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!
Product Features
- Superior Video and Audio Performance
- Wi-Fi enabled with super sensitive antenna
- Ultra-fast 0.5 second startup
- More compact Design
- More efficient energy consumption
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