The Panasonic DVD-S35S DVD Player: The New Under $150 Progressive Scan DVD King.

The Panasonic DVD-S35S is this year’s successor to the their wildly popular DVD-RV32. The key differences are that the newer model has progressive scan and the retail price is much lower. Advances in DVD technology have brought prices down immensely. Not too long ago, a progressive scan DVD player would have cost you $300 or more. Now you can get a model with a proven history from one of the major players in this price range for around a third of that price. Here is what the DVD-S35S has to offer:

Progressive Scan

This is the big one. By now, you have probably read about how progressive scan works. If not, do a quick search and you are bound to find an article on the subject. To simplify things greatly, progressive scan gives you a clearer, smoother, more film-like image. To benefit from progressive scan, you will need to have a HDTV ready TV. Such TVs are still kind of expensive now, but the prices will start coming down soon as the deadline for switchover to HDTV (January 2006) looms. Even if you don’t have a HDTV ready TV now, you will sometime in the future. So if you were buying a DVD player now, it would be wise to spend the extra $20 and get one with progressive scan.

Reliability

There is an old phrase that says, “You get what you pay for.” Like many old phrases that have stood the test of time, this one has a lot of truth inside. Cheaper brands like Mintek and Orbitron have arrived on the scene with DVD players for as cheap as $30. Reading tons of DVD reviews has convinced me that these are good alternatives only for people who like to gamble. The review archives are full of reviews from people who bought a DVD player from a lesser brand, only to have it stop working after a few days, or even worse, right after the warranty period was up.

In this price range, the best quality brands are Panasonic, Sony, and Toshiba. Pioneer and Samsung seem to be getting better, but still aren’t quite on the same tier. Of the big three, Sony will be the most expensive. Their quality isn’t as high as it once was, and you will still pay a premium for the name. Panasonic consistently gets good reviews at consumer review sites, like this one.

I had the previous model of this DVD player for over a year. I never had any problems with that player. No disc errors, no skipping, no problems playing lightly scratched discs. Since the DVD-S35S is built on the same platform, it should also be very reliable.

Appearance

This is a bit of a sour note, at least for me. With Panasonic models, the letter at the end of the model number stands for color. So the S at the end stands for silver. The letter K at the end would mean black. The silver model is far more widely available at local retails in my area. Personally, I am sick of silver. I used to like that color, until it became a fad. Now it is hard to find electronics that aren’t silver, especially in DVD players. Meanwhile, the black version of this model, instead of using the attractive gold lettering from the previous model, instead switched to cheap looking white lettering. So this was kind of a no win situation for me. Otherwise, the S35 retains most of the appearance of its predecessor. The height is slim, at 2.4 inches, and the depth is about half of normal component depth, at 10.5 inches. The width is normal component width.

Outputs

The S35 has a fairly complete array of video outputs, including composite, S-Video, and Component outputs. Component video is the highest quality, and you will have to use the component if you want to operate the player in progressive scan mode.

For audio, there are normal analog R/L outputs and an optical digital output. The optical digital must be used to send a Dolby Digital or DTS surround signal to a digital receiver. For some reason, Panasonic has decided to cut corners a bit on its less expensive models and not include a digital coaxial output. This is unfortunate, as I like to have as much flexibility as possible. If you only have a coaxial digital input available on your receiver, you should look at other models.

Performance

Like its predecessor, the DVD-S35 has excellent performance on both video and audio. I have mine hooked up through component video to a HDTV. The quality is spectacular, especially on newer, well-mastered DVDs. Star Wars Episode II, the first film shot entirely with digital cameras, looks especially great. However, even older movies look great with the S35’s progressive scan. On the audio side, I have it hooked up to a digital receiver for surround sound. The audio on DVDs is great. The sound is clean, sharp, and accurate.

Miscellaneous

In the box, you will receive a basic RCA AV cable (think of this as a spare tire, only use until you can get something better), batteries, and a remote control. The remote is decent, and will control all of the functions of the DVD player. This is not a universal remote. This model has a JPEG viewer and will play MP3s. There is also support for CDR, CD-RW, and WMA. So far I have had success with both MP3s and JPGs recorded on CDR, but have not yet been able to get these to work if recorded on a CD-RW.

Overall

Panasonic took a wildly successful model, added progressive scan, and lowered the price. This DVD player is an excellent value. If your budget for a DVD player is less than $150, this model should definitely be high on your list of possibilities. Or you could just skip making a list, and buy this one.