There are DVD players out there in the same price range that offer a better picture. But what the Panasonic has going for it is rugged construction, a good remote, quick loading, easy set up and it plays everything (not multi-region though). I bought the S54 to replace my S47 which has given me six years of good service and is still running (the motor is getting tired though). I have tried other brands, including a Philips, which gave me just six months of service. So six years of intense use for this price is excellent (My friend's S47 is still going strong after six years). I watch my quality DVDs on a Denon or Marantz, but like all good DVD players, they can't handle shoddy media. They stick, skip or refuse to load. Which is why I always have a cheap DVD player on hand for less than perfect media. The S54 does that job in style, none of that dreaded 'disc error'. Simply put, this Panasonic range is the AK47 of DVD players. If it had better picture quality it would rate five stars.

I just bought one to replace an older, but much better, Panasonic DVD-S97. This S54 player requires a lot of settings to up-convert to a new LCD 1080p TV using HDMI cable.

Unfortunately, with all the correct settings, it will not up-convert -- the picture looks like 480p, not 1080p. Using the same TV, cable, DVD disc, my old Panasonic S97 player displays a gorgeous up-converted picture, compared to the S54.

Panasonic doesn't seem to care either. Their profits will come from selling Blu-Ray, guess they don't much care about the quality of this 'transitional' DVD player.

Don't buy the S54 if you expect up-conversion to a 1080p LCD TV. I also have an older Toshiba DVD recorder/player connected to the same TV, it up-converts perfectly.

This DVD player is worth more than its cost. The price is great for a full featured, multiple format player. For those of us waiting for Blueray players to become reasonably priced, this product fits the bill.