Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)With the BD60, Panasonic adds VIERA Cast online content access to their previous entry-level model, the DMP-BD35. You would think this makes an excellent Blu-ray Player even excellenter (yes, I know that's not a word), and it does. The BD60 excels in its Blu-ray Disc playback and is very good at DVD upconversion as well, passing difficult tests like the HQV benchmark discs with flying colors (as well as looking good on real movies). The BD60 can decode all of the latest surround codecs (including DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD) to PCM over HDMI or it can stream these to a compatible receiver in their native formats. Also, if past Panasonic players are any indication, the BD60 should prove to be among the best at disc compatibility, something which has plagued many players from other brands.
But there are still a few drawbacks with the BD60 that keep it from getting 5 stars:
* Speed: the BD60 is not quite as fast to load discs as the Samsung BD-P3600 or the LG BD300, though it is faster than last year's Samsung models. (12/03/09 update - this is about 20% faster with the 2.0 firmware and above)
* Limited online content: YouTube on a Blu-ray player is cool, but it doesn't compare to Netflix online streaming in terms of quality and selection of content (Netflix is available on LG and Samsung players). Amazon's On-Demand streaming service has been announced for VIERA Cast but is not yet available (update: it is available now). The good news is that VIERA Cast can be enhanced with more content over time without requiring the purchase of a new player.
* Less than integrated operation: moving between Blu-ray and VIERA Cast online content is not as seamless as it could be. You have to completely stop playback and exit back to the Panasonic player's splash screen in order to get to the VIERA Cast "home screen" to access online content. And what's with that annoying BEEP when you go through the VIERA Cast menus?
* SD card requirement: Like its predecessors, the BD60 lacks on-board storage so you'll need to add an SD or SDHC card to enjoy BD-Live content. Panasonic at least could have thrown in a 1GB or 2GB SD card in the box.
Also, while the BD60 adds a USB port to the front panel, it does not support DivX or Xvid video playback so this limits the USB port's usefulness. A USB storage device connected to the BD60's USB port can only be used for playback of MP3 music files and viewing of JPEG digital images.
If your primary goal is to get a reliable, high performance Blu-ray/DVD player then none of the above should really matter to you (except possibly the operation speed, which is really about average as far as the current players go) and you should strongly consider the BD60. But if you're more interested in viewing content online as well as on those shiny silver discs, then you might want to wait to see what else VIERA Cast has to offer over the coming months. Or get the best of all possible worlds by buying the BD60 for Blu-ray and DVD and picking up a Roku box just for online streaming.
In terms of differences between the BD60 and the step-up DMP-BD80 model, the main enhancements in the BD80 are multi-channel analog output (for compatibility with older non-HDMI receivers), Divx playback, vibration isolating feet and "High Clarity Audio" which allows you to disable the analog video processing if you're using HDMI for the video signal, thereby (theoretically at least) improving overall sound quality. If these features are not essential, then save yourself some money and get the BD60 instead.
12/03/09 Update: Some owners of the BD60, BD70V and BD80 have reported a random freeze or pause in playback while watching Blu-ray Discs. While we never saw it during our review of the BD60 and BD80, we did see it on the DMP-BD70V (review available on Big Picture Big Sound web site). Panasonic released firmware version 2.2 this week to address this issue and so far (though it's early), the consensus on the great and vast interwebs is that it may have actually worked.
1/19/10 Update: Netflix is coming to VIERA Cast (yay!) but it will only be available on 2010 players and displays (boooo!). If you've been holding out for Netflix on the BD60, BD70V or BD80, you're out of luck. At CES earlier this month, Panasonic told us Netflix will be available in the 2010 players (DMP-BD65, DMP-BD85, DMP-BDT350) as well as in 2010 HDTV models with VIERACast but they will not be able to retrofit it to the 2009 players.

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Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player Review

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(More customer reviews)I went to Circuit City yesterday to purchase the Panasonic DMP-BD30K Blu-Ray Player. As the salesman showed me where the Blu-Ray players were located in the store I told him I was interested in the DMP-BD30K. His response was that I should consider the new Sony BDP-S350 instead. He claimed that the BDP-S350 had received great reviews and is a better player than the Panasonic DMP-BD30K. Usually I don't listen to anything the sales people at Circuit City say, but this time I decided to see if he knew what he was talking about. I did some quick research online, while in the store, and discovered that he was correct about the Sony receiving decent reviews. I had my mind set on the Panasonic DMP-BD30K after months of research and waiting until the price dropped below $300, so the prospect of the Sony BDP-S350 through me for a loop. I decided to purchase both players, try then both out, and then return the looser.
I have to admit that the results surprised me. As I said before I had my heart set on the Panasonic DMP-BD30K, but after installing the 2 players and carefully comparing their image quality and features the Sony BDP-S350 is the clear winner in my opinion.
Panasonic DMP-BD30K: (Profile 1.1)
The start up time was respectable (as the reviews I had read indicated) and the menu interface was straight forward and relatively easy to navigate. After setting up the player, my first test was to compare its ability to upconvert standard definition DVDs with my now obsolete Toshiba HD-A20 HD-DVD player. I had read online that the DMP-BD30K's upscaling abilities had something to be desired and my tests confirmed this. To be honest the results were a little disappointing. Next, I decided to move through the players setup menu and change a few settings. At this point I made another disappointing discovery. If for any reason you need to access the players setup menu while you are watching DVD or Blu-Ray disc the player will not remember where you left off. When you exit the menu and resume play, the disc will start playing from the beginning of the disc. Although accessing the setup menu looses your place on the disc the Panasonic does remember where you left off if the DVD is stopped or the the player is shut down and then turned on again. Other than these criticisms the DMP-BD30K is a very nice player that yields excellent results using Blu-Ray discs, but doesn't do a great job with SD DVDs.
Sony BDP-S350: (Profile 1.1, but soon to be updated via firmware to 2.0)
The Sony player was a pleasant surprise. The start up time was very respectable, and was comparable to the Panasonic DMP-BD30K. After setting up the player I proceeded to run the same tests that I ran on the Panasonic. I had read online that people were impressed with the BDP-S350's upconvertion abilities, but having owned multiple Oppo DVD players (in my opinion, some of the best out there) I was skeptical. I put in a SD DVD and could immediately see the improvement over the Panasonic. Although the image is a little softer compared to my obsolete Toshiba HD-A20 HD-DVD player, and my other Oppo DVD players, it was still excellent. It made the Panasonic's upscaling abilities seem unrefined and outdated. Next, I then jumped into the players setup menu and changed the players output resolution. What really amazed me was that when I exited the menu the player began playing my disc where I had left off. Finally, I tried powering the BDP-S350 down while in the middle of a DVD. When I powered the player back on it remembered where I had left off and began to play the disc. The Sony BDP-S350 seems the winner in my opinion due to its superior upconversion and disc playback memory.
Finally, I wanted to add that I read a review comparing the Sony BDP-S350 to the new Panasonic DMP-BD50K that declares the DMP-BD50K the winner (http://hdguru.com/first-review-of-sonys-latest-blu-ray-player-exclusive-sony-bdp-s350-vspanasonic-dmp-bd50/256/). This may be true, but the almost $300 price difference makes me feel that this is an unfair comparison. In my opinion, the Sony BDP-S350 is currently one of the best deals out there.

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The Blu-ray revolution continues with the Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray Player. You can take full advantage of the Bonus View feature of select Blu-ray movies, and are ready to dive into BD-Live when the update is available. In true Sony fashion, the BDP-S350 will output a Full 1080/24p True Cinema picture, plus upscale your existing DVD collection to 1080p as well, when using the HDMI connection. On board decoding for Dolby TrueHD is here, also the ability to send out the bitstream for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD (Master Audio & High Resolution) as well. BRAVIA sync ensures that with the touch of a button, you can easily power on and synch the inputs of compatible Sony compatible BRAVIA flat-panel LCD HDTV sets and Sony audio/video devices connected to the players, via HDMI, for hassle-free enjoyment of high-definition Blu-ray Discs. Bringing it all together is the new Xcross Media Bar menu system, which is an icon based menu system for simple navigation of the BDP-S350’s menu system.

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Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player Review

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(More customer reviews)I recently reviewed my Sony BDP-S300 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player, which gave me an insurmountable amount of quirkiness. In that review I commented at length about firmware updates (and more updates and more updates) to which finally spelled doom for my player. I also commented on replacing my Sony S300 with my newly purchased Sharp Aquos BDHP20U 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player. At this point I must say that this Blu-Ray player is exceptional - Dolby True HD Sound, HDMI output to 1080p video, etc - all the extras without the cost (without a HDMI cord included of course, but most players come without it).
Out of the box, this needed no firmware updates to play even the newest movie I owned (i.e. Superbad [Blu-ray]- released the same week as this review) - which my Sony BDP-S300 tried to load for 15 minutes before locking up (and this was with firmware 2.6 installed already - firmware 3.30 was needed but it couldn't load due to a system error - now my old player sits in Pennsylvania at a Sony service center). The load time on the Sharp BDHP20U for SuperBad was about 1-2 minutes, not too bad as you might know some players take much longer. The boot up time from off to on was only about a minute also.
The entire system seemed quick, and not to mention quiet. From the beginning I was completely happy. The system startup was simple enough - I connected my HDMI and opened the setup menu to finalize my preferences. In less than 10 minutes of opening the box I was watching a movie that my previous Sony BDP-S300 died attempting to do.
For the money, this is a great player with fairly speedy load time. Compare that to the $440 I paid for the Sony BDP-S300 which I bought and now loathe.
12-29-07 update - Player finally needed an update to play The Simpsons Movie [Blu-ray] - not a problem though! Unlike the Sony S300 I mentioned before, the Sharp Aquos BDHP20U uses a USB port via any ordinary thumb/flash drive loaded to the back of the player to deliver the update files. No more senselessly throwing away DVD-R's and waiting 30+ minutes for updates, my Sharp Blu-Ray player updated in about 8 minutes. That little USB plug on the back and the 8 minutes are two good reasons I'm glad I purchased the Sharp Blu-Ray player. Honestly that's the real reason I like this player... it's design (inside and outside) is well thought out.
02-03-2008 update - Encountered my first glitch problem. While watching Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] my player froze up. I stopped the disc and checked it for scratching or debris - nothing, looked great. So, I instead checked the Sharp website for a player update since this Blu-Ray disc set was so new. The website showed that I had the most recent update already. I then decided to restart the disc. The player froze up again at a different point on a different episode. This time I knew something was wrong. I attempted to eject the disc and the player would not respond, it just powered down. But, it had no response to re-power on or anything else for that matter - only thing that was happening was that the Standby light was flashing - no other lights or responses. I checked the SharpUSAdotcom website, but it had no real error response information. So I checked the handy dandy manual that my player came with. There was information on the very last page of the English section which described power / static electricity / lightning strikes / other interference scenarios. I followed the steps by holding the power button down until RESET appeared on the front LED section. It then re-powered on perfectly - another simple solution that was unavailable on my Sony S300 Blu-Ray player when it froze up.
Sure I might truly be comparing apples to oranges with this problem and my Sony problem, but when I originally asked the Sony customer service rep for help on my S300 - she replied with this for resetting my system. She told me to unplug the AC chord and wait 2 minutes. When that didn't work, she said we could try it a few more times or possibly leave it off for a longer amount of time. She also mentioned that this system reset could cause my latest firmware updates to reset also (as well as my player preferences). With my Sharp Blu-Ray player, the reset only rebooted the system (within 20-30 seconds) - all of my preferences and my latest firmware update were still intact. I must say this was much easier than I would ever guessed. Maybe Sharp needs a newer update for playing Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] and it plans to release it soon, who knows? Well not me. But I DO know this, the reset feature on my Sharp Blu-Ray player was better than sending my Sony S300 to Pennsylvania for over a month.
For those of you who have asked and those of you who are wondering, yes I did finish the entire season of Damages: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] without any other problems. I am still not sure what caused the freeze up, but believe me - I tolerated much worse from my Sony S300. I use this player usually three to five times a week and this has been my first "hiccup" since buying it. So all and all, I am still very pleased with my Sharp player and consider it among my smartest purchases of 2007.
04-14-2008 - New problem that as of now is unfixable. When playing 30 Days Of Night [Blu-ray] there is no dialog in either English or Spanish, all of the background sound works and the other languages work as well. Apparently this model has had some trouble with the True HD sound on some of the newer discs - and the only language tracks on this particular movie in True HD were English and Spanish, so in other words - turning to any other non-True HD audio language fixed the problem... if you listened in Korean or French or whatever then you would have no problems. I went to the website to get any updates, which the latest firmware update claimed to address True HD problems (so Sharp is aware that something is wrong). But, the newest update still didn't fix the problem. I tried the disc on my Sony BDP-S500 1080p Blu-Ray Disc Player and on my Playstation 3 40GB - both of which played the audio perfectly. After contacting the Sharp customer service via email they emailed me 3 days later with no answers. So, maybe there is a new fix coming and maybe not, either way this makes the Sharp BDHP20U closer to a 3 1/2 star or 4 star until new firmware fixing the True HD audio problem is released. Personally I didn't mind watching the movie in another room, but not everyone has that option.
04-30-2008 - There was another update listed on the Sharp website, this update again addressed the True HD problem. Fortunately this time was the trick to finally fixing the problem I had with 30 Days of Night. This movie now plays perfectly, so now everything seems perfectly once again. Back to 5 Stars!
04-07-2009 - It's been a year since anything out of the ordinary has happened. The player recently started having trouble with some of the newer Blu rays we were renting. At first it wasn't a big deal, but eventually I decided to check for updates. The newest update (Oct 2008) was loaded but somehow it refused to accept the new firmware. So we had to call Sharp for help. They walked us through a few steps but soon realized that there was something wrong with our BD drive. We shipped our player to Sharp and they emailed us to keep us updated through the process. They had my player fixed, updated, shipped back to us within a week. They shipped it back via FedEx overnight and we were watching movies on the player within 8 days of my original phone call. I can't say that this player is perfect, but I can say that I feel very lucky to be dealing with Sharp. The Sony process for returning my player was very complicated and ended with me spending over $200 to receive a completely different Sony model. That was never an issue with Sharp. The woman at Sharp said what was going to happen and politely assured me that this was going to be a painless process. She was right. Thanks Sharp!
More updates to come...

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Now you can enjoy the best of 1080p video on your Sharp AQUOS HDTV. Especially designed to work with AQUOS LCD TVs, the BD-HP20U AQUOS Blu-Ray Disc player provides seamless operability via the AQUOS LINK™ function, through the HDMI connection. Performing as if it were all one system, the BD-HP20U's Quick Start feature lets you begin enjoying gorgeous Blu-ray Disc video with the touch of a button in less than 10 seconds.* The BD-HP20U provides outstanding versatility and is compatible with a wide variety of formats including BD-ROM/RE/R, DVD Video, DVD-RW/R and DVD+RW/R.Additionally, the BD-HP20U plays audio CDs as well. With eight terminal outputs including HDMI inputs and 1080p as well as DVD up-conversion to 1080p, you'll enjoy full digital high-definition video and high-fidelity audio. The piano black finish and slim profile design make it the ideal HD source for a large screen AQUOS TV.*Quick Start time may vary depending on movie content, type of video connection, and type of monitor being used.

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