Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)

With the BD60, Panasonic adds VIERA Cast online content access to their previous entry-level model, the DMP-BD35. You would think this makes an excellent Blu-ray Player even excellenter (yes, I know that's not a word), and it does. The BD60 excels in its Blu-ray Disc playback and is very good at DVD upconversion as well, passing difficult tests like the HQV benchmark discs with flying colors (as well as looking good on real movies). The BD60 can decode all of the latest surround codecs (including DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD) to PCM over HDMI or it can stream these to a compatible receiver in their native formats. Also, if past Panasonic players are any indication, the BD60 should prove to be among the best at disc compatibility, something which has plagued many players from other brands.

But there are still a few...Read more

Update 12/10/2009:
Panasonic recently released firmware revision 2.2. This firmware appears to have resolved the issue that I explain below. If it's not fully resolved, it at least reduces the number of occurrences very significantly. I would urge everybody who purchases this player to update their firmware to the latest revision to prevent potential freezing problems. Although I believe the issues I had were resolved, I am keeping the review at 2 stars. Right now, I believe the player (with the latest firmware) deserves at least 4 stars, and possibly 5. Hopefully, people who are less technically savvy will read this "negative" review, and then make sure that they are running with firmware 2.2 or higher if they decide to purchase this unit. Please read the player's manual to see how to do this.

My original review is below:

I purchased one of these from Amazon, but was experiencing random freezing in Blu-ray discs. The disc would simply stop...Read more

I purchased this player to replace a Samsung BD-P2500 that was giving me major compatibility problems with Blu-ray discs, and so far haven't been disappointed. Picture quality on Blu-ray is stunning and I've had no compatibility issues thus far; upscaling on standard DVDs is great. VieraCast is a novel feature that could someday find greatness if Panasonic expanded support to include Amazon, Netflix and Hulu. (I understand Amazon support is on the way.)

I have not experienced the freezing issues that some describe here, but I think that's due to how I use the player more than anything else. (I watch a disc or two at a time, then power the unit off between uses - for a technical explanation of why this apparently sidesteps the problem, see the next paragraph.) In any case, I've read online recently that Panasonic has finally figured out the cause of the freezing issue and is now working on a firmware update to fix it.

(For you techies out there, here's a bit...Read more