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Panasonic DMP BD80 High Clarity Audio Blu ray Disc Player Black

Through the Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory, Panasonic has collaborated with Hollywood filmmakers for more than 15 years to accumulate the know-how and expertise that are needed to achieve faithful color reproduction between original movie footage and Blu-ray media. The image playback technologies that have been gained from this know-how and expertise are fully reflected in Panasonic’s Blu-ray Disc Player. This allows Panasonic to bring outstanding images that approach original cinema quality right into your living room PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus is a high quality image-processing technology developed by Panasonic to precisely process each pixel of the Blu-ray Disc video signal in the vertical direction. It reproduces color data with twice the accuracy of conventional systems to keep colors faithful and sharp. Because this model is compatible with the VIERA CAST function, you can access YouTube, Picasa, and other Internet sites from the special VIERA CAST screen. YouTube lets you watch the newest video clips, and Picasa lets you view Web-based photos. You can also check weather and stock information on other sites (subscription service and other accessories may be required). Deep Color and x.v.Color 148.5MHz/12bit Video D/A Converter Digital Noise Reduction (3D-NR/ Integrated NR) Picture Mode (Normal, Soft, Fine, Cinema, User) Picture Adjustment (Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness, Color, Gamma Correction) Audio Features -Built-in Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTSTM-HD Decoder 7.1ch Analog Output High Clarity Sound Pure Audio Components 96kHz Surround Re-master for All Formats (BD, DVD, CD, MP3 and DivX) CD sampling is done at 88.2 kHz DivX data can be re-mastered both on DVD and CD whereas MP3 data only CD Night Surround Mode Advanced Surround (V.S.S.) Creates a Surround Effect for BD and DVD from Only Two Speakers (2 Modes) Dialog Enhancer Dynamic

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Panasonic DMP-BD80
Beautiful picture. Even better than I could ask for on my 1080i LCD Projection TV.

4 Stars Great Blu-Ray plus Amazon Video on Demand
I don’t have another Blu-Ray player to compare this to, but it works perfectly. Yes, it loads a bit slower than my old DVD, but that is going to happen with any blu-ray player. The picture and sound are great and it was simple to set up and use.

The biggest reason I purchased this is because it has Amazon Video on Demand. Some players have Netflix or other streaming media, but I opted for Amazon because you can buy and rent without a subscription. Setting up the account at Amazon was easy, and they have a pretty good selection of TV and Movies to choose from. You can order on your PC and choose to have it play on your TV (when you are ready to watch) or just order it by using the VieraCast option on the blu-ray player. Honestly, the interface on VieraCast isn’t that great (yet), so doing it on the computer is much easier.

I was afraid that with my set up I might get buffering issues, but that is not the case. I use an apple TimeCapsule to wirelessly transmit to an apple Airport Express that is then connected to the blu-ray player. I watched an HD movie the other night and did not have any buffering issues at all. Perfect. The picture and sound quality are very good as well.

I should also mention that VieraCast currently also serves up weather information, stocks, and youtube. I’m sure they will add more content through flash upgrades in the future.

So, this is a good blu-ray player – especially for the price. The big bonus is Amazon Video On Demand and who knows what else they will add to VieraCast.

2 Stars A good player that falls short of its promises
Intermittent loss of sound/audio. Occasional freeze and/or skip. The same problems as the previous model of BD60 that uses the same chip. Problems persist despite firmware update. Very good picture quality with both BD and SD. It would be an excellent player if this player didn’t have these problems. Had to return it.

4 Stars Good current generation unit with YouTube, etc features
This unit does what its designed for quite well. The video/audio is excellent as commented by other reviewers. Even the loading time in my opinion is good (for a current-gen HD player). It powers on easily in around 30 seconds or less. Load time seems to depend on the disk, but is not objectional for the handfull of disks I’ve played. Maybe a minute or less. Of course any delay is ridiculous in the broader scheme of things, but we are forced to accept that now that DVD players are merging with computers where software is huge compared to simple firmware-only processing that less capable regular DVD players have used in the past …

I have to say I have been enjoying the Viera-cast features. It gives you:

o Weather, including 5 days outlook and current radar etc (free)

o Stock market quotes (free — if you care about that while in your home theater

o Access to YouTube (free)

o Access to Google’s Picasa photo posting site (free)

o Access to video on demand (that I probably won’t use)

Of these, I’ve used the YouTube the most – and far more than I thought I might. You can call up most-popular, etc, or you can search. Searching is quite easy, as the remote has a texting-type key entry system and works very well. Assuming you’re connected to a high-speed internet connection, the video index loads very quick and when you select one, it loads in about 15 seconds or less typically. Of course the video quality is low, so its displayed in a box initially on the right half of the screen and often looks fine there. You can also blow up to full screen, but this shows the quality issues and typically results in horizontally-stretched videos as well (except for a few on YouTube are now “HD”, so they show OK in this mode). Relative to what I see on my computer, I am guessing I can access either the full YouTube video set, or at least close to it.

The Picasa photo display system is great too – but has bugs. It locks up the unit occasionally, forcing me to have to unplug it to reboot. And yes, I do have the most recent firmware (2.0 as of this writing – and the update from 1.x didn’t help

All in all, I’m very happy with the unit. 5 years from now, I’ll buy a newer one that will (hopefully) work better – but this one is great for current technology.

5 Stars Excellent unit, as its DMP-BD55K sibling
I only had one BD player in my home, the Panny DMP-BD55k feeding a Mitsubishi HC 1600 projector. This unit has proved hassle free in my experience delivering top notch performance. When i found the BD80 at nearly half the cost of what i paid for the BD55, i could not resist. I had originally been waiting to buy another BD player for my 61″ 1080p Samsung HL-T6176S, in the form of a PS3 Slim for the added gaming. But the very same reason i bought a 55k for a BD player over a PS3 last year, held true again this time around-the 7.1 analog outputs to get DolbY TRUE HD/DTS:HD/MA from my existing non-HDMI receivers(no need to upgrade my receiver until they bite the dust!), this time being much cheaper than the console as well, looking better on the component rack, not having to buy a remote, nor an infra red adapter being it wont operate off my Logitech remote.

The BD55k and BD80 are essentially the same player, except the BD80 adds the Viera Cast online features.

The audio performance from this player is excellent via the analog connections. It has been used with both a 5.1 Denon AVR-1602 and a 7.1 Onkyo AVR576 through the analogs feeding a quartet of PSB Image B25’s, Image C60 Center and a SVS PB12 . Very good overall sound quality in conjunction with these, and both setups yielded strong low frequency extension and articulate upper bass response.

Picture quality is equally as impressive, BD picture had good color pop and smooth 24P playback. DVD upscaling is up to par with my Denon DVD upconverting player, which is very good. I’ve setup comparably priced Samsung and Pioneer players for my parents, and i easily prefer the Panny’s performance and operation over those. The disc load to play times are not market leading, but I’ve found them avg/acceptable.

All in all, the player is highly recommended particulaly at the prices going now. THe BD35/ BD 60 are great units as well if you do not need the 7.1 analog outputs.

Buy/More Info