Panasonic DVD-S77S DVD Player
Nice unit but faroudja chip bug shows macroblocking.
I bought this unit on Sunday to enhance the dvd viewing pleasure on my new 32\\" Samsung LN-R3228 LCD television. I had been using a highend Panasonic RP91. The research I did on this unit suggested about half of the people who buy this will see intense \\"macroblocking.\\" Macroblocking is noise in the background while you are watching a dvd. A good example is in Blue Velvet. When Kyle first enters Isabella's apartment pretending to spray for bugs, the walls around her apartment seem alive. Swirls of motion in the texture of the walls. This is macroblocking. I tried lowering the sharpness and brightness and even switching to 480p via the component cables. This did mute it a little but you knew it was still there to a degree. I switched back to my RP91. Presto! 90% of the macroblocking disappeared. It is always there, but players that don't have the faroudja chip bug will see a vastly reduced amount of this defect. I'm returning the player. I don't feel that the benefit of a slightly better deinterlacing job via the S77 outweighs the massive macroblocking that I am seeing.