Panasonic DMP-BD35 & DMP-BD55 Features (2 Viewers)

[Paul Hillenbrand]

Panasonic DMP-BD55 (DMP-BD55K) Blu-ray Player: Review By Chris Boylan


Paul

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Well dagnabit. I decided to get the BD55 because of the crappy Sony upconversion, and now this has crappy upconversion too. Time to wait until next year, I'm thinking.

 

[Bill_S]

I didn't read it that way, I thought it said very respectable.

 

[Johnny Angell]

In the "Turn Ons" section he mentions "very good DVD upconversion."

 

[Johnny Angell]

I've been given a date of 10/30/08. Any opinions on whether the $400 will be the best price we see?

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

CNET reviews the BD55:

Panasonic DMP-BD55

Paul

 

[Mark Zimmer]

OK, thanks for clarifying. I couldn't get the review to open so I had to rely on the small negative chunks that were quoted. It opens fine today so I don't know what's up. Feeling better now.

This, on the other hand, is ridiculous:

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Hey Mark, I agree that that option is ridiculous.

 

[Geo Gabor]

Sorry if this seems basic, but does this mean that both the BD-35 and the BD-55 will have an ethernet port? I don't think I've seen that specified explicitly anywhere. If I'm not mistaken, the BD-30 does not have one, which means that the BD-35 is a step up in that regard. I haven't seen a photo of the hindquarters of the BD-35 to verify.

 

[Dave_P.]

Yes, they will have ethernet jacks. Full (excellent) review of the 55 with more pictures here:

Panasonic DMP-BD55 Video Players and Recorder reviews - CNET Reviews

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[Paul Hillenbrand]

Sound & Vision Review of the Panasonic DMP-BD55 Blu-ray Disc Player.

Paul

 

[Johnny Angell]

The reviewer recommended the Panny, but if I read the review correctly:
1) When connecting video via component, resolution tops out at 1080i. Is this typical?

2) He found the bass weak when connecting via component. My receiver doesn't have HDMI, so the worries me a little.

 

[RobertR]

I think it is typical for component connections to be limited to 1080i. It's also a known fact that the LFE via analog is 10 dB low on these players. You'll see other threads on the subject if you look for them.

 

[Johnny Angell]

"These players" meaning this particular model or BD players in general?

 

[Paul Hillenbrand]

FYI:

Information from other sites:

Both the DMP-BD35 & DMP-BD55 have started shipping from Circuit City on Monday 10/14/08. One person picked up the BD55 from Frys in San Diego. Amazon still has their 10/29/08 release date posted.

Paul

 

[RobertR]

In general. You have to boost the LFE 10 dB from an analog output. Do a search for threads on the subject.

 

[Grant H]

My 55 should be waiting for me when I get home!

 

[Johnny Angell]

Well...?

 

[Grant H]

Was up really late that night hooking things up and testing things out.

Very nice player, aside from some slightly clunky setup menus, like the speaker setup, which has been mentioned.

No LFE issues for me, though. My receiver must properly apply the boost when connected via the 7.1 inputs. I had no trouble hearing the LFE test tone so I knew things would be OK.

A little odd is that you can only adjust db in one direction. I ended up painting myself in a corner and had to readjust all the other speakers again, but I had no trouble level matching them otherwise.

I did some comparisons with regular DD material and found my receiver's decoding was more bass heavy at first, but it turned out the digital calibrations, done with the receiver's test tones, were way off. When I calibrated with AVIA as I had done for the player's 5.1 inputs (the player's tones were useless as they go by too fast), the bass seemed identical from either decoder. No wonder bass always seemed a bit boomy on that thing. That receiver's become the bedroom unit, and my living room has the elite with full acoustical EQ.

I'm only running this unit with a 720p Panasonic LCD, but PQ looks incredible. Also worth noting: basic video levels were seemingly identical to my PS3 I had briefly hooked up to it. I didn't make any changes to what I'd already set. Hard to say for sure, but I thought the color from the Panasonic in difficult scenes might have been a hair better. I had noted some oddities in natural sunlight off peoples faces in Starship Troopers, which I chalked up to the limitations of the TV, not being able to accurately produce every necessary grade of color to look natural. Running the same scene on the Panny looked maybe a touch better. Perhaps there's some processing to optimize it for their own displays. Don't know.

Sound seems great, though again I'm running my 2nd-tier stuff in this room. And even my primary room isn't exactly reference quality, but better than your average joe's. No problem decoding the lossless codecs. Tried both TrueHD and DTS-HD MA material. The on-screen display verified those tracks were selected.

Can't confirm 7.1 for anybody because I don't have the 7.1 setup going in there, though the receiver is capable.

The player seems to output optical, HDMI, and analog audio simultaneously. Easy for switching modes if you want your receiver to decode regular DD/DTS material, but watch your receiver settings.

When I first popped in a disc, having not setup my optical input modes, the player was on DVD input, but not set on analog 7.1 mode or "digital." I guess it was playing the 2.0 downmix, but it didn't sound like a downix of 5.1 material. Seemed like just the left and right channels to me, as I couldn't hear any dialogue. Fortunately I realized I had to change settings before reaching a full panic.

Load time is OK (just talking discs, not initial boot). Not PS3 fast, but not bad. Chews through the java script in a reasonable amount of time, though Indy loaded a lot faster than Starship Troopers, possibly because it was loading some BD-LIVE info. Scene skip is responsive. Remote seems kind of primitive, but I'll probably end up programming a universal of some kind anyway.

Had no luck using my laptop as a wireless bridge for Internet connectivity. Had successfully set it up to work as a bridge, and it worked when connected to the PS3 as an ethernet connection but then the PS3 lets you pick security settings, so maybe that's why I could get that to work with it.

 

[ChristopherDM]

Im looking to go purple this fall, and I think Im sold on the DMP-BD35, I have a 5.1 set-up at home and this seems to fit the bill for me. I was wondering though since this is brand new, you wouldnt think this would be on sale on Black Friday for cheaper?

I mean 50 bucks or less(even in these tough times) wouldnt get me out of bed that early in the morning to stand in line.

Any thoughts would be great....thanks