EcoFriendlyShoppingOnline.com

Great Blu-ray player that exceeds my old one

Customer Rating:
This is my second blu-ray player. My Sony S350 died after only 21 months of use and about 50+ blu-rays and 100+ dvd's. I was pretty disappointed with that track record, so I opted for a Panasonic this time.
On setup, it loaded MUCH faster than my Sony did. Power on was a matter of seconds. Setup took about 30 seconds at most.
There is a quicker boot time option, but it uses up more energy.

The remote is much smaller, which is preferred to the rather large remote Sony had. The menu is really easy to navigate for me. I can automatically choose from disc, sd, usb, or Internet apps right at startup.
Setup is much easier to navigate than the Sony.

I put in a DVD to begin with and I was less than impressed by it's up-conversion. After looking at the manual, I was able to use USER settings to alter the settings a bit and back to SETUP to set the resolution to the highest ( 1080P/1080i/720P depending on your set ). Huge improvement after that.
It upconverts better than my Sony did. After an hour of use I had a weird cut out on the HDMI signal. Resumed in 2 seconds, though. May be my TV.

Next, I put in a Blu-Ray. Looked the exact same as the Sony. Perhaps a little bit sharper, but mostly the same. I was testing it with Shutter Island. Then I put in Monsters vs. Aliens and amped up the user settings and activated 24p. NOW, it looks better. I'd say a noticeable improvement over the old Sony.

Tried the SD card, and was able to load pictures rather quick. Unable to play video, though. Have not tried the USB connection yet.

Internet setup I used a wired connection over At&T Uverse. Connected in seconds. Netflix picture is not quite as good as my Roku, but barely noticable in picture quality. Roku is still better and completely wireless. I'll rarely use the Net on the blu-ray unless my Roku dies. Youtube is sort of fun.

The audio is vastly improved over my Sony. There is a dialogue enhancer and a night surround which even with headphones make s difference. We have little kids, so it's important to have good sound without a large system.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed. It's an upgrade from my Sony and loads pretty much any discs I throw at
it: BD, DVD, CD, DV-R, DV-RW, SD.

It's also much quieter than my old Sony S350. Less heat too. Sony lost me, I'm sticking with Panasonic from now on.

Full-featured, high performance, 1.5x speed playback, lackluster remote and menu

Customer Rating:
I was in the market for a Blu-Ray player with streaming capability, in order to save wear and tear on my PS3 (which I had been using for both in addition to game play). Now is a good time in the market for this, as BD players with these capabilities near the hundred mark in cost.

OK, let me get this player's flaws out of the way:

-The remote has neither Subtitle nor Angle buttons. Instead, these functions are hidden in a sub-menu requiring no fewer than 5 button presses to alter. Also, the button that accesses this menu is not on the main hub of buttons, but is a smaller one above - very hard to see in a darkened room. The non-backlit remote had a myriad of buttons intended to control your television and a/v receiver. These buttons should have been axed in favor of more direct control over the player itself. Serious enthusiasts will never use this remote to control their other gear.

-The menu system itself has a very antiquated feel and is not organized particularly helpfully. In order to engage this player's 24 fps mode (which sends Blu-Ray video encoded at 24 fps to compatible televisions with no frame interpolation), you have to dig through a bunch of menus, only to find it under "HDMI Setting" (not "Video" or "Output"). And naturally, this mode is set at default to OFF. This is but one example of a lack of user friendliness that pervades the menu. Newbies to home theater will probably run into difficulties and confusion, and may never discover the options they're missing out on. I've used a lot of machines, and this menu was among the worst.

-The player itself is a bit small. This is a personal preference which other users may not share, but I would have preferred a depth of 10 inches or so to allow component stacking, as opposed to the 7 inch depth of this player. This means I'll have to buy a shelf to put my PS3 on.

-The player does not have digital coaxial output for audio, which many older receivers have. You must either use HDMI or optical digital (SPDIF).

All right. That pretty much covers the faults. Everything else is roses from here on out:

-Blu-Ray playback is at least as good as the PS3 Slim I had been using. Detail, black level, and color performance are all comparable. There are several picture-affecting settings hidden away in menus, but most should be left OFF or DEFAULT, as with most players and TVs. DVD playback is also good, and, like the PS3, this player allows you to view a video in Fast-Forward with stereo audio (at roughly 1.5x speed). This is a great time-saving feature that my wife and I utilize frequently, especially with TV shows on DVD.

-Netflix streaming quality is also comparable to the PS3, with the added benefit that there is no need to put a disc into the drive. It is hidden on the "Viera Cast" menu, an ugly-looking collection of onscreen boxes that is accessed with the similarly named tiny button on the remote. Anyway, the player had no trouble locking into "HD" resolution, even though we have an average cable modem connection. We run a wired network through the house, so I cannot speak to the connection quality with the wireless adapter (not included). Your mileage may vary, but I can say that compared to the other Netflix streaming devices we own, this one is in the upper tier (my TV frequently drops out of HD mode on the same wired connection).

-Power consumption is low (17-20w) and heat generation is negligible (i.e. not as warm as the PS3 Slim). It's nice to know that I don't need to run the PS3 at 70-80w any more just to watch a DVD.

Summary:

All in all, especially for this price, you really can't go wrong with this player as a standard bearer for your video needs. Throw in CD and MP3 capability (whether on disc or on USB media), and you've got a multi-tasking workhorse for cheap. If only they packaged a better remote, I'd give this 5 stars. I don't feel bad docking a star, because a remote control is the primary means the user has of interacting with the machine. Adding extra layers of annoyance alters the user experience. But let's not damn with faint praise. This is a great unit in every other respect that offers a lot of bang for the buck.

Verizon FIOS user beware

Customer Rating:
Overall, this is a good Blu Ray player and reasonably affordable. However, I have Verizon FIOS TV/phone/internet-bundle, and this Panasonic model has problem connecting wirelessly to the router. Ethernet connection is great, but wireless connection won't work. Tried to change encryption method on the router, but still no go. Will need to call Verizon and/or Panasonic for wireless assistance. BTW, unlike other units, AVATAR blu ray movie disc works flawlessly on this one.

Great Blu-Ray and NetFlix player

Customer Rating:
All positives for this Panasonic Blu-Ray player. I got it out of the box, plugged it in, connected the ethernet cable and then sat back to watch outstanding video. Setup time was less than 15 minutes and it was really easy to get it plugged into the surround sound amp. The sound from the Blu-Ray is probably the most amazing part of this technology. The sound puts you right in the middle of the movie - far better than anything I have ever heard from DVD. THe picture quality is excellent - very sharp and clear - as it should be. I just ordered another for the other TV. The remote control is very intuitive and the buttons are well laid out. It is fairly easy for everyone in the family to learn. Great player.

The Future Today

Customer Rating:
Streaming video is the future of in-home entertainment and the BD65 is a capable unit. It pairs up well with my Panasonic Plasma. Boot time is a smidge slow but on my network the setup was as easy as plugging it in. No IP addresses to enter and the detection process did all the work. The video quality is perfectly acceptable but the feature set of the unit is not as rich as other manufacturers. Panasonic recently provided a ROM upgrade to increase the number of video-on-demand options on the BD65 - a nice feature - but the update process was complicated and not automatic on my network. Panasonic could work on making this easier when the automatic update fails, as it did on my unit and network.