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.