Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DVD-RP62S Progressive-Scan DVD Player

Thats right, the new Panasonic DVD RP-62 series all use the Sage/Faroudja FLI2200 chipset with DCDi. Just like its predecessor, the RP-56, you won't find any indication on the box, brochures or player. But hidden inside and difficult to find due to the bottom-side mounting on the video board, there it is.

For those unfamiliar, the Sage chipset is the premier deinterlacer/line doubler video processor used mainly in high-end equipment. Its ability to produce stunning video with no artifacts is unparalleled by competitive processors. Want proof? See for yourself: Do a web search on "DVD Shootout #2" and follow the link.

This is a sleek and fantastic performing DVD player. Progressive scan output is incredible but even the S-Video output performs extremely well. The only drawback is the lack of a digital coaxial audio output and clumbsy design of the remote control. The tiny buttons are hard to see and operate but the picture performance far outweighs this.

So now you know, stop waiting and go get it!

Since the DVD-RP82s is not featured for write up, I will use it's cousin, which coincidently does have the exact same problem.

The unit itself is slim and sharp looking. The picture and sound quality are exceptional, certainly better than anything I have ever seen from many other units.

Panasonic seems to have one very serious flaw. It's complete inability to function when confronted by interactivity laced DVD movies. I can provide two solid examples of where this can be seen. On any InfiniFilm film, such as Austin Powers Goldmember or Rush Hour 2. Also, the Ken Burns Baseball series. The common denominator of these offerings are their on-screen interactivity. In the case of InfiniFilm, you are given two options. To watch the film alone, or to watch the film with Infinifilm interactivity. Regardless of whatever you select, the Panasonic units cripple themselves whenever a section of the movie, which is Infinifilm coded, appears. Sure, you are watching just the film, but Infinifilm is overlayed on top. The Panasonic units cannot pause, forward, reverse, just about anything except STOP does not function. You are greeted with a wonderful rejection signal on the top right corner of your screen.

In the Ken Burns Baseball series, the appearance of the PBS logo at the bottom left corner, which indicates interactivity to a players baseball card profile. Once again, the Panasonic unit crippled itself and simply could not get over the hurdle of interactivity laced in the feature itself.

Sure, there are ways around this...Stop or quick replay will usually eliminate the interactive internal signal that the unit seemingly cannot remove or get around. But why should you have to?

I have tried these very films/features on other comparable units and have not experienced this problem. I tried many other identical Panasonic units at the Best Buy, which endeared me to them, I'm certain. All 6 units failed in this most basic premise of DVD's...Interactivity.

I have contacted Panasonic and they deny all such claims and state that their units do function as others do. When I explained to them that I tried 6 different units and my own, all with the identical flaw...They denied it to even be a flaw and that it was a problem with the media. When I explained that I tried over a dozen other units with said media and all experienced no such problems, I was told that it was still a media problem.

I am writing this review to warn you all about a flaw and problem with the Panasonic units. It may not seem like an awful lot, but trust me, when you have to take a bio-break in the middle of one of these movies/features and you cannot pause your unit...You will understand that this is not a normal function.

The picture and sound are exceptional, but the flaw is a show-stopper. The future indicates more interactivity in DVD's. If Panasonic cannot handle the most basic, you can only imagine how frustrated you will be in future when all DVD's are programmed this way.

You've probably already read the other review of the RP62 and been impressed by its technical guts and its impressive list of features. I'm going to run down the more experiential features of this DVD player.

First things First
At the time of this writing, you aren't going to get this player for less than... I even tried price-matching at Sears, but couldn't find a cheaper price (by the way, if Sears carries it, they will price-match Internet prices!!!). The cons I've listed really aren't that big of a deal -- all DVD players take a few seconds to load the DVDs, the display isn't really that hard to read and the clock thing just doesn't matter. All in all the unit rocks.

First Impressions and Installation
I have an HDTV-ready widescreen TV (Panasonic PT-47WX49 which I highly recommend, got it at Sears for....), so I wanted a progressive scan player. When I took the RP62 out of the box, it felt really light, and the case isn't 16 gauge steel -- it's plastic, thus the light weight. I figured after spending close to... the thing would feel substantive, but Panasonic obviously put the money to better use on the performance.

After taking it out, I realized that there was two cables -- power and a combo 3 RCA (video, 2 audio) cable. I kept looking for a decent cable to use for my progressive scan output, but to no avail. Luckily I had a cable that would suffice.

My biggest problem to begin with was that the RP62 out of the box only operates in analog (S-VIDEO or RCA), so you have to hook it up to your non-component input on your TV first. I didn't know this, so it took me about 45 minutes to finally get the unit pumping out a progressive signal. Once that was fixed, it was time to play.

Calibration
I never had a widescreen TV before, so I got the Avia Home Theater Guide to set up my TV. Complex menus, lots of levels. The player was able to do everything on the disc flawlessly. I didn't really change anything on the DVD player beyond the progressive out setting.

First Movies
Wow! The Matrix is one of my favorite movies, and the reproduction was amazing! I got the Matrix on DVD back in late 1999 or early 2000, so it is one of the first prints. Later I watched Jimmy Neutron. Everyone says how amazing the picture will be if you are watching it on a wide-screen progressive scan TV. Well, they weren't lying. The color reproduction was amazing. Movement was crisp and fluid, blacks were black and whites were white, as they should be.

I also burned a CD full of MP3s (156 of them, all at varying and variable bit rates) and played it at a party. The player nicely randomized all of the tracks, and displayed the ID3 Artist and Title tracks on the video out. It didn't have any problems playing VBR or high bit-rate MP3s. Pretty darn cool.

In the first fast forward level, it plays the video at 2x speeds but also plays the audio. It's not a perfect reproduction, but a nice feature for those who don't have a lot of time to watch a whole movie!

When you turn the unit off, the video out fades out, which is a cool little effect. Not a feature I'd buy on, but cool nonetheless.

Small Annoying Things
Every good thing has its bad sides. Granted, this player doesn't have many, but there are a few.

First, every time you use a DVD for non-16:9 content, a message pops up on the screen telling you that the content is 4:3. Ok, I don't care. Maybe I can turn those messages off, but I haven't found a way yet, and maybe you can't. But they can be just a tiny bit annoying.

Next, on MP3 playback, the display only shows the time, whereas the MP3 info is displayed on the video out. This is OK if you have a direct-view TV, but for rear-projection TVs, that kind of constant, non-moving video can cause burn-in. I'd like to see the MP3 info displayed on the LCD on the front, the big DVD logo gone after 1 minute of MP3 play, and the info window to move around on the screen. Heck, build in a nice WinAmp like screensaver! :-)

Last, the documentation that comes with this amazing little device is lacking. I'd like to see a whole book on all the cool features of my DVD player, but Panasonic seems to have spent the money more on the features in the player than explaining them in a manual, which is OK with me.

A Ton Of Positive Energy
Panasonic has a great, responsive tech support. I called about my installation issue and, though I got it fixed before they got on the phone, no more than 5-10 minutes was spent on hold or getting routed to the right place. For a company as big as Panasonic, I was impressed. The people also know enough about their products to help the simple to semi-difficult issues.

For the money, the quality of this and a lot of other Panasonic electronics is really amazing. I've had a Panasonic shelf stereo since 1992, and it still works great 10 years later after lots of college abuse and 7 moves!

So who is this really for?
This is one of the better, low-end progressive-scan DVD players on the market right now. Audio/Videophiles will find the quality, video and audio reproduction more than acceptable at this price level. Casual electronic enthusiasts with a nice progressive-scan-capable TV will really enjoy both the video and audio output of this device. People considering getting a nicer TV in the future will find this device a solid investment, and a great player until then.

Not ever going to get a progressive-scan-capable TV? Not going to use the MP3/WMA/VCD/SVCD capabilities? Have a 13-inch TV? This is probably more than you need to be spending on a DVD player! There are decent, sub....DVD players on the market that will suit you just fine. But for those of you that want progressive scan, amazing image reproduction with very few (unnoticeable to the untrained eye) flaws, the ability to play practically any CD or DVD, and the features (Zoom, enhanced Bass, virtual surround sound, quick replay, audio fast forward), you can't get a better DVD player. Buy this one!

After trying out several different brands I finally settled on Panasonic DVD-RP62S. This is a great player with all the features that you might possibly need and the performance is superb. I won't say any more than that as other reviewer have heaped enough praise on it already.
BUT, guys, could you make the buttons on the remote any smaller?! I mean you need a microscope to see them! And I'm talking about the buttons that get used a lot, like STOP,PLAY,PAUSE etc. This just drove me so nuts that I was going to return the player. Thankfully, my TV remote has friendly large buttons and I'm using it to control most DVD playback functions.
I've checked out some other Panasonic models and several of them have the same remote with the same tiny buttons. I just can't understand why it is done this way. None of the other DVD brands have this problem.

I bought this on Fri and love it. It is one of the first players that plays mp3s randomly. (Push random button 1st, then play button next.) You can also search through the mp3 song, which alot of other mp3 players cannot.
The menu for the mp3 is excellent. You can take your favorite group, create folders for each album, and then burn them all onto one CD...and the Panasonic DVD player will group the files as folders. Its obvious there was alot of thought that was put into the MP3 process. Something that has been lacking with other companies.
The dvd has been good. The usual good picture and sound. Remote is no big deal. Its useful.

Drawbacks-
You cannot change to random mode mid playing. You must stop cd first
Macrovision and cannot change regions
No DVD-audio or SACD
When mp3 or cds are playing, it would be nice if it had a screensaver type mode with different images.
All in all, great stuff

Hope this helps