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NEW Panasonic blu-ray BD60 & BD80 for pre-order at Crutchfield (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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After all of the positive reviews for the 35, I wanted one of those but they went out of print too quickly for me to get one at an attractive price. I'm hoping the 60 will have all of the features found on the 35 since they share the same price point.
 

TheBat

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Jacob
I am very happy with my panasonic 30. they should be fine players.

Jacob
 

David_Rivshin

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I notice that the panasonic remotes still lack a dedicated subtitle button, which seemed to be a concern for many with the previous models. It's strange they wouldn't add that, as I'd think it'd be a pretty simple thing to do.

FYI, Crutchfield also has the new Samsung BD-P1600 and BD-P3600 up for preorder for $299 and $399. I see them also at onecall and amazon which list them as in stock.

I haven't found rear-panel pictures of either the new panasonics or new samsungs. I'm curious as to whether they've done away with the fan on the new models. Actually, I've found the BD-P1600 manual here: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/co...0,1600-XAA.pdf and that shows a fan still :frowning:

-- Dave
 

MielR

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Same here. I'm hoping the 60 retains the same zoom function that the 35 has. It's surprising how few BD players have one.
 

member666

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BD60 is in my price range. I'll get my tax return soon'ish.
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Dave Moritz

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Nice price but I would take the Panasonic hands down over the Samsung. Samsung just doesn't seem to do that great of a job. I am keeping an eye on a Panasonic as a possible upgrade to my Sony BDP-S300 bluray.
 

MielR

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I'm sorry I don't have the answer to that- but I'm sure someone here knows.
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Patrick Sun

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I'm just hoping the DB80 has a faster bootup time, smoother ergonomics, and handles BD-Live and firmware updates well. It'd be nice if it had solid DVD upconverting capability, but I don't expect it to be as good as the new Oppo 83 BD player (which looks to retails at $200 more than the Panny BD80, anyway).
 

Matt Hough

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I saw the BD-60 at Amazon for $267 and change the other night. Their prices fluctuate wildly so it could be more or less now.
 

MielR

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I saw it there too.

Also, the Panasonic site FINALLY has the BD60 and BD80 listed.

I downloaded the user's manual for the BD60, and it looks like it has the same desirable features that the BD35 had.
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Jeff Ulmer

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It's down to $254 at Amazon - does anyone have one of these yet?

I'm not sure how useful Vierracast will be outside the US - does anyone know how they are handling rights? I know that Amazon VOD is not available in Canada.
 

genedjr

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gene dowen
UPS delivered my Panasonic blu-ray BD60 Tuesday afternoon. (Stupid UPS did not even ring the doorbell, and yes I complained).

First my convoluted Blu-Ray setup:
  • Reciever: Yamaha RX-V890 (Pro-Logic 2-channel audio input only)
  • HDTV: Vizio S420XVT 120hz 42" (4 HDMI inputs, 2 Component inputs, +)
  • DVD: Sony DVP-NC615 (Using component video out, 2-channel audio)
  • BR: Panasonic DMP-BD60 (HDMI to HDTV, 2-channel audio, out of the box, no firmware updates yet)

All source devices send video directly to the HDTV (DVD using component, Blu-Ray uses HDMI). All audio is 2-channel sent to the reciever.

I used Mama-Mia as my real world test as I have the widescreen DVD and rented the Blu-Ray.

The very good news is that when the BR "down converts" audio - my ancient Yamaha RX-V890 (nothing digital about this old timer) does indeed present dolby pro-logic across the 2-channel (left-right) analog outputs. And to my disco/skill-saw damaged ears, its quite nice. Given my reciever is 13 years old and supports no digital inputs, I am very happy.

My test was to use the DVD in the Sony, the DVD in the Panny, and then the Blu-Ray in the panny. I am very happy with my results:
  • The DVD in Blu-Ray player produces a significant and very nice upscaling image. This in fact, was much better than I thought upconverting would produce.
  • The Blu-Ray in Blu-Ray player was WOW
    htf_images_smilies_banana.gif
    I feel the DVD in Blu-Ray was twice as crisp as the DVD in DVD and the Blu-Ray in Blu-Ray was twice as crisp as the DVD in Blu-Ray. Very impressive.

The bad news is the fan - its like a high-pitched hum that is really annoying during quite scenes. I plan to check for firmware updates today and see if that is any help.

If anyone has suggestions on how to dampen the fan howl, it would be much appreciated.

...gene
 

MielR

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Thanks so much for that review, gene!
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Is there some sort of a trick to get ONLY the Amazon-sold player to pop up when I do a search? I actually have the player on my Amazon-wish list, and I'm only interested in purchasing it from Amazon, but whenever I go to check the price on it, there's some other seller listed and I have to select "Amazon" on the product page as an alternate seller and then put the item in my cart to check the price. Very annoying.

That seems to only happen there with electronic items, and not CDs or DVDs.
 

Jeff Ulmer

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Stick it in your shopping cart, then check the cart when you visit - it will tell you if the price has changed.
 

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