Panasonic DVD-S77S DVD Player review:
3 stars (A great player but wasn't happy with up-conversion - personal preference) - I bought this to go with a new 500U Panasonic Plasma 50". Hooked up with HDMI. No problems thanks to other reviewers revealing the quick way to the up-conversion toggle in the menus. My wife and I both thought the up-conversion actually did the picture a disservice by blurring. Background elements and distant people (i.e. small items on screen) got blurred to a very 'mushy' appearance in our opinion. However, closeups looked incredible and sharp!!



Until HD-DVD, this is probably the best you can do if you want sharper close-ups. Standard DVDs just don't have the resolution data to look great all over when enlarged to 50" or more.



For me the choice is normal viewing (in my case DVD playing through an XBox) which is somewhat grainy vs. smoothed over pixels that appear blurry (through an up-conversion processor). Grainy won out in my home over blurry so I returned the player and will hold out for HD-DVD when available to get the sharpest picture all over and not just in the close-ups.



One odd item about audio - To get full 5.1 surround from this unit you must use 6 RCA cables (or HDMI) into a receiver with split channel input. I did, and it sounded great. But the manual says if you use the optical or coax digital out, which I would have preferred to use, you only get 2 channel audio not surround.
5 stars (Great player even if your not yet into HD) - Im still using a regular picture tube 32' Toshiba with component hookup I've always been a big fan of panasonic dvd players they are for sure the best players you can buy for many reasons (sound,picture,all the bells and whistles etc.) so this would have to be the best one made yet!I have had every model for about the past six years.I own five other brands none are as good as this one,easy to use ,good remote,great on screen guide and if you havnt bought a HDTV im sure you will soon(I will)and you will have one of the powerfullest players available this a 2005 model with a 216z/11Bit video processor you can tell a great diffrence even if you dont have HD yet but you can use component hookups its worth it. Sound wise it use a 192/24 processor which means you also wont find another player with better sound either. A MUST HAVE Buy It or leave your ownself short changed!
5 stars (Top Notch for the Price and then Some) - This DVD player is unquestionably a top bargain for the price. The better the TV you have, especially HDTV, the larger difference you will see between players. While this DVD player has many options that will require you to invest some time in setting it up intially, the payback is worth it as the picture is top notch.



First off, much in this player is very well designed. The "annoying blue light" that someone complained about earlier is very cool and CAN be shut off, either permanently or automatically when a disc is inserted and the play button is pressed. Pretty cool.



On the down side, the manual is HORRIBLE. That's an understatement. There are times that you will need the manual or you need time to read elsewhere how to set some of the settings properly, e.g. saving user defined settings for your different setups such as viewing over HDMI and over component inputs.



Another downside is that none of the "region free hacks" or "component upscaling" work. The miserable, despicable motion picture and music industry have locked your DVD players so DVDs you may legitimately buy in other countries will not work in this machine (the justification for this is questionable at best.) In addition, the component video output is only at 480 pixels native so if you have an older HDTV, this will not increase the resolution. Again, you can thank the same group who for whatever reason believe that this will prevent piracy (even though you can digitally copy DVDs) and results in your diminished viewing pleasure. While the Samsungs have secret codes that can unlock these features, I don't think their cheaper Zoran Vaddis deinterlacer chip provides nearly the same picture. My HDTV does a very good job upscaling for the most part and I don't use any non-USA DVDs (at the moment) so these problems do not really affect me.



All that said, for $200, getting the Faroudja decoder (which may have some of the bugs clipped here) with the other high end components really makes this a best buy.

Panasonic DVD-S77S DVD Player is the Electronics version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around  199.99USD.