Panasonic DVD-CV51 5-Disc DVD Player
The complete solution (almost!)
I recently decided to purchase a DVD player and wasted hours checking out what was available. Well i was definitely not going to pay more than $250 and needed to maximize on the basis of that. Of course all DVD players generally play DVD's well so that was not the issue What I wanted to see were the extras- other than my computer I have nothing that plays MP3's and neither do I have a Home theater receiver. Since the DVD player was going to be the first step in my home theater I wanted something that would add less to the &quot;muddle&quot; in the long run. SO I was looking at DVD players that could do all of the following a) Decode Dolby Digital and DTS (no point at this stage buying a DVD player that only does the former). b) Plays MP3 (which usually means it also plays CD-R) c) If its going to play music cd's it might as well have a changer. As of now there is nothing in the market that does all of the above (at least in my price range).  So I was left between stuuff that does 2 out of the three (a number of combinations for that exist). Finally I decided to choose to go with this player because I felt that a home theater receiver would be something i would need to purchase later on what with all the TV broadcasts also begining to carry dolby digital signals. This one does a very good job of playing all your music cd's and of course DVD's. In both respects its flawless. The sound reproduction is great. There are a few things to note though:  a) As the other reviewer suggested- it does not display the track names of MP3 songs and this was something I did not expect but I can live with it. I am the kind of person who usually slips in a cd into the tray and listen to all the songs. But note that &quot;random&quot; track selection ALSO DOES NOT WORK on MP3's.  b) It does not have a coaxial sound output (why did panasonic decide to do that?????). It only has an optical sound output (I think Panasonic has made this technological choice for some inexplicable reason. Their Technics home theater receivers only accept optical inputs in most of last years models and no coaxial inputs!)  Except for these two drawbacks, I think this is a very versatile system and should serve well. Come on MP3, Cd-Rw and a 5 disc changer where you can change your cd's even while you are watching a movie!!!!  ps the remote- dont expect it do anything other than control the dvd player. PERIOD