Re: Panasonic intros fourth generation Blu-ray players

I am a BIG Panasonic fan, my 42inch LCD is a Panasonic. My mother still has my 32 inch Panasonic from 1995 in her bedroom and it works just great. And if I wanted to spend the $ on a expensive Blu Ray player I would have picked Panasonic. But here we go again, trying integrate the PC with our movie watching experience. Look I own a PC and I am actually looking into a couple laptops to replace my desk top. I like to think that I am an electronics junky, but do we really need this technology now? But I know, as americans, we like to sit on our asses and not move for anything. I like to call our society the velcro society. You might say what the hell does that mean? Well when the velcro athletic shoe was invented, that started the pure unadultarated laziness in the good old US of A. Like for example the invention of the GPS mainstream. Why can't you simply get yourself a Rand McNally and map out your route before you hit the open road? No you have to talk to a box to find out where to go. So now we have begun to tie in our PC's with everything we do, our TV's, telephones, shopping, bill paying etc. etc. etc............

WOW what a rant, but what a lazy society we have become!!!

screw the ps3. some people want an actual SA player.

not im not sayign to get that one, but im saying no everyone wants to game. with shitty online service. lol

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Why on gods green earth would you purchase this over a PS3?

Because it's made by Sony and it sucks!

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screw the ps3. some people want an actual SA player.

Then as Hendrix pointed out..this would be the one to get. The only diff. between this and the 55 (which retails for $100 more) is that the 55 has analog outputs. EVERYTHING else is the same. I'm thinking about picking one up (35) myself. Somebody on here said they saw it for $250. Once again as Hendrix mentioned, these two units are being highly regarded as the BEST STANDALONE'S available right now.

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Regarding price. It is best to think of these players as equal too, or even better than the bd50, which we all know is a killer machine. I believe THAT player cost $600-$700. This is a no brainer..would you rather have a player that is regarded as the best, or a Funai clone (sorry ed.) that may only be what..like $10-$20 bucks cheaper compared to the 35?

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[Post edited by bladerunner1 on Nov 13, 2008]

Kuco, you kill me. If you only could hear my friends and family rave about how much better the PS3 is over stand alone BD players. And by the way Eddie you can officially add me to the clone wars. I bought the Maggy for the in-laws from Wal*mart for $215.. I am so tempted to open the box and run it through the paces but I'll wait until the weekend.

Hey Spoony,

I tried the PS3 out for a while. I didn't like it. I found the video playback levels too much like a computer. The PS3 is a computer, anyways I didn't like the the opaqueness of the image that was displayed. For video games it looked good, but movies is a completely different ball game. Contrast, and brightness did not look natural. At least in my eyes. I am not critizing the the PS3 for most. Gary U said the same thing as well. I noticed the same effect when watching movies through the xbox 360. These devices cannot acheive the same reference balance or gain that standalones can hit. When I compared the PS3 to the Magnasonic, the Sony always had this grey tone inflection in standby mode, or a blank shot that overcast over the whole screen. I'm surprised Skyhawk has never complained of this but whatever. He has a similar set up to what I have, and when you are on a projo it is annoying as hell. It's almost like a grey film looking through a clear window. This is my reason for not buying a PS3 as a Blu-Ray player. Also big upsets are the power consumption, Heat dissapation, IR Remote support, and it is made by Sony.

The Panasonic is an attractive brand and can hold their own. Also the LG BD300 is also very tempting. Don't get me wrong but the Maggy is good, but you can always get better! I can always use a Blu-Ray deck in the livingroom!

ReaggieP, I don't know what model PS3 you are viewing on (or your TV), but I'm not getting -the look- in the image that you've described above with my original 60GB model - your news is strange to my ears. Can't vouch for Skyhawk. The PS3 considered one of the best BD players (and not just for the CELL chip's quick response time), and is THE -reference- player for Cnet, and The Criterion Collection, among others.

Panasonic has always been right there with the PS3 when it comes to quality, and they have their own added proprietary special image "filters" to make the image as clean as possible. And now with the lower prices, well, their models are looking quite attractive right now. The Funai clones are very good I'm sure, but for just a little more money you can acquire a "Cadillac" brand of BD quality - PANASONIC.

-JOE- (Love Hendrix!)

you know, i'm getting bored with all this discussion about this or that player. i mean, when was the last time anyone cared to dicker about the best dvd player? i think we can all agree on the following principles:

1) shun profile 1.0 players.

2) if internet connectivity is not important to you (i.e. you only want profile 1.1), then buy one of the funai clones (magnavox, sylvania, insignia--the big tank one, not the one that looks like a samsung).

3) if you want a profile 2.0 player to be "future proof", then panasonic, sony (including the PS3), sharp, and LG are all good bets. avoid samsungs, as they have been known to cause more grief than any other blu-ray players.

Joe, I wrote out a whole explanation just moments ago, but can't be bothered to do it again. mylaptop wifi is f'd... Cheap ass Dell laptops! Anyways, I have tried numerous tests, and have also borrowed video calibration equip from work, and came up with similar results. I'm using a 2000 series Panasonic 1080p projo. I don't get the results with the XA2, or the Maggy. I got those results with both the 40gig PS3 and XBOX 360. It's gotta be a computer issue. My HTPC does a similar thing, but now I have crammed the shit out of the gain output and it is better, but not great. Computers in general for whatever reason can produce great resolution but cannot balance certain variables that standalones can do.

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It's gotta be a computer issue.

more like a "personal issue" as in you despise sony.

i have one of these and as the "experts", and myself agree, it is dang near perfect.

this is the first time during blu-ray's life cycle that i have even considered a standalone. the panasonic dmp-bd35 has everything i am looking for, and it hit the right price point. but the ps3 still stays in the theater room, no matter what the panny can do.