With the plethora of DVD recorders out there, and now the availability of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, does it still make sense to buy a plain old DVD player?
If that player is the Panasonic S-33, then the answer is yes. Barring the HD formats above and SACD, it will play just about any format you ... Read review
Progressive Scan (PAL/NTSC) Digital Noise Reduction [MPEG DNR] 108MHz/12-bit Video D/A Converter Advanced Virtual Surround Sound Mode Easy to use remote control and on-scr...
Postage & Packaging: £3.50 Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Picture and sound quality, plays most file formats, huge array of options Disadvantages: No HDMI or upscaling
...If that player is the Panasonic S-33, then the answer is yes. Barring the HD formats above and SACD, it will play just about any format you throw at it. Its DivX playback is probably one of the reason you are reading this. Of course, you can get most of these playback features with a cheapo, low-quality player, but read on...
The DVD picture quality on a standard TV is, quite simply, stunning for a DVD player at any price. However, ... ...sister product the S-53, so this player is perhaps not the first choice if you have an HD TV. But on my CRT telly, the picture is above broadcast quality in my view, with no visible compression artifacts or edge effects at all, even on fade-ins/outs where you would normally see a certain degree of posterisation/dithering with other players.
The audio output is clean, sharp, and pretty noiseless; orchestral music is particularly well ... more
With the plethora of DVD recorders out there, and now the availability of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, does it still make sense to buy a plain old DVD player?
If that player is the Panasonic S-33, then the answer is yes. Barring the HD formats above and SACD, it will play just about any format you throw at it. Its DivX playback is probably one of the reason you are reading this. Of course, you can get most of these playback features with a cheapo, low-quality player, but read on...
The DVD picture quality on a standard TV is, quite simply, stunning for a DVD player at any price. However, it lacks the HDMI output and upscaling of of its sister product the S-53, so this player is perhaps not the first choice if you have an HD TV. But on my CRT telly, the picture is above broadcast quality in my view, with no visible compression artifacts or edge effects at all, even on fade-ins/outs where you would normally see a certain degree of posterisation/dithering with other players.
The audio output is clean, sharp, and pretty noiseless; orchestral music is particularly well served here (Alien and Bladerunner - useful benchmark films in my view - sound and look incredible on this player).
The intuitive remote provides access to a plethora of output options: you can set aspect ratio; tune the output for CRT, LCD, plasma or projection TVs; video, S-video or RGB modes; set interlace or progressive scan.
Audio output is well catered for too, you can set PCM sample rate; and independently set bitstream or PCM encoding for Dolby, DTS and MPEG.
While playing a disc, you can further optimise video output for animation (this works a treat), soft-skin (good perhaps for, ahem, adult movies), dynamic (high contrast), and 2 cinema emulation modes (tends to give the image a slightly darker, more analog feel).
If you just a simple stereo setup, you can emulate surround sound with 3 virtual surround modes. There's also useful dialog enhancer function, but this tends to add too much compression overall, and can make the audio little harsh when background music is playing.
The package is completed by a well-organised manual that explains all these options in reasonable detail.
Of course, you also want to know if the S-33 can be coaxed into playing Region 1 discs. The bad news is that there are no easy remote-control hacks for this player; however a company called DVD Chips do a multi-region 'upgrade', which I have used myself and can thoroughly recommend.
...Cons, panasonic has been a reliabilty problem to me in the past and this time was no different. right away i started noticing the sound volume and the over quality were very poor i could sometimes barely make out words whats the point of a movie with no sounds? ...
swimmer101p 01.04.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Panasonic DVD-S33
1 x composite video/audio input ( RCA phono x 3 ) - front
2 x composite video/audio output ( RCA phono x 3 ) - rear
1 x SPDIF output ( RCA phono ) - rear
2 x SCART ( 21 PIN SCART ) - rear
1 x RF input - rear
1 x RF output - rear
Manufacturer's product description
Panasonic's vision of the digital future is driven by the needs and aspirations of its business customers and millions of consumers around the world who use its products every day. The company shares their dream to live a fuller life by providing ways of working smarter and enjoying the rewards of technological advances.
Similar products and search queries by other users »
DVD S33, DVDS 33, DVD S 33, Panasonik DVDS33, Pannasonic DVDS33, Panasonics DVDS33, Panasonik DVD S33, Pannasonic DVD S33, Panasonics DVD S33, Panasonik DVDS 33, Pannasonic DVDS 33, Panasonics DVDS 33, Panasonik DVD S 33, Pannasonic DVD S 33, Panasonics DVD S 33
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Panasonic DVD-S33? Click here