Buy Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black

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.

* 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. 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, therby (theoretically at least) improving overall sound quality. If these features are not essential, then save yourself some money and get the BD60 instead. Get more detail about Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black.

Purchase Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black

Best picture and sound of any player! Beats Playstation 3 in picture and sound!Get more detail about Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black.

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The Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu Ray DVD player is an excellent DVD player. It raises the bar on Blu Ray players that other manufactures will have to surpass in order to be able to compete on quality and price. The Panasonic BD60K player features a PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus Digital Video processor. (According to Panasonic website this processor produces crisp, natural colors that are extremely faithful to the original movie and features the advanced encoding and authoring technologies developed by Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) in collaboration with film industry professionals.) The beautiful images are complemented by an accurate sound achieved leading-edge audio technologies such as Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. The player outputs 1080p/24fps. The remote has an excellent layout and easy to use interface.

What led me to buy this player over other players was the Ethernet capability, USB port & SD card slots, Viera Cast and 1080p up-conversion. Some of these features are available in other players but to my knowledge not all are available in one single player as is the case with BD60K. The Viera Cast currently lets one access You Tube videos and Picasa Web albums. Panasonic has announced that Amazon VOD (video on demand) will soon be available on Viera cast. In my experience both the Picasa web albums and the You Tube videos worked very well. The pictures on Picasa website are very crisp and in high resolution (but accompanied every time by the same background music that gets annoying to listen to over and over again). You Tube videos look okay (but grainy when expanded to cover the screen). One cool feature is the ability to continually play videos through your search one after the other. The Amazon VOD is not available yet so I can't comment on it, but I am eagerly expecting its launch through Viera Cast.

I upgraded the player to 1.5 version of firmware using the Ethernet port and I had absolutely no problems after upgrading the firmware. I am using the Panasonic Blu Ray player with the Onkyo 805 receiver and a 1080p overhead Mitsubishi LCD projector (HC4900) on a Carada Precision Series 106" projection screen and the Blu Ray picture quality (PQ) is absolutely stunning. The PQ for standard definition DVD is bearable on a projection screen and not the same quality as the Blu Ray DVD. I also played this DVD player through a 42" Panasonic Plasma TV (720P) and the PQ for standard definition DVD or Blu Ray DVD is outstanding. There can be no guarantee for technological obsolescence in today's fast changing world but the Panasonic BDP-BD60K holds promise.
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I do not have an HD TV, but I 'can' say that the BD60 delivers great picture and sound on even an older Mitsubishi 36" tube TV! I can only imagine, for now ;), how it would look on an HD display. I find this unit quite enjoyable. After hooking it up, I also connected a broad band (cable) hookup, did a firmware update (took about 10 minutes), spent a couple of hours watching YouTube videos, and watched a standard definition DVD.

Want to watch mpegs on your tv? No problem, when using an SD card. Want to listen to your favorite mp3's? Just insert your USB memory device. Connect the unit to broad band, and watch YouTube, see your local weather (sites are configurable), read current stocks and news, and more. I guess that some computers can even be hooked up with this unit. I haven't tried that yet, but it sounds exciting.

For it's ease of use (both remote and onscreen), ease of hookup, its sound and video quality, its ease of upgrading via the internet, and the internet features itself, I highly recommend the BD60 as a compliment to any current or future HD entertainment system. And as another has commented, there's not much difference between the BD60 and the BD80... other than the BD60 costs about $100-$150 less. That fact, and the resulting research, was what made me decide on the BD60. I'm happy that I did ;).Get more detail about Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black.

Shop For Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black

I immediately ran into a technical difficulty the first time I hooked up this player to my receiver (Onkyo TX-SR604 with HDMI 1.1). I had the player hooked up through an HDMI switcher, XtremeMac HD. The receiver couldn't detect the signal. I hooked up the cable directly to the receiver. Again, the receiver couldn't detect the signal. Maybe I need a newer receiver that has HDMI 1.3 inputs, I don't know. This is an issue to consider for those who have TVs with only one HDMI input and one or more HDMI components (like XBOX 360, Tivo HD, etc). Thinking that perhaps I needed to update the firmware, I ran a update setup and found that I had version 1.1 and could update to 1.5. It took, maybe, about 3-4 minutes to update, using ethernet.


I was hoping that the update would fix the HDMI issue. But, it didn't. In any case, in worked perfectly fine when I hooked up the HDMI cable directly to my TV (Samsung PN-50A55 plasma) . I had to hook up a Toslink/Optical audio cable to the receiver for sound. Out of the box settings were fine for the most part--I tweaked the front light to be dimmer, set the resolution from "auto" to 1080p, set the 24p output to ON, and HDMI RGB output range to enhanced. I popped in a Blu Ray Disc (Sunshine) to test; It took around 40 second to get to the main menu. The quality is, as expected excellent and is better than 1080i HD TV broadcast (I have Comcast). I was actually surprised to find that the sound quality was amazing for both BR and DVD.

Now, what I was really concerned was how well it would upconvert DVD discs. I wanted it to be as good as my Oppo 981HD DVD player so I could sell it. I didn't want too many components. Panasonic upconversion is quite good but not as great as the Oppo. What I saw in Panasonic which I hadn't seen in the Oppo player was, 1) occasional jaggies in fast motion scenes, 2) the images were slightly softer and black levels could only be adjusted to high and low. That said, I was still very happy with the result and would have no problem giving up the Oppo player to minimize the setup.

Finally, I tried the Viera link option--currently available are YouTube, Picassa, Weather and Stock. I wasn't impressed. I have Tivo HD which has YouTube, Netflix, and more. Weather graphics were pretty amazing, though. But I really don't care for it.

All in all, I am pretty happy with it. I picked it over the new Samsung BD-P1600 because I read everywhere that the DVD upconversion was better. I am now kind of curious to try out the Samsung.Get more detail about Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black.

Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black

I JUST GOT THIS PLAYER 3 DAYS AGO, I HAD THE PANNY BD-30 I GOT FROM XMAS 07, SO I FIGURED LET ME GET THE UPDATED MODEL, GREAT PLAYER, NO PROBLEMS, THE YOU TUBE WAS COOL, WEATHER AND STOCKS, THE BD-LIVE IS GREAT! FOR THE PRICE-ITS A FANTASTIC DEAL, GREAT JOB, PANASONIC, AND THANKS AMAZON!!Get more detail about Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black.

Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black Review

Purchased this to work with Panasonic Plasma TV..Works great with each other..amazing picture quality and the VIESTA feature makes easy work out of using those features. This Blu-ray player features 1080P upgrade in your DVD movies and is noticeable, being important for all those DVD movies one has collected. Highly recommended!!Get more detail about Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black.