Einsatz

Hello all,

There has been mention of this player a few times in the past week or so. If you own it, I'd appreciate the feedback...

I'm thinking of buying this player and selling my (very liked, but two year old) Toshiba SD-2109. Pretty much the main reason is the CD-R capabilities. My Toshiba just doesn't like CD-Rs. My DVD player is also my CD player so this is a problem.

How would you rate the RV31 on the CD-R compatibility for Audio? Any problems with any CD-R disc brands?

Although I don't really have any MP3 discs, does it handle folders? Does it display the ID3 Tag text on the display/osd? Does it output the decoded MP3s over the optical out or can the actual decoding be left to my receiver (my HK can decode MP3s)?

Finally, after seeing it in person, I've noticed in the video out it says "Please connect directly to TV". Well my TV only has 1 input (Panasonic 23G13) so I'll have to go through the Receiver (like my current setup). Will this make the DVD player explode or something?

Sears has it for $200 but I've got a 10% off cupon for electronics... Labor day sale was less than 5% off, which held me back. Sound right? too high? too low?

-E

skar

I own this player and really like it and I will try to answer some of your questions.
I don't use this player with CD-R often. No problems with the Sony blank media I have tried it with.

I haven't tried it with MP3's but I heard that the player only displays short file names. To my knowledge this is the way all current DVD players handle MP3's. Such a small percentage of owners will use the MP3 feature so companies don't spend money on the interface. Hopefully this will change in the next year or two.

"Please connect directly to your TV". The player recommends this because dumb people run it through their VCR and get Macrovision problems. Also to use component outputs you typically have no choice but straight to the TV. If you want to run the S-Video or composite through your HK receiver, I can't see any problem with that.

Price. Online it can be found as low as $162. Can you pricematch and get 10% off? Any price $200 or less isn't a bad deal for a great player.

nekobus

Pop over to www.vcdhelp.com. There are a many reviews of the Panasonic and a chart showing its format/media compatibility.

Einsatz

Hey, I just wanted to thank Skar and Nekobus for replying. I went out to Sears and did the pricematch thing (1st time though I've been wanting to try it for a while).
I got it for just over $150+tax

This unit is exactly what I had been looking for. It plays all my Cd-Rs regardless of brand and it does mp3s to boot. Features are just what I need. Sound quality is noticeably better than my SD-2109 (dunno why) on audio CDs. I should have moved to this player a while ago. Not exactly an upgrade, but more of a sidegrade. Can't beat the price either

Anyone want a two year old Toshiba DVD player?

-E

skar

Dual lasers. It uses seperate lasers for DVD and CD. This usually allows for much better CD audio quality then most entry level DVD players.

collije

Great price! Mind letting us know where you pricematched with?

TIA!

Einsatz

Hey collije,
I can't really remember and the sears guy kept the printout. I did the search at work so I can't go to my history. Anyway, I found it through a price engine (I think it was mysimon.com but I just searched again and it came up with $199?!). Just do searches (I personally like price engines) and just get the printout with a phone number. I didn't even look at seller ratings since it's a non issue.

collije

Reviewing MySimon (always forget to check that!) shows it for around $160.

I thought that Sears factors in shipping to when pricematching (although YMMV depending on the store, or if you get a dolt helping you). Could try buying it from EBAY (ugh) on the cheap.


Thanks for the suggestion though E!