I have a panasonic DVD A320 that no longer recognizes when a DVD or CD is
in the tray. It just started doing this and worked well until a few days
ago.


Failing pickups with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Panasonic players is fairly
common, unfortunately.

Your DVD-A320 is a 3rd generation model.

I am afraid that the cost of repair will exceed the value of the unit.
Furthermore, this problem will only happen again later on with a replacement
pickup.

As a matter of fact, Panasonic just went through a class action lawsuit because
of this problem.

Recommended replacement players will be anything that's most recent from Sony,
JVC, or Pioneer.

Highest end player that's recommended: Denon DVD-5900. - Reinhart