Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 397
 Great Player & Great Value December 15, 2009
D. Keel (Houston, TX USA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I picked this player as a replacement for my first Blu-ray player-the Pioneer BDP 51. The Pioneer was "picky" about playing certain discs. So, I exchanged it for this Panasonic player. Compared to the Pioneer, it is very small and lightweight and rather insubstantial-looking. However, the picture quality, both on BDs and upconverting standard DVDs is superb. It does not stream Netflix, so if you want a player for streaming, be advised it only streams Amazon on demand and YouTube. I bought it just to play BDs, so I have no complaints.
I was one of the people who were also afflicted with the "random freeze" with this player. You could be watching a BD, and the program would stop, as if you had pushed the "pause" button, and after a few seconds, play would resume. This problem did not rear its ugly head until I had the player for over a month. The freeze is random in that you never know when it will occur. It is unrepeatable. You can replay a disc that froze, and the replay may not freeze at all. However, the freezes were (in my case) few and far-between.
A couple of weeks ago, Panasonic released a firmware update which (so far) seems to have successfully fixed the random freeze issue. I paid $249 for my player in April 2009, and stuck with it throughout the freeze issue in the hope that Panasonic would fix it. With this player's stellar picture and audio, and its current (Dec. 2009) price, it is a steal. It certainly would make a great first Blu-ray player for anyone.
Best bang for your buck BD player August 6, 2009
Aaron J Ginn (Chandler, AZ USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
There's a reason why this player is currently the top-selling BD player on Amazon: it offers the best performance at the lowest price. No, it does not offer WiFi connectivity (who wants to stream HD over WiFi anyway?) and you cannot access Netflix (although Amazon VoD is a good alternative, especially for those who do not want to subscribe to a service). What the BD60 does offer is great BD playback performance for under $200. As others will attest, you may encounter an occasional freeze during playback, although these incidents are infrequent (average of around one per 20 hours of playback for me) and last only a few seconds after which the player resumes as if nothing had happened. Virtually every standalone BD player on the market (except perhaps the Oppo BPD-83 which costs $300 more) has some playback issues. Blu-ray is still a new standard and if you buy now you are beta-testing the technology to some extent. The good thing is that you will not find a company with a better track record of customer support and reliability than Panasonic. Since I have had this player (a little over a month) Panasonic has released two firmware updates for the player. It doesn't get better than that, IMO.
Picture and sound quality are as good as it gets with this player. Check any review on the web and you will see that there is not a player out there, regardless of price, that outperforms the BD60 in picture and sound. Load times are average, although BD-Live enabled discs can be slow to load sometimes. BD-Live functionality can be turned off which would probably eliminate this problem although I have not tested this. Load times have never been a concern of mine. The difference between 20 and 40 seconds is irrelevant to me.
The only other player I would consider at this price point is the JVC XV-BP1. JVC does not have the track record that Panasonic does with respect to Blu-ray, but the XV-BP1 seems to be a very nice player. The JVC reportedly loads almost as fast as the Oppo. It does not have video streaming content, however. It also lacks WiFi capability like the BD60. I'd still go with the BD60 just based on Panasonic's reputation.
Amazing Movie Viewer! April 19, 2009
Jerry Cowen (Texas)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Purchased this to work with Panasonic Plasma TV..Works great with each other..amazing picture quality and the VIESTA feature makes easy work out of using those features. This Blu-ray player features 1080P upgrade in your DVD movies and is noticeable, being important for all those DVD movies one has collected. Highly recommended!!
Very Nice Entry Level Player July 2, 2009
Rainman208 (Atlanta, GA. USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Pros
Great PQ/AQ, Profile 2.0, decodes as well as bitstreams DTS HD MA & Dolby True HD. Sleek design, decent BD load times, affordable.
Cons
BD Live load time could be quicker (To be fair though I've only tested the feature once).
This is my first stand alone Blu-ray player. I picked this up about 2 weeks ago after my PS3 overheated. This little player is great. The most important thing to me was playback reliability. I didn't want a player where every other movie there's a problem. I decided on a Panasonic b/c of the good reviews on playback and easily available updates. I also have a Panasonic 50" plasma so I know Panny makes good stuff. The picture quality is amazing. I almost want to say even better then the PS3. Set up was a breeze. Out of the box to Quantum of Solace in 10 mins.
I did have to laugh at the fact that a Blu-ray player would come with composite cables. You'd think they'd at least throw in component cables if they couldn't find some cheap HDMI's to include. The SD card is not included either. Considering I found a 2GB card online for less than $7 I think one could have been included as well, no biggie though.
Performance wise I'm very pleased. I've had no playback issues to this point. I love the ethernet port for quick updates when needed. The Vierra Cast feature is neat but not sure how much I'll use it. Same goes for BD-Live which I tested with Transformers and found the load time to be a bit long for my liking (didn't count but I'd say about 2-3 mins). Movie load times are much better, I'd say 20 secs min, 40 secs max so far.
Overall I'd say this is an excellent entry level player. If you want a reliable player for movie watching and don't plan on a lot of BD-Live stuff or Netflix streaming (which this player doesn't do) then I say get this player. I'm glad I spent a little extra and got this instead of going for that $99 Curtis Mathes deal a couple weeks ago. Very satisfied.
It is Okay To Feel Blu July 24, 2009
William Palagi
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was a bit of a holdout on going the blu-ray route, partly because titles were still pricey and also because they were not many rentals available.
I finally decided to take the plunge on this, and I am happy I did. One of the most important features, at least for me, is upscaling of older DVDs since I have those. This machine does a great job in the upscaling so there is still alot of mileage left in your DVD collection (and an improvement to boot.) Of course if you have a good upscaling player already, that may not be worth it, but then you really need to consider blu-ray itself.
Movies really do look great and the extras on a blu-ray disc are alot of fun and entertaining. Think of it as a souped of version of DVD (I like looking at behind the scenes and making ofs, etc. This brings more to the table.)
This player let's you access it all.
Showing reviews 21-25 of 397
|
