said that he had never heard of that before. I think some training would be in order, not only for bettering his people skills, but to be more current on the latest technology so he won't be so surprised to hear about what most other units do.

And last, it does not have to newer DVI plug in the back. My HDTV has that as an option, and I cannot use it with the S55. DVI is supposed to be better than the 3-color component video since it is (on my TV) a completely digital signal. I will have to wait until I upgrade my DVD player to see the difference myself, but at this point the Component video is plenty for me.

Overall, the cost of this unit is almost hard to believe since you are getting a lot of bang for your buck. It's worth the amount I paid.