Panasonic PV-D4745S DVD/VCR Dual Deck , Silver
I have to give this five stars.
First of all, after reading another review stating I wouldn't be able to watch home-made DVDs on this machine, I ran right out to the living room and played a few that my family made for me and I hadn't ever tried playing before. I was suddenly worried they wouldn't work. And while it's true that the home-movies I played were not in the same format as those listed by the previous reviewer (these were DVD-R), they played perfectly.<br /><br />But since I don't watch many home-movies or self-burned stuff anyway, my review is based totally on one single aspect: Commercial DVD playback quality. I have literally gone through 5 different brands of DVD/VCR combo units over the last year, exchanging each one because of DVD playback problems; stuttering, freezing, skipping, pixelization. And this was always on normal DVD movies.<br /><br />Recently however, a lot of my old favorite TV shows are being released on double-sided, dual-layer DVDs (DVD 18 technically) that many folks are complaining about having issues with when switching to the second layer on the same side of the disk. I had these problems too with my last unit, which had been doing just fine until I started playing TV series disks that were known for having problems with the layer-switch.<br /><br />Exchanging the disks didn't help, since they all had the same problems. Finally, out of desperation, I exchanged my DVD/VCR combo unit one more time on the off-chance it would make a difference. Lo and behold, I'm suddenly one of the few people who can play \\"Space: Above and Beyond\\" and \\"American Gothic\\" with no problems whatsoever.<br /><br />True, the disk manufacture is definitely the 'real' problem. But my Panasonic player somehow manages to work around it. I'm not a techie. All I know is this is the first of five brands I've tried that hasn't had a problem handling the layer-switch. I'm sure there are other good brands out there. All I'm saying is this one was reasonably priced and does exactly what I need it to do.<br /><br />And strictly speaking from a layman's perspective, the image and sound quality seem excellent and crisp, as does the VCR image and quality. Again, I'm no expert, so your mileage may vary.rom a layman's perspective, the image and sound quality seem excellent and crisp, as does the VCR image and quality. Again, I'm no expert, so your mileage may vary.