I used to own an old Panasonic DVD player, it was awesome, built like a fortress, and had nothing but spectacular performance. So, when “new” DVDs came out that were packed with more dense data that it couldn’t play, I decided to upgrade to the Panasonic DVD-S35.
It was one of the worse home theater decisions I’ve ever made in my life.
The model wasn’t cheap either. The box claimed it was loaded with features. But everything from the terrible design of the remote, to the terrible interface for skipping around and fast forwarding, down to the inability to still play some discs made me regret the decision thoughout the lifespan of the product.
Only thing was, I didn’t realize just how bloody short that life span was going to be. Less than 2 years.
Mind you, most computer-related devices will run continuously for well over a decade. You know this to be true because that old personal computer you have shoved the back of the closet still works if you plug it in — that’s why you haven’t thrown it out. You had problems parting with your television, and moved that upstairs. Your old stereo, you regifted to a friend when you stepped up to surround sound. And DVD players are no different, except for this one that comes out of the box nearly DOA.
About 6-8 months in, the device started freezing on movies. We thought this was dirt and dust on the disc, but the disc was always clean. Reinserting it, ejecting the disc, or power cycling the player always seemed to fix it.
Until today.
Today the unit won’t play any disc we put into it, reporting an H02 error. A little research online showed that meant the spindle was no longer turning, so it couldn’t read the index, so it couldn’t tell a disc was in the unit.
The solution was simple. Take the cover off, get a surprise at how little there is inside, wonder why they made the box so large and empty, and wiggle the white spindle with your finger. Magically, it would free up and start working again.
We plugged it in, and it recognized the first disc we put into it and it started to play! Until about 30 seconds in, when we got an error H07.
Enough is enough. The Panasonic DVD-S35 is enough to ruin your faith and trust in the Panasonic brand name. Everyone is having this problem.
A bit of research shows the H07 is complaining about the spindle motor and this is a COMMON PROBLEM across MANY of the PANASONIC dvd players.
Bottom line: Panasonic’s DVD division has produced a horrible product.
Panasonic DVD/CD player RV-22 is equally as bad. I have a Toshiba that’s about 10 years old and its still ticking. Panasonic went H07 dead only after a year.
You may be condemning the DVD-S35 too easily ..
The new DVD players are more slim and flimsy than ever before and with the DVD-S35 the spindle is located right at the top of the cabinet.
Time and time again I have seen friends stack their home theatre components and seen pictures of the same practice showing the DVD player with something heavy sitting on top of it .. in this situation for the S35 it causes the case to deform and makes the drive stick – H02 error ..
NEVER NEVER position any component on top of your DVD player OR (just as bad) .. place it on top of your receiver … the heat could kill it.
Hope this helps ..
In frustration, I looked online to try and find a fix to my Panasonic DVD-s35 H02 error. Thanks to this forum, I’m not going to look further or waste any more time trying to fix it. I, too, got the H07 error after opening it up and trying again, and now it’s dead. Consumer Reports before I buy a replacement, perhaps? Thanks to all for your input.
I had the same problem, I unscrew everithing I could, I separated the black Plastic mechanism of loading and unloding the CD, and with a syringer loaded with gun oil y droped a few drops under an over the axis of the spining motor… after a few senconds it started to work perfectly… and it´s been more than a week I´ve done and it keeps going on!
The Moral… Never again I´ll buy Panasonic DVD player or home Theater, better a chinesse cheap brand…
Tuve el mismo problema, desatornille todo lo que pude y separé el macanismo de carga y de descarga del cd y con una jeringa cargada con aceite lubricante de armas le puso un par de gotas arriba y abajo del motorcito que hace girar al dvd, al principio no pasó nada pero despues a los pocos segundos anduvo de maravillas, hace una semana lo hice y todavÃa sigue andando de lujo fiera!
Moraleja nunca mas compro un DVD Panasonic o un sistema de audio Panasonic… mejor compro algo chino y barato! si se jode por lo menos se lo tiro por la cabeza al vecino!
I bought my Panasonic DVD-S35 in 2003 and it’s had a real work-out at different times. Recently, I got all the ‘H’ errors (H02, H05, H07). You could tell that the spindle motor wasn’t getting up to speed. It was completely shot so I put it in a bag ready to get rid of. When the time came to dump it, I thought I’d open it up. So I opened the top (1 screw either side, 3 at back), and was able to reach the lens to clean it with a cotton tip (used Windex). Had a little fiddle with the white circular spindle, closed it all up and it started working again! But for how long? I’ll let you know. It still, however, has the problem of getting started when you first switch it on (laser power up?). You need to switch it on, then off until you see ‘Bye’. Wait, then use the remote to ‘open’ the tray (it won’t at first). Keep repeating this process until the tray finally opens. Put it you disc and it should start to spin/read. If it doesn’t, the unit has really had it.
I guess after reading the comments, we got lucky. We bought our player in 2003 and use it all the time. I just started getting the H02 error this morning. Guess I can’t say I haven’t gotten my money’s worth lol Thank you for the post. I’ll be replacing it like I figured.