Comments on: Review: Panasonic DMP BD85K Blu Ray Player

By: Debbie D.

Debbie D. — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:10:21 +0000

Will never buy another Panasonic product!

I ordered from Panasonic online on 11/29/10. The receipt said they ship in 1-3 days. After several days they left me a message saying they had to talk to me from my home phone to verify the order. Their hours were 7am-3pm only so I wasn’t able to be at home during those hours. 12/10/10 they finally “released” my order. I emailed a few days later because I didn’t receive tracking info. They replied on 12/16/10 to say that it wouldn’t ship until the first week of January. 1/13/11 the package arrived. I saw that they charged my credit card forty-three dollars more than it was supposed to be! Spent 30 minutes on hold with them only to be told someone will have to call me back in 24-48 hours. I will never buy another Panasonic product!!! I don’t know yet if it’s even a good player since it just arrived.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 10 May 2010 00:26:32 +0000

Excellent DVD player and network streaming
Agree with all the positive reviews, plus some.

Set-up was a breeze - no hassles with firmware upgrade, network settings, Netflix connection, Picassa, You Tube etc.

Worked great with both wired and wireless conenctions (using my old Linksys G router).

DVD quality and sound are both excellent.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 May 2010 02:13:23 +0000

Panasonic DMP-BD85K
I paid more for the Panasonic BluRay player as I have been very impressed with my Panasonic Plasma TV and was very disappointed in my past DVD players (Samsung problem: It takes several pushes of buttons on the remote to get the player to recognize the command even standing 3 feet away. Toshiba problem: Movies would freeze and skip ahead) These were not problems with the Panasonic BD85K. This BluRay player has an excellent picture, very crisp and smooth. It was not very difficult to get the WiFi connected to my wireless router either. We have watched several instant BluRay movies off Netflix and several from disk. For both kinds of movies the player will hesitate about 2 second and need to catch up on buffer. (message comes on the screen saying “reading”) It isn’t a big deal as it only occurs about once during a movie. I dismissed it as networking bandwidth overload for the instant movie, but was very surprised when it occurred when playing a BluRay disk. This is a VERY minor issue. On the positive side, the BD85K starts up instantly and both types of movies load in about 10 second which is very fast considering they usually take several minutes. This was so much faster than I expected that the pause of 2 to 5 seconds once during the show is pretty much a wash. The one thing I am somewhat disappointed about is the sound. We have to turn the volume up quite a bit to get the volume to normal listening. Our TV is usually on 28 volume and we hike it up to around 40 to get the same volume. I also recommend getting the BD85K if you think you may use WiFi. The USB dongle is at cheapest $80 if you buy it separate. The price difference between the BD65K and BD85K was only $46 at the time I bought it ($165 vs $211), so having the USB dongle come with the BD85K saved money.

By: rkc73

rkc73 — Fri, 07 May 2010 04:40:22 +0000

Quality Blu-Ray Player
If I could have rated it 4.5 stars I would have. Recently purchased the Panasonic and have been very pleased. It is set up in a family room attached to a Sony sound bar and Samsung DLP. I am using a PS3 in my main home theater, but wanted a more basic player with wifi for the wife to work easily. The picture is excellent and the Wi-Fi set up was pretty easy. Signal connection is strong to my wireless G network...the route is directly beneath the TV in a basement so the signal probably travels about 12 feet. Can't comment a great deal on the sound quality since it is hooked up to a soundbar, but the 7.1 analog outs gives it great hook up flexibility that can't be found on some of the similar models.

Netflix with built in wi-fi (OK...it uses a dongle, but not a big deal hooked in the back where you can't see it) and the price were two of the main reasons I chose the Panasonic. The other was to play back AVCHD Lite video files from my Panasonic digital camera. I can play directly off the SDHC card or save the files to DVD and play. I believe Panasonic and Sony are the only two brands to offer the playback of AVCHD files (maybe OPPO...not sure on that).

The only things keeping it from a five star review are the Viera Cast interface and the somewhat confusing, outdated looking menu system. The Viera Cast setup is ok, but is a little slow. Also, would be nice if Pandora was ready to go out of the box. Apparently that is going to be a firmware addition later. The Netflix interface is pretty basic and you can't do any searching through Netflix on the interface.

Otherwise, very happy with purchase. Recommended unit.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:02:34 +0000

Great player, great deal
picture quality is fantastic, wi-fi works excellent for netflix. It’s just superb, great price from 6th Ave. Electronics.

love it, thanks, Jim

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:54:20 +0000

Great Player! Loaded with Options
I don’t really have much more to add to the other review praises, but I just talked to Panasonic 15 minutes ago, and they said that Pandora is to be released in a firmware update this summer. I’ll take the chance.. I also asked,

DMP-BD85K versus vs DMP-BD85 the only thing the K denotes is the color of the unit. Some better deals can be found searching without the K. I paid $218 for mine delivered 2nd day air.

By: diablo_984

diablo_984 — Sun, 02 May 2010 21:18:12 +0000

Panasonic LIES
After a great deal of research I bought this Panasonic unit (BD85K) with great expectations, I even called Panasonic directly to confirm it would connect to Pandora, they ensured me it would… Wrong! after receiving it and hooking it up it did get Nexflix and a bunch of useless internet apps. I called Panasonic and was told I received wrong information and Pandora would not be available until MAYBE June or July. They are not to be trusted, the unit is going back to Amazon and I’ll try another manufacturer. Do not trust Panasonic, they will tell you anything to make a sale.

By: diannerq

diannerq — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:39:21 +0000

Great internet-ready Blu-Ray player
I was so happy to receive my new Blu-Ray internet-ready player. It has added a lot of variety to my entertainment at home. I can now watch YouTube videos, stream Netflix and Amazon movies and TV shows from my couch.

Great price and fast excellent service. Arrived as advertised.

By: phxdaniel

phxdaniel — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 23:06:54 +0000

Super Clear !!!!!!!!!!!
Just watched Avatar last night.

Picture quality is very excellent.

Flawless no color washout. Pristine

picture.And of course the Audio is

A+. And I am referring to the High

Clarity Audio;Running through a

high end ONKYO receiver.

Features are great also. A definite

step up from the DMP-BD80

Awesome Panasonic !!!!!!!!!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 08:36:34 +0000

New Panasonic Blu Ray
This Panasonic has the best overall feature set including easy hook up Wireless, Netfilix without the discs and a front loading SD card slot. This feature ties a lot of devices together and is great for showing all your digital camera pictures in HD.Just take the SD card out of the Camera and slide it in the slot..Amazingly,it also plays your HD camcorder videos, again by simply taking the SDHC card directly from the camera to the Blu Ray Player.No wires,no making DVDs on some computer, no adapter hassle, just beautiful home HD movies instantly. I have a Canon VIXIA HF10,so there are no brand compatibility issues. Every AVCHD file plays quickly in full HD.I have been waiting for Panasonic to release a Blu Ray player with Net Flix and Amazon movie downloading to match the feature set of their competitiors. THe DMP 85 has this and more through the Viera Cast button. The difference with the DMP 85 and 65 is the wireless networking. The DMP 85 found the network on the second try and hooked up to my Cisco wireless “N” network without any problems. I was able to view Netflix Movies after visiting the Netflix site and entering a code number that popped up on the instruction screen. Since I am a current Netflix by mail subscriber, Movies were available immediately after I entered them in my seperate “Download” que on line. Video quality was excellent and exceeded my expectations for wireless video transmission. I did not try the Amazon rentals or the other features yet. The Blu Ray picture quality on my 65″ was excellent, and passed the torture tests from problem discs with flying colors. Importantly,it actually loaded fast enough to not irritate me as my previous Blu Ray players always did.

I strongly reccomend this player for both it’s picture quality , quick loading time, and wireless downloading capabilities. Also if you own a Digital Camera that uses SD/SDHC cards, you will never go back to looking at your pictures on a computer after you see them in full HD on your big Screen.If you are even considering buying a HD camcorder that uses SDHC cards, this unit future proofs you. Just putting the card in the front of this unit and seeing your broadcast quality home HD movies appear on your big screen without a single connection will really make you smile. This player finally provides some of the long delayed promises of the digital future where everything actually works without endless wires and adapters.