Panasonic DMP BD65 Blu Ray Player Review
May 16, 2010
Panasonic introduced three mainstream consumer Blu ray disc player at the 2010 CES. While the 3D capable Blu ray players were conspicuously missing, Panasonic offered up their latest non 3D Blu ray player in three different flavors. The DMP BD45, DMP BD65, and the DMP BD85 are direct successor to the DMP BD60 and http://www.buyblurayplayer.com/panasonic-dmp-bd80-blu-ray-player-review-3432. As expected, DMP BD45 is the entry level model while DMP BD65 and DMP BD85 represent the higher end models. The differences between the players are not separated by performances. Instead, you see little more features on DMP BD65 and DMP BD85 models. Overall, all three players maintain core set of features and performances that are identical to each other.
Features
Like the DMP-BD45, the DMP-BD65 is a full featured Profile 2.0 player. It is fully capable of playing any BD-Live contents. Like DMP BD45, it includes a SD card slot for media playback. The DMP BD65 will support all audio formats including Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio, and DTS-HD High resolution natively. You won’t need separate receiver to decode the high definition audio formats. The VIERA CAST is also present on the DMP BD65. VIERA CAST is Panasonic’s proprietary internet streaming platform that include Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Picasa, Bloomberg news feeds, weather channel, and many other streaming services. The DMP BD65 is advertised as Wi-Fi ready with optional purchase of Wi-Fi dongle. It also supports full 7.1 channel audio decoding via receiver. As with DMP BD45, the DMP BD65 is built around PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus imaging processor for more accurate color representation.
Design
The DMP BD65 is remarkable similar to DMP BD45 in terms of design. The LCD and playback functions are located on the right. The front face has glossy finish like many other Blu ray players. It is exactly same in terms of weight and dimension. Also, the glossy finish and location of buttons and tray is identical to the DMP-BD45. It shares the identical remote control as well.
The remote control has large button and clean layout. The numeric buttons are the top of the remote followed by playback buttons and directional button. The color coded buttons are located the bottom. It shouldn’t take you long to familiarize yourself with the remote control. The USB and SD card slot are located on the front of the player. The back of player houses all the connectivity. The Ethernet port, HDMI, component video out, and composite video out are included in the back. The digital audio outputs as well as RCA audio line output are present as well.
Performance and Video
As with DMP BD65, Panasonic advertised the player with .5 second booting time. This is somewhat misleading as most consumers will think it is the boot time of the movie. This is not the case. While loading Blu ray movie is indeed faster than previous players, the load time is nowhere near .5 seconds. While Panasonic did not truly advertise the load time as .5 seconds, it does sound like it would load in that time frame. Instead, the .5 second advertised time is the boot time between off and on for the player and not the actual movie loading time. The overall video processing was on par with DMP BD45. Two films played on DMP BD65 showed no signs of processing defects such as moiré, jaggieness, or motion blurs. I paused several frames to check for jaggieness and none were present. Also, the overall loading time of Blu ray movies were shortened by fraction over the last generation player from Panasonic. While not significant, it does show overall improvement over the previous players.
As with DMP BD65, I didn’t notice any significant color or video imaging superiority claimed by Panasonic’s Chroma Processor. Again, more accurate testing might reveal improvement. However, judging by real world viewing, I did not notice any significant difference between this player and other players.
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Audio
The onboard audio decoding had no problem handing all the audio formats including the high definition audio formats. The DMP BD65 does not have any 5.1 or 7.1 channel audio output. You will need receiver via HDMI to decode 7.1 channel outputs. The player handled MP3, AVCHD, and CD formats without any problems. It’s little odd that a step up model from DMP BD45 does not have the multi channel analog output as a connectivity option.
Overall Opinion
The overall presentation and performance of DMP BD65 is very good. However, the lack of true Wi-Fi inclusion is disappointing. You will have to pony up around $80 for the Wi-Fi dongle to use the Wi-Fi functionality. If you really need Wi-Fi, I suggest you look for a player with built in Wi-Fi such as DMP BD85 or other high end models. You will most likely save money going that route. As with DMP-BD45, the DVD upscaling was somewhat disappointing as well. The DVD upscaling was not as sharp or crisp as other players. For around $150, this could be a nice secondary Blu ray player or a main player if you don’t need high end model.
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Description
Start watching your favorite high-definition movies almost instantly with the Panasonic DMP-BD65 Blu-ray Disc player, which features an ultra-fast 2-second boot time. You'll also enjoy BD-Live and Panasonic's VIERA Cast functionality for accessing Internet video content thanks to the Ethernet port and Wireless LAN capability (DY-WL10 wireless LAN adapter sold separately)...
Features
- Ultra-fast 0.5 second startup
- VieraCast enabled including Amazon Video on Demand and Netflix streaming movies
- Wireless ready
- More compact Design
- More efficient energy consumption
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Blu-Ray Discussions
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I have a panasonic dmp-bd65 also and i love it!
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Just use the up-down-left-right buttons. Works great. Hopefully at some point in time panasonic will address this issue.
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I have the Panasonic DMP-BD65 and registered to watch Amazon VOD. It works great, good quality video, but I can’t use any functions like PAUSE, STOP, FF, REWIND. My Sony BDP works perfect for these functions. Any help? I have the latest firmware on the Panasonic that is available, 1.5x.
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