I did a fare amount of research before buying this player. I chose the Panasonic for two reasons: 1-I have a Panasonic projector (PT AX200u) and hoped they would play well together and 2-It had the least amount of "firmware issues" of any blu-ray player I studied. The latter was the more important issue in my mind. I had resisted blu-ray for a while, mainly because I believe digital downloads are the future of all media. But a few months ago I watched a blu-ray disc on my father-in-law's 60" Mitsubishi DLP HDTV and was convinced of its superiority. I was shocked to learn that the technology isn't quite settled, and unlike standard dvds, which just work, blu-ray requires occasional firmware updates in order to watch newer discs and access special features.
Upon setting up the player I immediately connected it to my home network via ethernet cable (no built-in wifi), updated to the latest firmware and haven't had any issues. The DMP-BD60 does quite well up-converting standard dvds and blu-ray is excellent. Had a couple of friends over last weekend and we watched the blu-ray of "2001: A Space Odyssey", cranked the projector up as big as I can (about 8'x14') and it was amazing. No stuttering, no stopping, no issues whatsoever on any of the dozen or so discs we've watched thus far. As far as playing well with the projector, they work great together but I doubt it really makes a difference that they are both Panasonic products. (Sony, for one, is notorious for making components that don't work well with one another, and they're one of the most successful electronics companies in the world!)
Regarding Viera-cast, I have my system hooked up to a media center pc, so I can already watch Hulu, Netflix instant view, and any other web-based video on my tv or projector, so it's really not a big factor for me. (For those who don't have a media center pc, you might want to look at LG or Samsung blu-ray player, as Netflix is an especially great feature.) Having said that I checked it out and it works fine for Youtube. I didn't bother with the Amazon on demand, but I'm curious how the hd streaming looks, though not so curious that I'm going to shell out for it.
Overall, it's a great blu-ray player for a fair price. I would advise anyone to avoid the less expensive, lower end blu-ray players and stick with the name brands if only because the technology is so unsettled at this point that you might get stuck with a brick that doesn't play a huge number of the discs available out there. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.Get more detail about Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black.
No comments:
Post a Comment