Panasonic DVD-RV31K DVD Player, Black
Good First DVD Player - Updated: 4/2006
Original Review: August 2001    The DVD-RV31K is an excellent DVD/CD player. DVDs look great! The blacks are very deep and colors are vivid on my Toshiba television. There are a few options on the Panasonic to fine tune the picture that I have never seen on players at this price point .... They include separate brightness and color adjustments to get the picture to look good on almost any TV.     The player is generally quiet during playback and music (MP3 and WAV files) sound excellent. Keep in mind that there is nothing fancy about the MP3 playback. No programming or other features are available with MP3s. The player has been able to play every CD-R I have and is programmable. Bass seems non-existant during DVD playback but fine with CDs. I had a Toshiba SD-2008 and Pioneer DV-333 player before picking up the Panasonic. They definitely have more bass (I used the coaxial digital outputs, which the Panasonic does not have on this model. Instead, I use the Toslink optical output.) Neither of the other models mentioned played MP3s and they were both very loud (you could clearly hear the disks spinning during playback.) In contrast, the DVD-RV31K is extremely quiet during playback.  It should also be noted that Panasonic's Toslink output does an excellent job of keeping the stereo separation and high frequency detail.    Unfortunately, the digital signal lacks low frequency response. This is also true of the analog outputs, but the analog still sounds good. I live in an apartment, so low frequency response is not a concern at this point. However, I definitely miss it when I want to hear a movie at theater sound levels.     In summary, this is a great player for the price.    Update: June 2003    No issues with errors, picture or sound to date.  It still plays everything in my library: DVD, CD, CD-R, and CD-RW without any hesitation. I must say that I'm very impressed with the quality of the hardware.  The ONLY reason I would replace this player would be to get more realistic bass or the use of a coaxial output.    Update: April 2006    The player is still going strong.  No errors or major issues.  Some disks cause the player to vibrate on my glass shelf, but placing something about 1-lb on top of the unit seems to take care of the problem. I have noticed a compatibility issue with DVD+R disks, but DVD-R disks work just fine.    I just added an Athena 10\\" Powered Subwoofer and the bass is amazing with movies!    I feel bad for all the people that are having problems, but this unit seems to be holding up better than I expected.