Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) by Panasonic
|
Our Price: $559.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $65.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)
Digital camera Review: Best bang for your buck BD player
Summary: 5 Stars
There's a reason why this player is currently the top-selling BD player on Amazon: it offers the best performance at the lowest price. No, it does not offer WiFi connectivity (who wants to stream HD over WiFi anyway?) and you cannot access Netflix (although Amazon VoD is a good alternative, especially for those who do not want to subscribe to a service). What the BD60 does offer is great BD playback performance for under $200. As others will attest, you may encounter an occasional freeze during playback, although these incidents are infrequent (average of around one per 20 hours of playback for me) and last only a few seconds after which the player resumes as if nothing had happened. Virtually every standalone BD player on the market (except perhaps the Oppo BPD-83 which costs $300 more) has some playback issues. Blu-ray is still a new standard and if you buy now you are beta-testing the technology to some extent. The good thing is that you will not find a company with a better track record of customer support and reliability than Panasonic. Since I have had this player (a little over a month) Panasonic has released two firmware updates for the player. It doesn't get better than that, IMO.
Picture and sound quality are as good as it gets with this player. Check any review on the web and you will see that there is not a player out there, regardless of price, that outperforms the BD60 in picture and sound. Load times are average, although BD-Live enabled discs can be slow to load sometimes. BD-Live functionality can be turned off which would probably eliminate this problem although I have not tested this. Load times have never been a concern of mine. The difference between 20 and 40 seconds is irrelevant to me.
The only other player I would consider at this price point is the JVC XV-BP1. JVC does not have the track record that Panasonic does with respect to Blu-ray, but the XV-BP1 seems to be a very nice player. The JVC reportedly loads almost as fast as the Oppo. It does not have video streaming content, however. It also lacks WiFi capability like the BD60. I'd still go with the BD60 just based on Panasonic's reputation.
Digital camera Review: Beware of Firmware Updates with CD-R!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I had this unit for 1 day and watched 1 DVD movie with no issues. On the second DVD movie, the audio/video would intermittently drop out (TV went dark, no sound). I'm using HDMI to connect to a new plasma TV. The cable is new and is made by MonsterCable (not a no-name one). I checked the Firmware release which was 1.9. There have been two successive releases since 1.9 came out so I figured that might be the cause of the problems. The unit isn't located where I can easily connect it to my router so I created an update CD to install Firmware release 2.2, following closely the directions on Panasonic website.
According to the directions, if the update is successful, there should be a "FINISHED" message displayed on the unit. I instead got a "L DRV" message followed by a "UPD NG" message that is accompanied by the unit ejecting the disc. I'm thinking the latter message means "update no good" but there's no mention of that code in the manual. I called Panasonic and we tried resetting the machine with no success. They offered to take the unit in for repairs, which would take about a month. Because I don't want to go a month without a player, I elected to return it to Amazon.
The player may be great when it works (there are a lot of positive reviews of it by Amazon customers and professionals) but I won't be finding out because I won't get another one. This update ordeal has been very frustrating. I politely told the Panasonic rep that if the update process is this dicey, they shouldn't even suggest to the consumer that it could be done, except by a qualified technician. Or, the unit should have a failsafe built in so that if a problem comes up during the update, the old Firmware could be restored.
I use computers all day long and am pretty knowledgeable about A/V equipment so I don't think I did anything incorrectly. I followed Panasonic's directions to the "T" and still have a 1 day old useless machine. Maybe I got a lemon but there have been others that had problems with Firmware updates.
Digital camera Review: Blu Ray Player
Summary: 5 Stars
This Panasonic Blu-ray Disc player is great. May be a little slow loading up at start, but with so many opitions I can understand why. Over the holidays I went from an old tv set to a hugh LCD, HD satalite and topped off with this Blu-rey disc player. I am quite impressed with it all. This Panasonic was an excellent price (as good as Wally's), was delivered by UPS in three days, was easy to set up and simple to operate. I couldn't be more pleased.Digital camera Review: Blu Ray Player
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent unit, the colors and clarity are hard to mach with units much more expensive (3 or 4 times more expensive). The unit is programmable so you can load the latest codecs in the event a movie does not play (in others that is not available).
Great unit for the price, you cannot go wrong.
Digital camera Review: Blu Ray makes the world go round...
Summary: 5 Stars
This blu ray player is an awesome addition to my home theater set up! It does as a blu ray player should and so much more... Make sure when you receive your player to update the firmware as it performs noticeably better with it updated. I've had this player for a few weeks now and have watched more than 10 movies, dvds and blu rays discs, on it since then... The upconversion of dvd movies on this player is amazing and brings dvds almost up to blu ray quality depending on the transfer. Blu rays also perform outstanding with the video quality and the audio. I currently have this connected via optical cable to my receiver and movies haven't sounded any clearer... It's nice and small... the remote works great and has options to program the volume for your receiver and the volume, channel, power and input control for your HDTV... I recommended this player to a friend who immediately purchased this player as his first blu ray player and he's been loving everything about it as well. No wifi output but that isn't a problem for me because I do all my youtube watching on my computer and only connect my player to the internet when I know there is a firmware update... All in all great blu ray player and for the price you can't beat it!