Product Features:

• 5-disc super-slim DVD changer supports DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, CD-R, CD-RW, and MP3/WMA CDs
• Progressive-scan video output for seamless, flicker-free picture on high-definition and HD-ready televisions
• Cinema Mode diminishes glare and improves the visibility of details in dark scenes; Depth Enhancer reduces image background noise
• Digital re-mastering enhances CD playback; Bass Plus boosts bass when you connect the player with an optional subwoofer
• Dialogue Enhancer boosts center-channel volume during Dolby Digital 5.1-channel presentations

Product Description:

Early Adopters Pick: April 2003 The world's slimmest 5-disc DVD changer. Turn an entertainment room into a multi-disc, multi-format paradise with Panasonic's super-slim DVD-F65K five-disc DVD changer. The player offers incredible format handling, from standard DVD-Video to DVD-R and DVD-RAM, CD-R and CD-RW, and even support for MP3 and WMA CDs. You also get high-tech features like digital re-mastering, which infuses CD music playback with interpolated high-frequency harmonics that wouldn't otherwise be present, and HighMAT (High-Performance Media Access Technology), a technology developed by Panasonic and Microsoft to ensure digital media compatibility between PCs and consumer electronics. The deck features a progressive-scan video processor that doubles the scan lines of an interlaced signal (from 480i to 480p) by scanning all 525 lines in 1/60 of a second for each pass. The higher-density video signal (designed for high-definition and HD-ready TVs) brings a film-like quality to DVD images. Other video enhancements include Cinema Mode (which diminishes glare and improves the visibility of details in dark scenes by automatically adjusting picture contrast), Depth Enhancer (which reduces image background noise), and Hi-Speed Smooth-Motion Scan (which enables fast-forward/reverse at up to 200 times normal speed, offering a quick way to access desired scenes). The DVD-F65K also boasts audio features like Bass Plus (which enhances bass when you connect the player with an optional subwoofer), Dialogue Enhancer (which boosts the volume of the center channel during Dolby Digital 5.1-channel presentations), and an optical digital-audio output for channeling DTS and Dolby Digital surround sound to a surround-decoding audio/video receiver.

Description from Manufacturer:Early Adopters Pick: April 2003 The world's slimmest 5-disc DVD changer.

Turn an entertainment room into a multi-disc, multi-format paradise with Panasonic's super-slim DVD-F65K five-disc DVD changer. The player offers incredible format handling, from standard DVD-Video to DVD-R and DVD-RAM, CD-R and CD-RW, and even support for MP3 and WMA CDs. You also get high-tech features like digital re-mastering, which infuses CD music playback with interpolated high-frequency harmonics that wouldn't otherwise be present, and HighMAT (High-Performance Media Access Technology), a technology developed by Panasonic and Microsoft to ensure digital media compatibility between PCs and consumer electronics.

The deck features a progressive-scan video processor that doubles the scan lines of an interlaced signal (from 480i to 480p) by scanning all 525 lines in 1/60 of a second for each pass. The higher-density video signal (designed for high-definition and HD-ready TVs) brings a film-like quality to DVD images. Other video enhancements include Cinema Mode (which diminishes glare and improves the visibility of details in dark scenes by automatically adjusting picture contrast), Depth Enhancer (which reduces image background noise), and Hi-Speed Smooth-Motion Scan (which enables fast-forward/reverse at up to 200 times normal speed, offering a quick way to access desired scenes).

The DVD-F65K also boasts audio features like Bass Plus (which enhances bass when you connect the player with an optional subwoofer), Dialogue Enhancer (which boosts the volume of the center channel during Dolby Digital 5.1-channel presentations), and an optical digital-audio output for channeling DTS and Dolby Digital surround sound to a surround-decoding audio/video receiver.Average Customer Rating:

---

Comment: Not the best picture quality, but good nonetheless Rating:
If you intend to use this on a non high-definition TV, then I would highly recommend it. It looks sleek, is easy to use and works well. I have had it for almost two years, and it still works well.

However, if you are buying this for a high-defition TV, I would look somewhere else. I had originally purchased this for my 55" High-Definition TV, but I could see the progressive scan on the screen. It was a line going from right to left vertically across the screen. It was not very visible, but once I saw it, I could not forget about it. I then bought the Sony DVP-NC685V and moved the Panasonic to my basement where I do not have a high-definition TV and thus do not use the progressive scan. Since then it has worked out great, and I have no complaints. The Sony had a better picture quality for high-def, but broke after a year.

---

Comment: pretty good product Rating:
have had this dvd player for about 2 months with no problems so far. the only complains are small - takes a while to read the disk and can't rotate all the way around when open (only to adjacent disks).

---

Comment: Plays all disks, even DVD+R Rating:
I bought this with some reluctance - it was less money than the equivalent Sony player, and didn't specify whether it could play the DVD+R format - in fact it indicated it wouldn't. But as the Sony player was out of stock, and the day after Thanksgiving deal meant I got this player for only $79.99, I went for it anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that all the DVD XCopy backups of my movie collection, in DVD+R and DVD+RW format, played just fine.

As for the quality, everything is superb. I haven't had a single problem with any format of any disk, so I'm not sure why the first reviewer had problems.

The sound quality is great, and even though neither my $50 6-speaker home theater kit, nor this dvd player have any sort of Dolby or DTS decoding ability (just some sort of emulation mode), the sound output from the combination of both is nearly perfect, which the correct sounds going to the correct speakers. Planes sound like they are flying over and past me, etc. Occasionally I lose some of the center speaker and subwoofer sounds - but this is not surprising considering the cheapness of my sound system.

The other features are superb, especially the incremental zoom function - together with the presets, this helps deal with the stupid 16x9 widescreen format that the movie industry has decided to inflict on us - which is the reason we get black bars even on wide screen HD TV's. Only the original widescreen format movies will fill the screen of a widescreen TV, so why we have to have this butchered format is beyond me.

As for the Lord of the Rings comment, both the extended versions of the Fellowship and the Two Towers play without any glitches in my player - however these disks are incredibly delicate. I was forced to replace the Fellowship after a minor scratch destroyed 50% of disk two, so that no dvd player, Sony, Magnavox, even the PS2 would play it (which in turn was the reason I invested in DVD XCopy, so I no longer run the risk of damaging the original copy of any of my more prized movies).

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)