First impressions of my new Blu-Ray player

[DTLongo]

OK, now that Blu-Ray has won the (accursed) format war I took the plunge and purchased a Panasonic DMP-BD30 from Best Buy on March 4 on sale for $450 + tax, with two free Blu-Ray DVD's thrown in. Have had it up and running for two days now. It worked fine out of the box, and better now that I've spent time with the manual, tweaked the setup-choice settings and learned the remote better.

The two Blu-Ray disks I got were Terminator 2 and The Dirty Dozen. So far I've played only the T2 disk.

Impressions: Blu-Ray visual improvement is so-so on the T2 disc relative to the previous T2 DVD I have. The fault is not the player but the quality of the video transfer. The brief opening Lionsgate and THX trailers on the T2 disk ARE stunning. The movie itself is only marginally if at all better than on standard DVD upconverted by my previous OPPO-991HD upconverting player.

BUT, the sound improvement on Blu-Ray T2 and on my other regular DVD's with the Panasonic is stunning! It is a really dramatic improvement. The surround aspect is now really "there." Dialogue and everything else is also clearer.

In the last two days I have played on the Panasonic numerous regular DVD's with which I am very familiar. The upconverting function for regular DVD's on the Panasonic is also a VAST improvement. I thought the Oppo was pretty good but the Panasonic blows it away in both video AND sound quality. I don't know why, since the Oppo was and the Panasonic is connected to my Pioneer 50" plasma HDTV by the same HDMI cable and to my Harmon-KardonAVR-235 via digital optical cable. All my non-high def DVD's are dramatically improved and newer ones with better transfers, such as the latest Star Wars "A New Hope," come through the Panasonic in virtually HD quality. Seriously.

So, I'm glad with the new purchase and I look forward with a lot of good viewing of Blu-Ray DVD's from Netflix. Given Hollywood's less than ideal transfer processes, I don't expect the best high-def from film-based movie DVD's. But quality high-def DVD's from Discovery Channel and other sources should be stunning.

[wuzzzer]

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players are some of the best standard DVD upconverting players available. Eventually I'll be joining the Blu camp, probably by getting a PS3.

[CECAA850]

Everyone touts the new HD picture, but the sound is truly amazing, you're right.

[jbsl]

I bought the Toshiba A35 mainly for it's upconverting of regular dvds. I paid $300 plus it came with 300 and Bourne Idenity on HD discs.

Next is a new TV and then in two years when Blue ray has dropped in price of the BR dvds I'll buy a Blueray player. My current tv does 1080i so the pic looks outstanding but a 1080p tv with a HDMI cable will take everything to the next level.

One of the best looking regular dvds on my A35 is the superbit dvd of the Fith element which is a slilly movie but it looks outstanding.

I'll probably buy a few more HD dvds as they come down in price from mid twenty to mid to low teens. I don't plan on replacing most of my current dvds on HD or Blue ray. I have replaced Transformers, 300, King Kong, and about 7 others on HD dvd.

[gibbie]

Those considering a Blu-Ray player may want to consider waiting for the new BD-Live (Profile 2.0) players to arrive. The Panasonic BD50 and Sony Sapphire 3 and 4 players will support the interactive features.

[BillH2121]

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players are some of the best standard DVD upconverting players available. Eventually I'll be joining the Blu camp, probably by getting a PS3.

I bought a PS3 for its blu-ray capabilities, but now I'm hooked on playing the damned video games!

[garymd]

Those considering a Blu-Ray player may want to consider waiting for the new BD-Live (Profile 2.0) players to arrive. The Panasonic BD50 and Sony Sapphire 3 and 4 players will support the interactive features.

How goes it Tom Longo? Long time no see! BTW, we're looking to buy a beach place around Bethany so we might be neighbors in the near future.

Back to the task at hand............I know very little about HT stuff. What are interactive features?

My gear is so old, I don't even have progressive scan on my old Panasonic DVD player. I'm a 2-channel dinosaur for the most part but will need to replace my old DVD player soon. I was about to buy an OPPO and use it for both DVD and CD/SACD in my 2-channel tube setup AND my HT reciever via the trusty Niles switchbox. Should I now wait for one of these new players? Will the HT side of things be THAT much better than the OPPO or is OPPO still the best way to go if CD/SACD is important to you. I have a 34" Sony HD widescreen (CRT) - the one that weighs about 300 lbs. Someday I'll get a bigger TV and move that one to the basement but not for a few years at least.

Thanks.

[DTLongo]

"How goes it Tom Longo? Long time no see! BTW, we're looking to buy a beach place around Bethany so we might be neighbors in the near future... I was about to buy an OPPO... "

Hi Gary, good to hear from you. If you are in my area by all means stop by. I am no longer in Ocean Pines, I'm now in a pondfront house in Delmar, MD just north of Salisbury, close to the main Route 50 route to Ocean City/Bethany. The Khorns and Belle are in a dedicated three-channel audio setup in a room with perfect corners. My office is there and I can patch a desktop TV into them if I want to. The 7.1 surround HT with the 50" Pioneer and the new Panasonic Blu-Ray is in a separate media room. I have a great "bachelor pad."

Based on my experience with the Oppo and first impressions of the new Panasonic, I would bypass the Oppo in favor of the latter as regards the video and 7.1 sound quality. The manual does not say whether the Panasonic plays SACD's, though, so I doubt that it does.

The Panasonic's firmware is upgradable by Internet but the machine does not have a telephone or ethernet port. You download and burn the update onto a CD and put the CD in the player. The player came with version 1.3 firmware and I updated it last night to version 1.6. No visual or audio difference but the update is supposed to make the player compatible with forthcoming more-features Blu-Ray DVD's.

Version 2.0 Blu-Ray players are supposed to offer direct Internet connectivity and interactivity. That's not a feature I particularly want or need plus I imagine version 2.0 machines will be more expensive.

[dougdrake]

DTLongo - Have you looked at a Playstation 3 versus the player you bought? You'd have to compare all the features/differences to be sure it works for you, but I like having the PS3 as it's so easy to upgrade via the Internet, it has very advanced capabilities, plus it plays games to boot. Downside is the remote is a Bluetooth, so you can't use your Pronto/Harmony/etc....

[IndyKlipschFan]

**** Upgrade or BLUE RAY - PS 3 ALERT****

Playstation 3, (Whatever it will be called) has a newer machine coming out sometime promissed in late March.. 120 gig hard drive.. backwards compatible to other playstation machines, and has separate audio and video boards like the upper level Blue Ray player. (Most of you might not know that there are actually 3 levels of Blue Ray DVD machines.. )

I have a friend at the Sony store here in Indy. This all comes from him.. May or may not be 100% right, but I am learning a LOT!!

[Youthman]

Playstation 3, (Whatever it will be called) has a newer machine coming out sometime promissed in late March..

According to this article, it looks like they wanted to have DVR capabilities too. Couldn't find much online about the next generation PS3 though.

[DTLongo]

"DTLongo - Have you looked at a Playstation 3 versus the player you bought?"

No I didn't, because 65 y.o. fossil that I am I don't have a great interest in games. I do appreciate their fascination for some people including the fantastic graphics of which today's home systems are capable. I got into the audio hobby in the 1950's and have sort of seen and done it all - 78's, LP's, tubes, transistors, reel-to-reel, cassettes, elcasets, four-channel, Dolby, Dolby Pro-Logic, DVD's, high-def DVD's, 5.1, 7.1, Internet, etc. It's been a fascinating ride.

A former licensed private pilot I do still fly Microsoft Flight Simulator (v. 9) at times but that's it games-wise. I'm just a VFR duffer into low slow sightseeing. A Piper Cub is the funnest of all, a great "ultralight." Visited Yosemite last summer and then built into F.S. some flights from and in to the valley. Fun!

[wuzzzer]

I know of several people who bought a PS3 strictly for its Blu-Ray capabilities. You don't have to have any interest in games to buy a PS3. []

[gibbie]

The PS3 certainly is a bargain for its ability to play Blu-Ray discs and has been promised to be upgraded to Profile 2 (BD Live) in the near future. Too bad it lacks multi-channel analog outputs (2.0 only). If your receiver is HDMI compatible and offers the newer surround formats (e.g. TrueHD) then this won't be a limitation.

[garymd]

It's still unclear as to which route I should take. Assume that HT and 2-channel are of equal importance and I want to get the best bang for my buck. I also want to play SACDs. Would it be better to go with the OPPO which does all the 2-channel stuff very well and does a good job on the HT side too, just no Blu-Ray. If I did the Blu-Ray thing, I'd need a separate SACD Player, correct?

[mfk]

I just got am LG Blu-Ray burner, fits in a pc, no fuss, no muss, one day I'll buy an HDTV, but the old Sony Wega will do for now

[JJkizak]

Best Buy has the HDA-35 for $149.00.

JJK

[el jopez]

It's still unclear as to which route I should take. Assume that HT and 2-channel are of equal importance and I want to get the best bang for my buck. I also want to play SACDs. Would it be better to go with the OPPO which does all the 2-channel stuff very well and does a good job on the HT side too, just no Blu-Ray. If I did the Blu-Ray thing, I'd need a separate SACD Player, correct?

Sony marketing is top notch!

No, you don't have to buy a Blu-Ray thing and a seperate SACD player. Its funny that many people scoff at the idea of the PS3 as a seperate entity from Blu-Ray players when it happens to be the best, and future proof at the moment. Yes, the PS3 plays sacd's, no other blu-ray player does. Yes, Sony's PS3 will be Profile 2 compliant; current and other machines on the market will not be; they require firmware upgrades.

Though many shopper perceive the PS3 to be a gaming device, it is not. It is a central media hub that Sony crafted and gambled with, and only now are slowly seeing the fruits of thier highly risky labors. Turning your nose up at this option, which is the cheapest, is hurting yourself and your wallet.

[mfk]

I purchased an blu-ray burner from newegg.com. works great under ubuntu, I'm going to order another one for my one Vista box which has AnyDVD, CloneDVD amd ImTOO Platinum on it. Now I just have to replace the Sony Wege I've been using for years, but I have this thing for classics that work well.

[damonrpayne]

T2 looks a little better than DVD but not an example of the kind of quality you can get. Some of the movies older than a few years were not considered worth cleaning up as much, so the quality off the print shows on the BD. Some films (Casablanca) were considered worth cleaning up and look astounding despite their age. Take a look at Crank, or Sunshine, or the Spider Man films (not sure what your taste is or I could recommend more) or the harry potter films for examples of pristine video. Black Hawk down is also good with stellar sound to match.