Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player Review

**The News Bot** · 28-05-2009, 6:35 PM

Reviewed by David Mackenzie
My end word on the DMP-BD60 is plain and predictable: it works as you'd expect it to, making it a fine choice if you need a BD player to connect to a digital AV system.
Read the full review...

Suave · 28-05-2009, 6:39 PM

Hi David,

Thanks for the review! May I ask, will the Viera-Cast features/functions work fully on a non Panasonic Plasma or are there limitations in some way?

Many Thanks,

Suave!

scrapbook · 28-05-2009, 7:43 PM

How about loading times?

I wonder whether 'we' should have a selection of blu-rays that are tested on every player reviewed for comparison.

David Mackenzie · 29-05-2009, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suave

Hi David,

Thanks for the review! May I ask, will the Viera-Cast features/functions work fully on a non Panasonic Plasma or are there limitations in some way?

Many Thanks,

Suave!

Nope, I used 'em on my Sony projector. Totally independent.

Quote:

How about loading times?

I wonder whether 'we' should have a selection of blu-rays that are tested on every player reviewed for comparison.

Yes we should. Let me test my usual discs and update the review.

Edit: just for you:

Quote:

Loading Times

Panasonic give us a choice when it comes to startup time: do we go for the fastest startup time, or the lower power consumption? I went for latter, because the startup time is still not at all painful in the eco-friendly mode.

To measure these times, I loaded a disc (in this case, Sony's Region A release of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist), turned the player off, and measured how long it took from pressing the Power button to seeing moving video on-screen (in this case, the Sony logo).

Quick Start OFF: 1 minute, 38 seconds
Quick Start ON: 1 minute, 26 seconds

kingfats · 29-05-2009, 9:16 AM

Very good review

Panasonic make a decent BD player,shame speed was not improved this time around though. (loading and player operation)

Sheepking · 29-05-2009, 9:58 AM

Is it possible to force 24p like the sony's can?

I need this feature as at the moment my Blu-Ray player goes through my Yamaha amp which is not HDMI 1.3 but accepts decoded PCM and without 24p forced it defaults to off.

kingfats · 29-05-2009, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheepking

Is it possible to force 24p like the sony's can?

I need this feature as at the moment my Blu-Ray player goes through my Yamaha amp which is not HDMI 1.3 but accepts decoded PCM and without 24p forced it defaults to off.

No sorry.

henryv · 30-05-2009, 6:10 AM

Is this the best Blu Ray player on the market just now, at any price?
i.e If they were all the same price which would you choose?

Henry.

kingfats · 30-05-2009, 9:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryv

Is this the best Blu Ray player on the market just now, at any price?
i.e If they were all the same price which would you choose?

Henry.

The Oppo.

Panasonics a very good player

if you don't need the extras the 60 offers then the 35 does the job just as nicely.
Cheers.

David Mackenzie · 30-05-2009, 7:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by henryv

Is this the best Blu Ray player on the market just now, at any price?

There are so many from which to choose. I haven't used one hands-on, but the Oppo sounds like the best bet for its DVD backwards compatibility. I haven't seen a Blu-ray player that mucks up playback of 1080p/24 BDs (that's just about every film) since 2006, and even then the issue was very minor.

AdrianSmall · 30-05-2009, 8:02 PM

Hello,will I be able to watch mkv files from an external harddrive?

kingfats · 30-05-2009, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianSmall

Hello,will I be able to watch mkv files from an external harddrive?

I don't think you can no.

Crazius · 12-06-2009, 6:38 PM

Great review! I had already purchased the BD60 earlier this year before reading the article and had aimed at the BD35 originally but saw the BD60 as the better choice. The BD80 which is a later model was overpriced for any of the minor differences between that and the BD60 so I went for the BD60.

Going online to youtube was extremely easy to setup but the only real gripe was that you seem to need a SD card in the slot in order for it to work? Why the system does not have a small piece of free memory for this I did not understand until my wife's teenage daughter started to go mad on youtube and started to block my daily TV schedule.

The player will also play various files on the SD too which is excellent when quickly viewing pics taken on our camera. The USB port also seemed to manage a card reader for use with microSD so I guess other USB card readers could be compatible for other card types. Not sure how External hard drives will manage but my TV handles an external hard drive for the MP3s anyway so I have not fully checked that yet.

I think it is really cool that it relies on an SD card which once removed will prevent teens from playing clips like "kicking concrete" and "granny airbag" repeatedly. Great clips but once viewed daily become a little tiresome.

I would have had the PS3 instead but my wife bought the TV and declared that no PS3 would ever make a connection to it so I went for the best non-game Blu-ray player on the market. To my mind it is definately the current best on the market especially in terms of price and performance.

David Mackenzie · 12-06-2009, 7:02 PM

I didn't need an SD Card in to access Viera Link - that's odd.

**Phil Hinton** · 12-06-2009, 7:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

I didn't need an SD Card in to access Viera Link - that's odd.

Nope, I have a multi region chipped BD60 here and it connects to Viera link without any SD card. That feature will likely never get used on my player, but it was fun for 5 minutes to watch the AVF videos on youtube.

domtheone · 12-06-2009, 7:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Mackenzie

I didn't need an SD Card in to access Viera Link - that's odd.

Aye. I didn;t either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

Nope, I have a multi region chipped BD60 here and it connects to Viera link without any SD card. That feature will likely never get used on my player, but it was fun for 5 minutes to watch the AVF videos on youtube.

I watched 5 mins on Wednesday when I got my player.

Not sure how much i'll use it though but it was fun for a few minutes

Crazius · 15-06-2009, 1:01 PM

"The SD card slot is also needed to store downloaded updates and web content because there's no built-in memory like the Samsung BD-P4600."

That is a quote from another site. I know you can access some stuff but you need an SD card to access any updates or web content. Either way SD cards are way too cheap to make this a real issue.

If I could buy my blu-ray player all over again I'd still go for the BD60.

09-07-2009, 2:56 PM

Just bought a bd-60 i dont want to update by ethernet, is there another way to update either through usb or memory stick?

kingfats · 09-07-2009, 5:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hovvy

Just bought a bd-60 i dont want to update by ethernet, is there another way to update either through usb or memory stick?

Download burn to disc?

Crazius · 22-07-2009, 6:34 AM

I tried youtube on the BD60 without the SD card and it did work. I made a mistake I guess due to misleading info from other sites, but I should have tried it without a card in to see anyway.

Still an excellent blu-ray player. I'd buy this model again if I had the choice.

09-07-2009, 2:56 PM	#18
Hovvy Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player Review Just bought a bd-60 i dont want to update by ethernet, is there another way to update either through usb or memory stick?
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