I bought the DVD player in late September last year. I watch about 2 to 3 DVDs per week and had no problems with the player until last night when it suddenly wouldn't play any DVDs. I put in several and everytime I did it would just shut off. It would stay on as long as I didn't place a DVD in it. I called Panasonic and from the tone of customer service rep I could tell she had received similar complaints. She also told me that she had also received complaints in which consumers received an error message similar to the one described by previous reviewers. She said it sounded like something had shorted out and recommended a repair service. Frankly, I'm not surprised that this product has been discontinued.