Panasonic DVD-RP62K Progressive-Scan DVD Player

Video Features
Whether you currently have HDTV capabilities or you're merely thinking of "someday," the RP62K stands ready to deliver. Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional DVD picture, giving higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. Other features include Cinema Mode, cutting down glare and improving color resolution in a darkened living room, Quick Replay, which jumps back seven to 10 seconds, variable zoom, which converts any widescreen image to full screen on a 4:3 aspect-ratio TV (eliminating the black bands at the top and bottom of the screen), and high-speed smooth scan.

Audio Features
The RP62K is compatible with standard CDs, audio CD-Rs and CD-RWs, and discs encoded with MP3 or WMA (Windows Media) audio files. The player even offers an onscreen audio navigation menu for searching for MP3 and WMA files (and it works with CD-Rs that feature multisession recordings). A 192 kHz/24-bit digital-to-analog converter ensures optimal decoding of all disc formats. RP62K is also equipped with an optical digital-audio output to feed a surround-sound signal to your Dolby Digital-decoding or DTS-decoding AV receiver, as well as a dedicated subwoofer output to let you enjoy those dinosaur stomps and timpani rolls to the fullest with but one additional speaker (see all subwoofers). If your subwoofer is hooked up to the player's dedicated subwoofer output, Bass Plus jacks up the low end.

To further round out the stereo experience, Advanced Surround (V.S.S.) simulates surround-sound effects using only two speakers, dynamic range compression limits the peak levels of Dolby Digital-encoded programs (found on most DVDs), and the Dialogue Enhancer increases the relative volume of the center channel, making center-channel content easier to hear.

Connections
In the video realm, you get the works: standard composite-video, S-video, and premium component-video outputs. The latter, of course, can be switched to deliver either 480i or 480p (progressive-scan) video. A single optical digital-audio output channels stereo and multichannel surround signals to your receiver, and the player also has a single set of stereo RCA analog audio outputs.