Panasonic DVD-RV31K DVD Player Black

I searched and searched for the right inexpensive unit and came across this one 6 months ago. I read the negatives but I purchased it anyways and have not had a single problem yet! The picture/sound is great and the MP3 player is a plus. The tracks being shown as a number is not a problem since I don't use that function regularly. The "open" button takes longer to open than my previous unit...minor detail. I basically wanted a DVD unit that had "optical out" sound, component hookups, a unit that was under $200 and reliable. This is the unit! If your searching for the same, you won't be disappointed by this unit! Read more

I bought this player after owning a Panasonic A-120 model which I really liked. I got the RV31K because it will play CDRs, CDRWs and discs encoded with MP3 files which the A-120 would not. I have rated this player only 3 stars for a couple reasons. First of all, even tho it will play MP3-encoded discs, I have found that it will not play all the tracks on some discs. I'm not sure why except that I heard that if the MP3 file isn't encoded at a 128K bit rate it won't play it. Not sure if this is true but I do know I have a disc with over 100 tracks and the RV31K only recognized 25 of them. The second reason I only rate the RV31K with 3 stars is that the build quality is very flimsy. The player is extremely light and doesn't have that solid "feel" to it. It doesn't have the nice large round insulator feet that I have come to expect on all consumer electronics items. It has 2 "fake" insulator feet on the front and none at all on the back. The drive itself is also relatively noisy when loading and unloading discs compared to the A-120 and other players I've looked at. A kind of high-pitched whine emanates from the player when loading/unloading discs. The A-120 was completely quiet. To its credit the player has several nice features and Panasonic improved the size and layout of the buttons on the remote compared to the tiny buttons that were on the A-120's remote. And I've not had any problems with the player thus far other than the MP3 problem, having owned it for about 5 months. I just wish Panasonic had not cut back on the build quality as much as they did. It feels more like a "budget" player, e.g. Apex than one from one of the biggest and I think, best consumer electronics companies in the world. But I'll probably hang onto it till affordable DVD recorders become available in the next couple years. Read more

We've owned this unit for two years, and it was a workhorse during that time. But, like the other reviewers, I bought this player to last much longer than two years. Heck, I have a boombox that is 21 years old and still plays tapes and radio just fine, not to mention our 13-year-old VCR which shows no signs of slowing down. Oh, and our 13-year-old RCA TV set... still looks great. My point here is that Panasonic should offer some kind of refund to owners of this player. Two years of life is ridiculous in this day and age. Read more

I bought this DVD player 3 months ago and I could never be happier with it. Since then I have bought 3 more of these players for friends and relatives. I bought the Black or Silver they are exactly identical in functionality. I prefer the Silver look myself. The MP3 player was a big plus! It plays my MP3 disks with ease. The only problem is that it only displays the numbers of my MP3 files when playing it. So you may have to memorize your MP3 via numbers. It will play the files in the order the MP3 files are written. Just make sure you make a list of the songs cause there is no way to memorize over a hundred songs in a disk. Unlike the Toshiba DVD with the MP3 playing capability, the Panasonic DVD/CD/VCD/MP3 COULD Fast Forward/Rewind while playing the MP3 files. Im glad I did not buy the Toshiba, pretty much all the Toshiba players I tried in the electronics store could not fast forward/rewind MP3 file/song. This is bothersome especially if you need to scan through your MP3 songs. Playback was excellent. I haven't got any bad pixelations where the picture was not completely processed which leaves bigger squares of the image all over the place. I did get a couple pauses/delay/discontinuity while playing the DVD on some disks. The discontinuity usually happens while it switches to the next track. It only happens rarely in the frequency of once in 10 movies I play. It may just be the disk itself causing it, especially if it has scratches. As far a CD playing is concerned, it has pretty much what a normal CD player has. Search, Fast Forward, Rewind, Random, Scan and more... Just read up on the specifications to find out the rest. VCD Playback is excellent as well. The image was nice and clear. Of course it will never match up with the DVD's picture quality. The component outputs and digital audio output is a plus for future expansions. Most new higher end televisions and receivers have component inputs now. And most receivers that support DTS/Dolby digital 5.1 will have digital audio inputs. Though this particular player does not support progressive scan, the picture quality is up to par. Panasonic makes a model that supports progressive scan but it is slightly more expensive. It will look very similar to this one except it will say progressive scan on the front disk tray. This player also implements special function for surround sound. It will simulate a surround sound through your television even though you don't have any of the complex receivers/audio equipment. Of course it will not match up with having your own surround receiver, but it is good enough if you don't have one. This player has proven itself to be very reliable to me. Its ease of use and functionality makes it my top pick especially for its price range. At Amazons current pricing on this player (Black or Silver), you cannot find a better name brand in its class! Read more

Most probably unavailable, but The Best DVD player in the world! It was even dropped on the floor by the cable installer, and it still works. Panasonic is the Toyota of electronics! Read more