Panasonic DVD-S55 DVD Player

The Panasonic DVD-S55 is a twin beam (658nm/790nm) CD/DVD-A/DVD player. The video circuitry can be turned off and the audio portion has 3 possible oversampling settings. The front panel LCDs can be dimmed. There is no headphone output, although there is an audio setup (accessed through the DISPLAY button on the Remote) to change between speaker and headphone listening.

I was hoping that when playing back CD music that in the Speaker setting the sound would become fuller, but I could not detect any change. When viewing DVD movies, the HP (headphone) setting did become flatter and it was possible to use the Audio Surround Settings and Dialogue Depth Enhancer (even in 2.1) to simulate surround sound and fill in the center channel for a fuller sound. It is much easier to access certain functions through the remote's DISPLAY button than through the main menus.

I would not suggest this transport to be used for critical CD music listening. While it can do a just bearly acceptable job, especially when listening to headphones, the fact remains that it is too thin and shrill sounding, even when oversampling is employed. The Onkyo DV-S555 sounds much warmer and intimate than the cold lifeless Panasonic DVD-S55, although the Panasonic DVD-S55 seems to have tighter bass and sharper transients.

I question it's ability to play HighMat audio files when it can't even play .BMP video files (both formats owned by Microsoft). The unit can play .MP3 files at 320 bit rate. Somehow I expect this unit to not play Microsoft Media Player 9 .MP3 files, unless encryption is turned off before conversion (which is not the default). Likewise I also think that video and music file names must follow the DOS 8.3 standard, otherwise it may not play them.

As for the video - the Panasonic is top notch when played through the S-Video connector. I set it for Cinema 2 (accessed through the remote's DISPLAY button) and the blacks are truly black with very little artifacting. In the CINEMA modes it gives the typical Apex player's contrasty look. DVD movie audio is at 48KHz and the REMASTER function does not work to improve the sound, neither will copy protected DVD-A work beyond that range, so the high 192KHz rating will not likely be of any use, for the most part.

This unit makes the perfect replacement DVD player, seeing as functions are being added to DVD players every year; there are now DVD players coming out which can play 1080p (at about the $300 price point). So anyone who paid $300 for a progressive scan 3 years ago will end up buying a $300 unit that can do 1080p.

It is a bargain when compared against $50 players which may not have S-Video outputs, built in Dolby & DTS decoders, the ability to adjust contrast, brightness, sharpness, simulated audio surround sound and audio upsampling.