DVD with a View

Author's Rating:

Pros: Sound/Features

Cons: Okay Picture

The Bottom Line: 
I can recommend this unit but admittedly would be a lot more enthusiastic of my endorsement if the picture quality was only better.

Author's Review
I have owned the Panasonic LS90 for just over a month now. I felt that at least that amount of time needed to lapse in order for me to submit my observation of this units performance. This story is long, but bare with me as I believe the additional info can be useful when making the overall purchase selection of a DVD Player.

First, I will state right off that this unit is replacing my previous DVD unit which was a Polaroid PDV-0700 model. In March of 2004 I submitted a review on this unit as well. With the exception of the most recent breakdown, I felt this unit served its purpose and performed exceptionally well. It had a really great picture, good controls and decent battery life. What did the player in was a crack along the bottom of the screen that kept it from staying in an upright position. Because I had the foresight to purchase an extended service plan for this unit, I had fully anticipated just getting it repaired as it still worked beautifully. I took it back to my local Best Buy Store for repair and was informed that they no longer serviced the units. My option was to either get a store credit for my purchase or to select another DVD player of comparable value.

So the good news, I was going to get a new DVD player with all the latest features. That was great except for the fact that these players have come down considerably in price since I last purchased my unit and my options were to select a less expensive player and lose any credit difference I would have coming to me as that was the policy at Best Buy or to purchase a player of comparable value and if I went over to just pay the difference. I wanted to clarify not only this option but also what happened to my warranty that remained on my extended plan. It turns out that once you use the plan for replacement, the balance of time left expires. Best Buy’s policy is that if you purchase a new item then if you desire an extended service plan, then you will need to purchase separately. That was a bit of a dilemma for me as I willing to spend up to and additional $100 if necessary for any price difference in a higher premium unit.

With the value of my Polaroid at approximately $280 dollars I decided to do some looking around before settling on my choice. I originally looked into the Polaroid PDV-0723 model. I liked the picture and what this player had to offer as well as some of the features it had above and beyond my older unit. However, this was on sale for about $130 at the time and I just hated the idea of losing the additional $150 initial investment. I decided to look at units with larger screens and also some higher end units that might be available. Best Buy offers their own brand (Insignia) and while they have a larger line of these units I just didn’t care for the pictures look and or features on the player. Part of what I look for is not only remote features, but also functions on the panel of the player itself.
I also, looked at a 10” screen by insignia (which I did like) but it was just too big for most portable cases. My case will accommodate up to a 9” screen and that was part of my criteria when researching the units.

What I decided on in the end was a Panasonic LS90 DVD Player. It was listed at about $349 on sale and came with a 90 day interest free period if purchased on my BB Card. Because they had no unit out on display, the Best Buy representative pulled one off the shelf and set one up in order to so that I could check out the features and picture. Initially, I liked what I saw and decided to go ahead and make the purchase. Total time spent in the store was about 2+ hours, but it was worth the time to check things out.

My impressions of this unit are as follows.

Picture: The 9” screen is an added plus for the overall size compared to the 7” screen on my other unit. However, there were a few things that I was disappointed in for a higher end player. First, there are only two control functions for picture adjustment, that being brightness and color control. My other unit featured sharpness, contrast and also allowed you to reduce color down to black and white in order to adjust for overall contrast. I am not sure exactly why Panasonic does not allow for more control of these features. Secondly, while the picture is good overall when viewing straight on, it lacks in definition when viewing from an angle. This is a deficiency compared to my Polaroid Unit. When viewed from the side, the picture tends to wash out and look kind of like a negative from a picture. Also, the text is kind of blocky looking when viewing things like credits and such. Dark scenes are not as well defined as I would like to see, but Panasonic does offer a selection of cinema modes in order to compensate for this and it does seem to help some in sharpening the pictures detail. Animation and or brightly lit scenes tend to look very good on the screen. The picture improves greatly when boosting the brightness setting above the factory preset. I like it set about 3 bars above the factory setting. One other nice feature is that the screen not only is hinged like conventional models but can be separated from the arm and the screen can be moved closer toward you without sliding the hold unit up to you. A nice touch on the screen is that Panasonic has included some rubber wheels that roll along the deck of the unit so you can adjust to your taste. Finally, I like the fact that this player allows you to pick up where you left off with a movie or concert. That is something I was looking for in my newer unit.

Sound: This is a distinct plus over my other unit. The sound is much better and has a higher output. Other nice features include normal and expanded stereo settings for not only the external speakers but also the headphones. This unit has to built in headphone jacks that can come in handy for trips and the like. I have used my Bose QC2 headphones with this unit and was very impressed indeed with the clarity and stereo effect. This unit is equipped with a dialogue enhancer as well. I tend to use this feature a lot when watching movies.

Battery: Panasonic advertises a 6 hour battery life for this unit. While this can be achieved, it is a bit deceiving as you have operate the unit at the lowest brightness level in order to get the 6 hour time from the unit. My experience has shown me that on the normal factory default setting you will get around 4 hours of battery life which is good for a couple of movies and if you adjust the picture setting upwards it will be more like in the 2-1/2 hour range. As I said earlier, I like my picture brighter, so I will have to sacrifice if I want the time.

Remote: Yes, you get a real remote with this unit. It’s not one of those touch feely units but rather a full button remote. It even features volume control from the remote. I fully appreciate the effort put into this accessory.

Deck Features: The DVD deck is fairly well equipped with features that include separate push button power features as well as fast forward, chapter forward and pause. Also, menu features are available along with picture and sound. All in all a good selection. I do wish that they separated out the fast forward/next chapter buttons though. They incorporated both functions into one button on the deck and one has to remember to tap vs. hold down for each function. Other that that I am pleased with what is offered.


Multi Format Playback:
• DVD: DVD-Video, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
• CD: CD (CDDA), CD-R/RW (including JPEG, MP3, WMA, and HighMAT level 2)


What this unit lacks: Video inputs: For the money, I view this as a necessary as it is available on most of your lower priced units. Anti-Shock feature: As far as I can tell, this unit lacks this capacity. This was a standard feature in my other unit and is also on most units manufactured today.

Warranty: The LS90 comes with a 1 Year Parts & 90 Day Labor Warranty. Because my kids will use this, I opted for the extended service plan for 2 years. I think it’ worth the $29 investment from Best Buy. **The Battery is only covered for 10 days so be sure to test out right from the start to be certain that it is performing correctly and up to specs.

In the end, I believe I got a decent unit and stayed within my purchase guidline as listed above.