Panasonic DVD-RV32S DVD Player, Silver
Panasonic DVD-RV32S
The Panasonic RV32S and RV32K are the same machines except for the color of the enclosure. The S model is silver, and the K model is black. <br />I only demoed this unit at a local electronics store and this player blew away many other machines that were priced... more than this one. I compared this machine to a Toshiba 2500 (I think) and a couple others for which I forget the makes and models. <br />It has the ability to play back DVDs, VCDs, MP3s and audio CDs. It can read off regular pressed DVDs and CDs, along with CD-Rs and CD-RW discs. The latter two are useful for making your own discs with a CD recorder drive on your computer, or a standalone unit. <br />VCD video quality is similar to that of VHS tapes, but they are popular in Asia and are region free. Asia also seems to release many US films on VCD before they are released in the US on DVD. I have seen legitamate copies with Chinese subtitles. <br />The DVD video quality on most machines I tried that day were all the same. VCD was a bit different, however there were still little discrepancies between different units. However, what really blew me away about this machine was the audio quality. When I played back music, whether on DVD, VCD, MP3, or CD-Audio, the RV32 shined over all the other units. <br />The sound coming from this machine seemed to be brighter and have a wider frequency range. The other machines I tried seemed to have a smaller range of frequencies which they could produce. It seemed that the same notes on other machines were either softer or not there. It's like comparing sound from a radio FM source to a CD-Audio source. It's not that much difference, but it was very apparent. <br />The bad thing is that few stores have DVD machines properly hooked up for you to demo them to their full potential. The store I went to had this machine connected to a 50\\" plasma TV, and a very good 5.1 sound system. The other store I visited while DVD shopping was large chain store. They had the players on a shelf, but not hooked up in any way. The employees were even hesitant to hook it up for me to demo. With some coaxing, they finally hooked it up for me, but unfortunately it was to a 20\\" television. Needless to say, I walked out of there.