Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player, Black

I've had a DMP-BD55 in my front projection theater since Nov 08 - which is why I got this update of the BD35 for the family room LCD. I appreciate the fact that Panasonic does it's engineering in-house and makes it's own video processors instead of buying off the shelf.

Pros: Amazing PQ, both from Blu Ray disks and upscaled DVDs. Same goes for the AQ. This is why I bought it - not for the BD-Live, or any of the streaming BS which, IMHO, are waaaay over hyped. No need for the cost of wireless LAN, I'll just plug a cable into my router for firmware updates. As far as load times - I get an extra 30 seconds to pop my popcorn vs: other BD players. WHY do reviewers continue to manufacture such "controversy" about a 1/2 minute load time delta? Much ado about nada... Paid $220 at Amazon... Did I mention the Amazing PQ and AQ?

Cons: It doesn't serve coffee or scones. I... am... apoplectic...

Other Thoughts: A note about the BD60/80 implementation of DTS-HD Master Audio Essential instead of the full blown DTS-HD Master Audio. Per Home Theater Mag: "In Blu-ray, the most frequent use of DTS is lossless Master Audio, and you'll get that under either the original MA logo or the Essential logo. Neo:6 is a matrixed process designed to convert two-channel signals to surround, so it's never used in movies and therefore not a factor in either Blu-ray or DVD. 96/24 is mainly for high-res DVD music releases, but not too many of them. The only concern for movie buffs might be the downconversion of ES and ES Matrix soundtracks, the 6.1- and 7.1-channel versions of old-school lossy DTS, in DVD. If you desire to playback the full DTS technology feature set with a DTS Master Audio Essential player for either high-def or standard-def content, you can simply change the audio setup mode in your player to stream out over HDMI and let your DTS-HD Master Audio receiver decode the DTS 96/24, ES, ES Matrix, and Neo: 6."

I purchase the Panasonic DMP-BD60 on recommendations from various internet sites. It lives up to its excellent reputation... in most cases! I am very impressed with the picture it sends to my Samsung HDTV. It communicates with my TV, so all I have to do is hit "eject" on my blu-ray remote and it turns on the TV and switches it to the HDMI channel to play! My Samsung remote will even control the Panasonic (play, rewind, ff, stop), but not "pause." The picture is awesome, and the "load time" issues are non-existent. Really, if you don't have the time for this to load you need to loosen up your schedule! I did have a scare with my first blu-ray (what are the odds of my first blu-ray not playing but every other one being fine) not playing. It was a Netflix blu-ray with hardly a scratch. After calling 6ave (who sold the unit through Amazon) they were very nice and suggested trying another blu-ray in it, or to send back this unit. It's been perfect since then. The one minus of ordering online is that I would have had to wait a week for another one, where buying at a store you could just run down and swap it out (which wouldn't have solved my problem anyway...) But is that worth paying sales tax and a higher price for the unit? To some it is... not me! Small nitpicks: the SD card slot where you can view your pictures from a digital camera is a reason I bought this player, and it works... but you can't skip over pictures you don't care to see, and it will only play a certain number of them. Those of you with thousands of pics on your 8G SD cards will be disappointed that it will only play a couple hundred. The online connections are to Picasa, YouTube, and weather for your area. These are OK, but wish it could link up to Netflix. I have not explored the Amazon HD downloadable videos yet. The upconverting DVD aspect to this player does work, but it seems some do better than others. The newer DVD movies seem to do better than my older ones. I was not as impressed with my regular DVD set of BBC Planet Earth... get the blu-ray of that! But my LOTR trilogy was satisfying to watch. My old DVD player had a button for subtitles so you could instantly turn it on and off- this player doesn't. You have to turn it on in the main movie before you watch, which is a bit of a bummer. But with everything this player does right, that is a small price to pay. It is also very sleek looking and I can't even see it in my cabinet unless it is on!

My 18 month old Sony BDP-300 died.

I spent weeks researching new players and kept coming back to the Panasonic, not only because of the solid reviews, but because we have a Panasonic plasma tv.

It arrived yesterday, it took 5 minutes to hook up, and all I can say is WOW!

The loading time is minimal compared to the Sony.

The difference in all of our Blu-rays and regular dvd's is positively stunning. The colors are intensely gorgeous and I can tell you, the clarity is light years better than on the Sony.

We are jaw-dropped at what, for the first time, makes real use of our tv.

I recommend this player without hesitation or reservation!!!!!

I experienced the same "freezing" issue, with both DVD's and Blu-ray. I had it for only 2 weeks, and it started with the first disc. It had this problem on 3 of the 4 discs I tried, and I lost control in each case, unable to get the unit to respond to any commands except "off". I returned it today, and am waiting for a replacement. When working, the picture is excellent.

If you've been holding back on a Blu-Ray Disk, or BD, player because of player price, performance quirks, rapid changes in the BD standard, movie cost and availability, the time may have come to upgrade. The BD60 performs for me much like many of the reviewers here have spoken off, but Panasonic products have a large reputation for reliability, has its prior model of BD60 proven for over a year, has its current model out for over 3 months with glowing user reviews, and BD movies have dropped in price quite a bit since 2009 began.

To highlight specific issues that are circulating on other review web sites:

My disk load time is mostly under 1 minute, more like 30 seconds. Its longest only if the BD has to start up from power off. There is a quick load feature, but this keeps the unit partially powered on, so the phantom power is 6 watts OFF, versus 0.5 watts if the quick load feature is off.

I have the disk freeze, seen after 40 hours of usage. It lasts under 3 seconds, so it easily tolerated when it occurs. Its detailed here by another reviewer. It has not happened when playing main movies, but only with extras if they are HD but not 24 fps material. It has happened 4x in 40 hours.

The remote is ugly but very ergonomic. It was far easier to program my basic Sharp TV control codes into it that most remotes. Its buttons are logically arranged, so its easy to find related functions for menus.

Unlike DVD, there is a noticeable pause between moving between the movie and some menu items, such as fast forwarding. Given that the BD is 7x more data than DVD9, the delay seems proportionate. However, the frame advance, slow mo etc., are as responsive as my DVD player. My DVD player remembers were I left off when changing player functions, while the BD60 may restart the disk.

However, all these subtle annoyances disappear once the BD movie's breathtaking clarity takes hold.

Compared to my Sony DVD player, the upconversion of DVD is also more vibrant, and noticeably superior. Until more BD movies are available, even watching DVD on this unit shines.

A good number of DVD and BD movies are being sold for near the same price, at least from Amazon. While the boxes and inserts are far more Spartan for basic BD movies versus DVD, the disk data is the thing, and the picture quality in incomparable. With blank BD media running $4-5 25GB disk, and over $10 for a single blank 50GB disk, re-releases sold for $10-15 a disk are a bargain.

One critical item that has held me back from BD, besides the HD vs BD wars, was that BD or HD disk mastering or player technology itself had on occasion provided marginal improvements over DVD imagery. This has led to a plethora of review sites comparing HD or BD to DVD, so upgrading your old DVD collection is not a no-brainer, and one should look into BD reviews before upgrading your current DVD collection.