Panasonic DMP BD55K Blu ray Disc Player

Panasonic DMP BD55K Blu ray Disc Player

BD-Live: Enjoy Additional Content via Internet (requires optional SD card) / PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus / Also plays DVD, CD, DiVX

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Excellent Player
My friend bought this player for me from New York (I am in HK) and it is excellent. The loading is fast, image is sharp and price is reasonable.

5 Stars Incomparable Value for the $
Absolutely stunning picture quality delivered to my Panasonic plasma TV. Even more incredible sound via the lossless multi channel analog output. (I really like NOT having to upgrade my beloved Yamaha RXV 2500 AV reciever) Fast loading. Easy setup, glitch free performance in a good looking well priced product. Met and exceeded all expectations…Highly recommended.

5 Stars Superb BD Player
This is truly an excellent piece of Home Theater Equipment. Excellent video and audio performance. No need to upgrade your receiver now. Lossless audio sounds great via 7.1 analog. Amazon sales and service have been great too. You simply can’t go wrong with this unit.

5 Stars It’s a winner!
After reading all other reviews, I decided to go for this Panny BD55. My expectations were set very high and the player delivered them..all of them!!

The player looks quite impressive even when not powered on. Powering it, brings a cool blue cresent in the front.

Setting it up is very simple. Well thought questions on initial setup parameters takes not more than a minute and it’s done! Hoooking it up with the receiver too is simple. I have an older non-HDMI receiver and this was the key reason for going in for 55 instead of 35.

Time taken from power up till you can insert the disc is longer than what the normal DVD player takes. However, it’s not long enough to be painful.

The performance:

I played three different kinds of media to test. BBC’s Planet Earth & Cars(BD), The Patriot (DVD) and then a classical flute (MP3)

Picture -BD

In both the cases, the pictures and colors are crisp and deep. Even in fast movements and action, the player keeps up with the details all over the screen. The forest and the flowers in Planet Earth literally bring the television alive!! You would feel as if the trees are right there in front of you. Smallest of the details in the forest come alive, especially when the camera pans around in slow motion, you feel you are gliding through the forest!

Cars puts the player into a different kind of world. The animations, reflections, shadows, the speed… all work beautifully!

Picture -DVD

The output is as good as any other high end DVD player. I didn’t see much difference in the depth of colors and clarity from the ones I get from my regular DVD player (Pioneer DV525). This DVD player was anyway one of the best ones around and still puts out better performance on it’s Component video than HDMI of many of the newer players!!

Audio – MP3

The audio processing is nice. The notes from the flute were rendered perfectly. I deliberately selected a solo flute performance. The listeners were immersed in the beautiful sounds of the flute… I forgot that I was merely checking the player. I listened to the whole 15 minute performance.

Remote:

The Remote keys are nicely spaced. You would not need the manual for most of the operations. The smart feature is programming the TV and Receiver codes to control power and volume. However, the Receiver list is limited.

What Panasonic should do:

1. Remote: make it look more like 21st century. It’s very functional (good) but still looks like one from 90s.

2. Please please please provide an HDMI cable or at least stop providing the flimsy composite AV cable!!!! That’s cheap and mean too!!

5 Stars Much Better
I have bought both the BD55K and the Sony S350 and I would say the 55K. wins with overall picture, ease of setup and best of all speed of loading dvd’s. The both come packed with all the features with the 55K having one or two more and of last check was cheaper. If your contemplating on either one of these, make it the BD55K, you won’t go wrong.

Buy/More Info