Sony DVP-NS425P vs. Panasonic S35S DVD player - which should I choose?

I have some credit at Target where they have the Sony DVP-NS425P for
$99.99 and the Panasonic S35S for $79.99. I looked at both
manufacturer's sites for info to try to compare these 2 DVD players,
and I wasn't able to come away with any clear idea why the Sony was
worth $20 more. Maybe I missed something?

I have a Panasonic DVD carousel player from the same year as the S35S,
so I expect its picture quality and behavior is the same except it
adds JPG viewing as does the Sony.

Could anyone help me decide which of these 2 players I should choose?
I'm leaning toward the cheaper Panasonic unless someone can tell me
why the Sony is better. Thanks.

 

Sony's name costs more money. The players are probably the same.

 

The Panasonic will give you better picture quality and more
reliablilty...plus better ff/rev controls.

 

I can't discount the Sony brand name because I have had excellent
service from a Sony 550 (2581 DVD hours) and a Sony 360 (3219 DVD
hours). HOWEVER, I recently purchased a Panasonic S55S and I couldn't be
happier with it.

DVD players are not all the same. Furthermore, a player's
ability to play a flawed disk, and hide all the errors, is not
necessarily dependent upon its price.

I personally discovered this fact when a badly damaged Netflix DVD
refused to play, in a couple of places, on both of my Sony players. Up
to this point, my two Sony players (550 and 360) had never given me any
reason to complain. It is not clear to me just how this disk sustained
its damage. The playback problems started to occur in chapter 15, where
massive pixelation and digital blocking would occur. Then, both players
would lock up for about 10 seconds and either jump back a chapter or
jump forward a chapter. An entire 6 minute section of the first layer of
the disk was unplayable. After this section, the disk played normally
for another 2 minutes, successfully navigated the layer change, but 2
minutes later, the player encountered the same damaged section of the
disk and the playback problems occurred again for approximately 6
minutes of the second layer.

It looks like the disk was dropped face down on concrete where somebody
stepped on it. But the pits are arranged in a concentric and orderly
circular fashion. It's almost as though someone's laser playback
assembly created the pits, around the outer third of the play surface,
as the disk was spinning in the player.

My first inclination was to send the disk back to Netflix and request a
replacement, since I had not been able to watch all of the movie. But on
the way to the post office, I had second thoughts about this, drove over
to Circuit City, opened the defective disk return envelope and took the
disk into the store. I wanted to see if there were any players that
could play this disk.

Most stores don't have their demo DVD players hooked up to monitors
anymore, so getting a demonstration is not always easy. But circuit City
had a $99 Panasonic DVD-S35S hooked up to a demo TV, so I tried the disk
in that player. (This also seemed like a good potential-purchase choice,
because Panasonic players are reputed to be free of any chroma bugs.) I
directly accessed chapter 15 and waited for the player to begin having
fits as it encountered the damaged section, but it played right through
as though the damage didn't exist. There were a couple of very minor
occurrences of digital blocking, where two or three small, colored
squares popped up in single frames, but there was no interruption of the
sound. But, at this point, I was really interested in getting the
Panasonic DVD-S55S, but Circuit City didn't have the player.

I then called Magnolia Audio-Video (owned by Best Buy) and they had one,
new-in-box Panasonic DVD-S55S in stock. This store was only two blocks
from Circuit City, so I was there in 10 minutes. Sure enough, the
Panasonic DVD-S55S breezed through the damaged disk just as well as the
DVD-S25 had done before it.

Magnolia also had a close-out price on the Sony DVP-NC755 (which has
SACD capability) so I played the defective disk in the floor model. The
playback of this $300 list price player was even worse than my Sony
players at home. The digital blocking began earlier, in chapter 12,
instead of chapter 13. The player locked up for over 10 seconds and I
didn't wait to see if it would finally start playing again.

Besides exceptional error correction, another thing that Panasonic DVD
players have is more fast-forward and slow-motion speeds than any other
players that I have seen. Most players have 2 or 3 fast forward speeds
and slow motion speeds, but Panasonic has 5. As far as I can tell, the
fast forward speeds are 3x-6x-12x-50x-200x. (Panasonic's 200x fast
forward has to be the fastest available on any player.) I can't tell the
5 slow motion speeds exactly, but they appear to start at 2fps and go up
to 12fps.

Incidentally, both the Sony DVP-NC755 and the Sony DVP-NS425P, that you
are considering, boast that they have "Precision Drive 2 System:
Providing an improved mechanism for reading DVD discs that are in less
than perfect condition, Precision Drive 2 improves over last years
Precision Drive to further eliminate errors in playback due to
imperfect, scratched or warped DVD discs." Whatever. The DVP-NC755
couldn't play the damaged Netflix disk and I suspect that the DVP-NS425P
won't be able to play it either.

So, I bought the Panasonic DVD-S55S and have been very happy with it.

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...SKU=DVPNS425P&CategoryName=hav_DVD_DVDPlayers

 

The Panasonic will give you better picture quality and more

And your experience stems from what models from both brands of DVD players? -
Reinhart

 

I have some credit at Target where they have the Sony DVP-NS425P for

Sony products are typically more expensive. Sometimes, it's definitely worth
it, such as their Trinitron and Grand Vega displays. Sometimes, it's not, like
their lower end audio receivers.

Both DVD players are very good choices and you really can't go wrong with
either, but I would recommend the Panasonic because of its lower price. You'll
save some money and still come out on top with an excellent quality DVD player.
- Reinhart

 

Thanks, Scot and everyone else who answered, for helping me make my
decision. It seems there is no reason to pay extra for the Sony which
appears to be about the same in features and which seems to be a bit
less tolerant on defective DVDs according to Scot's experience.

By the way, Scot, how much was the Panasonic S55S at Circuit City (out
of curiosity)? I just browsed through their players listed online and
couldn't find the S55S, but I expect it's more than the S25S which is
also $79.99. The only feature difference I could ever figure out
between the S25S and S35S is the type of DD5.1 audio out.

It's a moot point what Circuit City has anyway because Target doesn't
pricematch and my credit is with Target, so I have to take what they
have (i.e. the older S35S model... assuming they get any more in stock
after being laid desolate during Christmas).

 

<<Thanks, Scot and everyone else who answered, for helping me make my
decision. It seems there is no reason to pay extra for the Sony which
appears to be about the same in features and which seems to be a bit
less tolerant on defective DVDs according to Scot's experience.>>

My Panasonic S55S recently produced a very small pixelation problem (2-3
frames) on a rental disk. This problem did not occur on either of my
Sonys.

<<By the way, Scot, how much was the Panasonic S55S at Circuit City (out
of curiosity)? I just browsed through their players listed online and
couldn't find the S55S, but I expect it's more than the S25S which is
also $79.99. The only feature difference I could ever figure out between
the S25S and S35S is the type of DD5.1 audio out.>>

Circuit City does not carry the S55S. They had the S25S for $79 and the
S35S for $99. I bought the S55S at Magnolia Audio Video for the full
retail price of $129, just before Christmas. Everybody else was sold out
on this model.

The best price that I have found on the S55S is $109.88 from J&R
Computer World. Of course, they are now sold out too. I have ordered
from J&R before and had no problems.

http://www.jandr.com/JRProductPage.process?RestartFlow=t&Section_Id=1&Product_Id=3690119

The S25S is a VERY basic unit with no S-video output, no picture
controls (Brightness, Color, Contrast, Gamma Correction, Sharpness), no
DVD-RAM compatibility and no Playlist Playback. You might want to pay
the extra $20 and get the S35S. Unfortunately, you just missed the $20
rebate on the S35S:

"Receive a $20 rebate by mail with the purchase of a Panasonic DVD-S35S,
DVD-S35K, DVD-S35UPS or DVD-S31S DVD Player."

"Offer valid for purchases made between November 1, 2003 and January 3,
2004."

You can keep checking the Panasonic site for future rebates.

http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/dvd_players/promo_20rebate.asp

The main differences between the S35S and the S55S is that the S55S has
onboard Dolby 5.1 and DTS decoding and DVD Audio capability. The S55S
also has an array of picture controls not on the S35S:

Depth Enhancer, 3D_Noise Reduction, Block NR and MPEG Digital Noise
Reduction (Mosquito/Block/3D).

You can go here and compare all Panasonic DVD players:

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...toreId=11251&catalogId=11005&catGroupId=11059

<<It's a moot point what Circuit City has anyway because Target doesn't
pricematch and my credit is with Target, so I have to take what they
have (i.e. the older S35S model... assuming they get any more in stock
after being laid desolate during Christmas).>>

 

(Aaron) wrote in

Not sure about that model of Sony but several Sony models have been
noted at being better at anamorphic downconversion than other
players.(found this while looking at reviews on Cnet.com) I believe
this only matters when you're not using a HDTV setup. In that case
it could be a benefit to some users.

 

I wish I had known about that $20 rebate which just ended. Of course
it was Target's fault I didn't get it last week because they were "out
of stock" (the mantra of most stores right after Christmas because
they never think ahead to buy enough inventory). They might have
gotten some in over the weekend, but since I didn't know about the
rebate (and it was not listed) I didn't bother to check. The price
Target had listed was $79.99 without any mention of the rebate. If I
go in there and now see the S35S for $99.99, I will be quite mad at
Target. I asked if I needed a raincheck, and I was told "no, that's
the regular price now". I've found it quite amazing how people who
work at stores that sell these products know so little about them. I
had asked both a Best Buy and Target electronics employee the
difference between the S35S and S25S and neither could tell me.

Target's web page still has the S35S listed for $79.99 without mention
of the rebate:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_10/601-2835235-4688128?asin=B00008IP5G

$79.99 will still be a good price, but $59.99 would've been better!

I appreciate all that good information, Scot.

<snip>

 

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_10/601-2835235-4688128?asin=B00008IP5G


I think that there is some mistake with the price. My guess is that if
you actually rang up the S35S at Target, before the rebate expired,
you would be charged $99.99 and then a rebate reciept would print
out. It just doesn't make sense to have the S35S selling for the same
price as the S25S.

From the Target website:

"Product Description
This Panasonic Ultra-Slim Progressive Scan DVD Player offers a sleek
design that is slimmer than its predecessors but is not slight on great
performance. The deck features a progressive-scan video processor for a
seamless, flicker-free picture on high-definition and HD-ready
televisions. Other features: plays DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-R,
CD-R, CD-RW, JPEG, and MP3/WMA CDs; cinema mode diminishes glare and
improves visibility in dark scenes; depth enhancer reduces image
background noise; bass plus enhances bass when connected with an
optional subwoofer; dialogue enhancer boosts center-channel volume
during Dolby Digital 5.1-channel presentations; dialogue enhancer;
optical digital output for DTS and Dolby Digital surround sound; sleep
timer; quick guide setup; progressive video out (Y, PB, PR); component
video out (Y, PB, PR): switchable (480P/480I); S-video out; video out; 2
channel audio out; optical digital audio out; and headphone jack."

If this Target product description is any indication, they might have
some other problems:

depth enhancer (S55S only)

bass plus (I have no idea what this is, although the higher priced
S55S does have a sub woofer output)

headphone jack (There is no headphone jack -- see below)

From the PDF version of the Panasonic S35S owner manual:

"Enjoy a surround-like effect when using 2 front speakers (SP) or
headphones (HP) (connect the unit to equipment that has a headphone
jack). The effect broadens when playing discs with surround effects and
sound seems to come from speakers either side of you."

 

Yeah.... And how many people working at minimum wage or barely more than that
under usually pretty awful working conditions do you think can care
about every product the store sells?