Panasonic DMP-BD65 - Page 2

The picture quality is much better than what? I have the BD60 and am wondering if the upconversion is the same or better? I use it with my projector and 106" screen. Other than being faster than the BD60, is there any other upgrade? Thanks.

then both the 60/80. color seem much better on both blurays and dvds. upconversion is much better.

if you like netflix.. it also has that. better loading time is a major plus on this model.

Jacob

Upconversion is much better than the BD60? That's hard to believe, since the BD60 is excellent. I hope Sam's starts selling the BD65.

did you read winston's review for the 65?
I started with the panasonic 30 and then went to the 60/80 players. there was a big difference between them. not suprising that the 65 is better.

Jacob

When I got home last night the wife and granddaughter were just finishing up Tinker Bell on BD on the BD85. First time I have really see what I would call true HD (1080P) on the 50" Panny plasma. So I would give it an A+ for BD. I checked a few minutes last weekend after setting it up with DVD and even that was pretty impressive upconverted to 1080P. I watched a movie over Netflix streaming and that upconverted to 1080P from 720P NF stream for a real nice picture. Probably somewhat better that the 720P HD stream Roku HD gives from Netflix.

The main reason I jumped on the 85 instead of the 65 was the included WiFi dongrel since I don't have an easy, direct wired route from my wireless router to the Panny HDTV/ BD location.

One quick question on your Viera Cast.. Do you see anything from Fox Sports? A couple of discussions you Viera Cast note that Fox Sports will be added as well as Netflix. I of course found Netflix, but only saw Amazon VOD, Youtube, Picasa, Bloomberg, Weather and Netflix. Perhaps it will show up soon. Would be nice if Panasonic had a site for that with updates so we would not have to speculate and guess :-).

Bill

I have not seen the sports or twitter. just the netflix and amazon.

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/bd/index.html

here is a link for the latest firmware updates.

Jacob

Okay, now I did find in a round about way the panny site for UK DMP-BD85 and it claims DLNA support. Have not found the manual yet. Now, even though the US version never mentions DLNA, at least some of the features might be there. I think you may have to find and select/configure network connections to PCs or other devices on your local net in the same window as you configure access to your wireless/wired net for Internet access. I don't have any shared PCs or NASs on my home network, so that may be why I did not see any. I found a good discussion on another forum that educated me on some of the basics and hints of thing to try.

http://forum.bigpicturebigsound.com/...-bd-p4600.html

I don't have a lot of things to share on my PCs (yet) except for a lot of pictures from the digital camera. I'll probably try at some point to get the sharing to work for those. I did try the camera SD card in the SD slot on the panny TC-p50S1 and performance was less than exciting. I'll compare using the SD slot and a USB thumb drive on the BD player to see if that is better.

Bill

Link to UK/Ireland version on DMP-BD85 that states DLNA ...http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_G...trackInfo=true

What issues from the BD60 are still there?

I had problems playing the trailers in front of braveheart, forrest gump and gladiator, alien dvd from the 9 disc set.
now the alien disc plays in DTS and not freeze like the 80 player does. but now I get no sound in DTS.

Jacob

Check my post on the first page of this thread, I quoted Panasonic VP's blog entry about streaming features for Viera Cast. It says that Twitter, Fox Sports, Pandora, and a couple others will be added to all lines of Viera Cast, so it would include the 60/80 if im understanding it correctly.

Did you find Pandora as well?

you asking me about the pandora on the new panasonic 65 player.. its not there yet. I have it on my roku.

Jacob

Are those all DVDs or are the first 3 Blu-ray discs?

With the trailer issues, can you just skip them and then play the main title normaly?

the movies from paramount including braveheart, gladiator and forrest gump.I was talking about the blu ray. alien was on dvd.

Jacob

Not sure if the "trailer" problem is identical to my gripe about the bd60 (can't access the main menu consistently while watching a DVD), and hoping the bd65 lacks this problem.

We have been discussing and researching this. Tonight I got the following response from Panasonic...apparently no DLNA on the North American version:

"Thank you for your inquiry.
The North American DMP-BD85 does not have any DLNA features. The models that are DLNA certified are manufactured for other countries/markets.

We hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you for contacting Panasonic. "

I beleive that is still a problem that you are asking about. I will look into it.

Jacob

not sure if the "trailer" problem is identical to my gripe about the bd60 (can't access the main menu consistently while watching a DVD), and hoping the bd65 lacks this problem.

i got that confirmation as well. also they said they aren't anticipating adding this feature to the north american units. disappointing, and i have no idea why we would get 'dummed down' units without something that is for some (including me) a key piece of functionality.

so as of right now the only mainstream bluray players that support dlna are...lg, same as last year. sony is this summer and panny i guess is in 2011...

Yep. The BD85 does support some file types on a USB drive, max. 120 GB.

One other thing to note, looking at the UK Panasonic site they have the option to purchase Blu Ray recorders. I don't see anything like that in the US.

Bill

I posted it about it before in the BD60/80 thread, but last year's 2009 Japanese model already had some sort of DLNA support built-in for multi-room viewing of DVR recordings and a Japanese video download service. They're just continuing to lock out the feature here for the second year in a row. So don't count on it coming to North America next year either. I guess Panasonic wisdom is that we don't need or want DLNA here.

I've not looked into it, but I'd guess the issue has more to do with legal and licensing issues...

As I argued someplace else, even on my LG 570, the streaming is terrible... I know they can do better, but the streaming is not easy and overall not a good experience.

I'm looking at the 65 simply because streaming is so terrible on BR players that you might as well not have it (at least my thinking at the moment...).

As the guy says above, they have BR writers in the UK... oh, but if we have that, it is illegal.

Or like the oppo tech told me weeks ago: if you stream dvd folders (ts), then that is a sign of illegal activity (or something like that). My reply back was I make my own dvds of family events and pass them out on DVDs. You can write your own dvds using nero, or whatever software you wish. I have tons of DVDs like this.... Which I do... No copyright issues there....

Are there picture setting adjustments available on this player? So many of the more recent players all seem to have at least some if not the most optimal ones.

Samsung does DLNA now (C5500, C6500...).

I picked up the BD-65 this evening (from Best Buy - had about a dozen out on the shelves). I also have a BD-60 which I got a few weeks ago to replace a dead Sammy 2550.

I sampled a few DVD's on the 65 to check upconversion. To my eyes it is a good bit better than the 60 which I thought was very good. Colors seemed to be brighter and more realistic and overall detail seemed to be better. There is a setting in the menu for Detail level, which I think is just edge enhancement. I left it off for comparisons sake. I may play around with this setting tomorrow when I have time.

There is no difference in blu-ray playback that I can tell between the two players. Obviously the 65 disk loading time is much faster than the 60.

I didn't get to play around with Viera Cast yet, but I did go in and it appears that Netflix streaming is functional.

I will probably return the 60 that I got a few weeks ago. For about $35 additional, the DVD upconverting and fast loading alone makes it worth it to me. I have a ton of DVD's and I have no plans on replacing them with Blu-Ray's (except a very few), and I'm sure they will look great on this player from what I've seen so far.

Keith

As I mentioned in my review, it appears that Panasonic has made some real strides in the quality of upscaled dvd images with the 65. I have been testing for over a week and find it noticeably better. Have found a few moments of incipient aliasing, but the 65 avoids outright jaggies the 60 and 35 fall into in A/B comparison.

Now here is a question to owners - have you noticed an inconsistency in brightness of certain scenes of dvds? At first, I thought it was certain scenes, but A/B comparison with a Pioneer 23 and Oppo 83 proved it is Panasonic-specific.

Minor foible, but even my wife can notice it (jaggies are missed by her radar). Otherwise, I have been very pleased with this player.

Does anyone know the answer to this question? Will any other WIFI USB dongle work on this player? The Panasonic WIFI dongle is like $85! I got a couple of WIFI USB dongles here and I was wondering if that will work so I can get WIFI on the BD65K. Thanks!

[quote=winston9332;18263317] Now here is a question to owners - have you noticed an inconsistency in brightness of certain scenes of dvds? At first, I thought it was certain scenes, but A/B comparison with a Pioneer 23 and Oppo 83 proved it is Panasonic-specific.

I did notice this in an older DVD that I watched tonight. I thought it was in the transfer. It was somewhat distracting. Other than that it did look better overall than it looked on the the 60 though.

Keith

[quote=LVKeith;18264046]
I've confirmed it on a number of dvds. It's like the panasonic is trying to exact more contrast out of the scene and causes distinct fluctuations in brightness. Does not affect Netflix of BDs.

Going to call Panasonic next week.

Otherwise, very good dvd image - not quite the Pioneer 320, but probably the next closest save the fact that the brightness fluctuates. Hope this can be addressed via firmware.

Well this person seems to like it!

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMP-...owViewpoints=1

winston.. it would help to know what dvds/blurays you are having problems with.. I ended up switching the panasonic for the 370.

on the panasonic. I could not get the alien from the 9 disc set to work. when it played in DTS on both the directors cut and theatre version. it would play with no sound.
do you have the bravheart, forrest gump or gladiator blurays? do the trailers work on yours?
I had problems playing the trailers on my 80.
I had two panasonic players.. now back to one.. which is why I switched over to the sony. I am liking the sony alot more at the moment.

Jacob