Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)

5 Responses to “Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)”

1. K. Kauffman says:

   August 8, 2010 at 12:21 pm

   Review by K. Kauffman for Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)
   Rating:
   BluRay quality is outstanding. I use HDMI with 1080P/24 active. The 24 is OFF by default. DVD upscaling is very good. AVCHD and DIVX playback is very good. The interface for the networked features is somewhat clunky but usable. NETFLIX, DIVX VOD and Amazon video services work the way they should. YouTube integration works just great. I had previously purchased (and returned) a Sony BDP-N460 because it was unstable, required reboots and YouTube personal playlists were limited to 6 videos per playlist. I’m happy to say that the Panasonic is stable (heavy duty Elmo rotation) and the YouTube playlists are not limited like on the Sony. Wired networking is straight forward. I used a wired drop, so I have not used the wireless connection yet. The one thing I’m disappointed about is that DLNA features are NOT present on this unit and there is no music services included. There is a “coming soon” block on the NET screens, so maybe its coming in the future. I’m very happy with quality of the unit and its output.
2. A. M. Kini says:

   August 8, 2010 at 12:59 pm

   Review by A. M. Kini for Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)
   Rating:
   I have had this player for about a week now to get familiar with all of its features and capabilities. The picture quality of BD video is simply stunning, even with my Panasonic 720p projector (which is soon to be upgraded to 1080p). I can only imagine how good the picture will be with 1080p projector! Since all my connections are via HDMI, the sound quality is also outstanding. However, unlike the Oppo and few other bluray players, this one is not SACD and DVD-Audio capable (not a big deal with me). I watched Star Trek twice and this regular DVD seemed to have acquired a new life with the terrific upscaling by this player. Colors and the picture look a lot like in movie theatres, thanks to Panasonic’s proprietary video processors developed in collaboration with Hollywood studios. Wi-Fi is not exacly built-in, but with a supplied dongle which is connected to a USB port in the back. USB extention cable is also provided for optimal placement of the dongle and better signal strength. Wi-fi set up was fairly easy, although I wish the instructions in the user’s mannual were a bit more clear. Once connected to the internet, currently active services include Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, You Tube, Picasa, local weather, and Bloomberg stock ticker. Navigating via on-screen menus is a breeze with a decent remote (wish it was back-lit). Movies streamed from Netflix worked flawlessly and the picture quality was surprisingly good! More video and music sites are likely to be added as there is a “Coming Soon” area, which is currently blank. I also don’t understand why DLNA feature is not available on this North American model, but is reported to be available on the European model. Hope DLNA will be made available via future firmware updates. Boot times and disc-loading times are pretty quick, on par with non-bluray players. Thus, one of the long standing negatives of bluray players no longer seems to be an issue.
   
   All in all, a great player. Too bad Panasonic was a late-comer to a player with these feature sets (wi-fi, internet video streaming etc.), but I am glad that they did finally. In fact, by adding these features to their previous flagship model BD80, Panasonic has indeed delivered a potential benchmark in this price/feature class. I would have given it five stars, but am giving it only four because of the lack of DLNA and limited number of currently availabile video/audio sites (compared to other manufacturers). If Panasonic addresses these issues with future firmware updates, this is clearly a five-star player. Panasonic, hope you are listening!
3. Chris Boylan says:

   August 8, 2010 at 1:12 pm

   Review by Chris Boylan for Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)
   Rating:
   There is a lot to like about Panasonic’s latest high-end Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD85: excellent video and audio performance, a rich assortment of streaming media options (Netflix, Amazon VOD, YouTube and Pandora Internet Radio), and a highly customizable assortment of tweakable parameters for audio and video hobbyists. Also, with built in Wi-Fi via the included USB adapter, it’s easier than it used to be to reap the benefits of an internet-enabled player. However, the bland text-based menus and operational idiosyncrasies of the player make it feel a little bit behind the times.

   DVD upconversion is very good to excellent, with some enhancements to Panasonic’s Uniphier video processor that are only available in the BD85 and in the new Blu-ray 3D players, the DMP-BDT300 and DMP-BDT350. The entry-level BD45 and BD65 players include a slightly lesser quality version of the Uniphier processor, equivalent to Panasonic’s 2009 players. Diagonal lines are clean and free from jaggies, 2:3 film cadence is easily detected by the player, preventing the tell-tale moire distortion that can occur on lesser players, and edge detail is smooth and fairly free of aliasing and any combing or tearing artifacts.

   Turning to high def Blu-ray Disc playback, advances to the player’s chroma (color) upconversion processor enable outstanding color reproduction and color detail from 1080p Blu-ray Disc, superior to Blu-ray playback on some other more expensive players. To be honest, these improvements are only really visible on larger screen sizes (e.g., large screen projection systems) but home theater hobbyists and videophiles will appreciate the exceptional Blu-ray playback quality of the BD85.

   Audio quality is also excellent, with some innovative enhancements to the way digital audio is handled that can improve the sound quality, even over HDMI PCM and bitstream connections (specifically the “Jitter Purifier” and “High Clarity Audio” features). By providing more accurate data for the audio clock, the BD85 minimizes jitter that can detract from the sound quality, even when your receiver or preamp does the audio decoding. For those who have older non-HDMI receivers, the BD85′s multi-channel analog outputs and on-board decoding for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD can provide outstanding lossless audio from Blu-ray Disc (just be prepared to spend some time tweaking the player’s speaker settings and your receiver to get the sound dialed in just right).

   In our testing, the included 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi adapter worked well. Also with the WiFi adapter is a 3-foot USB extension cable which allows you to place the wireless antenna module outside the audio cabinet where it can get better WiFi reception. We were easily able to stream Netflix in HD using the WiFi adapter one floor away from our 802.11g Linksys wireless router. Access to Netflix, Amazon and YouTube was pretty reliable (though we tested YouTube and Netflix much more heavily than Amazon VOD), and BD-Live features worked well on the player (as long as you give it a couple of minutes to fully connect to the network). Also, for those with the firmware 1.23 applied, as of June 7th, Pandora is now available in the VIERA Cast screen on this player.

   But Panasonic made some ergonomic choices here that are a bit questionable. They shortened the remote vs. last year’s models by about an inch. And while this does make the basic functions like transport and menu navigation a little easier to operate (at least to my thumbs), the smaller size meant removing the “Set-up” button entirely, and making the frequently used “Display” button much smaller and easy to miss. And although there is a VIERA Cast button the remote, which allows access to all the IPTV streaming goodies, the player lacks an integrated splash screen (as seen on recent LG and Samsung players) which would give you the option to select between disc-based, USB-based on web-based content in an integrated and logical way.

   Also, within the “Functions” menu, there is an option called “Network” which actually launches the VIERA Cast screen (why not call it “VIERA Cast” to be consistent?). Perhaps most frustrating to those who watch a lot of foreign films (or non-native English speakers), there is no subtitle button on the remote. Instead subtitle controls are buried deep within the “Display” menu, where you’ll also find the nifty 24p mode switch for DVD playback. This is nothing new in the BD85, but it is a questionable choice for a fairly commonly used function.

   In the area of loading speed, the BD85 carries on the tradition of earlier Panasonic players being a fairly sluggish disc loader. Sure, there is a “fast boot” option (Quick Start), which can take you from powered off to the basic splash screen and “no disc” message in under 2 seconds. But after that initial boot, you’ll still be waiting a while to view your discs – we clocked the disc loading times at about 20 seconds to load a standard DVD, 36 seconds to load a Blu-ray and 39 seconds to load a BD-Java Blu-ray (the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie). A BD-Live heavy title (“Inglourious Basterds”) can take over two minutes to get to a visible screen, though we did find that using an SDHC card instead of a standard SD card, did speed up this load time significantly, exposing more of the BD-Live content that we did not see when we used the standard 1GB SD card. And that’s one more knock – why does Panasonic still require customers to buy and insert an SD card in order to use BD-Live? Why not load the unit with at least 1 GB of on-board memory so that customers are not disappointed to find they need an additional purchase just to use BD-Live?

   In terms of disc compatibility and reliable operations, we were only able to find a single disc that was problematic on the player – the first disc in the “Alien Quadrilogy” boxed DVD set. The default Dolby Digital track plays fine but the DTS track on the extended cut of the film emits nothing but silence. Apparently this is an improvement over earlier Panasonic players, some of which were not able to play this disc at all. We also saw the machine shut itself down a couple of times when playing Xvid-encoded AVI files from a connected USB drive. But thanks to some follow-up testing from Panasonic, confirmed by us, this turned out to be media-specific: in other words, if you use a decent quality name brand USB flash drive (instead of the cheap promo USB drive we initially used), the player plays these AVI files fine.

   All told, the operational idiosyncrasies of the player are easy enough to get used to, and will be more annoying to hobbyists who like to get into the set-up menus to test various options and settings and perhaps less annoying to the average consumer. It’s the performance that matters, and at the moment, this is one of the top performers available for under $300. So if you don’t mind a few less-than-sexy menus and operational quirks, then the BD85 will make an excellent choice for a high performance, affordable Blu-ray Disc player.

   Our detailed review is available on Big Picture Big Sound (dot com).
4. T. Whitaker says:

   August 8, 2010 at 1:15 pm

   Review by T. Whitaker for Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)
   Rating:
   Bought this to replace a broken PS3 and am very happy with it. Picture quality is great, but it’s the sound I’m most impressed with. Using a non-HDMI reciever, I can still get TrueHD sound using the six channel analogue option. Something I couldn’t get using the PS3′s digital optical option. I’ve watched about 10 flicks and all load times were around a minute. Streaming Netflix wirelessly works great and I can get to it with one button. Also, one button on the unit turns it on, turns on my tv and automaticly selects the correct port. Then, by turning off my tv the player shuts down too. I really like all the one button functions.
   
5. RR says:

   August 8, 2010 at 2:10 pm

   Review by RR for Panasonic DMP-BD85K WiFi Enabled Blu-Ray Disc Player (Black)
   Rating:
   This is my first blu-ray player. I bought it a few days ago because it offers 7.1 analog out. I didn’t really need the wireless capability but since it came with everything it needs for wireless, I was able to take the player out of the box, connect it to my TV and stereo, create a Netflix account on the fly, setup the wireless connection with my home router and begin to watch a movie in about 20 minutes ! This has been the best experience. I never used an online streaming service and never had a Netflix account. Setting up wireless and Netflix was a breeze. I have not used the 7.1 analog yet since I am waiting to connect to my 7.1 amp but even the stereo sound for movies is excellent. The picture quality for both Netflix instant and DVD’s are fantastic. I couldn’t be happier. A very friendly player. You can also view other online content such as Youtube, Picasa web albums, weather etc.